Building a crankbait collection

[WallStreetAmigo]

I have limited experience with crankbaits as I don't own very many currently. Next year I want to develop my expertise with crankbaits and am looking to build a good collection over the winter. Other than spinnerbaits, I have not had much success with getting the reaction bites on faster moving lures.

I know everyone has their personal favourite cranks and I am looking more for opinions on how to choose appropriate sizes/styles/colors. I will try to provide some information on the waters I fish most of the time and will really appreciate any input on how to build a collection of appropriate crankbaits.

1) The lakes up here are ultra clear most of the time. I can almost always see to the bottom weed cover.
2) Most lakes are very shallow with lots of submerged weedbeds (maximum 9 or 10 feet deep with long flats). A few have deeper areas but less weedbeds with scattered lily pads.
3) The main forage is pumpkinseed sunfish, followed closely by pale yellow perch (fyi, the Rapala Bluegill pattern very closely resembles the sunfish around here, so those lures will definitely part of the equation - on the flip side, the Salmo Slider Real Perch color 004 looks more like the perch around here than the Rapala perch color).
4) The size of LM bass around here are up to 10 pounds with the average fish being 2-4 lbs.

Here are my questions:

1) How do I choose the appropriate size crankbait?
2) What color patterns would be good to have based on the above info?
3) I've seen a lot of translucent type cranks. When would these work better than opaque color schemes?
4) To use Rapala cranks as an example (and ignoring lure depth for a moment) when would it be better to use a Shad Rap, a Fat Rap, or a Dives-To? I hope this question makes sense.

As always, I am in your capable hands and appreciate your input. If you need further info, just let me know.

[WallStreetAmigo]

I should also mention that I have had great success using frogs in the lily pads, dropshotting, spinnerbaits, and soft plastics. I just would like to expand my knowledge to include cranks!

[pig n jig]

It has been my experience that the crankbait has to tick, or bump off from something to alter its normal cadence.I carry a lot of rattle traps, they will fish a wider range of water than a specific crankbait will,but the same thing applies, they have gotta be hitting something on the retreive to alter the cadence. P N J

[Raul]

1) The lakes up here are ultra clear most of the time. I can almost always see to the bottom weed cover

I´ve fished a coiple of lakes and numerous ponds for year that are just like you describe, slender minnow and shad shape cranks work better for me than fat bodied baits, suspending baits work better than floating baits for me because I can wiggle the bait for more time right in front of their faces, Shad Raps in all it´s variations my man; drop in a few fat bodied cranks into the mix just in case you want a wider wobble.

2) Most lakes are very shallow with lots of submerged weedbeds (maximum 9 or 10 feet deep with long flats). A few have deeper areas but less weedbeds with scattered lily pads.

Smaller sizes baits dive less ( even deep divers ) than larger versions, so better build you arsenal weighing more on the shallow and smaller versions.

3) The main forage is pumpkinseed sunfish, followed closely by pale yellow perch (fyi, the Rapala Bluegill pattern very closely resembles the sunfish around here, so those lures will definitely part of the equation - on the flip side, the Salmo Slider Real Perch color 004 looks more like the perch around here than the Rapala perch color).

Raul´s lesson #1: forget about the forage base, bass in my neck of the woods have never seen a trout and still, trout patterned baits work well. Once you have abandoned the "match the hatch" school of thought you´ll be one step closer to catching them.

1) How do I choose the appropriate size crankbait?

The bigger the better, you don´t want to match the hatch, you want YOUR bait to stand out from the hatch.

2) What color patterns would be good to have based on the above info?

Choose the colors YOU like, why ? color can be used to mimick ( shad, bluegill, baby bass, perch, etc ) or to stand out ( hot colors like firetiger, chartreuse & silver, fluorescent orange & gold ) by making a statement, it´s like saying to the fish: " look at it, it´s impossible that you can´t see it ! ", two of my favorite colors even in ultra clear water are chartreuse & silver and chartreuse shad.

3) I've seen a lot of translucent type cranks. When would these work better than opaque color schemes?

I prefer translucent/transparent baits specially if they have reflective coating or foil inside when everybody says I shouldn´t use them like cloudless bluebird skies. Again, it depends on what you are trying to achieve, to mimick or to make the bait stand out: "look at it, it´s impossible you cant´t see all that flash !"

[b]4) To use Rapala cranks as an example (and ignoring lure depth for a moment) when would it be better to use a Shad Rap, a Fat Rap, or a Dives-To? I hope this question makes sense.

A DT when I want the bait to run the most time at a set depth, most of the time I fish with any of the variations of the Shad Rap except during low light levels when I use a bait with a wider wobble ( more vibration ) like a Fat Rap.

Pretty uncoventional thinking, huh ?

[Raul]

Dude, I think I forgot to close sumthin´ , everything is in bold.

[WallStreetAmigo]

Originally Posted by Raul

Dude, I think I forgot to close sumthin´ , everything is in bold.

I just thought you were yellin' at me....

[WallStreetAmigo]

BTW, thanks for the awesome info raul and pnj!

[garry_3000]

I would start with some rat-traps, crome blue, fire tigger, red, crayfish colors, shad colors. Then I would get some shallow, med, and deep lipped cranks in same colors.

[pig n jig]

I am at odds whether I would recommend getting more than a few crankbaits.It is better to buy a few and fish the daylights out of them, than to have more than you could possibly know when, where to use.

I like taking deep divers and digging them through shallow water.They usually tend to be big sized, which casts a country mile.This allows you to cover more stretches of flats per cast, The deep diver running in shallow water is constantly hitting something on the retreive.

When you catch a fish and front treble is hooked in the mouth, you have the right crankbait . P N J

[zooker]

hitting something is the key to the strike. the more it wacks something the more chances the bass will eat it.. i like bottom bumping myself.. now i said bumping not digging a trench.. if your fishing water 0-3 feet deep a shallow diver like a bandit 100 which will hit bottom almost all the time out to about 4 feet deep. would be the wise choice. a shad rap is a great bait but in real skinny water it does not as well as a shallow diver. 3-5 feet of water are the key depths to use a shad rap. dt baits are plum awesome, cast great for there size. dive steeply, attain depth very quickly-hence they are in contact more-a norman deep lil n is also in this region.

deep divers such as the norman dd22, poes 400 c, bandit 700,lc d-20 and the dt 16. i will NOT throw them if in less than 10 feet of water.

now i will explain why.. these baits are designed to run "right" at a certain angle. the shallow diver like a bandit 100 is designed with a heavy lip to withstand the brutal contact of struture often found in shallow water..it does not have the degree diving angle found in other baits..

a shad rap for example has a diving lip. not as thick a lip as the shallow diver.because of the long, slender, thinner lip. when using it in 6" of water will not do the bait's design justice as it will bounce off bottom often coming to the surface.see below for the other reasons.

now the deep divers as they have long thin diving bills if you were to throw them in say 6 feet of water -digging a trench-as contacting struture such as rocks as hard as they would. will either break the lip off or hang up the baits past the point of retrival..

as to colors the only thing i will say is use what works. even if it sounds crazy.

zooker

[zooker]

Originally Posted by pig n jig

When you catch a fish and front treble is hooked in the mouth, you have the right crankbait .

WRONG!!! you have attained to right SPEED!!!

zooker

[otto]

The trouble with crankbaits is they are expensive and there's so many to choose from. I've got tackle boxes full of diving cranks that looked good and work for many, but not me.
Original Shad Raps (sizes 5 and 7) are by far my favorites, in crawdad and shad colors. I never fish them in or around weeds though: I mainly use them for bumping over rocks and gravel flats and humps with fairly light spinning tackle. They are killer lures for river fishing current breaks.

[WallStreetAmigo]

I am at odds whether I would recommend getting more than a few crankbaits.It is better to buy a few and fish the daylights out of them, than to have more than you could possibly know when, where to use.

PNJ - I'm with you 100% on getting a good selection that will handle what I need as opposed to getting a whole bunch of crankbaits just for the sake of it. If I can accomplish this with a minimum number of cranks, it will leave me more to spend on other lures/baits - which can only be seen as a good thing.

I like taking deep divers and digging them through shallow water.They usually tend to be big sized, which casts a country mile.

PNJ - When you say big, what do you mean? For example, on a Rapala DT, what weight/size would you consider big?

hitting something is the key to the strike. the more it wacks something the more chances the bass will eat it.. i like bottom bumping myself.. now i said bumping not digging a trench.. if your fishing water 0-3 feet deep a shallow diver like a bandit 100 which will hit bottom almost all the time out to about 4 feet deep. would be the wise choice. a shad rap is a great bait but in real skinny water it does not as well as a shallow diver. 3-5 feet of water are the key depths to use a shad rap. dt baits are plum awesome, cast great for there size. dive steeply, attain depth very quickly-hence they are in contact more-a norman deep lil n is also in this region.

Zooker - awesome explanation. I almost get it...

Original Shad Raps (sizes 5 and 7) are by far my favorites, in crawdad and shad colors. I never fish them in or around weeds though: I mainly use them for bumping over rocks and gravel flats and humps with fairly light spinning tackle.

otto (and others) - could these be used over top of weed beds occasionally light snagging them and then ripping them free or am I really asking for trouble if I try that?

[pig n jig]

Originally Posted by WallStreetAmigo

PNJ - When you say big, what do you mean? For example, on a Rapala DT, what weight/size would you consider big?

I use a Manns 20+ crankbait alot.The reason is the lip is about the only one that will take that kind of abuse and hold up.The body is big , so it rises up fairly fast to help offset the overkill on the shallow depth.As stated before, I am not always correct, but thats what I do and it does catch fish. P N J

[Raul]

Crankbaiting is a contact sport ( not for the sisies that don´t fish with cranks because they hang up ), you got to slam structure and/or cover to make the bait move erratically, that´s what makes the crank catch fish, so if you are serious about it then you also have to be protected, a serious crankbaiter never leaves home without his trusty plug knocker , dirt cheap and saves you from loosing money on baits.

Got over 600 cranks in my boxes plus as many times back-ups ( in case I loose one even after trying with the knocker ), the truth is that I like to purchase cranks ( they are sooooooo ----> ) but really you don´t need many, my approach is to have cranks to slice the water column by layers, so I have super shallow runners, shallow runners, medium deep runners, deep runners and extra deep runners to acomplish that task. 3 or 4 of each type and you are in business.

A good crankbait rod ( in case you don´t want a crankbait rod a medium rod will do the trick ), a mid speed reel ( 20-22" IPT ), tough abrassion resistant 10-12 lb test line ( I fish with Trilene Big Game ) and a good plug knocker ( like the BPS EZ Lure Retriever ) is what you need.

Many cranks do seriously need a good change of hooks, so if you can change the hooks for good quality razor sharp hooks like VMC, Gammy, Owner you make a bait perform better.

[zooker]

Originally Posted by Raul

A good crankbait rod ( in case you don´t want a crankbait rod a medium rod will do the trick ), a mid speed reel ( 20-22" IPT ), tough abrassion resistant 10-12 lb test line ( I fish with Trilene Big Game ) and a good plug knocker ( like the BPS EZ Lure Retriever ) is what you need.

Many cranks do seriously need a good change of hooks, so if you can change the hooks for good quality razor sharp hooks like VMC, Gammy, Owner you make a bait perform better.

i agree with you raul cranking is a contact sport. if your not hanging up your not throwing in the right places..

a retriver is worth EVERY PENNY. although i hate it when i lose a bait.i have several more yes. but still i tied that one bait on for a reason.. i have several baits that are 8-10 years old that i beat regularly..

zooker

[Bob Smith]

I have to go with Raul and Zooker on most of the Crankbait stuff. Personally, most pros will use one or two brands, but they'll have everything that brand produces and a lot of them! Except for David Fritz, who (from what I hear) will pool test every crankbait before he takes it to the lake and categorize the characteristics of the bait and mark with a marker so he know's what it will do at the lake. My favorites are the Bill Norman Baits, Bandits, Rapala DTs, and Mann's Plus series (in that order) for the diving cranks. Rattle traps pretty much have my heart for lipless, they've stood the test of time and come through for me just about every season in the south!
Lure retrievers and plug knockers are an absolute must if you don't want Mama getting mad at you and the Bait Monkey. The best one I've ever owned is the David Fritz model, it has a line coil on top and a big traingular shaped wire on the front. I can say without reservation that I have only lost one bait in the last 9 years since I've owned this retriever (and it was a buddy's who didn't let me know he was hung until we got past the spot by several trees and stumps, he couldn't remember which way he moved the line went around a submerged tree trunk.

[zooker]

bob smith
they also make the same thing with a rope tie.. i use both -there awesome..

zooker

[Bob Smith]

Originally Posted by zooker

bob smith
they also make the same thing with a rope tie.. i use both -there awesome..

zooker

I have the rope tie also and I have literally pulled trees, fence post and big chunks of concrete with re-bar up with it! Always got my bait back! LOL

[pig n jig]

Here is a piss poor scan of the lure retreiver mentioned.Haven't seen one advertised in a long time , might not be able to find them anymore.

[Bob Smith]

That's the one P-n-J! Best crankbait retriever ever invented! I don't believe I have seen any in a long time either!

[zooker]

they are still around though most are not paint any more..

zooker

[lizardsrule]

Talk to the Monkey, he'll get you going with what baits you need LOL.

Lizards

[pig n jig]

If you were limited to using just 3 crankbaits, which 3 would you choose ? P N J

[zooker]

bandit 100, dt6,lucky craft d-20..

zooker