crankbaits

[ironman]

iwas woundering why know one really talks about crankbaits it seems like the best lure to me because of so less talet needed is their somthing i am missing

[Rodman_Rob]

Originally Posted by ironman

best lure to me because of so less talet needed is their somthing i am missing

yes there is something missing, you can throw a crankbait all day long but without "talent" you may not catch any fish. gotta be able to locate the fish, get the bait to their depth, and make them strike.

[Tnbasser]

I'll talk about em all day. They are my favorite bait to throw. What do you want to know?

[Bo Dale James Jr.]

I don't know about Fl. But these work great where I fish.
Bandit Crankbaits

[zooker]

oh yeah cranks take TWICE the talent to catch fish. there is a ton of colors there is a time and a place for every color. they dive to just about every depth imaginable.
the trick is putting the right color lure, that dives the right depth, and contacts the right chunk of realstate to make a bass grab it..

there is NOTHING easy about using a crank bait.you work your butt off to catch fish on a crankbait. then the hard part starts you never know if this fish will be the one to come off or not.. i lost 2 before i caught this one this morning.

caught this one on a dt-6 off that rock wall in 25 feet of water-he was suspended-


please note he had only ONE hook in him.
zooker

[KenDammit]

thats what I always think about when I think of crankbaits..work your butt off.

[Fishing4Soup]

If your looking for a good priced, reliable crank that runs true out of the box, i'd use rapalas. Im not the biggest crankbait fisherman but my dad almost exclusively fishes cranks. When i fish them i like them to be as noisy as possible and bounce them off rocks and other cover.

[bassintom]

good grammar is missing from your post...go away.

[Rebbasser]

I always have three tied on: A lipless bait like a Rat-L-Trap, a Bandit 100 series-the color depends on the conditions-and a deep runner like a Norman Deep Little N. I don't throw them every trip-it depends on where I am fishing-but I always have them handy. The Bandit 100 series is by far my favorite. It isn't such hard work to throw it.

[fishin fool]

BassinTom lighten up a little bit the kid apoligized. Hell you bein from NJ with that yankee accent aint none of us southern guys can hardly understand you either. Now not to hijack this post Ironman you are most totally wrong. Crankbaits require quite a bit of effort, knowledge, and expertise to be fished properly. As far as color goes I deal with the basics whatever the local baitfish are try to match them in color and size. Have some crankbaits in crawfish colors and patterns , nothing works better on a river smallmouth than diggin a Bomber 6A into the rocks in a brown crawdad or the old reliable firetiger. Don't know why them smallies like that firetiger or charetreuse wiggle wart so well but I'll keep on throwin them. Myself I have accumulated some 200 crankbaits and 100 topwaters that I carry in the boat with me. So as you can see it's not all that easy. Am I sayin you have to go out and buy that many. NO but get you a few that dive different depths from topwater to 10 feet and give it a try. Shoot I'll give away one of my secrets here. I even have a few that are tuned to run right or left dependiing on which side of a boat dock I'm fishing.

[Peter Griffin]

Try the Rapala Dt series. That will help because they dive to a certain depth and they have a bunch of good colors as well.

[Rebbasser]

Welcome to the forum, Peter!

Jump right in and make yourself at home.

[Peter Griffin]

Thanks for the welcome this site is the best I've seen. I think I'm addicted

[Rebbasser]

It does have that effect .

[zooker]

hey peterg welcome to the board..

fool i just got to go with

having a few hundred cranks never hurts ya never know when some freak color is THE thing..


zooker

[H2O]

I caught my biggest LM and SM both on crankbait so far!

[ROBZILLA]

Welcome aboard Pete!

[youngbassman77]

Originally Posted by KenDammit

thats what I always think about when I think of crankbaits..work your butt off.

I totally feel the same way, crankbaits make u work your butt off, but when u land that fish, its awsome!! I don't have "100's" of crankbaits yet, but my collection is adding up. hehehe...

Pete, Welcome to the forum !!

~YBM

[GorillaWarfare]

Originally Posted by bassboss

I'll talk about em all day. They are my favorite bait to throw. What do you want to know?

I've been fishin for a little over a year now. I've had some limited success with cranks (probally because I usually throw worms). It seems I've had the most success running them right on the edges of docks or bouncing it off of brush piles and then killing it for a couple seconds. What are some other retrives that work well with a crank? Also, what should be the focus when choosing a crank? Color, depth or some combination of the two? I couple of guys that fish my tournys swear by them and they usually do pretty well. As always thanks in advance.

Gorilla

[ironman]

Depth then color.

[Tnbasser]

First, the action is the most important quality when choosing a crankbait. Action(Wide or tight), then depth, then color.

Here, I wrote this awhile back, maybe it will help.

Crankbaits 101, By Charles Graves, April, 2004

I would like to take a few minutes to try and help out fellow anglers who are either new to fishing, or are just haveing trouble catching fish on crankbaits. There are several important factors which must come into play for one to be successful with crankbaits.

The 2 most important factors when crankbaiting are the depth at which the fish are holding, and their location in relation to structure.. You must know the depth in order to choose one that achieves that depth and remains there during the majority of the retrieve, and the location so you will be able to make the proper presentation.

Referring to depth, a suspended bass will be VERY difficult to get to bite a crankbait because in order to be effective, one must"Bounce" a crankbait off of some form of object.
I.E.Tick the tops of weeds, bump the stump, dig bottom, etc.

You must bring the lure either above the fish, or on the same level of the fish, because they can not see directly below or behind themselves.

When fishing a particular piece of structure or cover, make a long cast past it, and bring it back so that your lure is in the strike zone at the moment it reaches the potential bass ambush point.When it bumps the cover, pause it or give it a sudden burst of speed. This will trigger a strike.

You can fish a crankbait effectivly on almost any form of structure.Points, flats, ledges,dropoffs,roadbeds,riprap,sandbars,Etc.

One of my favorite techniques when fishing flats or the backs of creeks is to take a crawdad colored crank that runs about a foot deeper than the bottom, and reel it steadily causing it to churn bottom and stir up a commotion. I have caught some really large bass doing this.

If you have been catching bass on a certain size and color of crankbait, and they stop hitting or slow down, try simply changing colors.
Trust me, it works.

Let the fish tell you what they want. Listen to them. Don't be afraid to try different sizes, styles, colors and retrieves untill you find what the fish want.

Try this sometime. Take 3 lures of the same color, but in three different sizes, and try the following retrieves. 1.Slow and steady. 2.Slow and steady, pausing when bumping cover. 3.slow and steady, then "rip" the lure when contacting cover. Then try a medium retrieve with each above technique.

See which one catches you the fish.

Color is also a factor, but mainly lies in what you have confidence in and what the primary forage fish/bait is in your area.

Wood vs. plastic. Plastic cranks are pretty much uniform. One Excaliber wiggles pretty much like the others, as does Bomber,Rebel, ect.
Wood, because of the difference in densities in different pieces of wood, no two wooden cranks will have exactly the same action. I prefer wooden because it does produce a more erratic action.

Cranking Equipment: This is another area that is important.

Reel:I prefer a slow retrieve reel, like the Pflueger Trion LP Cranking reel. It has a 4.3:1 Gear ratio which is absolutly ideal for dragging a big, deep running, hard pulling crankbait through the water. The slower ratio makes it easier on the angler, and presents the bait in a more lifelike manner.It also will not bind up as easy as a fast reel.

Rod:A soft graphite, E-Glass or all Glass rod is an absolute must for a serious crankbaiter. I like the CrazyFish Crankbait rod. I had one made for me in a soft action, ML power graphite. You need the limber tip and flex these rods have in order to help land the fish.Many fish are lost due to too stiff a rod.

Line:A good line is a must. You want one with minimul stretch in order to achieve a good hookset. You also need the right # test. 10# test is what is recommended by most manufacturers, and their depth ratings are based on it. However, you can expect that for each lb test you increase, you loose 2 feet of depth. Adversly, if you drop below 8 lb test, you also begin to loose depth. I use 12 myself.

Use sharp hooks: This can NOT be overemphasized. Sharp hooks catch more fish.

Tuning A Crankbait: Fortunatly, most of the premium baits available today usually do not need to be tuned before use. However, if your bait should begin to run off to on side, tune it as follows.
Hold the bait in your hand facing the bill. If the bait runs to the right, bend the eye SLIGHTLY to the LEFT. If to left, bend to RIGHT.Repeat until bait runs true.


Crankbait Types: There are three basic body types which I will talk about.

1.Potbellied: (Mann's depth series, Bomber Fat A, Bagleys B Series, Bandit, Etc.). My personal favorite style. These lures are built bulky, and produce a wide, hard wobble.As much as 6 inches, based on lure size and retrieve speed. They are designed to resemble bluegill and pearch.

2.Flat, or Slim baits: (Excaliber Fat Free Series, Bomber Flat A, Shad Rap, Ect.). These baits are slim, trim, and sleek, and are designed to best immitate shad.They produce a tight, fast wooble/wiggle, and are better when fish are not as agressive.

3.Lipless Cranks: (Rat-L-Trap, Ect.): These have a very tight wiggle, and rattles, and are designed to imitate baitfish in general.They work well anytime the water is above 55 degrees.


Crankbait Depths.:
Here are the basic catagories of depth for most cranks.

Super Shallow: 0-2feet
Shallow:2-4 feet
Medium:4 -6 feet
Deep:6-10 feet
Extra Deep:10-18 Feet.

You can generally tell the average running depth of a crankbait by the shape and position ot the lip in relation to the body.

Example. A Bait with a short narrow bill at a hard angle down from the body will tell you it is a SS or S runner. A moderate angle down from body, a medium/deep runner. A long wide bill straight out from the nose is a XD runner.

Types of wooden crankbaits:
Cedar: Not very common.Only Poe's makes these. A heavy, almost neutral Bouyancy.

Balsa: The most Common.A lightweight wood used by Bagley, Rapala, and most makers. It is Extremly Bouyant.

Jelutong:My favorite.Moderatly Bouyant, Lightweight and Produces a good action.Not as common as Balsa, but more so than cedar.




TIP:

When Fishing submerged weeds within 3 feet of the surface, try fishing a Lipless crankbait on a fast retrieve reel and heavy line(17-20#).The heavy line will help slow the fall of the lure and keep it out of the weeds, and the reel will burn it back. A Super shallow running crank will also work with this tip.



Hope it helps,
Charles[/B][/B]

[GorillaWarfare]

"in order to be effective, one must"Bounce" a crankbait off of some form of object.
I.E.Tick the tops of weeds, bump the stump, dig bottom, etc."

I heard this multiple times but I just wanted to know if anyone knew the reason for this...Does it get the attention of the bass and cause a reaction strike or do bait fish commonly strike objects and then sit there for a second to gather their senses? Just wondering.

Gorilla

PS thanks boss for another great article

[Raul]

You don´t see fish bumping against objects oftenly. The bait moves, hits an object then it doesn´t move if you don´t move it, that go-bump-stop erratic action is what makes the fish strike it.

[DonnieDarko]

Crankbaits are what I exclusively use. I'm actually going to try soft plastic for the first time this weekend at my lake. I'm also going to try my new spinnerbait, because my lake is known for its smallmouth bass.