crankbaits...

[zooker]

powerbass got me to thinkin -a very dangerous thing- what color and kinds of cranks do i use.. well to say a picture is worth a thousand words.
lets take a crankbait box




this one will do. i just went thru it last week. -thats why it is a tad shy on baits- ok so i am not a neat freak.. but what you see is my "working" box of cranks for the area lakes. -yadkin chain-

top row left to right
norman flat lil n's, dt6 -hot mustard and a bagleys live brim,my assortment of #5 jointed shad raps- 5 differant colors-, and1/4oz lipless baits-which lizard hates to see.

second row left to right
1/2oz lil george's,#5 shadraps -5 colors- #5-7 shallow shad raps -2 colors-, a blue and chartuses frenzy and a bomber in fire tiger.

3 row down left to right.
a dt6,a dt7,a norman deep n, next box2 dt10's and 2 dt7's..

bottom row
dt6, a norman fat boy,three dt6's, and finally two dt4's..

this is only 1 of 3 boxes of cranks i have in my boat. this box i use the most and have several extra's of most of them.. do not be fooled these baits are the ones that work the best for me so i use them alot.. nothing fancy just straight up $5 crankbaits.. several of which carry the battle wounds of many fish.. there is 5 cranks missing from this box a mountain dew norman lil n,a 1/4oz carolina chip lipless,a norman blue back deep lil n,and 2 bandits 100's in tenn shad..i got to stock up on the bandits..
there really is only 4 colors in this box..shad,blue/chartuse,firetiger,black/silver. imo that about covers all you will need for colors.. i do have a few strange colors like gold,hot mustard,green craw,ect..just for grins and giggles..






zooker

[texasbasser]

you are lucky. i only have 3 cause im broke rite now

[PowerBass]

Dang Nice selection Zook. I need cranks, I dont have many. I am going to be buying 19-20 Bandit Cranks when i get my rod as well.

[JB]

I keep mine sorted by size and then type and color...I use the dd22's and big normans and bombers in one box, then the smaller rapala and bombers in another...I think I have more jerkbaits than anything else rofl

[zooker]

yeah jb i hear ya but i don't have to hunt much i know what is in this box and i know where it is... i got to straighten it up some day -yeah right- that 1 frenzy for some reason i can catch fish on it now and again the rest of them i tried i caught nothing on..creepy huh??

zooker

[JB]

not really, zooker

I keep about 4 boxs with me of cranks and usually wind up going back and forth from 2, plus one is full of traps and one sided flat A and poes...but like usual, I grab the same 6-8 that I always use regardless of how many I have in stock...theres just something about the 'baitmonkey' that makes ya wanna get crankbaits during the winter, they so purdy~

[PowerBass]

I need CRANKS! After hearing how many you guys have, I feel lost. Reason I dont have as many- I buy the more expensive rods/reels.

[zooker]

try this power i just bought a another boat.. ok now complain..

zooker

[bassguy2004]

I try to keep my crankbaits by pattern, one box has shad, one has crawpatterns, one has jerkbaits, one has rattlebaits, etc.

[bassnman30]

Zook,
Have you tryed a Bagleys b2. I have caught a bunch of good keepers while using this bait.
Shallow w/a wide wobble. I like the plain chartreuse with a black back.
Note: Bass like a chartreuse color bait ,and thats one of the first things that I throw, reguardless of which lake that I'm fishing, and they seem to like it.
The Hot Mustard is a great bait. On the DT-7 try a bleeding shad/bream. It "for me" has been a great bait. You may wish to try a shad colored Fat Free Guppy. I've had good luck using this bait. You also may want to try a brown crawfish in the Bomber 6A.
Isn't it nice how those DT-series run straight out of the box. These are just a few of "my" suggestions.

[bassthumb32]

i love your two dt flat colors. it looks a lot like my favorite color. ive got that flat series in red and have been killing them in muddy water. ive got three boxes of cranks and dont even use half of them. bouthg most of them when i first started fishing and bought stuff just to buy it. wasted a lot of money doing that.

[zooker]

thumb
i too have the bait monkey and buy a crank every time i am near one. this box will get so full it over flows. i have to go thru it every now and again. and cull out a bunch of cranks..

power had i known you were short in supply. i would have emptied my bucket in a box and shipped post hast.. but your 2 weeks to late i just shipped out the last extra's i had in the bucket.. laser's boys got some of them..



zooker

[PowerBass]

Originally Posted by zooker

thumb
i too have the bait monkey and buy a crank every time i am near one. this box will get so full it over flows. i have to go thru it every now and again. and cull out a bunch of cranks..

power had i known you were short in supply. i would have emptied my bucket in a box and shipped post hast.. but your 2 weeks to late i just shipped out the last extra's i had in the bucket.. laser's boys got some of them..



zooker

Zook,
No prob. Glad laser kid can put em to good use.

Nick

[dampeoples]

I love cranks, I love this thread

I've got a box that's just got Warts in it, then another that has stuff I made in it, and one other that has assorted cranks, not a big selection in that box, but it's got the stuff like the translucent Crank-R's I really like, and my 1 minus series stuff.

I do the same thing with the overflow, I tend to clean out the box from time to time, just got a few new folks around here into fishing, gave them a nice selection. I also replaced the pullchain handles on my case at work with cranks, did a few others there too. Everyone always ducks, they thin the hooks are still on them

[lizardsrule]

There are a few things about cranks I don't like. Such as most manufacturers have flimsy trebbles. I love Bomber, and Norman's however their hooks are for crap. I change out them often. I also lose a lot of them in the river with all the hidden laydowns. I'm with Bassnman though chartreuse works everywhere, but it's the first color I throw in any river, and any shad color is my second color. I am proficient with cranks, but definately not great with them. I would like to know if anyone else has ever seen a rattletrap with only a single trebble hook, that actually has a hole through the rattletrap, and then the trebble was tied on. I believe that it was made by Strike King. My old fishing partner in Indiana who I fished in the BFL's with had a couple left over from a long time ago, he said they were discontinued. They went through the grass a lot better, and had less lost fish due to no leverage for the fish to have on just the trebble, the trap would just move up the line freely. I would love to get my hands on some if anyone knows of any in existance still. I even sent Carolina Chip some info about it awhile ago and he didn't know of what I was talking about.

Lizards

[dampeoples]

You have a picture of that bait, Lizards? I know Terry Clark has a trap with a single hook on it, that might work, I've never tried it though.

[lizardsrule]

Originally Posted by dampeoples

You have a picture of that bait, Lizards? I know Terry Clark has a trap with a single hook on it, that might work, I've never tried it though.

Sorry I don't. But if you just imagine where the line tie circle is, and draw a line to the front trebble on a trap, that's where the hole is. The line is fed through the hole, then you tie on the trebble.

Lizards

[pig n jig]

ZoOkEr, Wat ya doing wit' so many Rapalas ?I did see a Frenzy & a bomber with a few Normans.Did ya have trouble wit' tunin' those Thin N's ?I still anit got one tweaked in, close though. Lizards, Most people drilled a hole through their traps epoxied a plastic tube in the hole and ran their line through it and tied on a treble hook to the line. RatL trap was the first company to make them if I remember correctly.I use some sort of a Jap trap that only runs 1 treble on it.Its becoming my favorite trap, next to Spros Aruka trap. P N J

[zooker]

nope pnj all mine are strike kings..great bait sh!tty paint jobs.

zooker

[WIbassfisherman]

LOL @ "culling out some crankbaits".

My box starts to look like that and then I get a new organization method. Of course then that one fills and now I have a 1-2ft box 4-6ft. box, 16 ft. box, etc.

My wife dreads the day I have a 16ft. chartreuse box, 16ft. firetiger box, LOL

[zooker]

lol i have about 7 boxes of cranks alone. i haul 3 normally but every now and again 1 of the others just likes to go for a ride


zooker

[JB]

lizards ,
I know what type trap your talking about and used to own several...didn't bill lewis have those along with his convential trap?

[bassnman30]

Only 7 Zook ?
I have about 10-12 with cranks alone.
1. with good crankbaits in packages.
1. L/C crankbaits in packages.
1.Strike King series 5.
1.Strike King series 6.
1.Rattle traps.
1.DD22
1.Strike King series 6
2. Bagleys balsa B 3's
2. Bagley Balsa B's 1 & 2 series
1 General cranks that I'l never use !
I also dont take more than 4.

[Wishing2BFishing]

WIBF, I also organize my cranks by diving depth. In my tackle bag, I have a box w/ 0-5 depth, a box with 6-9 depth, and a box for 10 and up . . . (I think my deepest crank dives to 22 feet). I also have a box for suspending jerkbaits, a box for non-suspending, and a box for topwaters.

As a side note, I keep some basic old-fashioned plastic Plano tackle boxes in my garage (the ones with the drawers). When I re-sort and cull out the non-traveling cranks, I put them in the basic Plano drawer box. I have a tackle box for the non-traveling cranks, a box for the non-traveling jerkbaits, a box for non-traveling topwaters, and a miscellaneous box. This method seems to work for me but in all likelihood, I will invent some new way of organizing as I do every couple seasons or so.

[Wishing2BFishing]

Zooker, by the way, great post. I always love the posts with pictures of pretty crankbaits. Seems to awaken the baitmonkey every time. Now, where is my BPS catalogue?