I was thinking the other day about lures I throw and the frequency with which I throw them. I RARELY ever throw a crankbait now (squarebills and mid-depth divers, I dont fish anything below ~10ft). I fish from a kayak, not a bass boat so the number of rods I can take is also limited to 3 max.  Because of this, I hardly ever take out my cranking set up. So my question is, what can you accomplish with a crankbait that you can't with a spinnerbait, swimjig, vibrating jig, etc.? Thanks.

I'm not much of a jig fisherman. But with crankbaits you can cover ground much more quickly and efficiently than with spinnerbaits (and presumably jigs as well). On those days when the fish are active you'll catch more because you can cover a lot more ground with cranks than the others in a given amount of time.

You can cover water quick. 

It depends what type. There's floating, suspending, and sinking. You can cover a lot of styles but you need the right tool for a specific job. If you're running into brush pile with a spinnerbait you can opt for a floating crank that can back out and up on a pause and continue going around it.

But the downside is they aren't the best in the weeds. Cranks are a valuable asset that needs to find the right situation. You don't need them and can do without, but the same can go for spinnerbaits or even jigs.

I am a jig fisher and I will fish a jig 100% of the day. But lately I tried a couple lipless cranks and square bill cranks and have to say I am pleasantly surprised. Where my swim jig was not catching in and around the grass the lipless was. Where my swim jig didnt produce around some timber the square bill did.

So they all have their place and all will produce. So now you have to make the though decision.

I used to be the same way man. Never used crankbaits. Then at th beginning of spring i bought some. Got a few KVD 1.5 and 2.5 squarebills and a few Rapala DT series and fished the daylights out of them. Eventually I got good and theyre now a confidence bait. I think the biggest thing is knocking them off cover. A spinnerbait or anything doesnt pop off a piece of cover quite like a crank. And it draws some vicous strikes. Also digging bottom. If theyre holding on the bottom Ill throw a crankbait that dives a foot or two deeper than the bottom is. So if its 8 feet deep ill throw a 10 foot diver. You want that thing ticking bottom constantly, or every now again, depends on what the fish want. But yea, nothing bangs off cover and ticks bottom like a crankbait.

Thanks guys. The reason I'm asking is because I'm looking at unloading my cranking rod. I just never use it and feel like I would get a lot more use out of another rod that I could use for worms, jigs, etc. I fish lipless cranks up to 1/2oz on my 702c Dobyns Champ and it actually does a great job. With the frequency that I throw squarebills I would feel ok throwing them on one of my M/F spinning set ups.