Howdy guys, I've thrown a lot of square bills but never a black one.. The other day I was fishing a small lake here and when I pulled into the parking lot I saw a fancy bass boat fishing where I wanted to (this is a TM only lake, very small). So I went to the other lake just over the hill and fished for a bit, about a half hour I peeked over the hill and he was loading up his boat at the ramp so I headed over. I was working the stumps/cribs with a senko and caught a couple when I noticed red eyes looking at me from one of the stumps.

 

It was a crankbait stuck to the side of the stump with about 5' of line on it. Since I was fishing from the bank I could reach out with the tip of my rod and carefully hook one of the back hooks and gently pull it off. It is a very nice crank, custom I'd say.. and not a very good one. It has fingerprints in the clear coat! Solid black with red eyes.

 

I am pretty sure that is what the bass boat was throwing along that bank, I would have given it back to him since it looks to be well used and he probably caught some fish on it.. but he was long gone. So anyways, I have it here and looking at it got me wondering... How many people throw black square bills? I have personally never even seen one until now, and never thought to use one. I either throw chartreuse/blue in dirty water or a HD bluegill color in clearer water. 

 

Looks like a bandit to me, what do you guys think?

 

It does look sort of similar to a black Bandit 200 series that I have.  Never fished a black squarebill before though.  Give it a shot.  If you catch some nice fish with it, you can thank the guy in the bass boat next time you see him.

I'd venture to say there are bullhead (a species of catfish) in those waters and the bass like them for a number of reasons, the most obvious of which is the fact that they don't blend in with their surroundings very well and that makes them an easy target.  That would be my answer to matching the hatch.  On the other hand, just throwing something different than everyone else can and often is a ticket to success.  That strategy put me in the money in a number of tournaments. So much so that some of the other regulars started calling me TB (TacoBell).

If anyone is wondering, it is a bandit 100 series #118. Seems to be a stock color, not sure why the fingerprints are in it. 

Definitely have used them. Muddy water. Maybe somebody clear coated it and touched it too soon?

People fish black worms all the time. No reason why a black crankbait wouldn't work. Give it a whirl and let us know how you make out.

It'll work, no doubt!  Hmmm.  Now I want one....

Dark baits create a dark silhouette when visibility is tough. Keep it and use it. It should be helpful down the road to you. 

There was another thread that discussed jerk baits, given the choice of colors many of the seasoned anglers said black and white.

Also if you look throw bandits color selection they have some very interesting colors, like the bone, kaki and bubble gum pink.

There are also a few colors that aren't listed on their site but you can order, like the purple tiger they sell at BPS only.

Do you think he took a regular Bandit and repainted it black?

 

Or maybe he put a clear coat of nail polish on the bait to help protect it from getting chipped.

 

I have some Norman black cranks in my arsenal but throw them in dirty water, only.

 

Give it a try and see what you catch, if anything, and let us know.

 

I have one of these in all black and let me tell you this........................It catches fish !

I have that exact crank, it's killer in dirty water.