I have recently seen those two terms applied to crankbaits.  I have gleaned that a crankbait that 'hunts' is a rare lure to find and it is a treasure to its owner.  I have seen that some crankbaits are now being called searchbaits in bass magazines.  Are the two terms simialar?  What do they mean?  

Search baits refers to lures you fish quickly in order to find fish.  

"Hunting" is a term used to describe a crankbait that will intermittently err off-course and then correct itself.  

So a hunting bait is a correctly tuned crank that for whatever reason acts sporadic every so often?

Cool, thanks!

Ooops...hit the wrong button - - yes - that is an accurate description.  

A crank that hunts can't really be tuned to run straight, you could spend a day trying to get that bait to run correctly.  A truely hunting bait is hard to find and fish catching machine.  The bait will run straight then kick right, back to center, kick left, back to center.  The bait runs like it's hitting structure all the time.   I have made 1 bait that hunts and it is a fluke, I'll never be able to reproduce that action.

A crankbait that hunts is also a bait that is usually speed senstive, at slow speed it may run perfect and a little faster and it will start its hunting moves, a little faster yet and its back to straight and normal. If you ever wonder why one bait will catch more fish than the other four you have just like it, watch it close and you will see the difference or usually you can feel it. I always mark a bait that catches fish and eliminate those that don't. Along with that if your into custom paintjobs these are the baits, don't waste money for custom paint on a bait that does not work.

I'm going to give away a secret here because you guys are good people...

You want to tune a crank to hunt, its simple.  Bend the line tie at an angle so that the top faces the right side of the lure more than the bottom.  Make sure the middle is as close to proper tune as possible.  As you lower and drop the rod tip, the split ring will move up and down and will either be at center which is in tune, at bottom which will veer off one direction or top which will veer the other.  I use pretty soft copper and brass in my cranks which helps because it is easy to bend.

Hope that helps.  

J

jasone, that's a very interesting concept. Do you think this can be done with out-of-box cranks, or is the line tie to stiff.

Thanks,

GK

I wouldn't rule it out off-hand.  

I'm sure any of the wires can be bent to some degree.  The real problem lies in the material around the wire.  If the wire is too stiff its going to break the balsa.  I had that problem with my lures when I used tempered steel wire.

Also, the wires in my lures don't attach to the bills, so I don't know how it will work if you bend a tie attached to a bill.  

I guess its a happy side effect of having to use soft wire on my baits.

J

Thanks, J. I have a bunch of old baits that I can afford to tear up experimenting. If I have any success, I'll send you some pics.

Cheers,

GK

Funny,   I just assumed that a crank that hunts was a good thing.      Like the old saying, "that dog will hunt",     I assumed a crank that hunts is one that catches fish, regauardless of the action.

Hookem

Matt

ghoti -

You might take a look at article 164 at the BassFishingHomePage

He believes he can make baits hunt by tuning them as perfectly as possible......just another theory behind the hunting phenomena.  

I think there is a difference between a crankbait that really hunts, and one that is tuned to be squirrelly.  A well tuned crank that hunts is far more valuable to me - as an ill-tuned crank will not achieve nearly as much depth or accuracy.  If I want to go by an object in 15' of water that is no bigger than the front seat of my boat, a bait that isn't tuned correctly is not going to cut it.      

I can see various theories on this working.  One of my best hunting baits (a Bagley KB2) I have tuned absolutely perfect and the thing will spontaneously drop it's action and kick out to the side.    

I attached a picture to illustrate.

I agree with you String but I'm not tuning them to be intentionally squirrelly.  I'm tuning them to give the angler more control.  It is awesome to run a crank by a laydown and drop the rod tip (it takes some practice) and crash into the cover.  The ones that hunt unintentionally cant be predicted or controlled.  

A bait that hunts has something wrong with it.  Maybe the balancing weight is set to the side.  Maybe the split ring is hitting a sweet spot when it runs up the eye.  

Just my thoughts.

J

That's an interesting idea, Jasone - - I'm going to give it a try.   I would imagine this would work best with a shallow diving bait (?)

Absolutely.  If the lure goes too deep, you're going to be confined to using the top angle of the line tie.  

J

Are there certain lures that you prefer when using this technique?

Like a manns -1 or something similar?

Any lure that runs shallow, has a line tie off the bill and has wire that is soft enough to bend is a good candidate.  I found this while trying to tune the cranks I make.  

J

Thanks for the illustration.

GK