After reading some post and articles on crank baits I decided to give it a try. I went a local bait shop and they had Lucky Crafts on sale for $10.00. I bought a CB200 ghost minnow. It works great! I caught 2 fish over 6 lbs. each. Any other brand or styles I should try?

Thanks Daniel

sounds like you should get some more of those  

I bought a Manns Baby Minus crankbait for shallow water cranking today . I took it out and had 4 strikes in  about 15 minutes of fishing it one bass was a nice one 5 pounds or better . I liked the action and rattle sound of the lure , the only problem was the hooks that came on it were dull so I need to change them .

The Baby Minus is a good nighttime  as well I caught 17 bass between 12:30 and 2 this morning here are a few pics

A spawned out female

the average size of the night

inhaled

I'm having a great time with the Megabass Cyclone this year.  Pricey, but it has caught me fish every time I've used it.  You can get them on Ebay for about $14 bucks, some up to $!8 or $19...

If you are just starting out, and can't afford more lucky crafts or megabass, go and buy four or five Bandit 100s and 200s.  They were my go to crankbait last year, and I've done alright this year on them too.  You can't go wrong with a Bandit, they are great little cranks.

Choosing crankbaits can be difficult because there are so many choices. However, countless brands and styles work very well. Chances are if you get a few of any decent brand that cover the depths you want to fish, you'll be all right.

Luhr Jensen Speed Trap is one of my all time favorites.  I like the craw finish in 1/4 oz the best.

Thanks for all of the good input. Looks like I will start buying some crankbaits. I have always just fished plastic worms, this year I have tried new things and it has gave even more enjoyment to fishing,

Thanks Daniel

How do you guys usually fish baits like the devil horse, torpedos, baby torpedos, and such?  Pause-retreives, or continuous retrieves?  erratic?

The baits with 2 props, one prop, etc. make me think they'd work as almost like a buzzbait and also twitch-pause-twitch pause..  Am I way off base on that one?

How do you guys usually fish baits like the devil horse, torpedos, baby torpedos, and such?  Pause-retreives, or continuous retrieves?  erratic?

I fish torpedos every way you list.  Depends on how the fish want it that day.  I will also walk the dog with the bigger torpedos,  (it works with these baits, not as good as others though) the little ones are too light.  My favorite way to catch them is with a more or less steady retrieve, with a ripping/slashing motion ever so often.  That way works best near lily pads for me.  I found out about this retrieve when I got hung up on a pad and ripped the bait off the pad angrily with a leaf sized chunk of pad on the lure. I began reeling really fast to get it out of the water, de-leaf it and recast.  I caught a nice 2+ pounder before I could get it all the way in and recast.  I've caught fish that way ever since on the torpedo.

JEEZ! that last fish almost started digesting that thing! I like a variety of cranks. I have a bunch of Rapala's DT series. I also like Norman cranks. they aren't too pricey and they work pretty well.

How do you guys usually fish baits like the devil horse, torpedos, baby torpedos, and such?  Pause-retreives, or continuous retrieves?  erratic?

I fish torpedos every way you list.  Depends on how the fish want it that day.  I will also walk the dog with the bigger torpedos,  (it works with these baits, not as good as others though) the little ones are too light.  My favorite way to catch them is with a more or less steady retrieve, with a ripping/slashing motion ever so often.  That way works best near lily pads for me.  I found out about this retrieve when I got hung up on a pad and ripped the bait off the pad angrily with a leaf sized chunk of pad on the lure. I began reeling really fast to get it out of the water, de-leaf it and recast.  I caught a nice 2+ pounder before I could get it all the way in and recast.  I've caught fish that way ever since on the torpedo.

Good to know.  I was thinking if buzzbaits get strikes so well, the prop-baits should do pretty well ripped across the water.  

I agree with everyone here.  I also use Rapala's a lot and love them ... i like the baby bass color you just can not go wrong with baby bass.  Crawfish is also another MUST.  

I also like Bandit's either the 200's or 300 series.  

Best of luck to ya

SteveL

Hey BK.  I must say I find your avatar very disturbing.   I know selective harvest and all that, but do you have a reasonable explanation for killing all those bass?

:'(

Yeah Ceph I do .

The bass in the lake I fish are over populated ( I think)if you look at the first pic above you will see what I mean. Or in the skinny bass topic in General bass fishing

They appear to be starved to death any suggestions would be helpful as far as to why the bass are so skinny in my lake . :-?

All I know is they are over populated and there seems to be no forage fish in my lake . I cannot catch a bluegill or shiner at all in my lake.

So I like to eat fish as well as my girlfriend does so we catch a limit every couple weeks to eat.

BTW I dont keep the largest females . And dont keep them all , Its nothing to catch 10 bass per hour here. I caught 17 in just over an hour the othernight and didnt keep any .

Well alright then.  I am not an expert but, I think you are on the right track.  I have heard that you can either remove the small or skinny ones as you are doing or increase the forage base to improve bass health.  From what I know, you can fertilize the water and/or supply feed to help the existing baitfish or add some shad, fatheads, etc. to increase the food supply.  You might research the 'net or check out some books or videos to help you.  Also, I didn't know it was your lake so I guess it's none of my business.  Thanks for being so kind in your reply to my accusation and I hope you figure things out.  Good luck.

I for one don't believe if every fisherman keeps a limit of bass they population would go down.  I love to eat bass but I also love to catch and release.  

Im from upstate NY and i fish a lot of rivers where bass come and go... ill keep a limit there along with some northern pike and walleye's.  I have recently been doing a lot of fishing while here in NC and i have not kept a fish yet.  I have released everything... and i must tell ya im dieing for a good fish feed.  

SteveL

do you have a reasonable explanation for killing all those bass?

:'(

I don't believe BK owes you any kind of explanation for doing something completely legal, and his his case (something do you didn't bother to inquire about privately before attempting to interrogate him publicly) completely ethical.      

Well its all ok ,Apology accepted  .  

Now back to crankbaits topic  

(

I don't believe BK owes you any kind of explanation for doing something completely legal, and his his case (something do you didn't bother to inquire about privately before attempting to interrogate him publicly) completely ethical.      

1)  I had already backpedalled before you decided to butt in.

2)  I know I wasn't the only one who was thinking this so I gave him a chance to redeem himself publicly.

3)  Out of respect for this forum and the rules of polite behavior established here, I will refrain from responding in the manner you so obviously wish to elicit.

(

I don't believe BK owes you any kind of explanation for doing something completely legal, and his his case (something do you didn't bother to inquire about privately before attempting to interrogate him publicly) completely ethical.      

3)  Out of respect for this forum and the rules of polite behavior established here, I will refrain from responding in the manner you so obviously wish to elicit.

My respect for this forum and it's members, as well as "polite" behavior is why I responded - - as I take strong offense to seeing a fellow sportsman's character questioned in public fashion - something I feel is in very poor taste.    I, however, hadn't read your response before posting -- although that doesn't change the way I feel about the original post or it's condescending nature, I will apologize for not noting your reply.  

Can we please get back to the crank baits.  Everyone shares good points but everyone made right with eachother so lets just move on.  I am new to cranks so I am enjoying the read about them.  Thanks guys.

Alex

I love the crankbaits!!  Probably my favorite way to catch fish......without getting too long winded I'll just list a few that I dig...

Very Deep (up to a true 20'):

Competition Cedars 4500 Long Reach

Sisson P-20

Deep (up to 15'):

Competition Cedars 4400

Bomber 3/4 oz. Fat Free Shad

Catching Concepts DC2

Poe's 400

Megabass Deep-X 200

Med / Deep

Poe's 300

Poe's RC3

Bomber 1/2oz. Fat Free Shad

Storm Wiggle Wart (go-to bait for a crawfish pattern)

Bomber Flat A and 7A

Rapala Shad Raps

Bandit 300

Shallow

Sisson Slim Willie

Lucky Craft RC 1.5

Bomber Shallow Flat-A

Catching Concepts FPC2

D-Bait standard

Bagley Killr B2

Zoom WEC Z-Flat

I wanna go on and on because there are so many that do the job - and on some days some will work better than others.  It just takes a lot of experimentation and time with them to get a feel for what you like and what works best in your waters.