I've been looking at posts on this website for awhile but have never contributed to a post/made a post of my own. 

So after doing some research on the forums, I haven't been able to find much about this topic. I fish mostly in Illinois and I catch a lot of fish on finesse jigs and small spinnerbaits and I'd like to start throwing small squarebill cranks like kvd 1.0's and bandit 100's. However, with the gear I have now I can't get much distance with them.

Does anyone have a setup that works well for them? What brand and power of rod? What reel? Just looking for ideas!

This website has really been a great source of information for me and I plan on contributing more! Thanks!

Before you go around thinking in purchasing gear you could begin by changing your line.

what are you trowing them on?

Currently a 6'6" medium power BPS crankin' stick with a lew speed spool and 10 or 12 lb seaguar red label fluoro

does the rod seem to be loading up well and you just aren't getting distance out of your reel?

1 minute ago, Scarborough817 said:

does the rod seem to be loading up well and you just aren't getting distance out of your reel?

It loads up ok, not great, but ok. I'd say the reel could be holding me back more so than the rod. 

Maybe I should be asking more about reel suggestions than rod?

Just now, nschndr said:

It loads up ok, not great, but ok. I'd say the reel could be holding me back more so than the rod. 

Maybe I should be asking more about reel suggestions than rod?

for me i found that backing the reel with braid has helped immensely with casting distance 

3 minutes ago, Scarborough817 said:

for me i found that backing the reel with braid has helped immensely with casting distance 

Might be worth a try. So in a situation like I'm talking about, fishing with small crankbaits, would you tie a fluoro leader a few feet long? Or would the braid only serve as backing and not leave the spool when making medium length casts to cover?

2 minutes ago, nschndr said:

Might be worth a try. So in a situation like I'm talking about, fishing with small crankbaits, would you tie a fluoro leader a few feet long? Or would the braid only serve as backing and not leave the spool when making medium length casts to cover?

for me it never leaves the spool but there are people who do what you are talking about and they seem to like it

Spinning gear

I fish those same baits often and can cast them just fine on my normal cranking gear, but I generally opt to throw them on spinning gear and 8lb test instead, especially the 1.0. 

I can throw the bandit 100 decently with my Curado 200E5, a 7' M BPS Crankin' Stick, and 10 pound original stren. The KVD 100 doesn't get quite enough distance on casting gear, you really need spinning gear for it. It launches well on a 7', M action cranking type spinning rod and six or eight pound test mono

14 hours ago, Scarborough817 said:

for me i found that backing the reel with braid has helped immensely with casting distance 

How ? does it make the spool lighter ?

5 hours ago, scaleface said:

How ? dose it make the spool lighter ?

I don't know really I just listen to the pros 

I'd opt for about a 6'6'' medium spinning rod with the spinning reel of your choice loaded with 8lb mono.

I fish small cranks on spinning gear and my typical setup is a 7'2" Phenix M1 Medium-Extra Fast rod, with a Shimano 2500 sized reel with 15-20lb braid.  I don't think I rely on the rod loading as much as getting a good whip/snap of the wrist to fling the crankbait out.  Also having a full spool helps a lot with getting more distance.  I can't speak much for throwing small crankbaits on casting gear because I tried that and got too many bird nests.

I will toss small crankbaits on spinning gear as well, using mono line too. The lighter crankbaits will either require a spinning setup, or a quality finesse casting reel, and even with this reel,. some small cranks may still not cast as far as you may require.

6'6"-7' ML spinning with 15# braid and a 8-10# mono or flouro leader

Old greenie curado 51e with a quality 8lb mono & a decent meduim moderate rod will cast a SK 1.0 pretty darn good.

pretty sure a new curado 70, 71 will do the same thing.

 

Enigma Phenom Titanium 7'2" Med Lt Spinning Rod, Shimano Stradic CI4+ Spinning Reels Model STCI43000FA, Berkley Nanofil Line Low-Vis Green Berkley Nanofil Line Low-Vis Green 17lb 150yd

NanoFil Diameter (in) Diameter (mm)

 

17lb

.010

.254

This set up will cast small crankbaits and small finesse jigs great. Plus use a two handed cast with your hands over your head when you cast. Your lure casting distance will increase by 20% or more.

I fish on the fox in the northwest subs and use the kvd 1.5 I usually cast them out 20-30 feet with great results.

On 11/7/2016 at 10:16 PM, Raul said:

Before you go around thinking in purchasing gear you could begin by changing your line.

lighter line will get you increased casting distance and greater depth (if that is a goal).

Here's what I'm throwing my lightweight cranks on:

Shimano Stile 5.8:1
Shimano Crucial 7' M-Mod
12 Sniper FC

I have no problem throwing lightweight cranks like a #6 Shad Rap on this setup.

Welcome aboard.

The crankbaits you referenced are both 1/4 oz models with moderate wind resistance and that is the issue. I use a Loomis popping rod to cast crank baits from 1/4 to 1/2 oz using a bait casting reel with 10 lb Big Game mono.

Most crank bait rods have too stiff upper rod section to properly launch the 1/4 crankbaits. The PR 844C or 845C GL2 series Loomis rod will work with your reel. This is a very universal rod that I use for structure spoons 1/2-1 oz, smaller spinnerbaits, poppers and lighter weight crankbaits.

The popping rod is unique with the moderate upper 1/3 rd and powerful lower section to control hard fighting big fish. I have caught spoon bass on this rod to 9 lbs+ and 11 lb bass on a Splash-It popper, along with several big stripers to give you some idea how universal this rod is.

Tom

 

As most of the Shad Rap (#5 & #7) fishermen will tell you, there are some awesome set-ups for casting small cranks on spinning gear. You get great distance, decent cast control if you feather the line, and excellent line-lure performance (some small cranks perform much better on light line). You may know all of this already and still not like spinning gear. I hope you will experiment without dismissing the idea though. I love my bait casters but I have some AWESOME Daiwa and Shimano spinning reels that I use with small cranks and I would never put those lures back on bait casters. I have tried Shimano Curados, Citicas, high-end Quantums, Abu's, and even my awesome Daiwa Zillion, but none handle those little cranks like a good quality spinning reel. You can even use light braid (15-20 lb.) on those spinning reels for cranks and they perform very well. If you are a fluoro-only guy, that Seaguar InvizX is incredible on spinning gear. Everyone has their own preferences and that's cool, but I do hope you will give the spinning option a try. Best of luck to you.

 

By the way, I caught my PB (9 lb3oz LM bass on 6lb. test Trilene XL mono on a Shimano Symetre Spinning reel. Just a bit of anecdotal evidence. God bless!