As the title states , what is your current favorite favorite shallow 1.5 shallow diving (i.e. approx 2' ~ 4')  crank bait and why do you favor it ?...  6th sense , Bill Lowen Ima , Lucky Craft , Strike King , Xcite and I'm sure others are in about the same price range (i.e. <$9.00 ea.) or even lower if you consider H2O cranks  ... Your thoughts and experiences ?

Luhr Jensen speed trap and lucky craft RTO 1.5

4 minutes ago, smallieking said:

Luhr Jensen speed trap and lucky craft RTO 1.5

Thanks smallieking : Curious if you typically have a bluegill color and a shad color on hand for using shallow diving cranks in PA. lakes or choose colors on your shallow diving cranks using different criteria ?

Spro baby John

RC 1.5 in copper perch works everywhere.

 

Allen

Since Storm stopped making sub-warts it is a Mann's one minus.

Megabass s-crankz.They're not less than 9 dollars but they flat out catch fish when nothing else will.

 

Throw them with 30 lb braid and a piece of 7 foot 20 lb trilene xt leader connected via fg knot cause pikes seem to love them too.

 

I've had one down the throat of a pike before and it didn't cut the mono

 

I have had good luck with phantom and brown metallic colors.

Xcalibur xcs100s &

LC RTOs

1 hour ago, Bankbeater said:

Since Storm stopped making sub-warts it is a Mann's one minus.

 

I still have a few of those storm subwarts and they are dynamite in the river for smallmouth.  I wish they still made them.  I check on ebay every once in a while and they sell the 2 inch version for like $25-$30 bucks EACH.  I last bought some years ago for $4.99 each.  Wish I'd bought more...

 

The wobbling side to side action is unlike any other lure I've seen.  Plus they float and only go about 6 inches deep even when you retrieve them really fast.  Is that Mann One Minus you speak of similar?  I haven't found a great replacement.  The closest one I've found is the Bomber Shallow A so far.

1 hour ago, Bankbeater said:

Since Storm stopped making sub-warts it is a Mann's one minus.

Mine too! Caught my PB on one (avatar) 

Sleeper here...Bomber Square A.  For me, they have outperformed cranks that are much more spendy.  The 1 5/8" version is dynamite on river smallmouth.

6 hours ago, smallieking said:

Luhr Jensen speed trap 

Speed trap no doubt!!!! Gotta have em!!!

4 hours ago, Burrows said:

Xcalibur xcs100s &

LC RTOs

I bet that bottom one would work better without the rubber bands on it.

 

Allen

The Strike King 1.5 in River Minnow or Green Gizzard Shad have been my best in the past. The Booyah Flex II has been really nice too. I really like how well it cast, even in a stiff wind, which is always a big bonus fishing here. 

Hard to beat a strike king 1.5

 

Good paint, good colors, good price, GREAT deflection and hunting action.

OP here : Of the shallow diving cranks currently available , do you favor mostly shad colors for Fall shallow cranking OR do you favor other colors such as craw and bluegill colors in the Fall ?

Bomber Square A down to about 3-ish feet and KVD 1.5 if I need to go a little deeper or just want to make a longer cast. May need to broaden my squarebill horizons though since my favorite Square A color is discontinued.

 

I usually go with shad and crawfish color oriented in fall for crankbaits.

I like the 1.5 obviously, can't beat them for the price.

 

 

22 hours ago, DSTN said:

Bomber Square A down to about 3-ish feet and KVD 1.5 if I need to go a little deeper or just want to make a longer cast. May need to broaden my squarebill horizons though since my favorite Square A color is discontinued.

 

I usually go with shad and crawfish color oriented in fall for crankbaits.

*Agreed - mostly shad colors and craw brown colors are what I would lean towards ... Also I suppose you could divide Fall into : "Early Fall" and "Late Fall" tactics .

6th sense crush 50x, They come stock with good hooks. I like the strike king 1.5's but the hooks are not good.

It used to be SK KVD 1.5's (and 2.5's), but the sloppy inconsistent paint jobs, poor attention to quality control, and poor hooks out of the package led me to all but stop using them a year or so ago.

 

I have replaced them with Lucky Craft LC 1.5's/2.5's, Berkley Squarebulls, Spro Little/Fat John series, and the Spro Fat Poppa 55's and 70's...(the Spro's are more than your under $10 goal but are worth it). Going forward, I will probably only buy Spro's and Lucky Craft, the Berkley's are nice, but I just don't have the confidence in them that I do the other two brands.

 

All of the above are ready to go out of the package, and the LC's and Spro's attention to deatail and QC is second to none. By the time you swap the hooks out on a SK crank your at more $$ than a LC, and to me, that don't make sense.

SPRO little John and Bill Lewis Echo 1.75 are my favorite squarebills

S-Cranks hands down. They are worth the coin.

I really like the crush 50 and what ever these are.

3 hours ago, Columbia Craw said:

I really like the crush 50 and what ever these are.

Speed traps those are a must have in the spring and fall.