In what situations do you use a crank or a swim bait?

Generally, swimbaits perform better in deeper water. They are somewhat hard to fish shallow. Crankbaits are smaller and smaller baits always outfish bigger baits if numbers are important to you.

In what situations do you use a crank or a swim bait?

It 's not a matter of in which situations you fish one over the other, it 's simply put: what are you after, biguns or average fish ?

Doesn 't mean average fish won 't strike and get caught with a swimbait because they are caught but you are not after them so you can consider them as no catches, they just happened to strike your bait and got caught in the process of you trying to catch a bigun.

On the other hand, in order to fish with swimbaits you need to have gear to fish with them ( rod & reel ), while cranks can be fished with your ordinary gear.

Swimbait? What is a swimbait... a 12" soft plastic trout, or a 3" boot-tailed shad with a built-in weight? Up here in the clear waters of the Detroit area, about the only time i'll use a swimbait is when there are no clouds or wind. I find that rattling cranks just make too much noise under these conditions. I'll try a silent crank first, but usually end up throwing a 4-6" swimbait around the deep weeds. My favorite is a 6" double-jointed Storm whatever they call it. (too many lures on the market to remember all their names).

a crankbait would be a better bait for you. Sometimes numbers are important, no one likes a day with no fish.