I am looking for a crankbait rod that will handle bigger baits. I will be using this rod to crank from 10' to 18'.  I have enough saved to buy anywhere from low end to high end, but is it worth the extra $ for a high end cranking rod?  What brand,length, and action do you guys suggest?  ;D

IMHO a high-end crankbait rod isn't necessary.  The bass pro crankin sticks are good crankbait rods and you can get them on sale for like $40 sometimes.  However, once I bought my first high-end rod I knew I was in trouble.  I will never go back to the cheap stuff.  It just makes fishing more pleasurable for me.  Back to your question though, right now I use a crucial 7' MH CB rod and I love it.  It's great for shallow to medium cranks.  It handles deep cranks too but I can't get the distance I want out of the cast.  So I'm waiting for the cumara 7'11 crankbait rod to come out in the spring.  It looks awesome for deep cranking.  I think it cost about $240.

I had 2 Browning Sideflex. One 6'6" and one 7'. I replaced the 6'6" with a loomis and I love it, but it will not handle the bigger baits. It is good for the shallow to medium.

The Lucky Craft rods on Tackle Warehouses site look very good, indeed.  They were highly regarded by the Tackle Tour folks, too.

G Loomis CBR845 is by far the best crankbait rod I have used and well worth the money. Its' MSRP is expensive, but I have seen several go for $160-200 on various forums and fleabay. Might look at a St. Croix avid 70MHM as well. I was down to these two and picked the Loomis.

Does the CBR845 handle the bigger cranks good?. I have the CBR843 and it is great for shallow. Also what about the 7' length? Is that a long enough rod to get long casts and try to get baits down deep?

Does the CBR845 handle the bigger cranks good?. I have the CBR843 and it is great for shallow. Also what about the 7' length? Is that a long enough rod to get long casts and try to get baits down deep?

I love the CBR 845 for "mid" diving cranks - DT 10, Deep Little N, etc.  But it isn't a great DD22, DT 20/16, Hot Lips rod.  It depends on what kind of deep cranks you're looking to throw and if you're willing to buy a rod that is technique specific for deep cranks.  The blank on the CBR 847 is great for the larger cranks, but the handle and the rod are both a bit short.  I'm interested to see some of the new Loomis deep flex crankbait rods - they may actually have one in there that will work well for the big deep cranks.  Until then, I use the Powell 806CB as a dedicated deep crank stick.  It's 8' and heavy power with a reasonably moderate action and does a great job for the biggest, nastiest deep cranking you'll want to do... 8-)

Look around, there are a ton of topics concerning crankbait rod selection.

The Lamiglas SR705R is THE BOMB!

This is the perfect rod for deep divers

and heavy treble hook lures. I have mine

matched with a CTE200GT.

8-)

The Lucky Craft rods on Tackle Warehouses site look very good, indeed. They were highly regarded by the Tackle Tour folks, too.

This is going to be my suggestion. I have a 7'mh that I got about a month or so ago and really like the rod.  Have it paired with a curado e5 and fish Norman deep little n's, strike king series 5-6, fat free shads, and the occational dd22.  Haven't had trouble fishing any of these baits.  They just came ou with a 7'6'' h if you are looking for a longer rod.  Also hear good things about the KVD rods.

I have the Loomis CBR843 and the CBR845 and they are very good rods but not good for crankbaits that run deeper than about 15 feet. The CBR847 is only 7' long and I wanted a longer rod, so I ordered a St Croix Legend Tournament 710HM for my deep cranking needs. I avoided the fiberglass rods due to weight. I can't give any feedback on the St Croix since I have not received it yet. But it has been my experience that rods from G. Loomis and St Croix perform well for the intended purpose(JMHO).

The St Croix has a split grip and I'm not sure how I will like it but we'll see. I'm old school but I'll give it a try.