i usually only fish worms and beetle spins can i have some suggestions on crankbaits please.

go catch the big ones

check out the articles at the top of the page... i was browsing through them at work today and found them really helpful.... i think you will find them more useful than any advice I could possibly give... welcome aboard and good luck on the water!

Definately check out the articles that that Bass Resource has to offer, they will teach you almost everything you need to know about crankbait fishing.

As far as personal favorites for Lipped Cranks:

Strike King Series: Great quality and inexpensive (compared to other brands) for starting out cranking since you might lose one occasionally.

Favorite Lipless

Bill Lewis Rattle Traps: Inexpensive and I love'm, enough said!

I would go out and buy a few different brands and you will figure what you like the best!

Welcome to the site & Good Luck!

Hawg Fan

Favorite lipless baits:

Rat-L-Traps and Cordell Super Spots

Favorite lipped baits:

Mann's 1-minus

Bandit

Cordell Big-O

To catch fish on crankbaits, you need to have the crankbait hit something,  pause, then repeat. I love to have my cranks bounce off of rocks, tree limbs, stone walls, and anything on the bottom. The pause is when the Bass usually nail them as they think it's a wounded bait fish. If you're not bouncing them off of structure, vary the direction and retrieve speed, as well as making sure that you pause the crank every so often.  Also work them over the tops of weeds, and as soon as you feel the weeds, pause, let the crank start to float towards the surface, then crank and repeat.  

I've been using cranks extensively since my first year of fishing and countless brands are effective. I'd start off with a few well-known brands and make sure what you get matches the depth you want to fish.

I wouldn't worry much about color. Something light and not too loud, such as shad or bluegill pattern, and something louder, such as firetiger, will do you fine.

I have a few brands that I use, but they're no better than many others, so I won't recommend anything specific.

As far as brands go, I really have a lot of confidence in the Rapala DT series. They all run true right out of the package, and are consistent from

lure to lure.  Their line of DT cranks are really extensive to handle most situations.