FLB, Is there a correct path for cranks?  i.e. parallel or perpendicular to shore, and at what times?  thanks.

Anytime you are fishing parallel to the shoreline, more than likely you are just hitting one depth through the whole retrieve. Cranking parallel should be done after you've established the depth the fish are holding at. Once you figure out the fishes depth you can really hone in and just fish THAT depth with the appropriate crankbait.

To figure out their depth, the easiest way to do it is by quartering a stretch of bank. Put your boat parallel with the bank, say over 20ft of water. You want to throw ahead of the boat as far as you can but as close to the bank as you can get it. You'll be reeling at an angle that is between parallel and perpendicular to the bank. It's called quartering. Thats how most of the seaching with a crankbait begins. Once you start getting bit you will realize where the fish are holding and you can narrow it down to just that area/depth. Thats when you change your crank to match that depth.

Crankin' a point is a bit different. A point that you are not familiar with, in my opinion, should FIRST be fished perpendicular straight down the middle from shallow to deep. That is the 'meat' of the spot unless there is brush or rockpiles somehere along the sides of it. If you know where brush or rock is you can just go straight to that stuff but if you don't, you've got to move around the point, fan-casting the entire area until you get bit and figure out something.

Keep in mind any current or channels that are near points. If they are pulling water, the fish may be on top or on the downstream side of the point. When not pulling water, they could be anywhere around it, just roaming. I feel like the very best points in any body of water are ones that dump into the main river channel (on the main lake) and have some type of cover on them whether it be rock, wood, grass, tires or just anything a bass can hide in.  

Crankbaits are fun to fish but you just cant go out and throw & reel them blind and expect to clean house.

Thanks for the education, and sorry for the off topic post.