I have been looking at crankbaits and have just about lost my mind.

What is a good brand to buy? What are some good colors, size and  depth range should a newbie buy who will be fishing from from the shore.

Thanks

How mcuh are you willing to spend? $4-6, or 7-10 to 10-15-20?

If you are going to be fishing from the shore you might want to concentrate on shallower running cranks due to hang-up issues.  Norman and Bandit make reasonable priced cranks and they catch fish very well.  Invest in a lure retriever, you will need it eventually.

Bomber

Bandit

Rapala

Lucky Craft

Zoom WEC

I would stick with shallow runners to start out with.

The good depth ranges are the depths that you want to fish. The selection of crankbaits out there can be pretty daunting. For openers, I'd get a few from a well-known brand, several of which have already been mentioned here.

I don't consider color near the top of my list, but I'd get two colors to start. One is muted, such as shad or bluegill and the other is louder, such as firetiger.

From shore I'd use shallow baits unless your water isn't the weedy stuff that I normally fish.

Give them a good chance, crankbaits are too good a fish attractor to not have in your arsenal.

I know they are the cheap ones, but I like the bomber and bandit cranks.

There is something about the rattle in the 7a and 6a that the fish in Fl just love.  I use firetiger in stained water and the silver flash or tennesee shad in clear water.

I like Rapala DT-4's and DT-6's.  Also a big fan of the Mann's 1-minus and Waker Elites as well.

Try the DT-3"s. 4's  and 6's

Norman Thin and Mad N

Mann's baby 1-minus and C4 elite

Bomber Model A

My buddy called me today and told me while he was in Dicks they had Rapalas 20% off. There are also about a thousand coupons you can print out to save money there as well.

While I'm constantly looking at new crankbaits, and I'm just getting into the Japan made cranks, I'll allways reserve a front row spot for the Bomber model 6a in brown craw and the redfire craw/w chart. belly in my tackle box. And, the LC moonsault chart. shad gets a special slot also ;D