Can I get some recommendations on early season cranks for smallies? Wanted to try a few new ones this spring so let's hear what you have to say. Thanks.

I'm throwing a jerkbait for smallies in spring most of the time but post spawn fish are spread out and so one must cover water and for that I'm using the Rapala shad rap, eithera #5 or #7 and if I'm around wood or rocks it is a Rapala DT Flat 7, I use it as a finesse crank when the bite is tough but it also works great when using it like a square bill. The DT Flat 3 is my secret square bill, it doesn't have the wide wobble of the normal square bills, instead it tracks straight but with a very tight shimmy that gets the attention of fish suffering from lockjaw.

Wiggle Wart is a good one for smallies. I also have alot of luck with the #5 shad raps in crawfish color.

Husky Jerk, X-Rap, Pointer, Rogue. I don't move up to the steady retrieved cranks until the water warms a bit.

I had some good results with a KVS 1.5 chartreuse black back today

Wiggle Wart is a good one for smallies. I also have alot of luck with the #5 shad raps in crawfish color.

X2

I have a pair of Luhr-Jensen Hot Lips cranks in brown craw/orange that murdered Buffalo River smallmouth almost year-round. It was almost like cheating somehow.

I will mix it up. Yo-Zuri Drum, 1/4 oz. Hot Lips, Yo-Zuri Hard Core, Normans DLN, Brads Wiggler. Crawfish patterns will dominate.

On the lake I fish the bandit crank in 200 or 300 in craw color work very good for SM and will catch LM also.

There's a lure out there that hardly ever gets talked about and that's the Rapala Countdown. It'll catch anything that will hit an artificial and smallies are no exception.

I have had success on the private lake i fish on with a xcalibur lipless xr50 or 75 in either black and gold or gold silver. In the past 2 years I've caught good smallies in early spring really slow rolling these. They have action as they drop and produce a lot of vibration when you retrieve and really thump when you slow roll.

Amongst the others listed, i've had decent success with rapala rattlin raps and other rattle baits on prespawn smallies.

Wiggle Wart is a good one for smallies. I also have alot of luck with the #5 shad raps in crawfish color.

X3^ Along with Bandit 200 series in brown craw or something that looks like a bluegill.

The other crank that's worked well for me is lipless cranks in chrome w/blue or black back.

Tom

I was on one of our local rivers Friday afternoon and I was slamming the smallies on a KVD 1.5 in chartreuse black back.