What are some of your go to crankbaits and favorite colors?
Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap - Chartruese Shiner and Chrome Blue
Rapala DT - Perch or Bluegill colors
Rapala Shad Rap - Any natural looking baitfish color
Storm Wiggle Wart - Any craw color
Mann's Baby 1- - I haven't found a color that doesn't work for this bait
All depends on where in the water column I want to target. Given that I'm a Rapala fan, my go-to cranks are
Jointed Shallow Shad-Rap
DT-4
DT-6
Original Shad-Rap
Lipless Rattlin' Rap
Colors: Mostly natural - baby bass, bluegill, crawdad, pumpkinseed, perch. Though I do have a couple others - firetiger and bleeding olive shiner.
Berkley Warpig (Gilly or Perch color)
Berkley Pitbull/Squarebull (Gilly or Chartruse/Black color)
Rebel Bluegill (Natural or Albino)
Strike King Redeye Shad
wiGGGGGLeeeee WART!
Normans Deep Little N
Anything from 6th Sense (thank you A-jay for introducing me to the Curve 55)
Luhr Jensen Speed Trap
Yo Zuri Rattlin Vibe
Strike King KVD Shallow and 1.5
Most of my colors are browns, craws, greens, bluegill-perch with a smattering of reds and shads thrown in.
DT-6 Demon. Solid producer
SK Squarebills, mostly craw colors to bounce off stumps and trees in the river. Change them junk hooks out though
Lipped:
Sixth Sense Curve 55
Berkley Bad Shad
Strike King 3XD, 5XD
Sixth Sense Cloud 9 - size C6 or C10
Lipless:
Strike King Red Eye Shad
Lucky Craft LV 500
Berkley Warpig
Sebile Flatt Shad
Lipless:
Red Eye Shad in Sexy Shad, 1/4oz-1/2oz
Rat-L-Trap in Perch, 1/4oz
Squarebill:
KVD 1.5, Black/Chart and Delta Red
KVD 2.5, Gizzard Shad
KVD Sexy Shad 1.5 square bill with rattles is at the top of the list.
Baby 1- gold or chrome.
Rattletrap--gold,chrome or red.
Bomber square bill--any and all colors.
I have good luck with the lipless lucky crafts
From top to bottom and then some;
Mann's Baby 1-
Norman Thin-N Norman Fat Boy
SK 1.5 Flat Side
KVD Silent Deep Square Bill
Fat free Shad Deep Little N
Norman DD14
Norman DD22
SK Red Eye Shad
Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap-Any of the chromes
Spro Fat John Squarebill -Cell Mate or Spring Craw
Spro Little John and Little John MD -Cell Mate,Rootbeer Chartreuse or Fire Craw
Spro Rockcrawler -Phantom brown or green
Rebel deep wee r
Rebel wee r
Rebel deep teeny r
Rebel teeny r
On occasion Norman deep baby n
Mann’s 1 minus - brown craw
Mann’s baby 1 minus - gray ghost, fire shad, and brown craw.
Cordell big o - smokey joe
Cordell super spot - copper craw, chrome w/ blue back.
Rat-L-Trap - chrome w/ blue back, gold w/ black back, smokey joe, orange crawdad.
Top 5 for the past decade:
LC RC 1.5
Bandit 100 or 200
Rebel Deep Wee-R
Mann's Baby 1-
SK 5 series silent
Allen
Rogers Big Jim
Rapala Fat Raps
Storm Wiggle Warts
Rapala Crankin Raps
Rebel Deep Wee R's
Bomber Model A's'
Norman Deep Little N's
Berkely Dredgers
Strike King Red Eye Shads
Luhr Jensen Speed Traps
Lucky Craft BDS 3&4’s
Hard to beat a bandit. In red craw or chartreuse rootbeer
Lucky Craft RC 1.5 and 2.5
Zoom WEC E1, Wobbler, Hickey
XCalibur XCS 100 and 200
Lucky Craft Fat BDS 1 and 2
Spro Rk Crawler 55
Megabass SM X Spriggan
Bandit 100 and 200-Mistake
Strike King 1.5-River Minnow, Green Gizzard Shad
Strike King HTC 1.5-Blue Gizzard Shad
Strike King 5XD and 6XD-Green Gizzard Shad
Wiggle Wart-craw colors
Strike King RES 2 Tap-Rayburn Red, Chrome Black, Green Gizzard Shad
Shad Rap #5- bluegill, crawdad, silver/black
I have waaaaay too many SPRO cranks to list. My absolute favorite is an Original Little John in Cell Mate (computer chip bill). It absolutely whacks everything that swims in St Clair when we go in late May.
On 4/4/2019 at 3:05 AM, MN Fisher said:All depends on where in the water column I want to target. Given that I'm a Rapala fan, my go-to cranks are
Jointed Shallow Shad-Rap
DT-4
DT-6
Original Shad-Rap
Lipless Rattlin' Rap
Colors: Mostly natural - baby bass, bluegill, crawdad, pumpkinseed, perch. Though I do have a couple others - firetiger and bleeding olive shiner.
I love the DT series from rapala.
Strike King 1.5 Squarebill-- perch and bluegill
Rapala DT 10 -- Bluegill
Rattletrap--Red Craw
By far on the lakes I fish the Squarebill just seems to be the one that they can't resist all year round. So I don't really stray from it very often.
dis
dat
and da udda ting
if i told ya'll............I'd have to kill ya'll!
On 4/4/2019 at 2:54 AM, Lucas Cooper said:What are some of your go to crankbaits and favorite colors?
A-Jay
Now that you have a list that includes almost every crankbait currently being sold, what will you do with it? Mr. Bait Monkey says, "Buy them all"
One of the most effective and versatile here in MI is one mentioned a lot already, the Rapala DT 6. The Live River Shad color will take anything that swims around here.
Understand that I carry LOTS of cranks in the boat, including the vast majority of stuff that's been mentioned so far, but when I decide I'm going to throw cranks, unless I've gotten information that I trust, I'm going to lead off with a Timber Tiger. Depth is a variable, so it will either be a DC16 or a DC13 or DC 8 or 5 or 4, but almost always I lead off with a Timber Tiger. I throw other brands but not that much.
There are two cranks that I pull out in an emergency to prevent a skunk:
1. Any reputable lipless (Red Eye, Rat-L-Trap, Cotton Cordell) in red craw (spring) or shad (summer/fall).
2. Original Shad Rap in silver size 6 or 7.
I can count on one hand the number of times these have failed me in an emergency skunk situation. Not including cold, muddy water. There is nothing (other than dynamite) that can fix cold, muddy water.
They all catch fish and they're all a favorite of someones depending on who you ask! Find a brand that's easy to find in your area in case you ever need replacements and keep your color choice to 3-4 colors - something natural (sexy shad, shad, natural shad), something red, something obnoxiously bright, and something dark.
LC LV 500
Strike King KVD Squarebill 1.5 and 2.5 - Black Back/Chartreuse, Chrome Sexy Shad, and Natural Shad.
Rapala DT 6 & 10 - Dark Brown Crawdad, Helsinki Shad, and Firetiger.
Strike King 5XD - Black Back/Chartreuse
Rapala Shad Rap 05 - Dark Brown Crawdad
Pretty simple - nothing fancy
A little on the expensive side for a lipless bait but a Jackal TN 60 or 70 whichever the smaller size is. It casts like a missle.
90% of my cranking boxes are filled with 6th sense, DT’s and Spro. The other 10% doesn’t get thrown much.
Bandit 100, 200, 300 in Tenn Shad, Baby Bass, or Chart. Crawfish.
Used to be a big fan of the Strike King line...KVD square bill's, Red Eye Shad's, all the XD's....then I got sick of changing crap hooks out of the box, culling 1/3 of the baits I bought because of defects right out of the package, mystery paint schemes, etc...
Switched to what some would call better stuff a few seasons ago and have been happy with these:
Lucky Craft LC 1.5 and 2.5 Square bill's
Spro Fat Poppa's...both deep and shallow
Spro Little and Fat Johns...both deep and shallow
Spro, Jackall, and Damiki lipless cranks
Spro Rk Crawlers
ima japan beast hunter, bill lowen square bill, suspending lipless cranks, roumba, and shaker
I don't have a favorite color...but have lots of bluegill, perch, craw, and shad patterns.
Fish a lot of square bills and these top three have caught me the most LMB:
Livetarget Threadfin Shad Squarebill Baitball Series (Pearl Gray)
Lucky Craft LC 1.5 (Black Moss and any of the bluegill colors)
Manns Baby One-Minus (Fire Shad Crystaglow)
Strike King 6xd and 10 xd in Citrus Shad & Delta Craw.
Rattle Trap 1/4oz Gold black with half the paint missing.
I'll never buy another Rapala DT I've had at least 20 that the paints all cracked up from just sitting in the box.