Thread: Crank Baits

Originally Posted by Eatmorecrappie

I have a question for you crank bait guys. My wife and I just came home from Wal-Mart. I, like I always do go to the hunting and fishing dept. I decided to look for crank baits. I found the Arkie crank baits but they only go to 2 to 6 feet. So my question is what crank baits do you use to go deeper? 10 feet? 20 feet? How deep is too deep to crank bait? Thanks for your help.

We fish cranks from around 4' to 20' depends on depth of fish. Be sure and stay above the fish. Vary the amount of line out to find the sweet spot where the fish are hitting. When we first started pulling I had the tendency to fish to deep.

We started out with mainly 200 and 300 series bandits. They work great but don't discount Arkie's we have caught lots of fish with them this summer. The pink and purple #31 has been one of our best colors. G posted a depth chart for them they run a little different depths than the 300 series Bandits. I think Scott just painted and sent in several new color combinations to Arkie this week so expect a lot of new colors soon.

We also use Flicker Shad #5 and #7's, Salmo Hornets, Wiggle Warts and a a couple other secret weapons that Scott is custom painting for us now. Somedays fish just seem to hit one swim action over another and sometimes they want lots of rattle or noise and other days they won't hit the louder cranks as well. I'm supposed to be getting some of the Strike King cranks to try out.

Steve has already mentioned that you can take a tadpole weight and run any size crank at the depth that you want. The tadpoles have their own depth charts. This chart is available on the Precision Trolling phone app just like any crankbait that you can ever want to fish. If you want to push cranks ScottV on the MS board sells a really nice rig and he sends a depth chart with your order. You can also use the smaller cranks and get them down to the depths that you want with Scott's weights.

Good luck and and get ready to drop some bucks. Pulling cranks is a lot of fun and very addictive. I have been buying cranks for about 4 years now and just filled my 3rd 120 unit Special Mate crank box. My wife and I spider rig, long line troll, single pole and pull cranks. Pulling cranks in the summer has became her favorite way to crappie fish. I still love all of them but pulling cranks is a blast.

Originally Posted by luvpt

That is what tadpoles and snap weights are for....learn to use 'em. You can make anything go deeper but it is hard to make a deep diving bait go shallow. If I were to have a choice of only buying 100's or 300's I would take the 100's every time. Much more versatile with better action/wobble and you can put them at ANY depth you want with practice.

Steve,

Are you mainly using the #1 tadpoles? That is what we use but I have read where others are using the heavier ones. I just didn't see the need for anything above the #1 for the depths that we fish.

Originally Posted by SlabMeister

Steve,

Are you mainly using the #1 tadpoles? That is what we use but I have read where others are using the heavier ones. I just didn't see the need for anything above the #1 for the depths that we fish.

Yes, the #1's are the ones to use.....they work just fine and if using boards they are not so heavy as to put too much angle on them.

Originally Posted by SlabMeister

Steve,

Are you mainly using the #1 tadpoles? That is what we use but I have read where others are using the heavier ones. I just didn't see the need for anything above the #1 for the depths that we fish.

Yes, the #1's are the ones to use.....they work just fine and if using boards they are not so heavy as to put too much angle on them. FYI, we always use the quick release's (OR-10 tow and OR-16 drag) on the tadpoles simply for the convenience of being able to snap them on and off.

Originally Posted by luvpt

Yes, the #1's are the ones to use.....they work just fine and if using boards they are not so heavy as to put too much angle on them. FYI, we always use the quick release's (OR-10 tow and OR-16 drag) on the tadpoles simply for the convenience of being able to snap them on and off.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by luvpt

Yes, the #1's are the ones to use.....they work just fine and if using boards they are not so heavy as to put too much angle on them. FYI, we always use the quick release's (OR-10 tow and OR-16 drag) on the tadpoles simply for the convenience of being able to snap them on and off.

Great info Steve. Thx for the post!!!!!!

Steve, I have a question. Does the tadpole work on a bandit 300 with a 3-4' leader running it inline instead of using it as a drop weight with the clips and a long leader? Thx in advance for your answer.

It seems like a lot of work to remove a board, remove the tadpole and then reel in the fish.

Originally Posted by BigRiverMarine

Steve, I have a question. Does the tadpole work on a bandit 300 with a 3-4' leader running it inline instead of using it as a drop weight with the clips and a long leader? Thx in advance for your answer.

It seems like a lot of work to remove a board, remove the tadpole and then reel in the fish.

Bill, We don't remove the tadpole. Here is the basic stuff on how we rig it: We put an OR10 release on the split ring attached to the tow arm then attach the OR16 to the back of the tadpole. We have experimented with different tension releases for the tow arm and the OR10 with it's light grip works very well for Crappie sized fish. Rigged this way it will allow you to put any amount of lead length between the lure and the tadpole...we use 8-10 feet most of the time but it can be shorter depending on water clarity. We add the diving chart depth (for whatever lead length we are using with a particular crankbait) to the chart depth of the tadpole (using the lead length between it and the planer board) to get the crankbait depth. When a fish is hooked the front OR10 clip will release and the tadpole will be hanging from the rear OR16 when it gets to the boat. We will have already unhooked the planer board and have the fish in the net by the time the tadpole gets close to the boat (one smooth motion) so we usually don't bother to unhook it. Just reset the clips, attach the board and go again...... It also works the same way when straight lining without the boards....and that's even easier.