Thread: Color crank baits

I use the ones that look like shad, or shad like with some chartreuse or blue backs. Never had luck with pink for some reason. Never tried a solid black.

Originally Posted by Erin Brewer

Mrdux I would like to see some of your painted cranks!

Had to throw this one in. That's our resident tow-boat pilot.

Hey those are some good lookin crank baits! I bet that big ole drum was a fun fight!

Here are some cranks Doug painted.

Those are awesome!!!!
Go to's early in the morning and on cloudy days are blacks, I prefer Black Bubblegum myself.
Clear bright days I like bright colors, chromes and the gold are all good, each one has its day it seems.
Dont be afraid to pull shallow, even in 40 foot of water, some days I never pull a line more than 50 foot back.

I guess I'm just the guy who has to be different. Any given day, regardless of weather or cloud cover, I will be pulling well over 50% dark colors--blue, green, black and combinations of other dark colors. That's why I paint 75% of the cranks I run.

The orange and brown 8A Bomber that my wife has the fish on was something I put together after "matching the hatch". We had a huge cicada hatch last year and everything in the lake was hammering them when they lit on the water. I figured since a cicada is basically orange and brown I needed some cranks that color. We HAMMERED crappie for 2-3 weeks on that combo. CPR4570 was running them also and having similar results.

Sometimes it just pays to pay attention.

I'm sure you can spend as much as you want on an air brush but what would you think it would cost to get started to paint your own cranks?

Ray

Originally Posted by rayzor65

I'm sure you can spend as much as you want on an air brush but what would you think it would cost to get started to paint your own cranks?

Ray

I use a $600 Iwata Custom Micron B airbrush and lacquer to paint fish in my taxidermy studio but use a $100 Badger Renegade Velocity airbrush to paint my cranks with acrylic paints. I use fine nozzle on the airbrush so I can spray transparents, pearls and opaques.I buy most my crankbait paint off the shelf at Hobby Lobby--Createx. I do have some unique acrylic taxidermy paint colors that I use on cranks. Anybody can buy that paint from taxidermy supply companies--I prefer Polytranspar paints. I went online to find formulas to mix my own reducer to thin the paint and use Windex to clean my airbrush between colors. I paint all my cranks solid opaque white before I ever put a speck of color on.

You are only limited by your imagination when you paint your own and it sure doesn't hurt as bad to lose a $2 crank I painted than a $7-8 Bandit. Lots of times I've hit on a totally off-the-wall paint scheme that is dynamite and you can bet nobody else has one like it. I do take pics of most of my cranks so I can duplicate the scheme if I lose all of that particular bait.