Thread: pulling crank baits

Holds 120 crankbaits

My son (MontanaBoy) cranks a lot. He also likes the Bandits, but his favorites are some old Norman cranks that are no longer made. He has rescued them quite a few times, using a lure retriever (a must, if you don't want to lose a lot of cranks).
We trolled a lot of various types of cranks and colors this past week, having success on crappie, cats, bass, and sand bass (no walleyes this time). An old Norman and wiggle warts worked best. Fire tiger, blue/chrome, and a pale green w/ light gray markings were the best colors. Sometimes, all pink, red/black, or a basically purple crank work best.
We usually switch styles, depths, and colors, just to see what works best.
As to speeds, the crappie seem to prefer a slower speed than the sandies, walleyes, or hybrids. We did best this past week at 1.0 to 1.2 mph, with an occasional short pull to accelerate the wiggle. An S troll draws more strikes than a straight-line troll, allowing the crank rise and dip slightly, as well as change speeds slightly.
And as with most fishing, experiment, experiment, experiment, to see what is working best at the time.