Why cranks, and why now?

I have heard this before, several mentions on the board about it being time for crankbaits, but I don't quite understand makes crankbaits a superior choice of bait for trolling at this time of year. It seems you could cover the same water column just as easily with regular plastics, so it must be more to the reasoning than that.

Or maybe cranks are just more fun. Cranks like me have more fun, but that's another topic :)

All fish love cranks, from bream to stripers. Watch the ones with blue on them, for some reason catfish will tear them up, at least on Highrock early in the morning. I start trolling cranks once the water gets to the low 60's. You can control the depth easier. Most of the time if you hang one, all you have to do is release the tension then go right back to trolling.