Two crank-pulling questions

First off, I've never pulled cranks for crappie, but I'm going to give it a go this year. Due to number of rods, money, boat size, etc, I'll probably only pull 2 at a time.

Question 1: If you could only have 4-5 colors and sizes of cranks total, which would you choose?

I can't afford to have 5 different 200 series, 5 300 series, etc. I'm thinking two of each in different colors, like pink, pearl/chart, Tennessee shad, and maybe solid black.

Question 2: The guy at my bait shop claims Bandit got bought out by another company and they (Bandit) are going to raise the price soon. Anybody else heard that?

They're already $6 a piece, if they go up any more I'll switch brands or just forget about pulling cranks. I might email Bandit and see what they say.

I would look at the Arkies, better price for sure and you could put more color combos in your arsenal. Chrome is a gotta, black or blue back. Arkie also brought back the Chrome Clown. After the way Bandit left their employees the way they did I doubt I ever spend another dime on Bandits. Arkies on their website run 4.50 for the 350s and 2.50 for the 220s.

Try some Flicker Shads. I've caught a lot of Crappie with them and they are about $4 each.

There is not a better running crankbait than a Arkie 350 series and they come in great colors.......and.......they are a major sponsor of C.C too. That being said....Johnson is also a major sponsor of C.C and they have some good crankbaits out and I like them better than the Flicker Shads, they look very similar.

Pink, Chartreuse, Pink, Black, Pink, purple back/ chartreuse belly, Pink, Pink/Purple back, Pink, Silver/black shad imitation with spot, pink, solid red..........
Don't forget pink.
I have several different brands and all work good at different times. Run different colors til you get a few and change out those not producing til they do.

Are the Arkie 350 series bigger than the crappie cranks?

Nick......the Arkie 350 series the body is about 300 bandit size......the bill is slightly smaller but it has 2 more degrees of dive angle. They pull within a foot of the bandit 300 trolling depth chart. They have a better wiggle and a better sounding rattle.

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Originally Posted by NickD

Are the Arkie 350 series bigger than the crappie cranks?

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Yep, good bit.

Sounds good, I'll have to give then a try then. The other ones I got last year were just a little small for me. I'm not concerned much about depth, I use our Tadpole weights if I want to get deeper than 5-6 feet so i don't have to let as much line out.

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Originally Posted by NickD

Sounds good, I'll have to give then a try then. The other ones I got last year were just a little small for me. I'm not concerned much about depth, I use our Tadpole weights if I want to get deeper than 5-6 feet so i don't have to let as much line out.

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I caught a lot of fesh on those little dudes weighting them down like you are talking about last summer, was reluctant to use them but they seemed to work real well down deep, like running the bait in the 20 foot range. Didnt have to do that much last summer but when I needed to I went to them and they worked like clock work.

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Originally Posted by NickD

Sounds good, I'll have to give then a try then. The other ones I got last year were just a little small for me. I'm not concerned much about depth, I use our Tadpole weights if I want to get deeper than 5-6 feet so i don't have to let as much line out.

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What kind of rod do you use with the tadpole weights ?

Jimp, I use our 8' medium action planer board rods

OK, just ordered a couple dozen of the 350 series, I'll see how they do at Mi. crappie camp next week!

Thanks NickD

Thank you to everyone for your replies.
Who carries those 350's? I don't have a credit card so I can't order them online. Gander didn't have them. Headed to check the bait shop right now. Speaking of Gander, they have gone up to $6.99 for a Bandit 200.
I tried to email Bandit and ask them if the rumors were true about then selling out and all that but their servers are down.

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Originally Posted by MJohnson

Thank you to everyone for your replies.
Who carries those 350's? I don't have a credit card so I can't order them online. Gander didn't have them. Headed to check the bait shop right now. Speaking of Gander, they have gone up to $6.99 for a Bandit 200.
I tried to email Bandit and ask them if the rumors were true about then selling out and all that but their servers are down.

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Call Arkie directly, place your order and get a total and mail them a money order, they we be more than happy to do business with you. (479)750-9434

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Originally Posted by MJohnson

Thank you to everyone for your replies.
Who carries those 350's? I don't have a credit card so I can't order them online. Gander didn't have them. Headed to check the bait shop right now. Speaking of Gander, they have gone up to $6.99 for a Bandit 200.
I tried to email Bandit and ask them if the rumors were true about then selling out and all that but their servers are down.

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Its not a rumor....Bandit sold out to Pradco

Grizzly Jig will be stocking the Arkie 350,s in the very near future

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Originally Posted by NickD

Try some Flicker Shads. I've caught a lot of Crappie with them and they are about $4 each.

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Gotta agree with Nick..Flicker Shads work for me

The arkie have out fished the bandits out of my boat by a wide margin. The only bandits I've bought since finding out about the arkie were on clearance for $2

Lots of folks have old bass crankbaits laying around in tackle boxes that haven't been wet in years. I probably have well over 200 cranks in my boat but this weekend we went old school and dragged out some of those old baits in traditional patterns. It was pretty much the pattern we caught all our fish on. All my Bandits and custom painted Chinese baits stayed dry. That's as far as I'm going with my info. Just don't give up on those old "Bass" baits. Check out some flea markets and yard sales. Might find a gem. From Saturday catch.

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...psrjqxvngk.jpg

Yep......your right

I hadn't even thought about yard sales, there's a bunch going on now that the weather has gotten better.

Mr. Johnson; PM sent.

I sure hope this crank bait pulling is fun. Bc you can sure burn through some dough trying to get set up to do it.

I enjoy it especially on the cloudy days when the dock shooting isn't hot. If you fish a lake with spotted bass or stripe in it you'll get sick of catching them after awhile. I've caught a good many catfish big bluegill and shellcracker too

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Originally Posted by NickD

OK, just ordered a couple dozen of the 350 series, I'll see how they do at Mi. crappie camp next week!

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NickD What size boards do you use? I want to buy some that I can use for crappie and also for walleye/spinner harness on Cass Lake MN. BTW I do have some tadpoles to use with the harnesses.