Color crank baits

So I've been saving to by crank baits for the last couple years and finally have enough to buy a couple (kidding). I have a couple in my box and have trolled with them with some success. I like the Bandits they troll nice straight out of the box and to be honest the Arkie line of cranks does good also. I've used the Pink or a version of pink and Fire tiger and caught fish, I have also used the cray fish color and caught mostly bass or cat fish. What are some other colors that work, I'm going to be buying around 20 - 30 both Arkie and Bandits in the 200 and 300 series. I don't want to load up with a bunch of colors that aren't going to put fish on the line. Hopefully I won't be decorating the the bottoms of the lake...to much.

Thanks for the input!

Ray

I love the blacks, chrome and black, and any natural colors.

I have had good luck with brighter colors on cloudy days or early morning, pink orange red, and once the sun gets up and the water is clear chrome with black or blue. and it never hurts to have some solid blacks in there.
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Get you a decent airbrush and paint your own. I have colors that are proven killers that no bait company would ever consider putting out for public consumption.

Regardless of color, going deep, deeper and deepest is a huge mistake much of the time. Use your electronics and let the fish tell you where the bait should be. There are lots of good cranks out there that are not marketed as "Crappie cranks" that are as effective and the fish don't get used to seeing them.

^^^ What mrdux said - and go to WLure.com (not a CC sponsor) and order your blank (clear) crankbait bodies for between 75¢ and $1.00 apiece - delivered directly form China. Add split rings and trebles and you are in business for less than $2 a bait.

Really I've caught fish on every color at one time or other. Mad cow, mistake, crawdad, and shad colors are always regular producers. However, the color to have will be the one you only have one of and half way into the day it will be broke off on a submerged stump. The next day you will buy six of that color only to have the fish ignore it for a month. Go figure. :dono

Half and half baits work good, black/chartruse black/pink, black/orange. Sardis gold, blue or black chrome, chrome clown. Go thru grizzly jig for your Arkies much cheaper.

havent been cranking long but pinks, oranges, chart., colors all work well, sunny days the shiny baits seem to do good (anything chrome looking). like cray mentioned ive had alot of lucky with half and half baits with pink and black prob being the best. we use tiny swivels to make chaniging baits super quick and efficient. if u were to look into my crank box tho id say you would prob see alot of pink in various forms. also lots of shiny baits

I throw the whole kitchen sink at them to start the day and let the fish pick my colors for me. I have been having success with the Arkies and they are less expensive than bandits. I also would suggest chartreuse/black, orange/black and pink mixes.

The blacks and shiny were not on my list I'm glad I asked, at some point I would like to get into painting my own, ave watched a couple videos on painting but would like to sit you mrdux to see first hand the process and how to use an air brush.

Thanks for the input!

Ray

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

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.

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Originally Posted by Erin Brewer

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

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Had to throw this one in. That's our resident tow-boat pilot.
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Hey those are some good lookin crank baits! I bet that big ole drum was a fun fight!

Here are some cranks Doug painted.

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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

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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

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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.

How does that "KY lake green" work out for you? As well as that color does in a curly tail?

Doug, I just so happen to have a few of those brn/org beauties still in the ol box. I call em the crappie Tigers. Good color combo. By my records they do well in low light and bright sun. Thx again for em.

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Originally Posted by smashdn

How does that "KY lake green" work out for you? As well as that color does in a curly tail?

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I never leave home without either. One of my go-to colors.

BTW, that dink was just to show how a small crappie will bite a 4 inch crankbait. The average on that bait is much larger.

Ditto on what mrdux said. After fishing for eyes on Lake Erie for most of my life, it was hard for me to comprehend how little line to let out. By no means do I have this portion of crappie fishing down, but the fish sure seem to be larger than the run of the mill fish being caught during summer.