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Looking to get into pulling or pushing some cranks. I have a few but no multiples of any color. I'm just wondering if you guys could share your 2 or 3 best producing colors for varying conditions. I don't want to have to spend several hundred dollars just starting out. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Pico Mudbug
Pico Bone Orange
Pico Simply Awsum
Well each brand has different colors. Some are similar and most are not. Any shad color will work. Bandits colors which produce well regularly are mad cow, mistake, bubble gum, and blue/Crome black/Crome colors. Arkies colors are Crome clown and any rainbow colors. Picos, well simply awesome and wolverine are producing pretty regular.
However any any medium size crankbait and under will catch crappie under optimal conditions. Hit the yard sales and clearance bins for good buys. Don’t forget shad raps and the list goes on and on.
Bandits : Orange Crush - Awesome Pink - Solid Black (with silver metalflake, if you can find them)
Bandits in chartreuse, pink, red, natural colors, red/yellow, pink/yellow, mad cow are all good producers for me. One of the best is the Academy house brand X2O CRULD in charteuse, also a Norman Little N midnight sun. And the strike king slab hammer in chartreuse. Rapala JSR 5's work good as well in blue/orange and hot olive. I hope that helps. And remember, two of each color are not enough. You never know which color will work best on a given day, and that's the one color that you will probably lose to a hang up.:yikes
Get a few light, and some dark, then a few shiny. Fine tune from there. Remember most strikes are coming from below, for me belly color and side color make a difference, back color rarely does.
Thanks guys. This has given me a good idea on a selection to stock up on.
Good today or good tomorrow?
I own hundreds if not thousands of cranks from different companies in different sizes, colors, and profiles. A good bait in one body of water sucks in another!
Stick with one company to start and gain confidence with their baits. Buy colors that match your favorite jig and soft plastics combos. Also get natural colors that match bait fish in the area.
I use Berkley size 4 and 5 flicker shad a lot. Great for black crappies in Michigan which people say are tough to target while trolling.
I'll publish an article next week on this subject.
I use a lot of shiny chrome ones. If I had to buy a few to get started, I would go with Chrome, pinks and chartreuse. Th black back & blue back chrome are my favorite.
Bandit Toad Frog always produces, no matter what lake.
For me it has been Jenko crappie cranks in Love struck, Fire tiger and Orange tiger
Lots of good info already, and Wicklundrh said a mouthful. Pink is one that you need to find the right one for where you fish. I have one Bandit in a pink that is discontinued that out produces any other pink that I have tried. More red in it. Bubble gum pink didn't work very well for me. Solid black w/glitter also does well for me. Natural colors on cloudy days and brighter(clown) colors on sunny days. A Bill Norman that looks a lot like a 300 Bandit in Chartreuse with a purple back was also very good and always in my spread. The flicker shad are very popular and also do a better job of getting other species. You'll try a lot before you settle into what you really like. I wound up painting my own with an airbrush. Trolling cranks doesn't work as well as it did in Middle Tennessee but I kept all of my best ones. Never know when a road trip might be in order.
Here is what has been working well for me lately: Pink Sparkle, Two Tone, and Chart Shad are must haves.
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Panic Attack
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Chart Shad
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Hot Pink
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Pink Sparkle
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Popsicle
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Two Tone
I have been using bandit 300's and chartreuse black back and red crawfish have been doing pretty good
I caught 56 Black & 4 White Crappie last Saturday between 7:00 AM and Noon by pulling #5 Flicker Shads in Slick Mouse color under schools of shad suspended over 30+ foot deep water. I use the Map My Tracks app on my phone (my depthfinder doesn't have GPS) and it said I paddled 9 miles total. Six miles of it was getting to and from the key spot (3 miles each way) and the other 3 miles was going back & forth over the productive channel bend. I had somewhere to be in the afternoon, so I left 'em biting. Eighteen fish were over 13 inches. I lost 12-15 fish that spit the hook before they got to the boat. Thought they were going to eat the paint off those lures.
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Jim
dang with pics that would be a nice thread in itself. Congrats.Quote:
Originally Posted by Yak Fish