For pulling cranks, vary the sizes. I use Arkie 350 and 220 series cranks. As far as color, that's a loaded question. I just keep changing until I find something they will hit. I have 4 or 5 of each color and size. Angle of your poles is not as important as the amount of line out and speed in my opinion. You can look on the Mississippi boards and there are crank bait charts that give running depth for amount of line out and speed traveled. Takes some guess work out of it. Hope this helps a little.