Which crankbaits to take?

dipbait

dipbait

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Feb 9, 2008
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Im planning a bass fishing trip and campout to a lake Ive never fished before. A 100 acre flatland lake. Shouldnt be more than 40 foot deep and probably slightly stained water. Dont know what kind of vegetation it may have. I already know what spinnerbaits , worms, jigs... Ill be packing, but have not decided on cranks. I will be in a small plastic boat with another person so space is limited. What cranks would you take if limited to about six, to ten baits in unfamiliar water ?
 
I like DT series from Rapala, good action and heavy enough to make long casts to search water.

I would also bring some Jerk baits. My favorite are made by Lucky Craft. The Pointer and Flash Minnow MR are my favorites.
 
Dont have any Rapala Dts but have a lot of the old balsa wood Rapala FatRaps. I ll pack a couple of those.
 
I'd also take some top water lures too. Poppers work well over vegetation in my experience. Get something with a nice rattle to it and they should come up and kill it.
 
No date set. Its been brutally hot the past two weeks. Im taking off when the weather cooperates.
 
Rapala countdowns, black and silver, no. 5. Perch would be a good alternate color. One of the best lures ever made, they catch everything. If you want to work along the bottom, use Rapala original floaters with split shot or slip sinkers rigged about 2-3 feet ahead of the lure. Weight is dependent on depth. If the water is weedy, you can remove the trebles and rig with a single hook, point up, on the rear. Hook ups will be little less sure, but you'll spend much less time clearing off the junk.
 
Missouri and Arkansas bass seem to like the Model A Bomber in chartreuse. They come in three dive profiles with different bill shapes.
 
I have plenty of Model As and lot of older cranks from the 70s and 80s. The model A is my favorite autumn crank.

Heres a bucketmouth with a model A hanging from his mouth probably around 1990.
Pay no attention to the big hat.

I do resemble Dale ,my avatar dont I . LOL

bucketmouth.jpg
 
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dipbait said:
I have plenty of Model As and lot of older cranks from the 70s and 80s. The model A is my favorite autumn crank.

Heres a bucketmouth with a model A hanging from his mouth probably around 1990.
Pay no attention to the big hat.

I do resemble Dale ,my avatar dont I . LOL

bucketmouth.jpg
Click to expand...

Late '70's to early '80's was when I was using them. I'm pretty sure they still work. Nice bucketmouth! I had a backhoe driver that was a bass-catching fool. He turned me on to them. And those damn "helocopter rattle monster thangs" that drove bass crazy. You would think they would scare off every fish within 100 yards.
 
Codger_64 said:
Late '70's to early '80's was when I was using them. I'm pretty sure they still work. Nice bucketmouth! I had a backhoe driver that was a bass-catching fool. He turned me on to them. And those damn "helocopter rattle monster thangs" that drove bass crazy. You would think they would scare off every fish within 100 yards.
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I have 2 model A's that I keep in my crank box. I believe a 5 and a 7. I like using them in stained water due to their wide wobble. I haven't had much luck with them in clear water unless it was around riprap rocky areas. They worked as early as last year for me. This year I haven't been fishing much.. :(
 
You need to get out and fish.

Ive had a lot of luck on Bomber lures. I bought a dozen chartreuse Flat As just to fish the Mississippi with. Long A minnows are a mainstay in my tackle box. I won a fishing derby with them. All species could be weighed in.
 
Tony, let me ask you this. What are some tight wobbling cranks with no rattles? The old Bagleys Honey Bee was great but are not available.
 
I know I have a few, and I'll send them to you. I have to check my shallow and deep crank boxes to see exactly which ones they are. But I think the Rapala shad rap were pretty tight and rattless. Also the Fat free shads didn't have rattles I think. could be wrong. I'll check when I get home from work.
 
what color water? blue hue to it? green? brown? for me, i match the water color aside from brownish i go for darker colors to bright neon colors. other water colors i match blue to blue (also green, sliver, white) and green to green (some blue, slilver and white as well). hope that made sense.
 
Tony ,Shad Raps are definitely fish catchers , I dont use them much cuz they cast horribly. Im a fairly accurate caster,but with a shad rap its impossible. Ill miss by ten feet at times. LOL


Hung, never seen the lake , but all lakes up here are greenish.
 
Im going to rephrase the original question. What crankbait would you take for the following conditions which I may encounter?The water color will probably be stained green. Late summer early fall. Water temp 80 to 90. Fishing pressure light to moderate. I have my ideas but like to hear other peoples strategies.

1 Standing timber that reaches the surface.
2 Rip rap dam
3 Weeds/ Lily pads
4 Flats
5 Steep banks/bluffs
6 Long extended points/humps
 
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