|
|
Posts: 221
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota | I’ve had some success this year throwing an 8” crane on vermilion when nothing g else is working. They have an incredible action and I love how well I can work them through weeds, but have some issues with them. I notice out of the 5 8” cranes I have, no matter how much I tune them only 2 run well. My other complaint is I generally don’t do well with baits that small and would really like to find something similar in the 9-10” range. How comparable are big game twitch baits to cranes? I know they are also balsa with a square bill. Would also be curious about the 9” big guy baits twitch bait. Anyone have experience with either the big game or the big guy twitch baits? Or does anyone else have bait recommendations for something similar to a crane in the 9-10” range? Thrown slammers a bunch and love them but it’s not the same as a crane even though they look really similar |
|
| |
|
Posts: 1397
Location: Brighton CO. | I don't have any Big Games but I do have Cranes and they have great action and are prone to having fish leave teeth in them (sometimes it's hard to move the lure in a Muskies mouth when they have a good grip) |
|
| |
|
Posts: 526
| Slammer offers some great minnow baits in the size range you are looking for. Slammers are more durable than Crane baits in my experience. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 1397
Location: Brighton CO. | The old slammers were wood then they made the switch to plastic. Now they are tough as nails. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 811
| 9” Big Game isn’t a bad bait. They make a plastic version you can get on Musky Tackle Online. You should check out the H2O Shallow Cranky Nitro. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 624
Location: S.W. WI | Check your inbox |
|
| |
|
Posts: 221
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota | Like I said at the end of that first post I already use slammers, the 7” is really similar to the cranes but the 8 and 10’s are a slower swim and run a lot deeper than I want. Great baits that I throw just not the super shallow, really fast wobble you get with a crane. Don’t know of any other crankbaits that have that hard fast wobble that a crane does |
|
| |
|
Posts: 267
| Howdy,
I used big games in balsa and, while they are a nice bait, they don’t compare to a Crane. Nothing really does. To me, balsa is a magical material and some baits do it better than others. Cranes, SS Shads, and Rapalas are always in my boat.
Take care,
Ruddiger |
|
| |
|
Posts: 1397
Location: Brighton CO. | The old org. balsa Bagley's were great but teeth and balsa don't play well together and same can be said of some of the Rapala's. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 944
| The balsa big Games are very close to cranes.
I have had some really nice fish in the boat on Big games they twitch well.
Slammers are good baits too but plastic so they have a different action. Both have a time and place.
Jeff Hanson
madisonmuskyguide.com |
|
| |
|
Posts: 571
| Try this with your cranes that won't run.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSq4RRkq7zc |
|
| |
|
Posts: 221
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota | thanks for linking that, I’ll definitely give it a try |
|
| |
|
Posts: 1397
Location: Brighton CO. | I know Pete Mania was always grinding on lips on his lures to make different lure do different things.(and if you have a tackle company if you screw something up nothing ventured nothing gained) He would take little off one side of a lip to make it run sideways on purpose for example. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 275
| The "Big Ern" by On Point Tackle Co. is what you're looking for. Exclusive low numbers production done in the off season by my brother in his garage...PM if interested
Jaimy |
|
| |
Big game vs crane