|
|
| There are hundreds of great crankbaits on the musky market these days. Depthraiders, Slammers, Ernies, Bagleys, Sharks, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.
Is a crankbait just a crankbait or are there differences between these lures? Heck, some of them look exactly the same (Bagley vs. Ernie for example). I'm so confused. Please help.[:kiss:] [:halo:] [:knockout:] [:0] [:praise:]
jlong | |
| | |
| there are indeed a lot of lures that look alike, but I wouldn't know what to do without my legend husky crankbaits, my old swim whizz lures and my supershadraps. These keep producing. How many crankbaits does a guy need? I don't know but I do know that individual lures (even though they are the same color, size and made by the same company) outproduce others. I have experienced this more than enough.
I also think you need a few different styles and actions: sometimes fish like the lures to run shallow, sometimes deep. Sometimes they need to have a good hangtime, sometimes you need to burn them back or twitch them to get a strike. Sometimes a slow, lazy action is better, sometimes a tight high-pitched vibrating lure is better, or a wide wobble, ... My point is that all lures perform differently and work at a given time. I must say I have been using slammers and baby depthraiders a lot lately for jerkbaitfishing (suick-style retrieve) and it works. I think I could limit my crankbait collection to about 15 different styles and all will catch fish at a given time.
The question is: why do we keep buying all the new ones, if they look like other lures we have? Why do companies keep throwing new models and look-alikes on the market. For instance: lipripper or big-game twitchbaits look a whole lot like cobb's crankbaits or crane baits. Believers and swim whizz lures look alike (but I can't catch a fish on a believer. Why? I wouldn't know even if my life depended on it. Maybe the rattle?) I myself don't have a lot of crankbaits, mostly jerkbaits and spinners. So I have developed a list of favourites (well known by now) by trying them all. | |
| | |
| Controversy sells… give no quarter jlong...
| |
| | |
| jlong,
Lures are tools, some tools just work better in "certain" situations. Sometimes I have two baits, same color and style and make and they work different and I use them in different situations.
I like how you can do wonderful things with them, they are really a multi purpose tool. Some are more bouyant, some sink like a rock, some have tight wobbles, some wide wobbles, some go deep, some go shallow, some twitch better, some back out of structure better. Some do it all.
They are fish catchers and that is really something that is not going to change. If you have confidence like I do in all types of cranks, you will catch fish. I got over half my fish this year on cranks alone.
I wish there were more cranks on the market. The endless posibities.[;)] [:)] | |
| | |
| Ummm... what's the difference between a Cisco Kid and a Depthraider? Or how about an Ernie and a Bagley? Or a Jake and a Grannie or Slammer?
Please forgive my ignorance..... | |
| | |
| If you’re feeling guilty now, I hope you can handle it when we do the chop bait.[;)] | |
| | |
| All baits are equal!There is no majical bait or presentation.It's all luck being in the right spot at the right time.All this mombo gombo of special baits is all hog wash!Tell em Jlong.
Thats why all the baits look the same. | |
| | |
| I'll offer my 2 cents.
While many crankbaits look alike, i.e. a straight depth raider or a straight Hi-Fin trophy diver have almost the same body shape as the original cisco kid, each performs slightly differently....based on my observations. I have fished crankbaits for open water (suspended) fish for 18 years now and I can positively say that they are not all identical. Some lures definitely outperform others that "look the same."
Throughout the entire 1990's to present, the one thing that has greatly reduced my hours/fish and helped me achieve/maintain my relatively high average length/fish has been the modifications I make to these lures to get the "action" I want. The mods necessary to a cisco kid are completely different than those I employ on a straight model trophy diver or a depth raider, ernie, etc. If I was to market a crankbait with the modifications I have been making for the past 12+ years, the resultant lure would have a shape that would look very similar to others already being manufactured. However, the modified and marketed lure would most assuredly outperform the similar "look alikes".
I hope this helps, if I've "read between the lines" correctly regarding some of the previous posts.
Mike | |
| | |
| nxtwrldrcd,
Please explain...sounds interesting?
[:)] | |
| | |
| Sorry Jason, It’s the old “I’d have to shoot you if I told you” routine. Just kidding, it’s just something that may happen down the road if everything works out as planned.
I’m not the PR guy, ask our fair haired boy Jason
| |
| | |
| They aren't all the same....
Countdown Depthraiders don't work so hot over the weeds!! The bait comes in with a flat attitude. BUT, the floaters work awesomely over the tops, and will back out when you run into a weed.
Conversely, some of the muskies want a flat running bait, or sometimes they want to attitude of the floater.
So, all baits aren't created equal....
Just my 2 cents worth!
Donnie [;)] | |
| | |
| They are definitely not all the same. I can catch fish trolling a bagley db6 or a 6" deep diving grandma no problems but a 6" erine? I can't buy a fish on it. Trolls the same, I have no idea why.
I do well trolling floating and sinking depth raiders. I have a shark and a trophy diver that have not a fish on them. They troll great too but for some reason the fish don't go for them. | |
| | |
| Tight wiggles, wide wiggles, shimmies,shakes,backing up, gliding forwards,noisey, silent. Yup, they've got more variations than the ladies at the local gentlemens club. What to use when, now that's the real question. A good read: Larry Dahlberg's article on lure mechanics in Dec/Jan issue of NORTH AMERICAN FISHERMAN. | |
| | |
| I will go out on a limb here, all my crank baits are the same, even though they all seem to have a different action, or a life of their own. Reason being, None of them every catchs fish. I have never had luck on crank baits, but all the other baits in my box seem to do alright. But all in all, I think MuskieE has it hit right on the head, Its not a matter of which one, Its a matter of putting somthing in front of a hungry fish..
Just my 2 Cents.
Jim | |
| | |
| OOPS | |
| | |
| I was going to stay away from this one but will make it short and sweet.
Jason my answer is yes they are all the same. Even tho they may look different and have different actions they all are out there imitating other fish. They all have there time and place and all catch fish big and small ones.
Some guys have better success with some of them while other do with others. You can actualy have a good variety of the same crankbait with and without modifications.
I believe a good fishemen can have success catching fish in all situations with very few if not one kind of them. You don't need that many different ones to be sucessfull. [:sun:]
It wasn't that long ago we were restricted to just a few craks and still caught as many fish. | |
| | |
| Well Jason:
I know that this is leading to something, you certainly aren't interested in everyones opinion and what the differance is in crank baits if there is any, and I suppose there is.
Why don't you come out and say what's really on your mind.
Doug Johnson | |
| | |
| I side on the side of "all baits produce the same", when it come to triggering a strike.
I don't believe that there is any lure that won't produce,, if,,, it can be made to run at an exact depth and at an exact speed.
A lures running depth is what's important! Everything else is secondary,, way.
I basically use 7 different variations of the same lure, (spoonplugs) there're all deigned to run at different depths. This year we have experimented with some of the so called traditional muskie baits in hopes of triggering larger fish,, while still running ole reliable along side. I can not say one way or the other that we have seen any dramatic difference in size, or numbers. | |
| | |
| I will say one thing even two identical crankbaits will not work exactly the same.Some will go deeper,some will stay shallower,some will have a different action then others,some will catch big fish,some will catch little fish and some will not catch fish at all.Molding can be off on plastic crankbaits,wood can have diferent density.But more important is the factor that fish over time become inprinted to a certian action or siluette and avoid them.If everyone is using the same hot crankbait,soon it doesn't work like it use to.So I use crankbaits in cycles and revert back to actions and siluetes that worked 4 to 5 years back or show them something new.This year I showed them the Wishmaster that has more swing then the Hooker or Legend Plow.But has great action at 1.5 mph in the Muskies face on bottom in 30 feet + water.Only set back $250 each!
Capt. Larr5y D. Jones
www.mostlymuskies.com/reports.htm | |
| | |
| heh heh... nothing gets by DougJ. Glad to see you back!
DougJ is right, I do have a hidden agenda with this question.... however he is incorrect in saying that I am not interesting in hearing other's opinions on the subject.
I know what my opinion is.... but now I have a vested interest in knowing/understanding what all the other musky nuts out there think about crankbaits.
Heck, I could ask this same question about bucktails, spinnerbaits, topwaters, jerkbaits etc. too. Are they all the same or are there differences amongst them?
Personally, I think all these baits may look very similar in the package... but they are not equivalent tools for the job. Some need to be worked fast, some slow, some shallow, some deep, different sounds, different bouyancy, some take more effort to work, some cast like bullet, some are great in the weeds, some suck in the weeds, etc etc etc etc. Bottom line, my point of this post was don't judge a book by its cover.[:halo:]
jlong | |
| | |
| A lake chain that I used to fish, I had one rattling crankbait that I could catch fish on and that was it. Everything else came on non-rattling baits. I have a depth raider that we have caught about 20 fish on this year, I could take it to the algae pit next year and fish with it every day and never catch a fish with it. | |
| | |
| jlong,
Can you describe the specific things the Tripple D does well?
Where in my arsenal will the bait fit. High speed troller?, weed cranker?...ect
Basicly where would I use it, so it can produce for me.
Now if you would have let me use one of them this summer I would have caught many muskies on it and not had to ask you this question...hehehehe[:bigsmile:] | |
| | |
| Jason, I will try and explain where the TripleD fit in for me this year and where I see it in the future of my tackle box.
It is a suspender primarily designed as an openwater/breakline, deep running tool, as such it will not back out of weeds and heavy wood very well. The Depth Raider and Slammer Deep Diver will still be necessary for that application. But if your working open water or relatively clean bottom breaks it is dynamite. In fact as I learned to feel the bait better I was able to work it in and around wood pretty well.
Where this bait really stands out is when you stop cranking it and start jerking it. Have you have ever been in a situation where you know the fish are deep and you want to get a glide bait down closer to them. Well the TripleD looks like any other crankbait, but crank it down and start tapping it and you have a glide bait that will run 10+ feet with a near indestructible lip that helps avoid snags. With most glide baits, if you want to keep them deep you have to work them extremely slow. With the TripleD, you can work it extremely slow, or go a little faster if the fish are more active, or go really fast if the fish are very active.
I was even able to quick hop the bait, with a high rod angle, over the tops of the weeds then crank it down the edge and walk it across the bottom back to the boat. It is very versatile. As Jason describes it, a Jerkbait in disguise.
Just this weekend I was looking at maps and planning trips for next year and I came up with another use for the TripleD. That is site fishing. How about a bait you can hang in front of a sited hawg and just slowly tap it until you piss her off to the point of attack. I can do that now with some twitch baits I have, but with none of them can I get deeper than 5 feet. Some of the lakes I fish in the spring have 10+ feet of visibility and are screaming for this technique.
Anyway after all that, I would say for sure add it to you arsenal for open water and breakline fishing. But I bet once you use it you will find more applications for it. This bait may be bad in that by the end of next season I may have a lot of other retired baits that saw no water time hanging in my basement. How will I explain that to my wife.
In the fall I am a hard core glide bait fisherman and this fall the TripleD took me away from that technique. If I wouldn’t have felt confident with what I was seeing I wouldn’t have stuck with it, but it’s hard to argue with the way it was looking and the fish it was producing.
Hope that helps.
Nail a Pig!
Mike
| |
| | |
| I have not had as much cockpit time as MR and some of the others but wrote Jason an extensive appraisal of where the bait fits and breaks down for my usage. It fits banks, the outside of the weed edge, isolated wood and brush, and could be used on any deeper flat or clean breakline. It breaks down for me in water less than 4 feet deep and when casting at a flat angle, ie wading or running the bait out on shallow flats. It is much easier to control the bait when you are in a position above the bait, and the more visual contact the better in my opinion.
This bait is so mallable and reactive to hand that I think many are going to use it for spotted fish that would not wack something else. I often work covers where the strike zone can be predicted within a 10X10 foot area or less and this is a bait that you can do a lot of things with, in a small space.
The only areas I would use this as a search bait would be deep clean flats, the outside lip of the weedlines and open water. As far as trolling applications, I am too ignorant to predict that, but it is a caster's bait for sure and everybody that likes to "work" their baits will love this bugger. | |
| | |
| Thanks MR.
Great discription of how the bait will fit in my arsenal. | |
| | |
| That's because there aren't any fish in the algae pit. | |
| |
|
A crankbait is a crankbait, right?