Crankbait Line.

I made a personal rod n reel for crankbaits only, and i was just wanting some opinions and tips on, whats your preference for pound and brand for cranking. Now i know it depends on size and speeds and depth, but im just wanting to know a main line to keep spooled if that make any sense lol. i cant afford more than 1 combo for cranking lol. Thanks

I think most crankbait manufactures base their advertised depth on using 10 lb fluro, so depending on the type of cover you fish, I'd stick with 12 lb. 10 lb if you can get away with it or bump up to 15 lb if needed.

If I had to choose one line only for cranking it would be 15lb seaguar Invizx

I HATE fluoro because it feels like a DEAD line to me. I have been using McCoys Mean green since 2000 as my major line for all moving baits. It has a good amount of stretch on it, it is abrasion resistant, it is overly strong (straightened out #4 hooks with 15# test) and it has almost not memory to it, so it casts further than most other lines. If you put fluoro on it, you will be changing out lines every other month or so. I have one reel that has had 17# test on it for over 8 years. 3 years ago, I took it to Falcon and caught a 9.17 lb bass with it w/o any fear of it breaking. Name another line besides braid that you could do that with. I would go with 12 or 15# test for nearly all lakes. UNLESS you are going to fish a lot of timber lakes like Fork, then I would go with 17# test.

They can say that fluoro gets deeper, but it was run against mono of the same # strength and it got an average of only 3" lower on each cast. So that old dog will NOT hunt. Hope this helps.

Tight lines, keep safe and good luck

Thad Rains

15 lb big game on everything from dd22 to square bills

12 lb reaction rc

12 lb McCoys Xtra Clear for deep cranks 15 lb for Shallow/Squarebills

T-Line by Mason

12lb big game is what I use for all my moving baits. Cranks, topwaters (buzzbait mostly), and spinner baits. Works great and its stupid cheap and very strong!

15lb Sunline FC Sniper. Same diameter as 12-14lb line of other manufacturers. I throw everything from square bills to 8XDs on it.

I would use 12lb. Flouro or mono is basically your choice. I would use lowest your comfortable with to achieve deeper running depths. You can always retrieve slower if you want to run shallower. There was a thread not long ago about throwing cranks with braid and a lot of guys seem to have good luck. I personally don't but might be worth a try. You would have very strong line with very small diameter.

8 or 10 lbs. big game

P Line CX Premium, line size depends on lake and cover present.

My gosh maybe I need to get some of this mean green I usually crank with floro. Just like how it drives the hooks home with my composite cranking rods

I use 12-15 pound test Invizx fluorocarbon, 12-15 pound test McCoys Mean Green or 8-10 pound test P-Line CXX.

12# P-line Premium for me.

thanks guys for the help....Ima go with 12lb mono Big game or the mean green but i dont think academy sales it in my area. Love this site

Thank You so much for your advice. Well detailed

No problems. And McCoys is harder to find. I order mine directly from their site or through Tacklewarehouse.com. Hope this helps. Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains

BTW, I am NOT on McCoy's pro staff, neither, just believe big time in it.

You will like the McCoys Mean Green better. It is harder to find than Big Game and it costs a little more but it is worth it.
Back when I used to fish with Big Game I had to change it out more often than I do with the McCoys.

I cranks with 15 big game on everything except my dee divers I throw them on 12lb red label. You will be fine with 12lb big game, I caught the single fish in my profile pic on a 6xd with 12lb big game no problems.

Brad, the deeper the bait is supposed to dive, you downsize the line to 12 lb.? Even 10XD's? I was thinking for the heavier cranks they needed heavier line?

Frank,

The heavier the line, the less deep the bait dives. If you are trying to get maximum depth, then smaller diameter line is preferred. BUT, the lighter the line, the more you have to set your reel up for big fish, because if you just try to crank them in, you will bust off. When cranking, I set my drag so a 3#er can pull drag, just a little bit. That and using good line is why I almost never lose CB fish. I set the hook and let the drag and reel, line and rod play the fish. I get a good hook set on them with that amount of drag and then if need be, and I get a bigger fish on, I can always tighten the drag. Hope this helps. Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains

While I have heard that McCoy's makes good line, I'm not so certain that someone who leaves (ANY) non-braid line on a reel for 8 years is one who's advice I would put much stock in. In other words, it's like hot air from an oven. Very few who CB fish very much would say that 17# test is a go-to line either, so beware which orifice from which advice spews.

Let's make a practical experiment of having line on a CB reel for 8 years. Now, there could be a snap involved, so every lure doesn't get tied on. But, in the course of a full season, let's say just about anyone would retie that knot at least 20 times (a wise plan), and that each time takes 6 inches of line. That's 10' per year. Now add in at least five times that 3' needs to be snipped off from harsh abrasion of rough stuff you got into. (I'm being very lenient on this as most people would cut off far more in a full season.) That's 15 feet per year, for a total of 25 feet per year.

After year seven, 175 feet of line is gone from the reel. That's 58.3 yards - off of a reel that typically holds 115 yards of 12# test, maybe 90 yards of 17# test? So, take 58 yards off the reel that holds an estimated 90 yards of 17# test, and we arrive at 32 yards of line remaining on the reel - that needs to last for all of season 8. Even a larger reel that holds 120 yards of 17# line (a 200 size body), about half of the spool is gone. Any such reel with so little line isn't even fishable. Now, you decide what info to filter into the compost bin....

From what I can see...it's all a personal choice. P-Line!

Braid...........

Copolymer and flouro both for CB's and JB's. If my cranks are more buoyant than avg, like 6th sense, I will use copolymer only for both presentations.

True, unless he uses that rod for cranking once a year at Falcon. Thad does a lot of cranking so im sure he has multiple rod and reels set up for that.

I use 12lb Invisx on everything from SK 1.0 to the 10XD. Depending on conditions, at times I will use 10lb or up to 17lb. YMMV

Ummmm wooow now that's a break down lol. Dude I bet your Finances are Superb lol

ezbassin is right. I only use this time an average of 3.5 times a year. So your numbers are WAY over inflated. Same back to you, you ASSUMED I was an average fisherman and I thought I stated that I used the reel on woody lakes, like Fork and Falcon. It is for that purpose only. It is my heavy duty reel. So, you KNOW what you do when you [censored] U ME things, well, you just did. I hope this helps. Tight lines, keep safe andd good luck.

Thad Rains

Unnecessarily harsh bro. Thad has always just tried to offer helpful advice.

You didn't say what reel the line was on, and you didn't say it was a "special" setup. I guess you ASSUMEd you did? I do not believe my numbers are off that much for typical use by an angler who doesn't have a set of rods for woody lakes, another set for grassy lakes, and maybe a 3rd set for clear lakes?

You didn't clarify those things for the OP either, so he may have assumed your setup was "standard" as 17# test is the only one you actually mentioned as being on a crankbait reel, not "one of my special purpose CB reels".

Aside, no mono is going to not slinky up after EIGHT years on a small diameter spool. Wonder why manufacturers (even McCoy's) sell line on spools so large as compared to a reel spool? They could save $ in material and shipment costs if they shrunk that spool, but the product would be like a slinky in short order....

I still hold that you exaggerate profusely as to how good something is.....it may just be a personality trait you don't even realize. I'm not saying you didn't leave line on a reel for eight years; but most fishermen would not, and the OP was looking for normal, not what you were spewing. Most would not stand a chance to keep up with what year they spooled line on a particular reel if it were that long? (not that it would be wise to use any line spooled/used that long) ...especially when they have so many reels. (When they are so special purposed, there must be a lot of them?) I've just noted in a lifetime of observation that claims appearing to be so overboard they look ridiculous.....almost ALWAYS are.

No harm, no foul. I did not specify that I have over 35 setups and 8 dedicated to CBs. So, I am at fault for not clarifying the matter. Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains

Wow, only 8, I would have guessed more since you crank as much as you do. I have 7 dedicated rods for cranking if I include my lipless cranking rods and I don't crank that much, maybe 20% is all.

Oh, one more, I forgot about my strolling rod.

I think some of you guys need to go fishing more often

I need to try those cranks I got from you at the tackle show. LOL

Yes sir that you do!

That is not counting my dual purpose rods, I have 5 of them. LOL.

Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains

Good, now I feel better about that. LOL