One crankbait, one color, for the rest of your fishing days. Sofies choice, you must pick just one.

I am going with a newer bait, a dark horse perhaps, the Berkley Money Badger in 1/2 oz. color "Ghost Morning Dawn". Which is basically sexy shad with a bit of purple on the back.

This bait casts a mile, deflects nicely, tends to not get hung as much as similar baits. I have caught LMB, SMB, Sandies, Stripers, Crappie, Walleyes, Yellow Perch and Blue cats on it. So you wont lack for action. It just gets bites. Also it comes with good hooks out of the box which is rare these days... I mean since you get one bait, might as well come with decent hooks am I right?

Where you at? Which one do you marry and why?

6th sense 300dd in wild shad for a lot of the same reasons you mentioned.

DT-6 Silver / Black back

3 xd HC3XD-511 gizzard shad on 12 yo zuri t fluorocarbon

6XD in Chartreuse/Powder Blue

Damn that is a good one too! I do really well with that one in summer on a certain lake... That color shines at times and a super solid bait for sure. That would be my #2.

Bomber model 6A in Baby Bass

Rat-L-Trap chrome blue back 3/4oz

Bill Norman Little Scooper.

X10!!

Strike King Littie-S. First production right out of Dance's garage in Memphis. I have 6 of those if interested at $25 each.

DT-6 in Shad

Baby 1- chartreuse/blue back

killer B 2….late 70’s early 80’s model with thin,
lead in bill crankbait….chartreuse and black…

Rebel Super R Chartreuse with black back. 70’s crank bait that I still use and it still catches fish.
If anyone has some they don’t want I will buy/trade for them

Wiggle wart

Rebel Humpback Floater.

Good one! My only issue with those has been how different they run. Some are killers and some are trash.

Lots of great options being suggested. Love the older baits showing up. I think those might shine as todays fish have never seen them.

Pearl/Chart - Norman Deep Little N

Toss up between Rapala DT 16 and SK 6 XD

Not made any longer - Big O in chrome/black OR bone w/ orange belly. Tight action, floats, faster you crank the deeper it goes.

Current bait choice - Model A in Sexy Shad

River runt

Rebel Super R. Oldie, but I caught a ton on that crank.

I have 3 CB rods on the boat. 1 6xd in chrt/blue 1 3xd in shad and 1 dt6 in shad......
I could do 3, but not just 1....

Lucky Craft 1.5 Copper Green Shad

Zoom WEC Mutt in Bull Bream

That is a tough one, Lucky Craft 1.5 white shad I believe it is called , caught a lot of fish with it.

Lucky Craft KJ Flat Sided Square Bill! 1.5

Something Balsa

OSP Blitz Max DR - Ginrin.

Not the all time favorite crankbait…it’s the all time favorite bait

Chartreuse and blue Bandit 200.

^^killer crank bait...get the silent one if you want lethal!!

easy.... Spro MD cellmate color

Local made Wee Bait... A flat side hand made crankbait... Dan

Probably caught more fish on a Little Scooper than all other cranks combined.

Strike King 1.5 sexy citrus shad square bill!

Caught my PB on the H20 Xpress knockoff of these (10.5 at Houston County). I just get the Strike King’s now for the better hooks. Those things never let me down

Strike King 8.0 magnum squarebill.

There's not a close second for me....

Bandit ledge 250

This was my debate bait, Best shallow bait ever

Kill'er B 2 fire tiger, older model

That is a tough one, it certainly was the best before so many others started making square bills. LC and Strike King were the first companies, I believe, to mass produce square bill crankbaits. I still have several of the OG RCs that I will never get rid of and many I do not fish anymore, lol.

Norman deep little N, Slick

Model A Bomber Silver flash. 5A or 6A, flat or not, that color scheme and lure has caught me more bass on any crankbait I have ever fished.

Lot's of more pricey lures on this list but I'd have to say in the last couple years I have caught WAY more fish than anything else combined on an H2O Squarebill in Ghost Shad (color no longer used on their squarebills) including my PB 12.3 pounder. If I ever lose that I will likely fall back to the Black/Blue 6th Sense Squarebills...that color destroys em!

Same but either spatterback or firetiger!!

You didnt specify for numbers or quality. Norman Deep Little N white/green fleck.

For a while that was my go to bait in Fire Firetiger. I think they only made that color a couple of years.

edit: Actually the bait I use is the Fat A not the Long A. I wish they still made the Fat A's.

I’ll go with the LC SILENT in crack or American shad- bigger one like 3.5 I remember. Oh gotta go only one?….crack color.

Smokey Joe! I won a ton of money on Hubbard with a Smokey Joe DD14 and DD22 back in the day

Deep Wee-R Rebel. It is also one of the best bigger bass lures I've ever thrown. I don't think I've ever boated a fish under 3 pounds.

Poe's 400 series Tennessee shad
Or
Mudbug in brown parrot

If anything this thread should tell all of us is bass will eat just about any crankbait, it is what we have confidence in which makes it our favorite one.

I was gonna say that exact bait but I was worried someone would call me Old.

Shallow-RC 1.5
Mid-Middle N (Caught my PB on one )
Deep-6XD

Norman deep little N color 181

Yo-Zuri in Tennessee shad.

shallow Bomber 6A in Firetiger...

Yup we’ve caught fish on a particular lure cause that’s what we throw all the time.

Bomber 6a baby bass

6XD - Tennessee Shad

Bandit 200 A32.

Bagleys Super Shallow Shad...they haven't made this on in a long time...

6XD sexy shad - keep coming back to it.

Bomber BD7 Fat Free Shad in Citrus Shad

Dt6

Norman Deep Little N, blue/chartreuse

1/4 oz chrome rattle trap

1/2 oz Chrome Rattle Trap

Norman DD14 in Nutter Shad. Hits my preferred cranking depth, gets bit, and I can afford to break them off.

Frittside 5.

Bomber 6A in chartreuse with black back. Caught lots on that bait

my favorite color too

HOLY ?&$!
I have 5-6 of these in my boathouse…one of my favorites ever- didn’t know they weren’t making them anymore

Also love Strike King citrus Shad

Hasn't been made yet

Bagley’s DB3. Chartreuse with a black back

6th sense curve 55

That's hard - I love Wiggle Warts, loved the old Thin Fin Shad, Rat'l Traps are good, but I think I'd have to go with a Bandit 200 "Mistake" pattern. Have served me very well through the years, but honestly I hardly throw it anymore.

Spro Rock Crawler.

Hush your mouth.

^^^^
Reminds me; I forgot about the Koppers Live Target Hunt for Center…..was my favorite early in the year until I ran out.
RIP

I've wanted to like those. Fished them a lot. Never had a bite on one.

Go figure.

It's up there too.

RC 1.5 white shad

Fo Sho
But I'll take the original 100 series Bandit made in Sardis Ms. FTW!

I can’t believe no one has said gold with black back red eye shad.

Gold? Really?

Maybe on a spinnerbait blade but that's the only gold I use.

Am I sleeping on this?

Stained water + clouds…gold lipless can be the deal.

WINNER

I’ve caught sooo many fish on that color red eye shad. From Travis to Texoma. If you ever come across the 1/4 oz version in gold, grab a couple. Tight lines.

I am not a Crankbait fisherman at all but have been slinging around a SK Hybrid Hunter lately. But when I started my bass fishing journey in the late 80's and through the 90's while practically living on Fork and fishing a lot of tournaments on lakes like Big Sam I was like everybody else always chunking a RatLTrap. From a 1/4 ounce through the fall and winter, changing over to a 3/4 ounce Rayburn Red in the spring to following that through the summer with a 1/2 ounce Gold/Black back. No matter if you didn't really like that type of fishing it's just what you did and have many memories of the fish you caught with that bait for so many years.

The best I have ever done with a crank bait was back in the late sixties and early 70's it was the old Hellbender on Hubbard creek . It was amazing how many bass were caught in a day on these things coach dog color or black but really any color which there were not many available at the time .

John Hott Kil R B in classic , they pricey but it’s worth it !

The almost brand new ones I find that someone else broke off on something. Free = favorite

Brad Shuflin's Sexy sour grape square bill

A crawdad Hellbender 4" or 41/2 "

That one that catches them that day, on that lake or river.

good fish !!!

Rebel suspend-r black and chrome. Iykyk....

+1

The Luck E Strike Rick Clunn will do in a pinch. Almost the same exact bait.

Close, but the LC casts much better and deflects harder.