I just got back from lake Whitney and am extremely dissatisfied with bomber crankbaits. I was fishing mostly rip raps and rock bluffs and continued to snap lips and break treble hooks on the rocks. Has anyone else had this problem with these baits?

Rocks eat cranks, bottomline no matter the brand. The hooks on those are a little light, KVD's are my recommendation.

Rocks are tough on cranks. All cranks will break if you hit them hard enough on the rocks. Not to be rude, My recommendation would be to work on your casting or throw cheap cranks. The quality of a crank isnt determined by their durability. I have found that lucky crafts are about the easiest to break but they are awesome.

What model bombers are you using?

The 6 and 7A have the better older style lip.I havnt had a problem with Bombers and rip rap but now Bagleys is a different story.

A little more input to what you were doing would be nice. I only throw 0-8 foot bombers and have never had an issue with the bills or body.

What rod, line, depth, and cover were you banging into?

If Your throwing into those rocks at Whitney it's likely to happen. Bombers have always been one of the more durable Crankbaits for Me. The last time I broke the lip on a Crankbait it just happened to be a Luckycraft. I'm not sure how You were breaking the Hooks?

Just buy you some KVD's and be done with it. They will take a beating

I was using a med action castaway rod 12 pound stren 8 to 12 feet and rock bluffs rocky points and dropoffs it seemed strange to me because I wasn't slamming the cranks into rocks just normal bouncing off them

Sounds like the may have gotten hot. When CBs get extra hot, it makes everything weaker on them. I am not talking day to day, but a month or so. If you stored them in your boat, that might be a problem. Worst I have found for breaking are the light little Bandits, followed closely by LCs nx off brands (BPS, Cabelas).

Hope this helps. Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains

no problems on my end, yet.

+1

The only bombers I have had lip breaking problems with were the Bomber Square A's, they really have a "glass jaw" or lip as it may be in this case. Did i just miss where you said what kind of Bomber crank it was?

The Bombers Fat Free Shad BD7 can take a pounding.

Explain this, because bagleys used to be the most indistructable bait made.

There was a solid wire inside the body that connected both hooks and lip ring, you could destroy the whole body and still have the ring and hooks attached to your line, i can't find them anywhere locally anymore or i'd still throw them exclusively.

did they stop making the wire extend to the lip?

The wire was to keep the hooks from pulling out of the balsa but the diving bills break on rocks easily because they are acrylic plastic.Lee Sisson pretty much made the same bait as bagley except he used a very flexible plastic lip (circuit board material as he called it)that would bend and not break.His bills are thinner and hunt or search better than the acrylic bagleys do.Bagley is also now using the same lip/bill on select baits as well.The bomber 5,6 and 7A have a heavier poly?bill than the 4A.The 4A and sqA are acrylic I believe.