Favorite Crankbits-Go!

Trying to become a better crankbait fisherman, so what are your favorites. Brand/Size/Color/Which lakes? Also do you tie them directly to the line or do you use a swivel?

Pretty broad question. Mainly use strike king(square bill/6 XD/10XD), but like the Rapala DT series for mids. I mainly keep couple of shad patterns, chartreuse patterns, and red craw pattern. Pretty much covers it for me. I stick to max 4-5 colors per any bait I throw

I like Stanford Cedar Cranks and Dee BAits, all hand carved out of wood. TREMENDOUS action and fish catching ability.. If you are asking mass produced baits, it would be Norman DLN or Middle N, either one. Hope this helps. Tight lines, keep safe and good luck. ALL lakes, because they all get bit on all lakes. Colors??? Sour Apple in Stanford, Gold in Gary Dee's baits and chartreuse/blue back in Norman. Both shallow and mid range on the hand carved cranks, too.

Thad Rains

Bomber 4A in chartreuse with black back. Consistent fish catcher one most lakes in north Texas.

This^^^

strike king, h2o express, original rattle traps....tried some of the arashi cranks by storm and there are not too bad just the couple that i have do not have any flake at all.

depends on depth. I like the old school bandits and normans.

#1-Luhr Jensen 1/4 oz Speed Trap in Crystal Craw.. awesome down to 8' but kinda snaggy around trees and the bomb on rock...#2 SK 1.5 Square bill in Green Gizzard Shad(rattling and silent) alternating with 6th Sense Crush shad Square bill ..SK 6XD, 8XD, and 10XD depending on the depth...Sexy Shad..IMO

Widely available/cost effective
0-1ft. Mann’s Minus One—white color
1-3ft. Luck e strike RC series 2 Rapala DT3. Shad colors. Copper colors, chartreuse
3-5ft. Luck e strike RC series 3. KVD 1.5. Lucky Craft square bill. Shad, copper, bluegill colors, chartreuse
5-10ft. Bandit 200. Rapala SR5. Rapala DT6,10. 3XD Norman middle N Color is highly dependent on water clarity. In general. Shad, blue gill, chartreuse
10-17ft. Bandit 300 and ledge series. Norman deep little N 5XD. Rapala DT 16. Norman DD22 Same colors as above
17ft+. 6XD, 8XD. 6th sense crush 500, same as above

this pretty much covers it, I also like norman DLN and DD22 HD.

H20 crs square bill bream color as well as diamond Shad ,chartreuse Shad and red craw as welll.
Also Norman deep little n suicide,splatterback,chartreuse and black and also like dd 22 dd14 Norman has a multitude of colors and decent hooks.
H20 has a 2 1/2 inch 5/8 oz lipless that works real good.
Have others that cost more but these are in the boat the others aren’t go figure.
Bomber 2a 4a 6a have caught a lot of bass just need to put better hooks on them
J D

This is my favorite, I might be a little biased though!

Bombers and for size depends on what size and species in fishing for and for color anything shiny or glossy that I think the fish will bite but an example of colors I like are Curtis shad and foxy shad

If we’re talking specific model, the 6th Sense Cloud 9 C25 is hands down my fave. Brand in general, I like Strike King since they’re pretty good quality, catch plenty of fish, and don’t break the bank. I havent found another squarebill that, for me, outfishes a KVD 1.5.

Where do you buy the Stanford Cedar Cranks? I don't even see any being sold on their website. From what little I can see, it is something I would like to give a try. Can you help me out, Thad?

SPRO Little John. Citrus Shad is by far my favorite color when I can get away with using it but also use cell mate, chart/blue, nasty shad, spooky nasty and of course craw. The MD (7-9ft.) is my all around crank but I carry and throw all models of the little john from 3 foot deep to 25 foot deep I throw the Little John. I haven't found another crankbait that comes close in my opinion. As far as what lakes for me the answer is any. I have something that I can throw anywhere, even if it isn't the most productive lure, it's my confidence lure and that's worth a lot.

BRTJr22,

I buy a lot off of Ebay, but I will talk to Dieter and see if he will start producing them again. He got off into his Missing Link bug and stopped production of his Stanford Cedar baits and they are awesome. LOTS of 4, 5's and even a 9.18 have been caught on them by me. Hope this helps. Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains

Bomber Foxy Mama color. From square bill to deep diver.

Like the SK models. Have also been happy with the Academy H2O brands(change hooks on smaller baits). Going up in price I have some Profound Outdoors crankbaits that I have liked using.

Bandits, 1'- 15', Citrus, blk/chart, orng craw.

For shallow crank baits the Mann's Baby 1 minus is hard to beat.

strike king, spro, cliff pace balsa flat sided cranks. Pretty much all I throw

Rapala DT6 and DT10
H2O Express CRM, CRS+
Bagley DB2

Fat free shad, Tennessee shad

Shad Rap, KVD 1.0, and the Crush 50X.

Thanks for all the input. I am making a list. I assume everyone varies their retrieves. Also interested to see how many use swivels versus tying straight to the crankbait.

No swivel or snaps for me with exception to a wiggle wart.

Squarebills = 6th Sense Crush 50, 6th Sense Movement 80, KVD 1.5 and 2.5
Lipless = Spro Aruku Shad 75, SK Red Eye shad
Mid Range depth = Rapala DT-10
Deep = SK 5XD, 6XD

As you can see the choices are wide and ranging. I throw what I have confidence in at the moment. Experiment is the best way. What works for one does not work for others. I have thrown the same bait as my partner and vise versa, one will catch while the other won't, it sometimes works that way.

If money isn’t an issue ph customs hunting p might be the best square bill ever made.... IMO