I am convinced these are affective lures and catch fish. Yes, even I have used them and actually caught some walleyes. Accidently because I had no clue what I was doing and what I was using. Tie a pretty one on and tose that puppy out there and start reeling. A couple years ago, Mike/HOF went over to the Mississippi and used them successfully. It was June and the water was high and he liked the shallow water up close to shore. We fished maybe five feet deep at the most. I suspect the original design was to imitate a bait fish, healthy or injured. When you go into a sporting goods department, usually the largest display are cranks/Shad Raps and of course one of the most popular is Rapala, there are others. The isle is 20 feet long and hundreds hanging on the pegs. My eyes glaze over. OK, what to use and buy? We got short ones, long one, skinny one, fat ones, floaters, divers, countdowns, jointed etc., etc., etc.. Are they a seasonal bait or can you use them all year long? Can you troll them deep and what is the best way to rig them, egg sinker on a three way, what? Or are they specifically a shallow running bait? Is there a chart or general guide suggesting the most appropiate use, you know, match the conditions with a recommended crank? I know the Firetiger was the rage a couple years back. Does a guy have to have a hundred on them, or can you pick out a dozen or so and cover it?
-------------------- Why do they call them crappie minnows? BECAUSE THEY CATCH CRAPPIES!!!!!
You can start with a dozen. Once you get a idea of where and when to use them you may end up with more. Many of the baits have there diving range on the boxes along with other info like if they float or suspend, size, weight. You will want to try to match the action of the lure to what and where you are fishing. You can look back in the forums and find some good info on what colors people like and where they use them. There are certain styles of lures and colors that work well at certain times. You will never find one lure that works well all the time.
So what body of water do you want to use these on?
I always take my wife with me when buying tackle. Ooohh, she sez, here's a pretty one, we need this. Yes dear, and I add another one to my collection jerr
Ron also takes his nice bride. Only she says, "you've already got enough of this foolish stuff that doesn't work for you you never bring home any fish when you go and my work around the house goes to pot because you're always pre-occupied with this fishing stuff and you never pay any attention to what I want and..........[notice the lack of punctuation?].
You don't need any more aggrevation in life Ron nor do you need any more tackle....lol
-------------------- Plastics: making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys!
CT
I suggest if you are fishing the river, and tapping to bottom, get something with a lip on the crank, I like the regular or jointed shad raps in both #5 and #7. I've had some good luck on Bomber 5A and 7A. Minnow raps seem to work pretty good too. There seem to be a lot of people happy with the berkely Frenzy baits too. The sky's the limit, some people find themselves rather addicted to buying them, for awhile, I'd let myself get $20 worth each trip to the store, (not that I want all that often) That way I started small and found some that produce for me, without killing my budget.
River fishing cranks. Crawdad or crawfish patterns work better eariler in the open water season on a variety of species but as the bait fish gain some weight shad raps take over the spot light. Cranks are nice because you can cover a ton of water in a short amount of time. Only ups the percentage in finding active fish. It's a pretty common practise down here to locate active fish with cranks (walleyes in particular) then anchor down and throw a variety of plastics and live bait techniques at em. Dubuque rigging running the crank on the trailer and bounching a big fat head or chub off bottom is another popular technique.
Ron, the Rapala Shadraps are hard to beat. Probably the most popular one on Lake Pepin is the firetiger color in #5 and #7s with the #7 size being the hotter bait the past few years. Crawdad and perch always caught fish too in the past. Before you spend money buying crankbaits give me a call and come over and I'll show you the better ones to get. Right now the bite has really slowed down. Come the first week of August the bite dies bigtime compared to what it was and the bite can stay pretty slow through September. This time of year there are TONS of good size baitfish for the fish to eat so they are well stuffed before even seeing our crankbaits come by. With your soon coming retirement coming up my advice would be to buy a small boat that you feel comfortable using/operating/towing so that you can get out on the water wherever you wish to fish throughout the year and enjoy your retirement. I can show you what crankbaits, 3-way floaters, etc to buy and then you will be set for years to come. Thanks, Bill
Crank baits/Shad Raps, how, why and when to use th
jerr
