Crankbait Setups

[SimpleMan]

What do you guys prefer to use when you crankbait? rod, reel, line, etc. Im looking to buy a new crank setup and was wondering what others use.

[Bass Whacker]

i have a abu winch on a med/heavy moderate action compre crank rod spooled with braid. got it twards the end of the season but i love it so far

[TR21HP]

I use a 7' G Loomis Crankbait rod with a Shimano Curado and 15# Berkely Flourocarbon.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Citica 5:1 reel. Avid, heavy power, moderate action rod. 10 lb gamma copoly or 10 lb gamma fluoro.

This is mostly a deep crank setup but still use it for shallower cranks sometimes. I prefer the heavy power as it really helps rip weeds when youve got a long cast on a deep weedline. Ive used some rods were once you get in the weeds you dont have the backbone to really rip free and that makes for a long day.

There is a lot of preferance involved in the choice. Thier are plenty that wouldnt like fishing with my setup as I dont like fishing with really whippy rods but some do. The two things I think you should consider is what type of cranking. If big and deep mostly grab a reel with a ratio around 5. If shallow or all around you could do ok with a 6:1. Same with rods match the rod with the crank weights you will mostly likely throw. A MH would probably be a good all around bass crankin rod but whatever power you go with a Moderate action would probably be best.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Very good question, but really, its all just a preference. I'm glad you are only looking for opinions that work for other people.

Personally I think a slower more moderate action is best. I have quite a few Compre and Crucial Shimano Crankbait rods.. They are made with TC4 technology. Which I am totally sold on. They are awesome.. That said, I think I am going to try one of the new Reaction Series Cumara.. why? Because I can.. I have a budget that needs to be spent or I loose it. Do I think its nessissary? NO.. but will not know more until I try it. I plan on getting both a 7'7" and a 7'11"...

can you spend less.. yes.. any decent glass rod will work. Problem with glass is its heavy.. and if there are any weeds is almost impossible to free it of stuff.. too much back bone and you end up loosing too many fish.. Finding the perfect rod for you is not easy.. some cranks weigh next to nothing, some weigh more than the rod you are throwing the lure with.

A med action graphite rod can and will work.. longer is better.

Line?.. Depends on what diving depth you want.. I have a couple identical rods one has 10- the other 14.. just to get different diving depths from the same crank bait. If I caould only pick one.. 10lb would be it.. Floro will help get it deeper but co-poly is fine.

reel-- uggg.. again, depends.. are you going to be throwing a lot of DD22, or DT16? A slower reel may be nice?.. is it more for traps?.. then slow sucks!

[river rat316]

I use a 7'mh (more like a m) Setyr crankbait rod, and imho opinion its the best medium/ shallow running crankbait rod made. I have a BPS extreme 5.1 on it right now, but want to upgrade that to a shimano. I use Tectan mono line, its super thin but has really good breakage strength, the only downside is it needs to be respooled often because of the nature of mono. For all my other cranking I use a cheap bps rod (extreme) that is rated as 7' mh fast, but is more like a moderate, I have a bps extreme 6. whatever on that and 20 lb braid, this is the rod I use when I am ripping cranks or throwing traps.

Funny thing is 2 dedicated rods for cranks and neither made it into the boat this year, it has been a go to for years but I discovered heavy spinnerbaits this year and enjoy throwing those better.

[Set The Hook]

I use a medium power Shimano Compre Crankbait rod, and for $100 you can't go wrong. The TC4HM construction is the best of both glass and graphite rods. The parabolic soft action of a glass rod with the light weight of a graphite rod. I've pulled in 5 pounders with ease on this rod.

[delmuts]

I don't do alot of cranking, so i have one reel( a Pflueger trion 5:1 to 1 ratio, spooled with PP 2-10 ), but changed rods. One is a BP 6-6 M crankin stick that i use for more open water or around rock. The other is a 7' M BP bionic blade for weeds.

[SimpleMan]

With the Compre, is it better to go Medium or MH?

[Set The Hook]

I think that would depend on what size crankbaits you are going to be using. The lure rating for the 7'0" Medium is 1/4 oz to 3/4 oz. The Medium Heavy is 3/8 oz to 1 oz.

[PierBridge]

A line-counter reel would be a good suggestion...ooops wrong forum/fish!

[Larson15]

If you are going to only have one cranking rod i think the best bang for the buck would be a 7ft medium heavy moderate action.

[Wayne Ek]

I use two different rods for cranks. One is the new KVD cranking rod with Fluoro. for most cranking. The other is a Quantum Tour with braid for ripping lipless baits.

[mozy]

I use a Loomis CBR845. It's a 7' MH with a Mod-fast action. Reel is a Daiwa Sol spooled up with 12# Trilene XL. I really like the combo and feel it covers a wide array diving depths. The reel is a 5.6:1 ratio which to me is a nice compromise between the low speed "cranking" reels and the common 6.3:1.

[Bassinbob84]

I'm using a 7'2 med carrot stix with a curado 200e5 and a 7'3" mh carrot stix with curado 200e5.

[TonkaBass]

I use a Loomis CBR845. It's a 7' MH with a Mod-fast action. Reel is a Daiwa Sol spooled up with 12# Trilene XL. I really like the combo and feel it covers a wide array diving depths. The reel is a 5.6:1 ratio which to me is a nice compromise between the low speed "cranking" reels and the common 6.3:1.

Killer rod! I love this rod for most of my cranking... I would say cranks to about 10'.

Last year I started using a lighter flipping stick for my real deep divers and honestly had an almost 100% catch ratio and was able to feel the bottom very well. There are crankbait fishermen out there way better than me who would disagree with me completely, but like dietz said before, it's whatever works for you.. I also tried using heavier line (15lb. floro) and didn't loose much depth at all by switching to it. I can honestly say that I don't see myself going back to a flimsy whipperstick for my deep divers...

[RK]

Hiya -

I fish cranks a lot, so I use a couple different things.

One is a 7'11" All Star Mag Cranking rod (it's several years old so no idea if it's still being made...) that's a med-heavy power, mod-fast action. It's on the slow side of mod-fast though, and has a very light tip with a lot of backbone. I have a Revo Winch with #12 fluoro on it most of the season, although if I'm in really thick coontail in August and September I'll sometimes swap it out for an old Curado B with a 3.8:1 gear ratio and 20# braid. I throw DT-14s and -16s, Strike King Series 5s and 6s, Poes 400s and big Bandits with it.

I also have a 6'10" custom rod I had built on a St. Croix Premier crankbait blank with a Diawa Millionaire 203A (5.3:1 gear ratio) and 10# fluoro for smaller Fat Raps, Poes 300s, etc.

I throw shallow cranks and wake baits on a custom 843 with #15 fluoro and a Revo with a 6.3:1 gear ratio.

The big dilemma with crankbaits is you need some power to rip off weeds, but it's easy to lose fish on a rod that's too stiff - I think anyhow. Big bodied crankbaits with small hooks are pretty easy for fish to throw if they get any kind of slack when they jump. To me a softer tip helps reduce that somewhat, although you do pay a price when you need to rip through weeds. So in late summer cranking coontail edges, I sometimes switch to braid. Everything's a compromise.

For reels, I really, really prefer a low speed reel for anything other than traps. I used old Lews Speed Spools for years until the Revo Winch came along. A lot more control over your retrieve speed I think and a lot less fatigue if you're throwing DT-16s or DD22s all day.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[SimpleMan]

Thanks for all the replies this helped a lot. I'm still not entirely sure what to use for line as everyone kind of uses different things. What would be the best option for line if I was cranking shallow to medium water depths using fairly big cranks?

[TonkaBass]

12 pound floro IMHO

[RK]

Hiya -

Personally, I'm with TonkaBass - other than really thick coontail, most of my deep and med. divers are thrown on 12# fluoro. Good compromise between thin diameter and enough strength to haul fish off a deep weedline. I've tried 10 and broken fish off when they burrow into the coontail, and 15 costs too much depth on deep divers.

That having been said... Line choice may really depend on what you ultimately end up with for a rod/reel combo. If you have a stiffer rod, mono might work best - the stretch can balance out the stiffer rod and help keep fish hooked. If it's something more parabolic, fluoro or even braid might be the way to go. You might have to experiment a little before you settle on one flavor.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Irish]

Is 12 pound flouro enough for pulling a 5lb. bass out of some weeds?

[TonkaBass]

yeah, anything "can" be done... It all depends on if switching to higher than 12 pound would result in not getting bites in the first place. I normally use the highest test I can get away with...

[Deitz Dittrich]

I crank with 10lb.. although I do have 12 on a couple rods as well. Most crank rods have enough give to them, that you can pull in a pretty large fish.

[SimpleMan]

Is it a bad idea to use a braid such as powerpro when cranking?

[TurnUpTheFishing]

No, but Id go with a softer rod if you were going to crank with braid.