Small Cranks for Sunnies

[riverrat56]

Anyone ever use small crankbaits for sunnies?

I tried it today, the smallers countdowns and some others seemed to work very well. They really helped to increase the size of fish caught. I tried plastics and nightcrawlers and i had the best luck on the cranks. The fish were still in about 8 ft of water, right on a sand/mud break line. Some fish were realating to the shallows and weeds, but those tended to be smaller.

[Matt Johnson]

Good topic riverrat56!!

Small cranks can be very productive on sunfish and crappies. There are several different brands to choose from. Yo-Zuri and Rapala both make tiny cranks, as does Bomber (I believe they still make one). I know there are others as well. You tend to catch the more aggressive fish and like riverrat said, you also land a few bigger fish. They can be fished in a variety of ways too.

Only problem I found with small cranks for targeting pannies, is that pike really seem to like them too And after I lost a couple $4-5 lures, I now tend to pick and choose my moments for small cranks.

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[Bobb-o]

One of my best baits for bull gills last yea was the small size jointed shad rap in perch color, cant even begin to count how many 8"+ gills i caught on that thing, even caught my personal best on it a 10 1/2 incher.

[Matt Breuer]

#3 Salmo Hornet has worked very well for me on crappies in the Spring and well into Summer. I've hooked quite a few incidental bluegills on it as well, and I too noticed a nice average size.

Great tool for searching out pannies, and fancasting an area holding aggressive fish.

[cmoredrakes]

For sunnies and crappies, my favorite choice is a Rebel Ant by the Rebel company they seem to work the best for me when both species are sitting on beds or when they're just cruisin' around for food.

---livin' large at 14---

[Pikemaster101]

what is the countdown for panfish

[delmuts]

hmmm! i bet those little cranks look like a gum drop for a pike !

[Slyster]

I bought a 5 pack of "Panfish Collection" spinners (Mepps #0s) from Walmart the other week ... anyone have luck using these? They are pretty tiny.

I had no luck on WBL with them.. but then again.. it was last weekend with the water cooled down to 50 again..

[icehousebob]

I was fishing large Mepps spinners for bass one day and had Sunnies impale themselves on the hooks. So I switched to the smallest size Blue Fox spinner with the tiny propeller blade. The Sunnies were coming for miles around to comit suicide on it. I tried it later in a small river where the sunnies were coming into the current to feed. I just cast it out, held the rod still and let the current work the blade. Everyone fishing around me was getting POed because I was catching so many more than they were. I love it when that happens.

[CrappieJohn]

Cabelas had a bargain bin fullof minute , acorn sized cranks a couple years ago and I picked up a half a dozen. As Matt stated, toothies seem to think these things are tasty......I have only one left. Of the five put on to actually fish with, three crappies were caught.

After the spawn crappies will get very aggressive at times. I have taken many while trolling #13 raps for waldos in the Miss. River.

Small spinners work well too. But I think as for sunfish, they will hit a range of lures that would amaze most people. When I was a kid I fished a sand pit with a hula-popper for bass and probably caught more sunfish than the bass.

[Ralph Wiggum]

I've used those tiny Mepps before. They work well; we tipped them with a leech. Like Matt Johnson said, though, Northerns love them. My mom picked up a 36" pike one time.

[EYEHUNTER10]

Simply put I wouldn't use cranks for sunfish, pretty spendy habit, especially if you use em out of season dnr might not like that, as for summer the sunnies wont leave my jumbo leech alone in 19ft of water on a long snell behind my 1/4 inch bottom bouncer, thats a spendy habit too considering the price of a good jumbo leech them sunnies are just plain annoying by that time of the year, but if I was targeting big sunfish I wouldn't fish them any different than i fish the walleyes if more people did they'd catch them 3/4 pound to 7/8 pound sunfish they dream of all winter and dread to catch all summer long. Just for the record a shallow running shad 4-6 ft with the hinged bill is hard to beat for sunnies and crappies if the lake you fish has pencil reeds down a long shoreline just troll to miss the reeds with your electric, and you'll catch alot of pannies and probably lose alot of expesive lures to pike and muskies. I don't even break out the cranks until its pitch dark then do the same thing mentioned above and absolutle pound the walleyes to the wall. Just my opinion but cranks are hard on panfish especially if you practice any form of c&r even though my lindy rigs probaly dont do them much good either.