Good Crankbait Rod/Reel/Line?

[Spazzums08]

What do you guys reccomend?

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Without being brand specific.

Rod- Any rod with a moderate action. The foregivness of a moderate action will help you land more fish when throwing cranks. Consider how big your cranks would be or how deep your cranks will dive. Bigger or deeper cranks will need a heavier power. I would prefer a MH for all around bass cranking. I prefer a 7' length.

Reel- you will probably want a reel with a 5:1 gear ratio. This will make it easy on you and your reel when throwing deep cranks all day.

Line- I dont like braid some do. I prefer mono in 10#. Mono has stretch that will help keep fish hooked up. You could also try fluoro, it has less stretch but it will help your crank dive slightly deeper and the line is harder for fish to see. I'll add that the stiffness of Fluoro can make it harder to fish with.

[RK]

Hiya -

It depends (of course...)

For most of the season for bigger cranks like DT16s, Poes 400s and DD22s, I like a long rod (my big crank rod is 7'11") with a moderate action and a med-heavy power. I match it with 12# Fluorocarbon (I like Triple Fish a lot) and a low gear ratio reel (I love my old Lews, but Shimano makes a low speed Curado that's pretty good too). Later in the season though when I'm fishing deep coontail a lot I will sometimes switch to 20# Cortland Masterbraid. The braid pops baits off coontail and deep cabbage a little better. I generally use the same rod, but I think this year I'm going to get a shorter (7') glass crankbait rod.

For lighter cranks (smaller Fat Raps, Bevy Shads, Flicker Shads - smallie cranks in general), I use a M-Light mod fast 7'6" rod with 10# Triple Fish Fluoro and a Lews BB-19. I will sometimes throw these on a spinning rod with 10/6 Fireline too though.

The main thing with cranking rods in general I think is a more moderate action to help keep fish hooked with the small hooks that are on cranks. Really easy to pull hooks out if you overpower the fish, especially if you use braid. Great thing is you don't have to spend piles of $$ on a good cranking rod most of the time. Some of the mid-range rods from most manufacturers are pretty good. The Clarus Shimanos are a good example, or the BPS cranking stick which I think is all of about $50 when the go on sale.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[DomW]

I'm curious to know what the new BPS crankin' sticks are like compared to last year's version. The new ones are now all linear graphite (whatever that means) while last yer they were a graphite/fiberglass blend. I have the older one and I really like it, and, like my man Rob said, it was only about 50 bucks. I'm looking for a 7 foot MH for DD22s, which are just too much for my 6'6" medium action stick.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Like others have talkeda bout, your really looking for a slower action rod. The older BPS rods were a great rod for the money.. and to be honest the e-glass rods are a great rod for cranking, I just dont like how heavy they are, not heavy in power, just plain heavy in weight.

I think another great option is the crankbaits series for shimano(ok, little biased as I am on their staff) but the Compre Crankbait TC4 rods are awesome, they are a graphite/Glass hybrid. I myself use the Crucial Crankbait rods, but cant tell a ton of difference between the 2, the Crucial is a tad bit lighter...

Dom for DD22 I use the 7'MH Crucial Crankbait TC4 rod.

[DomW]

I was going to ask you about those. I see they both use TC4 construction, so I figure the Compre would suffice for those (like me) who need to save a few bucks when they can.

[mr walleye]

For the money the Mr. Walleye trolling rods are nice

[Deitz Dittrich]

Dom- While both use TC4 Technology, the Crucial uses IM9 Graphite and SIC COncept guides, the Compre uses IM8 and Hardely guides.

[TonkaBass]

As a general setup I use a 7' medium action glass rod. Although I have used the compre and loomis and like them for their lightness. The rod has a moderate to slow action. Serves many purposes... you can really see what the crank is doing, The rad gives more when fighting a fish, and you can launch a lure further with these rods vs. a fast action stiff rod. Often I crank with a high speed reel, but you have to remeber to crank slowly.

More often than not, the line of choice for most situations is #10 mono, but line is one of the biggest factors in changing a crankbaits running depth, so increase or decrease accordingly.

For lipless cranks I ussually fish a more stout rod so I can swim it through the weeds better. It's hard to fish a lipless crank with a slow action rod. If you could, you might boat more fish though. It's kind of a trade off I guess. I also like a little heavier line like a 12 or 14 .lb test mono.

[Bassman55]

I am about the same as these guys. I use a MH 7'6" for bigger crankbaits and lipless cranks and a 7' M for smaller cranks. I do use a 6.2:1 reel and have not had any problems but most people don't reccomend it. I use either 10 or 12lb test mono.

[river rat316]

My Setyr Crankin Rod is on its way Can't wait!