What’s your guys favorite for cranking 4-8’ depths pre and post spawn before they move out to summer depths?
What’s your guys favorite for cranking 4-8’ depths pre and post spawn before they move out to summer depths?
2022 Phoenix 919 Pro XP
2022 Mercury 225 4s 3B133405
Dt 6 or 8 for me
Thanks. Keep em coming.
2022 Phoenix 919 Pro XP
2022 Mercury 225 4s 3B133405
Bandit 200
Spro rock crawler, Mid 55????
2017 Phoenix 819
2016 200ProXS, s/n 2B359849, Mod 1200P73BD
Bandit 200 or a Strike King Series 3.
Spro little John MD or DT’s
Bandit 200 and DT 6 for me
Please allow me to provide a definitive answer to this question for the smallmouth bass I fish in the waters of NW Wisconsin.
Crankbaits are a fishing affectation of mine and I've strived to put together the best JDM tackle and gear required to properly present and execute the delivery and retrieval of these lures. Specifically for the early season pre-spawn and post-spawn periods in shallow water from 4-8ft, here are my favorite crankbait lures by specific water depth as measured on my Lowrance Active Target using 30# Power Pro Maxcuatro braid with either a 18" Sunline FC100 30# leader or an 18" RIO PowerFlex Wire Bite 30# leader depending on if there are either trophy pike or muskie in a given fishery.
Lures
1. 4ft Water Depth:Silent
- Deps Evoke 1.2
- Megabass S-Crank 1.2
- OSP Tiny Blitz MR
- Megabass Knuckle LD Jr
- Megabass IxI Type-R
Rattle
- Lucky Craft LC 1.0 DRS
- Evergreen Combat Crank 4
2. 5ft Water DepthSilent
- Deps Evoke 1.8
- Megabass S-Crank 1.5
- OSP Blitz
- Megabass Knuckle LD
- Cheator Type-C
Rattle
- Daiwa D-Square 55
- Lucky Craft LC 1.0 DD DRS
- OSP Rattling Blitz
3. 6ft Water DepthSilent
- Deps Evoke 2.0
- Megabass S-Crank 2.0
- Megabass Super Z-1
- Megabass Sonicside
- OSP HPF Crank Ver 2
Rattle
- OSP HPF Crank Ver 1
- Evergreen Combat Crank 6
4. 7ft Water DepthRattle
- Daiwa D-Square 65
5. 8ft Water DepthSilent
- Megabass Deep-X 100 LBO
Rattle
- Megabass Deep-X 100T
- Evergreen Combat Crank 8
Rods/Reels
1. Sedition SDC-700MG-FTW/Shimano Antares DC
2. Smith LTD Strategy Tourer V-Spec TVC-69ML Bait Finesse Advance/Shimano Antares DC
3. ISM Infinite Blad IBC-610MMLGT /Shimano Antares DC
4. Megabass Valkyrie VKC-69M+/Shimano Antares DC
5. Smith LTD Strategy Tourer V-Spec TVC-71MH/HG Invincible Cranker/Shimano Antares DC
Please feel free to reach out to me via PM if you have any specific questions or concerns regarding the information in this post and I will be glad to assist further.
Please have a great day!
2022 Vexus VX20/Mercury 250 Pro XS | 2021 Vexus AVX 1980/Mercury 150 Pro XS | "Overkill is underrated!" - "Då Som Nu För Alltid"
Most of my favorites have been mentioned above! DT-6 (and DT-4 and DT-8, the latter is new and it's better than I expected), Wiggle Wart or RkCrawler, Bandit 200. I pgenerally like DTs better around vegetation, Bandits and Warts/RkCrawlers around rock, DT or Bandit around wood. DTs are probably the most subtle of the bunch but dive quickly and stay there, the Bandit is also fairly subtle and kind of "swims down" to depth (works really good for instances where you're not wanting to dig bottom or have fish staging off of the sides of structure), while the Warts and RkCrawlers are pretty aggressive, getting down quick and digging hard once they're there.
I also throw KVD 1.5s and Lucky Craft 1.5s when a squarebill is on the docket...they tend to run on shallower end of that range, the KVD getting 5-6 feet on 12 lb Sniper for me while the Lucky Craft seems to get 4-5 feet. Both models come through grass really well. The Norman Fat Boy is another I've really starting reaching for lately, but it has a harder time reaching into the depth range you're asking about.
The Berkley Digger is slowly catching up to the DT for me, the one in that range is the 6.5 model. It's very similar to the DT in my opinion, but since it's plastic it's not nearly as fragile.
The Dredger is another really good one but the shallowest running version is an 8.5 that runs like 9-10 on 12 lb Sunline in my experience.
2011 Skeeter ZX225
225 Yamaha HPDI Series 2
Minn Kota Ultrex 112 52"
Console: HDS 16 Carbon
Bow: HDS 12 Carbon, Solix 12 G2, Mega 360
City17 thanks for the great detail. Also thumbs up to everyone for replying.
2022 Phoenix 919 Pro XP
2022 Mercury 225 4s 3B133405
You are most welcome! I hope you have lots of success with your pre-spawn and post-spawn shallow water crankbait fishing this season!
We've been fortunate to be wearing out the smallmouth bass on the shallow and mid-depth crankbaits for the last two weeks and it's getting close to time for setting up the Dark Sleeper rods for the spawning bed fishing efforts.
Please have a great day!
2022 Vexus VX20/Mercury 250 Pro XS | 2021 Vexus AVX 1980/Mercury 150 Pro XS | "Overkill is underrated!" - "Då Som Nu För Alltid"
Thanks for the great write up and list
2022 Vexus VX20/Mercury 250 Pro XS | 2021 Vexus AVX 1980/Mercury 150 Pro XS | "Overkill is underrated!" - "Då Som Nu För Alltid"
Watts Bar 2 weeks ago they liked the Frittside 7.
DT 6 for 5-6 ft and a Square bill 4-0 ft. sometimes a Dt 4
2021/ 200 hp 4 stroke pro xs
2021 Triton TRX 18
#3B051045
Once again, the Sedition White Falcon and LC 1.0 DD DRS crankbait combination proved its mettle this morning on the pre-spawn staging smallmouth bass prior to the incoming monsoon (sure felt like it but quite cold this time of year) that forced off the water because my fishing buddy forgot his rain jacket and bibbs at my lake cabin this morning in his rush to get ready and his teeth were chattering after spending 30-minutes trying to tough it out in the rain with the prevailing balmy air temperature of 45-degrees.
After we got back to the Tundra and loaded up the Vexus, I kindly bought him brunch at the local greasy spoon diner and now we're just waiting the rain out at my lake cabin and hoping to get back on the water this afternoon.
Please have a great day!
2022 Vexus VX20/Mercury 250 Pro XS | 2021 Vexus AVX 1980/Mercury 150 Pro XS | "Overkill is underrated!" - "Då Som Nu För Alltid"