What's The Best River Crank?

[Wayne SW/MO]

I rarely use a crank, but when I do it's a shallow one. Smallies will often come up, especially in the fall.

There's always the jig.

[Gavin]

I dont fish cranks much at all....but a Norman DD22 or DD14 may do the trick for you......Mabye one of those old Hellbenders...There proven lake baits...so they might be worth a shot. Cheers.

[tjulianc]

This may a little off subject, but has anyone tried fishing a spinner bait for river smallies? I'm thinking about giving it a try when the water gets a little colder. I'm thinking 1/4 oz with double colorado blades, to get down deep with good vibration.

I also like fishing a bandit crank bait. I grew up fishing cyprus trees in south Arkansas and Southern Louisiana and the 100 series has been a staple for me, and it has caught some good smallies in the rivers too. Bandit makes a 700 series crank that dives 14-18 ft. They sell them at Tackle Warehouse for 5.29.

[flytyer57]

This may a little off subject, but has anyone tried fishing a spinner bait for river smallies? I'm thinking about giving it a try when the water gets a little colder. I'm thinking 1/4 oz with double colorado blades, to get down deep with good vibration.

I also like fishing a bandit crank bait. I grew up fishing cyprus trees in south Arkansas and Southern Louisiana and the 100 series has been a staple for me, and it has caught some good smallies in the rivers too. Bandit makes a 700 series crank that dives 14-18 ft. They sell them at Tackle Warehouse for 5.29.

My go to bait is usually a large beetle-spin with a curled tail grub.

Cast quartering down or across and hold on.

[Buzz]

This may a little off subject, but has anyone tried fishing a spinner bait for river smallies? I'm thinking about giving it a try when the water gets a little colder. I'm thinking 1/4 oz with double colorado blades, to get down deep with good vibration.

I catch a lot of smallmouth on War Eagle spinnerbaits. I usually toss a 3/8 oz. bait. My favorite has a chartreuse/white skirt with a big gold willow leaf and a fluorescent orange colorado blade with either a white or chartreuse twin tail grub. All bass love this bait. It seems to work in all seasons for me. I really like all of the War Eagle spinnerbaits though. They are a little expensive, but it's worth it because they work.

[tjulianc]

I catch a lot of smallmouth on War Eagle spinnerbaits. I usually toss a 3/8 oz. bait. My favorite has a chartreuse/white skirt with a big gold willow leaf and a fluorescent orange colorado blade with either a white or chartreuse twin tail grub. All bass love this bait. It seems to work in all seasons for me. I really like all of the War Eagle spinnerbaits though. They are a little expensive, but it's worth it because they work.

I like a good quality spinnerbait too. Every try Picasso Spinnerbaits? They are expensive too, but they work, and last a long time, making them worth the money.

[Al Agnew]

Sure, spinnerbaits are good anytime the water temps are above 50 degrees, and you can make them work even if it's colder than that. I tend to use a regular spinnerbait with tandem willow leaf, or the bigger blade a willow leaf and the smaller one a colorado, on bigger water or murky water, but I use my twin spin in clear water and smaller rivers.

If the water temps are above 60 degrees I'll almost always be using my shallow running crankbait, but once it drops into the 50s I'll go with the deep divers. Late October, November, and early December, along with the month of March, is prime time for deep diving cranks.

In other parts of the country I've had good luck with crankbaits that are a little bigger than the Wiggle Wart size. Don't know why I haven't used them in the Ozarks.

[tjulianc]

Crank baits can be funny. Somedays, a Norman will out fish anything on the water, and other days, a wider louder crank is better. Now they are even making silent crankbaits, for when the fish are over-fished with cranks with a rattle.

Once my dad was fishing with a buddy of his and his fishing buddy was tearing them up on a bandit. My dad pulled one out and fished it and he was in the front of the boat and he couldn't catch a fish. He would throw in a spot, not catch a fish, then his buddy would throw in the same spot and catch a fish. His buddy cut the particular crank off his line and gave it to my dad, and it still didn't make a difference. The only difference they could come up with was my dad was using a baitcaster and his fishing buddy was using a spinncaster, and it may have given the lure the extra action it needed to trigger bites.

The little things can make a big difference.

[Mitch f]

I catch a lot of smallmouth on War Eagle spinnerbaits. I usually toss a 3/8 oz. bait. My favorite has a chartreuse/white skirt with a big gold willow leaf and a fluorescent orange colorado blade with either a white or chartreuse twin tail grub. All bass love this bait. It seems to work in all seasons for me. I really like all of the War Eagle spinnerbaits though. They are a little expensive, but it's worth it because they work.

Yep,

I'm a big fan of the War Eagles too! but I must admit the color you described with a fluorescent orange colorado is a new one for me

[flytyer57]

Crank baits can be funny. Somedays, a Norman will out fish anything on the water, and other days, a wider louder crank is better. Now they are even making silent crankbaits, for when the fish are over-fished with cranks with a rattle.

Once my dad was fishing with a buddy of his and his fishing buddy was tearing them up on a bandit. My dad pulled one out and fished it and he was in the front of the boat and he couldn't catch a fish. He would throw in a spot, not catch a fish, then his buddy would throw in the same spot and catch a fish. His buddy cut the particular crank off his line and gave it to my dad, and it still didn't make a difference. The only difference they could come up with was my dad was using a baitcaster and his fishing buddy was using a spinncaster, and it may have given the lure the extra action it needed to trigger bites.

The little things can make a big difference.

The angle of retrieve from front to back of the boat could have made all the difference too.