Silent Cranks

[Mitch f]

Have always wondered if these will out produce rattles in 2-3 ft visability water.

[Stoneroller]

sometimes they do. it's usually one of those patterns within a pattern thing, but there are definately days when fish want a certain cadence or frequency of rattle over another. I have filmed a few times using rattling cranks in clear lakes and some fish are attracted to the rattle while others right next to those fish will be repelled by it. Only way to test it out i guess would be to go out with someone and one person throw a rattling model and someone else a silent model and see what happens.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Some of the Poe's were sought after because they lacked rattles. Some also believe that rattles are so common that fish can associate them with past fear.

I think the reality is that they are like any other lure and that on a given day and a given water etc, etc.

[exiledguide]

Some of the Poe's were sought after because they lacked rattles. Some also believe that rattles are so common that fish can associate them with past fear.

I think the reality is that they are like any other lure and that on a given day and a given water etc, etc.

I agree when the Rapala Shad Rap came out the black over silver caught me a lot of smallmouth for a couple of years up in NW Ontario but then it just became another lure that could catch smallmouth and the rattle crankbaits did a much better job ( deep Little N crawfish pattern) caught most of my fish and then in the late 90s Minnow baits like the Long A fished as a topwater and Power grubs seemed to do a better job along with a 4 to 6" worm.

[Gavin]

Wouldnt hurt to have a few in the box...It might get you bit when they wont eat a rattling bait, or it might get you another bite or two after they stop eating your rattling bait.

[Al Agnew]

I read about a study one time where under controlled conditions, bass learned to avoid rattling baits much quicker than non-rattling ones. They learned to avoid Rattletraps the quickest of any lure that was tested.

Under wild conditions, I suspect that heavily pressured fish can learn to avoid rattling crankbaits to some extent. My homemade crankbait is non-rattling, but it's a special case. I don't even use deep diving crankbaits all that much on many of the rivers I fish. But if I did more warm season fishing on the bigger, heavily pressured rivers, I think I'd often use non-rattling baits.