Spring Break - Day Three

[CadeWompus]

Not sure if this is the best thread for this, but seems like we have several crankbait guys, so here goes. I know some guys who swear by weighting the newer warts so that they end up with a slow rise. I have some of the old suspending warts and they are my favorites, so I gave it a try. Haven't gotten them wet yet, but here are my concerns. First, it takes a LOT of weight to achieve this...4 suspend strips and 9 wraps with .030 lead wire on each hook to be exact. I am worried that this will kill the action. Also, I did my best to camouflage the strips on the bill, but they are still pretty ugly. What do you guys think about this? Sorry if this an old topic.

[dtrs5kprs]

Wouldn't fiddle with them. Hard to duplicate the water temp for one thing.

[5bites]

I also wouldn't bother, especially now. The water temp is high enough and that good warm rain a few weeks ago helped kick things in the rear. Also I'm pretty sure with all that you're gonna hurt the action. Only throwing them with let you know for sure though.

Predator baits sells a slow rise/suspending wart knock off that you could have painted and not worry about weighting another bait.

[Quillback]

Olive craw is the color I picked up in the Fat Papa. Bought both sizes. Hard to find a good deep crank in craw colors.

Spro could do a better job when it comes to craw colors across their product lines. They could add the Rock Crawler colors to the Fat Papa and Little John lineup. Take the Olive Craw and Bluegill (which is sort of craw like) and put them into the Rock Crawler lineup.

Wouldn't hurt to add some of the best Wart colors to the Rock Crawler, Mizz Craw, Brown craw and V-38, Tim Hughes Ghost colors.

[dtrs5kprs]

Spro could do a better job when it comes to craw colors across their product lines. They could add the Rock Crawler colors to the Fat Papa and Little John lineup. Take the Olive Craw and Bluegill (which is sort of craw like) and put them into the Rock Crawler lineup.

Wouldn't hurt to add some of the best Wart colors to the Rock Crawler, Mizz Craw, Brown craw and V-38, Tim Hughes Ghost colors.

Absolutely. At least they have some. Try to find a fat free shad in a craw color. There are a lot of good colors in the little N and dd4, but you have to order them from Norman. No one carries them.

[CadeWompus]

Wouldn't fiddle with them. Hard to duplicate the water temp for one thing.

I also wouldn't bother, especially now. The water temp is high enough and that good warm rain a few weeks ago helped kick things in the rear. Also I'm pretty sure with all that you're gonna hurt the action. Only throwing them with let you know for sure though.

Predator baits sells a slow rise/suspending wart knock off that you could have painted and not worry about weighting another bait.

You have convinced me...I will probably take the suspend strips off. I am not going to have much time to waste on an unproven theory this weekend. I may leave some lead wrap on the front hook just to give it a little extra depth and slow the rise a bit. Thanks for the input guys.

[Guest]

I wouldnt bother with the rock Crawlers, they already have awesome paint jobs. Mud bug is the only color you really need. The phantoms is awesome too.

They have a yellow variation of V38, but it might be a special run. Its the painted bill version on the Spro website.

Im not sold on the predator baits vs pre-rapalas because they cant handle the force it requires to burn them.

However, the rock crawlers, live target HFC & predators cant handle it either. they all want to roll up to one side.

That puts the pre-rapalas in their own category IMO.

When you have winds 25+mph, you need a bait that can be burned until it reaches bottom, then crawl it.

[dtrs5kprs]

Or a spinnerbait.

[basscatfan]

For what it's worth. They have a few crawlers at fins n feathers in Springfield

Only had mud bug color.

[Guest]

Or a spinnerbait.

I've got a box of spinnerbaits with dust on them.

I quit fishing spinnerbaits when the good swimbaits came along & the KVD 1.5