I want to spend WISELY . . . and EFFICIENTLY . . . RkCrawler Or Wiggle Wart???

[wareaglecamo]

I've got a CONFIDENCE in CRANKS PROBLEM . . . not my favorite bait to fish . . . own just a few . . . usually stay in the box . . . REFUSE to enter the 20-20 CLUB (20 colors/20 sizes) . . . want to try and give em a go this spring . . . PLEEEEEASE help me narrow the selection based on your experience . . . Wiggle Wart or RkCrawler??? . . . and perhaps color???

[Smalls21]

wiggle wart for 6'-10'

RK crawler for 10'-14'

natural craw colors and maybe something a little different for those days you are feeling frisky

[dwiebenga]

I agree.  I would go with 6 apiece.  They hit different depths.  Furthermore, shallow water can be a bear on RK Crawler.  The bill is not made to smash rock in 2-4 feet of water.  I have cracked a few bills this way.  It is much better bouncing at 8-10 feet where the force is not as much; thus, less breakage.  However, the Wart can take a beating in the shallower water, and many bites are off the deflection.  

All of my colors are craw.  

Phantom Green, Phantom Red, Phantom Brown, Molten Craw

Warts (v37, v38, v62, and v63)

This keeps it simple and to the point

Good Luck and enjoy.  

[wareaglecamo]

thanks Smalls21 and dwiebenga . . . that's some great advice . . . just those two responses narrow the purchase-possibilities significantly . . . a BIG HELP for sure!

[dtrs5kprs]

17 minutes ago, dwiebenga said:

I agree.  I would go with 6 apiece.  They hit different depths.  Furthermore, shallow water can be a bear on RK Crawler.  The bill is not made to smash rock in 2-4 feet of water.  I have cracked a few bills this way.  It is much better bouncing at 8-10 feet where the force is not as much; thus, less breakage.  However, the Wart can take a beating in the shallower water, and many bites are off the deflection.  

All of my colors are craw.  

Phantom Green, Phantom Red, Phantom Brown, Molten Craw

Warts (v37, v38, v62, and v63)

This keeps it simple and to the point

Good Luck and enjoy.  

That pretty well nails it. With the new warts being $4 or so, another option is running them on 6#-8# with some dots. That will get them a little deeper, if you don't mind losing some baits. Painted baits (custom) tend to run a little deeper too.

Back before the Wart Apocalypse, that wasn't uncommon. Most of us aren't going to throw a $60 pre Rapala on six now. Probably a few willing to.

Still won't get it as deep as the Spro.

[Macsimus]

43 minutes ago, Smalls21 said:

wiggle wart for 6'-10'

RK crawler for 10'-14'

natural craw colors and maybe something a little different for those days you are feeling frisky

Lol!

[Targa98]

I can tell you we did some prefishing on Saturday during crappy weather, I threw a WW quite a bit, my partner threw a phantom green RC, once we caught fish we moved but I never had a crankbait bite at all and he had 2 keeps on the RC until he broke off. We never had another, every spot and day is different so you might as well get both. LOL

[Bill Babler]

Just about the finest advice you could ask for in a very minimal amount of posts.  Great work to the guys on the blog above me.  Those are really two totally different baits that got a lot of folks in trouble when the RK first came out with broken bills.  Lots of posts on this forum and many others about snapping off RK bills bouncing it off rocks in the same places that we have thrown a wart for years.

The RK is  a much deeper bait and If I could only chose one it would be Phantom Green.  If I could pick one wart I would struggle.  I just like so many of the little rascules

Also a word to the wise, if you get debris or moss on a RK, do not under any circumstances slap it on the water.  You will not like the results.  Take a minute and pick off the moss or what ever it is.  You can get away with a little tougher treatment of a wart, but again don't go crazy here smacking it on the water.  Simple stuff we all should know, but  we do silly stuff everyday and when we do, it most always costs us money or hurts us.

Good Luck

[abkeenan]

Can't really add much to what dwiebenga and Dave said.  

Craw patterns are all you need for TR, no need to stray. RK's need no upgrades and are good to go out of the pack. They come standard with Gammy trebles. Warts on the other hand need better hooks. Not a big VMC (stock hooks on the Wart) guy so I put some Owner stingers on them size 5.

Only color I will add to is the V209 in the Wart (Natural Red Craw). It's my favorite color. Rapala of course screwed the pooch on it with their rendition of the 209 but it still works fine. IF you REALLY feel like being "frisky" you can drop about $50+ on a Pre-Rap V209.

I'll add that if you aren't accustomed to cranking you MUST be ticking bottom to get bit. If you aren't grinding, you ain't catchin'. This of course lends it's to getting hung up more.....

......Thus brings me to my last point....get you a lure retriever. Will pay for itself within the first hour of you cranking on TR. I highly recommend getting the David Fritz model that Lew's now reintroduced on the market last year. I have the same one (old blue original) that I've had since the mid 90s. I have it on a retractable dog leash with the metal clip epoxied shut on it. It never leaves my tacklebox/boat.

http://www.lews.com/acc-getrbacklureretrieve.php

[dtrs5kprs]

1 minute ago, Bill Babler said:

Just about the finest advice you could ask for in a very minimal amount of posts.  Great work to the guys on the blog above me.  Those are really two totally different baits that got a lot of folks in trouble when the RK first came out with broken bills.  Lots of posts on this forum and many others about snapping off RK bills bouncing it off rocks in the same places that we have thrown a wart for years.

The RK is  a much deeper bait and If I could only chose one it would be Phantom Green.  If I could pick one wart I would struggle.  I just like so many of the little rascules

Also a word to the wise, if you get debris or moss on a RK, do not under any circumstances slap it on the water.  You will not like the results.  Take a minute and pick off the moss or what ever it is.  You can get away with a little tougher treatment of a wart, but again don't go crazy here smacking it on the water.  Simple stuff we all should know, but  we do silly stuff everyday and when we do, it most always costs us money or hurts us.

Good Luck

Prevent Wart Abuse. Make sure every old wart has a loving home. Like in a Bass Mafia box .