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

[abkeenan]

1 minute ago, aarchdale@coresleep.com said:

Wart addiction at its finest.   

Brother sent me that video. Homeboy has quite the collection.

[abkeenan]

1 minute ago, Jerry Rapp said:

why is this color so valuable?  Rare?

Yep, V44 Mackerel. Was a limited run for those weirdos in the North and Northwest that like to troll for lake trout and whatnot. From what I've seen most of the people that own them or sell them come from Oregon and Washington. Guess that is where it was marketed. Lotta fakes now though since it is so easy to replicate that pattern. Easy peasy for a crook/scammer to get a V2 Blue Scale Wart and paint/sharpie some squiqgly lines on both sides and say it's a V44 Mackerel.

[Jerry Rapp]

7 minutes ago, abkeenan said:

Yep, V44 Mackerel. Was a limited run for those weirdos in the North and Northwest that like to troll for lake trout and whatnot. From what I've seen most of the people that own them or sell them come from Oregon and Washington. Guess that is where it was marketed. Lotta fakes now though since it is so easy to replicate that pattern. Easy peasy for a crook/scammer to get a V2 Blue Scale Wart and paint/sharpie some squiqgly lines on both sides and say it's a V44 Mackerel.

I think I have an old Storm Big Mac in that color.  Will have to go sort through the old tackle boxes.

[dtrs5kprs]

1 hour ago, Smallie Seeker said:

Such good info in this thread. First off thank you to all who have contributed. 

With all these veteran cranker's chiming in, I'd love to hear what everyone's preferred setup is for cranking ww's/rc's. 

Same line and gear ratio for both?

I'm weird, no one likes what I fish with, lot of it is unavailable.

6' All Star M with an old 5:1 Curado or a 4600. For shallow work, with lots of targets (wood).

6'6" Zell Rowland rod with a Curado. Also a 6'6" St Croix M Premier. Not the same but similar.

7'6" wart rod, home built. Same blank as my Ned rods. Based on the old Loomis hot shot blanks. Lew's on that. It will bomb a wart, or a Pop R or redfin for that matter. 

Usually 10# fluoro. Used to run warts on 8# XT all the time. Just can't do that with a $40-75 bait.

 

[rps]

St Croix 7 blank similar to this: http://www.mudhole.com/2C70MM

Guides are spiraled.

Lews BB1 Pro Speed Spool, 5:1 ratio

Yo Zuri 8# clear

With this set up you do not need to load hard as patient moves let you throw farther with less effort.

Do note that I do not throw any bait that costs more than $20. Even my custom Top Dollars (that have their own rod) worked out to around $20.

[roy_eros]

6 hours ago, abkeenan said:

Yep, V44 Mackerel. Was a limited run for those weirdos in the North and Northwest that like to troll for lake trout and whatnot. From what I've seen most of the people that own them or sell them come from Oregon and Washington. Guess that is where it was marketed. Lotta fakes now though since it is so easy to replicate that pattern. Easy peasy for a crook/scammer to get a V2 Blue Scale Wart and paint/sharpie some squiqgly lines on both sides and say it's a V44 Mackerel.

That picture is actually a SP-100. More rare than a V-44. Only difference is it has a clear lip.

[Guest]

If you don't want to pay the $50 eBay price for the most sought after colors, buy the beaters & odd colors like chrome & have them painted by a professional. Start hoarding them off eBay in August for about $8 apiece & the custom paint is $10-$15 extra. So you can get whatever color you want for about $20 total.

the other option is to buy your own air brushing setup & paint them yourself like many of us have done. I will warn you that it's addictive & sometimes costly. Air brushes have a way of multiplying like rabbits. Or you could jack up the clear coat which can ruin a Mona Lisa paint job. There's a steep learning curve involved. I'm still somewhere in the middle of that curve after 5 years & $900. 

[Guest]

I buy 600 yard spools of 10lb yozuri hybrid off TW for $11 a spool. I bought 1,800 yards last week to last the entire season. 

As for the RK crawler you only need 1 color & that's Mud Bug.

[Champ188]

Guess I'll add to the poor OP's confusion ...

I throw Warts where I need a bait to get down to 4-8 feet. Like others, I own way too many. If I had to keep three non-custom colors, they would be: watermelon seed for off-colored water or dark days in clear water; brown craw for a versatile, all-around color; and the V-209 for late winter/very early spring when red hues produce best. A very, very close fourth would be phantom green.

If I want/need to get a little deeper, I go to the Rock Crawler. Basic color needs for me there are phantom brown, phantom green and red craw.

As for a rod/reel setup, I recently bought a Denali Kovert Lite series finesse jig rod (7-3 length, med power, fast action) that just rocks my world for either the WW or RK. I have it paired with a Cabela's Arachnid 6.3:1 reel (same as a Daiwa Tatula) and 10-pound P-Line CXX mono. 

Good luck with your search.

[edyer]

15 hours ago, rps said:

St Croix 7 blank similar to this: http://www.mudhole.com/2C70MM

Guides are spiraled.

Lews BB1 Pro Speed Spool, 5:1 ratio

Yo Zuri 8# clear

With this set up you do not need to load hard as patient moves let you throw farther with less effort.

Do note that I do not throw any bait that costs more than $20. Even my custom Top Dollars (that have their own rod) worked out to around $20.

What gear ratio reels are most of you using for the warts and jerk baits? I used to think that the 5:1 was the way to go for cranking and jerk baits, but lately I'm hearing 7:1 and just reel slower. As far as colors of Warts go, I agree with everything said, but would add a Fire Tiger to the arsenal as well. One of our guys on our trip did well with that color last year, including big bass for the week. I've ad some good days when the wind was pounding the the slow tapering points throwing the Mag Wart in Fire Tiger as well. Mags are used up here in Michigan be a select few, including the guy from Kalamazoo, MI. When the water is cold up here, slow winding a Mag Wart will result in a 5 pound plus smallmouth on some days.