Lures, hardbaits, what ever you call them.

The attraction is hard to resist.
I can spend an hour looking at dozens and dozens, imagining an application where I might use a certain one to catch a fish.
A friend of mine has had some luck trolling deep diving lures in places where I would normally troll at 2 to 5 feet deep in mountain lakes for Rainbows and Browns.
After talking to him, I had to have a new deep diving plug, so I stopped by the local fishing store.

After much thought, I picked up this one.
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Does anybody know what a “Slash bait” is ?
IS there any reason I can’t troll this thing at 1.5 to 2 MPH ?

Old reliable is a jointed Repala, J-5, 7, 9 or 11 in Silver (shown) or trout colors.
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So what do you use, what do you catch with it, and if it’s on sale, can you resist buying another one, even though your tackle box is full of them ?

Looks to me like what you have there is a fancier version of a deep diving Shad Rap.I think it will have a tighter wiggle than the fatter crank baits and should do pretty well for trolling. The lighter and thinner the line the deeper it will go unless you use a down rigger of some sort.

Years past when I fished for trout I've caught them on small Shad Raps,which tends to be a very good bait for a variety of game fish. Like any bait for any game fish, were you put it is as important as what it is.

Crankbaits come in an astonishing range of styles and action types,tend to be pretty depth specific,and it's easy to accumulate a pile of them. I'm mostly talking bass fishing here in the northeast where they can be used from very shallow, to intermediate and deep depths. Which one gets grabbed depends on the depth at which your structure(and the fish) are located.

The general rule for largemouth bass is you don't want to throw a crank bait unless you can hit structure with it, to get fish-triggering deflection and erratic action.

We use them frequently but there are seasonal patterns where they really shine. From ice out through late pre spawn for largemouth bass i would sooner stay home than fish without a Storm Wiggle wart rigged on one rod....that bait has won a lot of bass tournaments in early spring with water temps in the 40's and 50's.

On big lakes in the post spawn, breeder females will pull out onto main lake structure and suspend, resting,and ignore lots of offerings, but will come to a Norman DD 22 as it bangs off the structure, but won't move 3 feet to hit a jig. Tough time of year to collect a big bag but a DD 22 can make your day for big post spawn females.

Avid crankbait fisherman can sink a boat with boxes stuffed with the things. I carry what I need based on seasonal patterns and preferences and this changes a bit from season to season. For bass, you will do better throwing carnkbaits with a tighter, more subtle wobble during cold water periods.

Start mixing in other species and the subject gets pretty complex. But buying crank baits is a lot of fun! Like trying different bullets and cartridges.

I've caught every catchable freshwater species here in Maine, except northern pike and blueback trout, on an F11 Rapala. I plan to fish for both of those species this year and most likely will have a rod rigged with that bait.

I've got multiple Plano 3700 storage containers full of cranks, and yes the colors catch fisherman before they catch fish.

They can be fish-catching machines at times. I rarely cast cranks, I prefer trolling.

I like Reef Runner baits alot, 800 series and 400 series Rip Shads. I like to get very familiar with just a few different styles, and then get to know the individual dive curves.

I use line counter reels, and with Bagley DB3 magnums, 39 feet of line out puts that lure down 16 feet, so while trolling a local lake with a 18/19 foot breakline, good things usually happen.

Some cranks require tuning,like the Reef Runners, and others generally don't, but tuning is very easy, and takes seconds.

A troller who knows what he is doing, can have a lot of fun.

Once you really get into trolling, start making all your own crawler harnesses, the components are unlimited in choices, and with in-line sinkers, you can cover the water from top to bottom.

Just like cranks, I have several Plano containers dedicated just to Harnesses. Tying harnesses is the equivalent of hand loading ammo. Lotsa fun.

I always keep my eyes open for old, beat up Creek Chub Pikie Minnows. I don't want the pristine ones-I look for the scarred up, battle damaged ones, as they're just going to get more beat up fishing for pike any ways. Nothing wrong with going a bit "old school." I pick up these tough old lures up here for between $5.00-$15.00. I've got some nice ones that never see the water too, but it's these old beaters that catch the most fish for me.

For bass, I like I like Bomber Model A's, Bagleys, and Shad Raps. As for surface lures, my go to floater is a Smithwick Devil's Horse or a Creek Chub Injured Minnow for largemouth. There ain't a self-respecting smallmouth bass in Minnesota than can resist a Plunker. Them's some crazy fish-I've had them attack a Plunker so hard they knocked it clean out of the water a couple times. For muskie, I go with Creek Chub jointed Pikie Minnows.

slash baits are supposed to dart left or right when you snap your rod tip. Theywill troll just fine. One bait that has been on fire for trolling has been the berkley flicker shad. It looks about the same as the shad rap and has a tight wiggle. I think there are charts for them for guys who use line counter reels. Lots of walleye dudes love them.

As far as my favorite crankbait it would be the DD22 for bass, for trolling it would be a shad rap or flicker shad and a bill norman deep tiny N. For trolling or casting and catching anything that swims, bass, white bass, even big bluegills and TONS of crappie the deep tiny N is my favorite, period... I have caught huge bass on them in the early spring and late fall and they come through wood cover way better than you would think. Its the one lure I NEVER leave home without no matter what in going after besides trout. The tiny n (shallow version) is awesome around shallow water cover but doesn't come through cover very good, but the deep version is my all time favorite...

When I was a kid, my favorite crank bait was the old Bomber Mudbug. Haven't bought a new crank bait in years, but I mostly use Rapalas. That extreme shad slashbait at the top of the page looks pretty good. I'll have to get one and give it a try!

I love to fish topwater for bass with either a Tiny Torpedo or some type of Rapala shallow diver by twitching it across the water

Seal Billy, do you have a photo of the DD22 your talking about, so I can give one a try?

Rattletraps: I've caught inshore saltwater sea trout, redfish, stripers and bluefish with them also freshwater bass and trout.

I'm sure there's plenty of other crankbaits that will probably do as well. I use Rattletraps a lot because I had good luck with them way back the first couple of times I fished them so it's usually the first crankbait I try and I'll stay with them awhile. Mine get a lot of time in the water.

The DD22 is made by Bill Norman. I don't know how to do pics from my phone and my computer was shot when I got this phone so I do all my online stuff from it now. I really need to get around to figuring it out.

They make tons of colors and are in every bass pro catalogue. Its a big long billed deep diving bait that requires a slow gear ratio casting reel or you will be very tired at the end of a long day out.

The nice thing about crankbaits is all of those sharp little hooks that delight in making unhooking fish difficult while upping your chances of embedding at least one of the little rascals in yourself.

Thanks! I'll go online and check them out.

It took me forever to figure how to post Picts from my iPhone. But once I downloaded Photobucket, it was pretty easy even for a non-techi like me

Cranks are about a third of my arsenal with top water and plastics being the remaining foolery. I have a box full but lately only been using these in our lakes for anything hungry including channel cats.

Placed high always in the money all summer in night tournaments a few years ago throwing a strike king 4S. Nobody was using square bills around here then vandam had to go and put one out and every tom, dick and harry bought a flippin box full of them. Still like the 4S better than the vandam models.

I like the 4S series as well and have several but the square bill colors seem to work best around here.

Man, way back when the Cotton Cordell Big O came out with that rattle chamber, there wasn't a self respecting bass alive that could pass them up. We really used to slaughter the largemouth on them.

I remember the Big O. I never did fish them but I knew that's where that style of crankbait originated.

The 4S strike king has a loud rattle too, I usually drill a hole in the bottom of the rattle chamber and pump epoxy in it to silence the rattles for clear water. I'm gonna look for some Big Os just to give them a whirl.

Crankbaits.......Every year after a loooooong winter I post, note to self NO MORE CRANKBAITS! I'm a crankbait fisherman. I have hundreds of crankbaits, I use maybe 4 or 5 different baits. They do catch me every year! This years catch..............

I like to fish them. I do a lot of river bass fishing and throw them at the high banks and pull them downstream with the current. Caught my share that way. I usually use some variation of a crawdad color if the water is clear.

Caught a mess of crappie on the Deep Tiny N this evening. water temp is 63 and all were black as coal. Chartreuse with blue back today, bumble bee color saturday. Life is good,,, and tasty...

Square bills! Been catching some nice early season largemouth on the old cedar Poe's coffin shaped square bills.

I do the same but my resolve is weak. Same for jigs & plastics. About every other year or so I start cleaning out/up and think dang where'd all these friggin lures come from.

I remember those, Rick Clunn made them popular back in the day. A local shop still has lots of them, I do believe I will buy a few. They were flat sided baits weren't they? A local guy made a flatsided crankbait called tennessee killer and were sold by Bill Norman lures for a short while. They reminded me of the poes.

Coffin shaped square bills, flat sides and a rattle. I think they are still in production, though Poe's was bought out by some bigger company. They are great for 3' - 6' woody cover and stump fields. It is surprising how well they bounce through lay downs, treetops and stumps. Bang them into something, pause, then rip them away from the obstacle = bass.