Trolling cranks which to buy and to stay away from

Ok newly to trolling here.I need advice on some good trolling canks I know that I can run something with a weight but rather not at the moment.Im thinking leadcore maybe but just the crank bait I should go with and work myway up so what are good crank baits.I know they get high up in price but need to keep it down as much as I can

You can’t beat Berkley Flicker Shad’s or the tried and true Rapala Shad Rap in size 7 or size 9 depending on the size fish your going for. Oh and the standard 15′ diving Rapala Tail Dancer is a good choice too. Just have a pair of needle nose pliers to tune every lure when it comes out of the box.

I’m not against the higher cost Yo-Zuri baits or Sebile baits, or even the Live Target baits, but good lord some of them can get spendy, if I want to risk losing a lure costing more than $10 then it better be a Musky plug.

I’m hearing a lot of the rapalas shad raps

X2 if you are just starting I find that storms smash shads require more tuning out of the box but are cheap. Shop online I know glensoutdoors has scatter raps for 4.99

Might just bite the bullet on some shad raps

I would bet that in a given year in Minnesota Shad Raps account for over half the fish caught while trolling.

Although, others work better at times.

If I was going to limit myself to ten cranks for summer walleyes, 6 would be Shad raps. 2 Salmo hornets, 1 flicker shad and 1 Tail dancer.

Hey Gabriel,

Make sure you grab a couple Jointed Shad Raps. Get the JSR-5, which is a 2″ size, model JSR05. Fleet Farm usually has them for a decent price.

Start with Firetiger and Red Crawdad for colors.

Can’t go wrong having these as the first two cranks you buy for the river.

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As said above flicker shads and shad raps are awesome must haves. Personally my favorite crank is the Rapala Tail Dancer. The tail dancer has great action and walleyes love them, unfortunately Rapala and stores know that.. Look for deals online most places sell them for 8-9 bucks but once an a while you find them on sale for 5-6. I have a few flicker minnows that I have yet to use. I will be interested to see how they compare to the tail dancer as a mid summer crank.
Smash shads are a good value crank also, they go on sale for 2-3 often.

riverrat56 wrote:

I would bet that in a given year in Minnesota Shad Raps account for over half the fish caught while trolling.

I 100% agree with that statement!

Pretty much flicker shads and smash shads here. Like to run my cranks in some pretty rocky, woody, snaggy areas where the fish hang out. At $3 a piece or less its not that big of deal to loose a few. These cranks do need some tuning but thats not that big of a deal. They are solid fish catchers.

Crankbait wrote:

Hey Gabriel,

Make sure you grab a couple Jointed Shad Raps. Get the JSR-5, which is a 2″ size, model JSR05. Fleet Farm usually has them for a decent price.

Start with Firetiger and Red Crawdad for colors.

Can’t go wrong having these as the first two cranks you buy for the river.

Once water temps get into the upper 60’s and beyond the Jointed Shad in size 5 is one of my top producers on the river. I’ve not had the same success on the size 7. The color recommendations Cranbait gave you are absolutely spot on.

I have not had much success on joined shad raps or any jointed lure for walleyes, however the #4 & #5 Shad Rap RS has been great flat lined or behind lead core.

This is exactly why starting to buy crankbaits is a slippery slope. Next thing you know you’ll have 500 of them…

I also have had way more success on the jointed 5 than the 7. I troll a lot of flicker shads and smash shads. $7-$9 each for shad raps vs $3 for flickers and smash shads is a big contributing factor. I catch lots of fish on both, and do still use shad raps sometimes.

I can honestly say with the exception of the jointed shad raps, I haven’t seen much of a catch difference between flickers and shad raps.

To me, nothing beats a Shadrap SR-5. That is what I stockpile the most of in different colors and variations.

I like all of the above and have them all, but there are many other good walleye cranks on the market today also and buying a variety with different actions isn’t a bad idea. Other favorites of mine are #5 Salmo Hornets (IMO, the #5 Salmo Hornet is one of the best walleye catchers out there and ranks right up there with a #5 Shad Rap), Reef Runner Deep Little Rippers and Rip Shads(although you have to constantly make sure they’re tuned), and Walleye Divers. They all work and sometimes changing a crankbait that’s been only so-so on a certain day to one with a different action, sound or profile is all it takes to make an average day into a great day. I change cranks a lot throughout a day. Often while trolling open water, if the bite has slowed, changing cranks and going back through the school will trigger more bites. I find trolling crankbaits a fascinating way to catch walleyes (and addicting).

I’m going with flicker shads shad raps.but what colors ??

Bleeding hot olive is my personal favorite. Firetiger, hot steel, perch and gold have worked well for me with the shad raps. Flicker shads black gold sunset, speckled black gold and gold.

come fall troll deep diving tail dancers on edges of river channels for monsters. You can get very good cranks that get down 30 ft so you don’t necessarily need leadcore or wieghts. Reef runners are fantastic nice smallish profile that gets down deep. Good luck. Also should say that it really depends on how deep the fish are. Early season you may only need to get down a few feet. Also if you need wieght the clip on egg sinkers are the way to go. put a snap swivel three feet or more up from your lure and clip it on the top side of the swivel. That way you can switch sizes really quick.