I have quite a few brand preferences for crankbaits, but I never limit myself to one brand. I haven't found a company that offers absolutely everything I'm looking for in every crankbait.
SPRO Little John's are a must have for shallow water. I favor the original shallow diver with the circuit board lip in several colors, depending on the water clarity. I like the Citrus Shad, Spring Craw, Cell Mate, and Fire Tiger.
Luhr Jensen Speed Traps have also produced well for me over the years. My all time favorite color in VA was the Crystal Crawdad. I also used Mud Brown Crawfish, Olive River Craw, and Tennessee Shad, but my #1 colors were the Crystal Crawdad and Brown Mud Craw. I also use the Hot Lips when I have to go slightly deeper. Same colors.
Can't go anywhere without at least a few Rapala Shad Raps. I prefer the larger size in the original - not the newer plastic versions like the RS. Favorite colors are Crawdad, Silver, and Yellow Perch.
I have some select older Bandits that I really like (and cherish). Mostly 100 and 200 series, and my favorite color has always been Chartreuse with a Brown back. It's not the newer "Brown Splatter Back" that they sell now. I can't find the color that I have in their current lineup, and the baits aren't built quite as nice as they used to be. When they first started becoming popular, the mold was producing perfect halves that met perfect in the middle. All of their lure bodies were perfect. They put Mustad Triple Grip hooks on them, and I was fishing them right out of the box - something I've never done with most other crankbaits. Then they changed something and the lure quality went down. It seems they became more interested in their paint jobs and got caught up in the million color variety hole. I haven't bought a Bandit in years for two reasons. One was the aforementioned quality control issues I started seeing in their lure bodies. The second one is - I bought up a ton of them when I started seeing the "newer" models hit the shelf, so I'm still fairly well stocked.
Speaking of quality control in their lure bodies.... Norman Crankbaits. Even with their misaligned bodies, I still searched shelf pegs for Deep Little N's in one color in particular - Spring Crawdad. And the color consistency? Whew! :wacko: I'd search three pegs worth at Green Top Sporting Goods to find the one DLN Spring Crawdad with the right bill half alignment and right color scheme - but it's worth it. I have 4 in my tackle box right now, and I'm extremely careful about when and where I use them. They stay in the "tournament day" box. You also can't beat a good DD22 when you have to go deep. I keep it simple for colors - Chartreuse w/Blue back and White w/ Green Flecks. I have picked up some DD22's and DD14's recently in the colors "Slick" and Tilapia, but I haven't had a chance to throw them yet.
Mostly what it comes down to is time of year and water clarity. I could go on forever on how I pick the lure I throw, but the basics are - shad in clearer water, chartreuse in dirty water, crawfish in stained water. Match the hatch for size. During spring, I disregard those general color guidelines and throw brighter colors in clear water - reds, oranges, etc... If the fish are skitish, I find something without rattles, or I down-size my offering. If the water looks like mud, I throw something loud and bright.
To me, those "custom finishes" catch more fishermen than fish. Bass don't get a long enough look at a lure to see if it has realistic looking scales and gills on it. They react to it. However, I will say that I've seen first-hand where slight color variations made all the difference in the world. Years ago on Kerr Reservoir, I was fishing as the back-seater in a Region 7 "Six man team" tournament. I was throwing a Rattling Rogue in silver, black back, orange belly on 8 lb test. My boater was throwing a Rattling Rogue in silver, black back, white belly on 8 lb test. He was absolutely tearing them up, and I wasn't getting a bite. He lost that lure over 4 times!!! :blink: It was amazing. He broke it off, it floated back up. A fish broke it off. He tied on a new one of another color, and just as he finished, it floated back to the surface. It just kept going on and on. It was crazy!!! But when he finally lost it for good - his bite was gone. He was then throwing the same lure that I was, and wasn't catching squat. That orange belly was killing it. I was searching for a knife to scrape the belly on my lure that day, but we didn't have one in the boat.
All the best,
Glenn
