Northwest Fishing Reports

What types and colors of crankbaits have you guys been most successful on for bass in general? What is your go to pattern when throwing a crank? What type/brand of crankbait is your favorite?

colors - perch, perch, perch, rainbow trout, blue gill, crappie.


Deep diving, mid diving, shallow diving.


Bomber, Rebel, Lucky Strike?thing, others I forget their brands. (one brand I refuse to tell anybody what it is. My secret. lol )


weeds, dock, rocks, open water for suspended fishies.


fast, slow, mid speed - depending on water temp, time of year, type of cover the fish have to come out of/over to catch up to the lure. And depending on if the lure is a wide wobbler, or narrow wobbler.

Amx wrote:colors - perch, perch, perch, rainbow trout, blue gill, crappie.


Deep diving, mid diving, shallow diving.


Bomber, Rebel, Lucky Strike?thing, others I forget their brands. (one brand I refuse to tell anybody what it is. My secret. lol )


weeds, dock, rocks, open water for suspended fishies.


fast, slow, mid speed - depending on water temp, time of year, type of cover the fish have to come out of/over to catch up to the lure. And depending on if the lure is a wide wobbler, or narrow wobbler.

well that nails it down.

AMX summed it up like sickbayer said, lol. I have one style and color I won't disclose that just works for me....always. Otherwise, all just depends on what body of water you are fishing. Some lakes I fish, I can't throw one...too weedy. Natural colors work well. I will say I have done well in the Sexy Shad color in whatever brand. Pick a couple for different depths. Can't go wrong with Bandit, Strike King, or Norman either. Have confidence and start throwing.

Perch, baby bass, crawdad, chrome. I pretty much throw deep divers everywhere...even in 3-4 feet of water. I've also caught many spawning fish fished as topwater. Rebel, Hawg Boss, Bomber are the favorites.

And don't forget the square lipped vs the round lipped crankbaits. Try both.

Not to mention the flat sided vs round sided crankbaits. And of course the lipless ones.

Thanks for all the feedback! Do you prefer the natural looking crankbaits vs ones that are more generalized and less detailed? Is there a difference?

I have both. I've caught very few fish with the fancy crankbaits over the past 5 years. I can probably count all of them on one hand using half the fingers. I can remember only 2. One was a 2 pounder while I was talking to someone in another bass boat about 3 years ago. The other I don't remember.

I prefer natural in anything I throw. Doesn't matter whether its cranks, spinnerbaits, jigs, or plastics. For me, it's just knowing natural colors are just that...and I have confidence when I throw any of them.

On the westside I like natural colors. Perch, silvers and greys, crawdad. On the eastside of WA and OR my go to is deep divers in black and red. I like bombers, strike kings, and hotlips. I normally only throw cranks if there are rocks to grind them through or something to deflect them off of. When I first started throwing cranks I loved shad raps and jointed shad raps. They come in good colors and have caught me a lot of fish. These days I only throw them if I remember to bring a spinning set up cause I can't throw em on a baitcaster to save my life. My freshman year in college I caught one of my biggest smallmouths on Lake Washington on a huge bright pink plug that most people would use to troll for salmon. My brother told me I couldn't catch a fish on it, so I tied it on and a few cast later fish on. If I could only bring one color to the lake with me it would have to be black/red. And perch...