Assortment of crankbaits

[River_eye]

Hey all, I'm breaking down this year and am planning on picking up some crankbaits. I'm primarily a jig fisherman, so I'm used to having somthing worth $0.25 tied to my line, and always cringed when I saw the price tags of those top end crankbaits.

Could you guys list a few "must have's" for me?

Also, I recently picked up a couple Rapala Risto Raps because they were 40% off. Does anybody use these? Are they any good?

thanks for all the input.

River eye

[Kevin/CO]

There seem to be a couple very well endorsed baits on these boards. Some of the more common are as follows: Rapala Husky Jerk, Rapala Shad Rap, Storm Thunderstick Jr., Storm Wiggle Wart, ANY kind of Reef Runner, and there are of course others like rattlin rogues, the risto rap, storm's new thunder crank, wally divers, and many many others. I think for you to getthe best information you might want to describe taht area(s) you are going to fish since there's probably ten or more very skilled fishermen on this board that fish identical conditions and could give you some tips.

[cisco]

Compared with other crankbaits, Wally Divers are pretty cheap. But, they are a good producer. For most waters, you can't go wrong with a few Shad Raps (nos. 5, 7, 9), and some Wally Divers.

For me, good colors are perch, black and silver, chartreuse/black tiger (Wally Diver), and blue/silver.

Good luck.

[BD]

The L&S baits ( <mirrolure.com> ), Flatfish, and Lazy Ikes are older baits which are not overly expensive and work well also; but are not talked about very much on this board. Most of the walleye fishermen I know keep a few of these baits in their tackle box "just in case". I also like the River Runts; but they are expensive and can only be obtained from ebay, antiques dealers, or if you're lucky, a rummage sale.

[Bill]

Shad Raps in Fire Tiger, Crawdad, and Perch are great in size 5 and 7. Walley Divers are great too. Good Luck, Bill