Best producing crankbait colors?

[JLSandusky]

Looking to get into pulling or pushing some cranks. I have a few but no multiples of any color. I'm just wondering if you guys could share your 2 or 3 best producing colors for varying conditions. I don't want to have to spend several hundred dollars just starting out. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

[M R Dux]

Pico Mudbug
Pico Bone Orange
Pico Simply Awsum

[crp4570]

Well each brand has different colors. Some are similar and most are not. Any shad color will work. Bandits colors which produce well regularly are mad cow, mistake, bubble gum, and blue/Crome black/Crome colors. Arkies colors are Crome clown and any rainbow colors. Picos, well simply awesome and wolverine are producing pretty regular.

However any any medium size crankbait and under will catch crappie under optimal conditions. Hit the yard sales and clearance bins for good buys. Don’t forget shad raps and the list goes on and on.

[CrappiePappy]

Bandits : Orange Crush - Awesome Pink - Solid Black (with silver metalflake, if you can find them)

[cnette01]

Bandits in chartreuse, pink, red, natural colors, red/yellow, pink/yellow, mad cow are all good producers for me. One of the best is the Academy house brand X2O CRULD in charteuse, also a Norman Little N midnight sun. And the strike king slab hammer in chartreuse. Rapala JSR 5's work good as well in blue/orange and hot olive. I hope that helps. And remember, two of each color are not enough. You never know which color will work best on a given day, and that's the one color that you will probably lose to a hang up.

[bfish]

Get a few light, and some dark, then a few shiny. Fine tune from there. Remember most strikes are coming from below, for me belly color and side color make a difference, back color rarely does.

[JLSandusky]

Thanks guys. This has given me a good idea on a selection to stock up on.

[wicklundrh]

Good today or good tomorrow?

I own hundreds if not thousands of cranks from different companies in different sizes, colors, and profiles. A good bait in one body of water sucks in another!

Stick with one company to start and gain confidence with their baits. Buy colors that match your favorite jig and soft plastics combos. Also get natural colors that match bait fish in the area.

I use Berkley size 4 and 5 flicker shad a lot. Great for black crappies in Michigan which people say are tough to target while trolling.

I'll publish an article next week on this subject.

[trypman1]

I use a lot of shiny chrome ones. If I had to buy a few to get started, I would go with Chrome, pinks and chartreuse. Th black back & blue back chrome are my favorite.

[wilbur]

Bandit Toad Frog always produces, no matter what lake.