Thread: Crankbait Supplier Comparison: Bandit vs Arkie vs Pico vs Jenko

Originally Posted by bandchaser

"G" ,
Can you back that up, or is that a nice, warm, and fuzzy answer?? Lol

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Its the truth nothing warm and fuzzy about it.....i have a bunch of a brand that was not mentioned here and have had them several years and have only caught crappie on one lake with them. Thinking water clarity might play a big role on that one plus those cranks have a different profile that might match the baitfish better on that one. Lots of good crankbaits out there and many differences....wiggle...dive difference...rattle sounds...vibration etc. A lot of the differences are things inside of the bait that you cannot not see such as the knocker and the knocker chamber....the rattles....some have 2...some have 3....some have 5. Then you have all the different color patterns and combinations so some days you just got to let the fish tell you what they want.....and even that changes day to day.

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I have fished them all. And caught fish on all of them. The Pico is brand new so kind of behind the curve on usage. I have been a Bass fisherman all my life. Fished my first crank baits with a old single action bait caster. For you young pup's that one the handle turns backward when you cast it and drag was your thumb. I have fished almost every style and brand of bait made up until the late 90's when quit altogether and just concentrated on crappie since. I have sat and played with cranks in a pool to see how they ran, how deep, what different line did to the action. Then tried my best to translate that into bites. What I have found with bass and crappie yes color is a factor on certain days but my experience tells me each bait has a distinct wobble, vibration, roll what ever term you chose to use. I don't care how close two different baits look to each other being from different brands they act enough different that fish want one and not the other on any given day. My opinion is that there is no one magic bait. That's the reason most of us have boxes full of different baits. I will say this because I realize a lot of people can't afford to run out and spend hundreds of dollars on baits. My suggestion to some one starting out, buy maybe 4 of the most used color's and buy those 4 in bandit, arkie, peco, and C55's from ScottV. Fish those baits in combinations until you determine for yourself which 2 brands are the most productive where you fish not where anyone else fishes. After that you have a good basis for adding to your stash. As much as anything having confidence in what your using ranks way up on the catching scale.

Cray buddy. I'm not a young pup nor an old dog, so this aging hound was started out on that reel. Us kids were given what our dads and grandads started with. They knew better than to give us their new sruff.

Originally Posted by crp4570

Cray buddy. I'm not a young pup nor an old dog, so this aging hound was started out on that reel. Us kids were given what our dads and grandads started with. They knew better than to give us their new sruff.

sure didn't mean to offend anyone. I knew there would be a few that had the same experience I did with them.

No offense taken Cray buddy. Appreciate your post cause it brought back fond memories. That one of the reasons I like and respect old farts because they bring the memories to the present and they have lived in this world long enough to earn my respect. Just how I was raised.

I think Cray pretty much just made us all smarter. Id take that advice! I hate pulling cranks but if I had to choose 1 bait it wouldn't be the new kids on the block. Bandit crank baits have been filling summer time fishermens freezers around here for a long long time.

Some sage advice so far. I am surprised that nobody has said anything about the other details like fishing line size or type, boat speed, amount of line out, or more on series difference like 250's and 350's.

Keep it coming...

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I prefer 10# mono, but am really going to try to like braid next year after losing a planer board a few weeks back to a line break. Preferred speed 1.6 - 1.8, some days 2 - 2.2 mph. If I have to get my bait deeper then say 10 foot then I'm using in line trolling weights. I can't stand pulling more than 60 - 70 foot of line behind the boat. I use 300 & 350 series (long lipped / deep diving) cranks 98% of the time. I pull 100's, 200's, 250's usually in post spawn when the fish have not setup in their summer pattern yet and can still be found in relatively shallower water.