In many of the recent Lures I’ve compared them to or mentioned the crankbait. So it’s about time that I actually cover one. There are a lot of crankbaits out there, and for the most part they don’t have defining names. Some do, but in terms of knowing the difference between products, it helps to know who made the crankbait. The one I will be reviewing this week is by Goture. I picked this brand simply because it was relatively cheap and my fishing buddy Amanda bought a 5 pack on a discount (sorry for any disenchantment). I contacted the company requesting any additional information they might have on the lure, or if they have any varying models but have not heard back from them. If you care to purchase any of their products, I know they can be found on Amazon.com but their actual website appears not to be active.

So back to the lure. Crankbaits are pretty versatile and tend to be good all summer long. The things to pay attention to are color, buoyancy vs. weight, body type/size and diving lip style. They can vary in function and appearance even more than barnyard cats. The ones I have by Goture are floating crankbaits with a spread of color schemes between the 5 pack (I lost 2 before I got to photograph them). They are a medium size lure for crankbaits that are out there, about 3 inches or 7cm long from tail to lip not including the hooks. They have inserted eyes as opposed to painted eyes, which in my opinion are always better, more natural looking. Proportionally they are standard. What I mean by that is that some crankbait are longer or deeper-chested than your average shape. This crankbait is about a 1 to 3 depth to length ratio. The hooks come nice and sharp and are dark which matches the color schemes well. I prefer dark hooks on most things because I think they blend well in the water rather than creating an unnatural appearance. The body of the Goture crankbait is textured and in all of the lures from the set I received progress in shading from a darker shade or color down to the lightest shade or color on the belly.

Using crankbaits is fairly simple. They are the kind of lure that you can really play with. They can be set on a trolling line, however I prefer to use these when I’m casting. They are the kind of lure that is easy to manipulate, therefore casting and retrieving is the only way to achieve this with any kind of change or nuance. With floating crankbaits like these, you can cast the lure out and do a simple retrieve. I would recommend letting the lure rest for a moment until the disturbance in the water has had a moment to subside. Sometimes you may be lucky enough to get a strike before you even start the retrieve. Once you start reeling, you can do a steady straight retrieve for simplicity sake or reel 5 rotations, pause, reel 5 more, pause again and so on. You can walk the dog with this kind of lure, meaning alternating directions left and right, pausing and giving the lure a dazed look as it pulls forward. You can also reel more aggressively on a rocky bottom and make the crankbait look like it is perusing the gravel for food. The bill of the lure will keep the nose down and the hooks tilted backwards and up away from potential snags. Can you still snag? Of course you can snag by doing this, but like any other lure or style of retrieve you need to be at least mildly aware of the underwater environment. If you know there’s an underwater log or tree, don’t crank that lure hard down into it, use the flotation to your advantage and let it rise over the tree, then increase speed to dive again once you’ve passed the structure. Speed equals depth with this lure. Other crankbaits that are weighted are the opposite. Rod direction also plays into where and how the lure swims. For those with baitcasters, you are more familiar with using the rod to contrl the lure, but for anyone with a Spinning gear rod this lure may present an opportunity for practice with controlling the lure.

I’ll only mention color for a moment because I’m no expert regarding color selections. All I would suggest is trying to match the environment and also using the red or chartreuse color variations. During spawning, spring, and fall there are times when that color is seen as a threat and fish will attack it aggressively. Try it out, see what happens.

*If you have any luck with the lure of the week, feel free to email your pictures to events@riverreporter.com for an opportunity to share them on our website. If you have a favorite kind of lure we haven’t reviewed yet, feel free to send that lure to our office at PO box 150 Narrowsburg, NY 12764. We will add it to our weekly reviews and share the results. Check back each week on Fridays to see the new lure of the week!