Do any of you use crankbaits in the salt? And if you do - do you do it in the surf, from a boat, from a tube, etc.?

I know people use croc's and swimbaits... but I never hear about using crank baits.

Sure do! Mostly from boat in bays and harbors. I never threw them around kelp like other freshwater bass lures, but I have heard of others doing so with success. I never heard of people using them in surf conditions.
Don

I believe LeapinBass uses Rebel Fastracs from his tube. They are an effective (and expensive) way to fish for halibut from the jetties around Long Beach. I also troll them in the bays and surfline from my kayak for barracuda, bass, and halibut. They work well.

CC

Bomber 6A and 7A are great in the bays and over non-kelped reefs and in the surf from a tube or boat. Tough if there's lots of loose grass.

I remember back in the day when people used to get to King Harbor early just to get a spot to fish. The shoreline and pier would be lined with with fisherman throwing feathers, crockodiles and rapalas at schools of Bonita. Some threw straight backs and some threw broken backs they both worked. Swimbaits didn't start to get popular until mid to late 80's.

Actually the scampi's got popular in the early eighties and then once worm kings started catching on, twin tails pretty much took the back seat.I know many of you fished through that era too. Well enough with the history report.

I've caught baracuda, bonito, calico's, sand bass, spotties, and halibut on cranks, if you count consider the Repala Count Down a crank then you can add Yellowtail, Yellowfin Tuna, and Albacore to the list as well but I would say it's really more of a trolling lure. Yup lots of saba too. I know many of you fished through that era too. Well enough with the history report.

I still troll crank baits when I'm kayak fishing I troll cranks sometimes and they ussually hang fish. It's hard to fish them near kelp. I could see how they would be effective for fishing beach if you where on a boat, kayak, or float tube. I've had pretty good luck with them on the spotties in Newport bay too. I've started to use fresh water bass lures a lot more this past season. I tried fishing soft jerk baits, spinner baits, senkos, and plastic worms fished on a variety of rigs. They all have produced fish. Not to say that the swim bait wouldn't have caught fish those days but it was just something different to try. Give it a try and I'm sure you'll start catching fish.


JerryG