Deep Crankbait But Small Body?

[crankbait321]

Almost every production crankbait that dives 15+ feet has a fairly large body (poes 400, dd22, dt16, etc.) Anyone have any luck building a 15+' diver with a smaller body size like a RC1.5 body or dt6 size body? I'm sure it's a challenge to maintain good action and not get a giant bill.

[RayburnGuy]

Not sure what the custom builders have come up with, but Luhr Jensen used to make a bait like your describing. It was called the Deep Secret. It was a small bait that had a bill that was as long as, if not longer, than the bait itself. I used to fish them and they would reach an honest 20 feet on small diameter line. The bill is what I believe they called a "tri-lobe" diving lip. Hopefully you can see what I'm talking about from the picture. Pretty sure they are no longer in production.

Edited July 28, 2010 by RayburnGuy

[crankbait321]

Not sure what the custom builders have come up with, but Luhr Jensen used to make a bait like your describing. It was called the Deep Secret. It was a small bait that had a bill that was as long as, if not longer, than the bait itself. I used to fish them and they would reach an honest 20 feet on small diameter line. The bill is what I believe they called a "tri-lobe" diving lip. Hopefully you can see what I'm talking about from the picture. Pretty sure they are no longer in production.

[crankbait321]

Your right I forgot about those but you are right they did go deep. I guess those baits don't make it long in production because they just look awkward with that long bill and the public does not buy them. Anyone out ever make one or see one that looks proportionate?

[M@TT]

Manna made a few I have and use the manns10+ and consistently catch fish on it.

[benton B]

I make a bait that is 2.25 long and it will run 16+. The bait requires a really long bill to get down that deep. Weight placement is another key issue along with the amount of weight used. The bait is made from hard balsa and took me about 6 months to perfect.

[pizz]

Specialty Tackle made the Junior D which is my favorite crank of all time. Too bad they discontinued them. :/

[BobP]

The deepest diving commercial crankbait is the 3/4 oz Luhr Jensen Hot Lips Express at 22 ft deep on a 100 ft cast with 10 lb line. My copy of Precision Casting (printed in 2000) puts the Deep Secret at 16.5 ft with the same conditions. Poe's 400P and Norman DD22 - 17 ft. In small baits, the 1/4 oz Hot Lips Express dives 12 ft, outstanding considering its body size. All this points to a truism: most companies lie like dogs about dive depth. Like Marty, I think it's an interesting exercise to build crankbaits that will dive 20 ft +. It teaches you stuff about crankbaits that building shallow runners never will. It's not easy and it requires lots of testing and tweaking if you want a bait that runs deep, slow floats, and has good action. Most deep divers have relatively large bodies to balance and control the forces generated by their large lips. When shrinking the body and expanding the lip, you eventually run out of "design room". In practical fishing, that's when you put down the crankbait and pick up a jig, a C-rig, or a jigging spoon. But we crankbait nuts are always looking for ways to push the envelope. Here's one with a 3" body that will run 20+ ft.

Edited July 28, 2010 by BobP

[Mags]

The Deep Secret was very hard to get a long cast with. The bill acted like a sail in any wind. If one could make a small bodied deep diving bait with a weight transfer system I think you'd have something. The relatively new flat sided Spro Little Johns sure cast well with the weight transfer, although they aren't super thin like a D-bait or Mimic. A potato chip flat side with weight transfer for easy casting would be awesome. I'm not aware of anything, except maybe some hard-to-find and expensive Japanese baits.

Edited July 28, 2010 by Mags

[crankbait321]

On the subject of lip design I've noticed the old Mann's 10+ to 30+ have a different angle on the end of the lip. The Hot Lips and most recently the Strike King 6xd has a similar design. If you look at a Strike King Series 6 compared to a 6XD it looks like they basically changed the lip and it's a totally better bait than the old series 6. Any thoughts on why that lips scoop on the end makes a difference?

[benton B]

The scoop lip catches more water which applies more pressure and down force to the bait imho.

[gunnie3035]

Specialty Tackle made the Junior D which is my favorite crank of all time. Too bad they discontinued them. :/

I love the Junior D as well. I'm not sure about the relationship between the two companies, but Zipbaits made the Junior D or vise-versa. The B-switcher and Switcher-mini are hard to locate in the states. The B-Switcher will run 15ft on 10lb flourocarbon. They are costly little fellers.......

[silverdoctor]

Interesting topic!!

My favorite crank is a Junior D; always assumed I could buy new ones as needed. To me it was a very fragile bait. Spent a lot of time repairing them. Has anyone used the live target baits? About the same price. It looks like they have a semi-deep runner with a smallish body. The finishes look really good.

[wcgood]

I make a lure that has a small body dives 8-10 but I can easily get it down to 12'. You can see it at **********. I use a metal lip that contributes to it's diving depth.

Edited July 30, 2010 by redg8r
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