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Never have been a big crankbait fishermen but do have several good friends that will only throw them. Never have had luck landing the larger fish that i have hooked on them and seen that there are crankbaits that have swivels so that the hooks can rotate 360 degrees. Anyone tried them, and if so, do they work better than the traditional ones. thanks.
I know this is off topic, but what type of rod are you using for cranking? glass or graphite? type of line? That could possibly be your problem in landing fish. A blank like the Seeker S-glass blank will help you absorb the fight of the fish and help land it. They both have their goods and bads. There are also good graphite blend blanks that will behave similar to a glass rod, with the plus being you don't have the extra weight of a glass rod.
No need for the hooks with swivels. You're going to lose fish once in awhile with cranks, more times than not you'll lose them at boatside. No way out of it. Just remember a few basic things, make sure your hooks are sharp, use good hooksets, make sure your hooks are sharp, set the hook again, make sure your hooks are sharp, keep steady pressure on the fish, make sure your hooks are sharp, land the fish as soon as possible with a net and most of all make sure your hooks are sharp.
[QUOTE=sweetwater;481523]No need for the hooks with swivels. You're going to lose fish once in awhile with cranks, more times than not you'll lose them at boatside. No way out of it. Just remember a few basic things, make sure your hooks are sharp, use good hooksets, make sure your hooks are sharp, set the hook again, make sure your hooks are sharp, keep steady pressure on the fish, make sure your hooks are sharp, land the fish as soon as possible with a net and most of all make sure your hooks are sharp.[/QUOTE]
You also want to make sure your hooks are sharp. ;)
The rod action makes a lot of difference. Sharp hooks also help.
I agree that the rod makes a huge difference. I never had any luck with crankbaits eithe but I knew it was a technique I needed to learn. After some internet research I bought a Field and Stream 7' Tec Spec crankbait rod. It only cost $60. The results have been amazing! I'm convinced that I'm hooking fish that in the past I wouldn't have even felt bite. The rod is as whippy as a willow switch which allows the fish to take the bait without me cranking it out of its mouth. I fish Cedar Creek quite a bit and landed a 6.14 on this rod last year. Even though the rod is whippy, it handled that fish just fine. I do always use a net with it, though. By the way, I caught that fish on a Bomber square bill. Those things work great in all the timber at Cedar Creek. Hope this helps.
I bought a Bass Pro Shops 7' crankin stick man it has a big difference for me. Another good idea is to change out the original hooks on your bait I replace mine with Gamagatsu trebles and very rarely lose a fish also try throwing cranks on Flourocarbon
The other blank that is good, for a blend, is the castway xp3 965 for deep divers. You can build it at 8' and have a pretty light rod, plus have more sensitivity than glass, and have the action of a glass rod. For a factory rod, I've heard the Powell's are pretty nice. I believe tackle tour did a review on some of them a while back.
As others have said your rod and sharp hooks are going to be your two most important things to worry about. Sometimes while I'm sharpening my hooks I wonder to myself why I ever left home without a hook hone. Also from my own personal experience, When I first started using crankbaits I had a bad habit of just letting the rod load up and start trying to reel in the fish. And I, like you, lost a lot of fish. It wasn't till I made a solid effort of setting the hook hard after feeling my rod load up that I started landing a significant amount of more fish. I still lose them occasionally but who doesn't? If we landed every fish we hooked we wouldn't be so anxious to get back out to the water again!
So I would say don't worry about new special hooks.