TOPIC:

So Looking at lures and came to a fork in the road? I have all lures that dive 3'-20'+ in the tackle arsenal. But my question is to save room on the boat on what lures to bring out what is every ones preference? I never ran cranks on a downrigger before I usually will run flat lines and then save the riggers for spoons and flies. But if the crank bite is on would you guys prefer to run cranks that dive deep to the 12-18' if that's where the fish seem to be or would you rather run a 4'-8 foot on a rigger to control depth better? Also, if doing this what is your preferred method as far as how many feet back behind the ball are you running cranks, if the crank dives 8' and your trying to target 20 ft would you keep the ball at 12'. I would imagine this would be nice as well when the fish are at the beach and you want to adjust for weed beds and saddles.

In the spring most active fish are going to hit in the top 5 to 10 feet. Thinfish and Rapalas 15 to 30 ft no weights off boards is what I usually run early in spring with dipsys skimming the surface with dodgers or spoons. If I run a crank off rigger it would be 35 to 40ft behind ball and 5 to 8ft down. This time of year is combat season so running long leads you asking for trouble and in my opinion don't need them. Mike

I run cranks on downriggers all the time in the spring for coho' s. Down 5-10 ', back 10'. Usually a crank that dives 5'.

Just about every body bait I run dives between 5' and 10' deep. I will run them on any rod in the boat including riggers and occasionally on the dipsy.
If I need more depth I will add a 5/8 oz in line keel sinker or run on a short copper line.