Top 10 Lucky Craft Lures - #7
By: “Triton” Mike Bucca
(www.tritonmike.com)

With the extensive lineup of baits that Lucky Craft has I can certainly understand why it might cause a lot of people mass confusion on what tool to purchase and for what job. I have received countless emails pertaining to my opinion of various baits in the Lucky Craft lineup. I have been fishing with Lucky Craft lures since the late 90’s and I have also been on the Lucky Craft Pro-staff for the past year and a half. As a fishing guide here in Georgia with over 200 days a year on the water, I have extensive experience in using pretty much every bait in their entire lineup, and several Lucky Craft baits that aren’t even offered here in the U.S. I felt this top 10 list would help ease your pain in your bait selection before you plop down the bucks for one of these fine pieces of craftsmanship. Do keep in mind that these are the top 10 baits that I find myself using most often and they are listed in no particular order.

Be sure to check in here at Probass.net often, as I will give a different review on my top ten Lucky Craft baits that I rely on the most. You just might be surprised to see some of the baits I rely on everyday that you might not think is an effective bait.

#7 Flat CB DR

The Flat CB DR of the Pro Tune series is my #7 pick of my top 10 Lucky Craft lures. The Flat CB DR comes in a whopping 40 different shad and crawfish colors and dives approximately 9 feet according to the website and has an extremely thin bill compared to other baits made by other companies in this same size range. I think it’s actually closer to 8ft with 12lb fluorocarbon in my experiences but it’s really hard to tell. The Flat CB DR is a rattling floater and does not suspend and the numerous color selections can be seen on the Lucky Craft website.

The Flat CB DR comes with dual #4 hooks, which is plenty of hook to land monster spots and largemouth and is approximately 3 inches long. The Flat CB DR has some very strategically placed rattle chambers. The first rattle chamber runs widthwise on the crank and is located right behind the front hook. A lot of cranks have a lengthwise rattle chamber, but if you think about how a crank wobbles side to side the widthwise chamber is more effective in getting the crank to rattle during the retrieve. The second rattle chamber is basically located all around the widthwise chamber. This chamber helps the crankbait achieve maximum casting distance as well as achieving maximum depth range. Let me explain, during the cast the weight slides toward the tail of the bait to help prevent the lip of the crankbait from catching the wind therefore causing it to tumble and preventing it from casting very accurately. During the retrieve the weight slides back towards the retrieve position as indicated by the picture above. With the weight sliding into the retrieve position it helps the crankbait by submerging the front lip downward so that it grabs water instantly on the initial retrieve.

I often get asked by a lot of folks, why are their 2 separate categories for crankbaits in the Lucky Craft line up. There is the Pro Tune series crankbaits and then there is just a regular line of cranks. The answer lies in the cultural differences between Japan and the US. The regular cranks like the Moonsault CB line, as well as the Combat series and the Bevy crank line are designed by the Japanese Lucky Craft prostaff and are notably smaller than the Pro Tune series. The Pro Tune series is designed by the American Lucky Craft prostaff (ie Skeet Reese, Joe Thomas, Gerald Swindle etc). One thing you will notice about the two different lines of cranks the American prostaff likes the bigger size cranks while the Japanese prefer the smaller finesse cranks as the lakes in Japan are extremely pressured and clear and require more finesse (smaller baits) in their crankbait lineup than the Pro Tune series. You’ll notice there are quite a few baits in the Lucky Craft lineup that are geared toward the Japanese waters than the US and I find it very interesting in how a lot of the Lucky Craft baits have come about. Okay enough of the history lessons, back to the review.

The Flat CB DR is a very versatile crank for me. I feel very comfortable fishing this bait primarily in fairly stained water. In a pinch, the Flat CB DR will work in clear water conditions as well. As versatile as this crankbait is I am very glad the Flat CB DR comes in 40 different colors to choose from, since the water conditions and color selections can vary greatly when it comes to crankbait fishing. Even though most flat crankbaits normally have a very tight wobble the Flat CB DR has a medium wobble and a enough vibration to call fish in fairly stained and even muddy water conditions. I use the Flat CB DR mostly in deep stained water that the BDS 4 cannot reach. In my opinion I would rather use the BDS 4 in stained water in place of the Flat CB MR since the Flat CB MR only dives 4 feet (same as the BDS4). I use the Flat CB DR in place of the shallower diving BDS 4 for deeper applications, since the BDS 4 is limited to only 4 feet.

Georgia Spotted Bass and Largemouth caught on the Flat CB DR

My favorite way to fish the Flat CB DR is by fishing them on bluff walls. I like fishing bluff walls ranging anywhere from 45 degrees to 90 degrees. I position my boat right on the bluff wall and cast my Flat CB DR parallel to the bluffs. During the colder months, I find a lot of fish moving up and down the bluff walls to feed and to sun themselves on the rocks. Since the rocks on the bluff walls are a notoriously great conductor of heat when the sun shines on them it creates a nice warm thermal refuge for the fish during the colder months of the year. By having my boat positioned right up against the bluff wall I like to fan cast parallel in front of the boat, covering both the shallow part of the bluff as well as the deeper part and I try to bang as much rock and wood structure as I can to entice a strike. The Flat CB DR enables me to cover both depth ranges effectively without changing baits. I also find that since the water levels fluctuate up and down so much during the winter months on a lot of lakes the fish are notorious for positioning themselves on vertical structures such as bluff walls. I find bluff walls extremely productive structures to find fish during those fluctuating times.

To fish bluff walls effectively I find it very productive to cast parallel to the bluff walls to keep the bait in the thermal refuge longer especially during the winter time of the year.

My color choices for crankbaits are fairly simple. For stained water applications I like chartreuse and white colors. The reason I like white is because in stained and muddy water a lot of perch and baitfish as well as the bass turn a white color. Colors such as the Original Tennessee Shad and the Albino Craw are great colors. I have caught some very nice fish on that Albino Craw color. It's a matte finish and it matches a perch in muddy water almost perfectly. For the Chartreuse colors my all time favorite is the Mat Tiger or Green apple color and I sometimes throw the Winter Craw and Citrus Shad colors as well. Clearer water applications, I tend to go as natural as possible such as Ghost Minnow, MS MJ Herring, Ghost Sunfish and American Shad. If your lake has a lot of crawfish in it I wouldn’t hesitate to throw the craw colors as well. My lake doesn’t have a lot of crawfish, but I still catch fish on craw colors all the time.

As far as equipment is concerned, I like to use 12lb fluorocarbon line when fishing the Flat CB DR. Fluorocarbon is a sinking line and it also allows a crankbait to dive more effectively to its maximum depth, and better than monofilament lines. Also, due to the low stretch characteristics of fluorocarbon you will have no problem detecting the strikes, which are often very subtle when fishing both crankbaits and jerkbaits. Besides fluorocarbon line being more expensive than most monofilaments, I am finding that fluorocarbon also lasts 3 times longer than regular mono making it a very economical choice for the frugal angler. The most affordable brand of fluorocarbon is Triple Fish Fluorcarbon which can be found at (www.triplefish.net). Most medium light or medium action rods are great choices for using the Flat CB DR. I like to use a 6ft 6 inch rod for the Flat CB DR for bluff fishing which allow me to have a little more accurate casts, but if I was fishing a flat or open water I would go to a 7ft rod for longer less accurate casts.

That’s my review of my #7 pick of my most often used Lucky Craft baits. Give the Flat CB DR a try in your favorite waters. I have found that fishing the Flat CB DR parallel to bluff walls is an outstanding way to catch a GOOD limit of spotted bass on one of the toughest spotted bass lakes in Georgia, during the winter time of the year.

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