This is your fault, Mike Sydney!

[Little_Flatty]

Last weekend my parents were minding the kids, the wife was doing some shopping in Balmain so I took the opportunity to visit Ottos and stock up my my favourite squidgy prawns. Thanks to @Mike Sydney's taunting of trophy bream on Cranka Crabs, I took it upon myself to buy one and give it a go. I never like spending that much money on a lure, but they seem to work, so why not.

While I waited for my wife to finish shopping, I scoped out some spots in the Drummoyne area and a park near Birkenhead Point caught my eye. Though I had gear in the car, I didn't get the chance to fish that day.

This morning I had a 4:30am wakeup courtesy of our youngest. Get her back to sleep, see that it was 5am, so I jumped on the opportunity to get out and high tail it to this spot before anyone else woke up. Start by casting over the flats, as I had a feeling that there would be flatties sitting there in the pre-dawn darkness. Got a few hits straight away, but struggled to connect. I was fishing EWG weedless, and normally when I do that, I wait a few seconds before striking. Normally flatties on the Parra spend quite a bit of time mouthing the lures. However, the past few weeks, I've found them rather tentative. The next hit, I counted to ten (which felt like an eternity) and then struck. Up comes a just-legal flathead:

Put him back in the drink.

The sun comes up and I start thinking about giving the cranka a go. I cast it towards the marina whaf. First cast lands way clear, but let it sink and slowly wind it back along the bottom. Next cast was much better, landing just a foot out from structure. Let it sink. Notice the line 'tick' on the way down, so tighten up, my rod buckles and ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...then my line parts at the leader knot. Bye-bye Cranka, bye-bye $24! Judging from the fight, it could easily have been a PB bream.

Serves me right for not re-tying the leader knot! Though in my defence, I haven't caught a fish in a few days!

Had to be back at 7am, so it was time to go.

If I replace the cranka, next time I'll up the outfit to my flathead raider/sedona 3000/10lb braid + 12lb leader. That should hopefully protect my investment!

[Isaac Ct]

Haha, those cranka crabs must be good on Bream. Rookie mistake not retying your leader not, you should know better @Little_Flatty

[Little_Flatty]

2 minutes ago, Isaac Ct said:

Haha, those cranka crabs must be good on Bream. Rookie mistake not retying your leader not, you should know better @Little_Flatty

Indeed!

Still, I got a heck of a laugh out of the whole experience! If I can steal away from house tasks today, I might just go replace the Cranka and have another go tomorrow  

[Mike Sydney]

Oh dude! I feel you having lost two Cranka crabs this week….not to fish though but terrain. Still I hope the hookup was encouraging and glad you were you on the fish quickly at the new location.

it sucks losing pricey lures but if they’re gonna go at least it was to a fish. 
 

[Little_Flatty]

2 minutes ago, Mike Sydney said:

Oh dude! I feel you having lost two Cranka crabs this week….not to fish though but terrain. Still I hope the hookup was encouraging and glad you were you on the fish quickly at the new location.

it sucks losing pricey lures but if they’re gonna go at least it was to a fish. 
 

TWO Crankas! Whoa, that is a bad run  

It certainly was encouraging. It had to be a HUGE fish. It's one of those cases where spending that little extra on a lure is worth the money, because they get the eats!

[Mike Sydney]

Pricey lures like the crab have the danger of being ‘Too Awesome to Use’, where waiting for the perfect time to use one means you don’t use them at all….better to have fished and lost one in gnarly territory than for it to sit shiny and dry in a tackle box!

 

"We are certainly in great need," answered Caspian. "But it is hard to be sure we are at our greatest. Supposing there came an even worse need and we had already used it?" 
"By that argument," said Nikabrik, "your Majesty will never use it until it is too late."

— C. S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

 

[Ganguddy Goodoo]

Feel for you Mike and LF

I try and discipline myself and only use expensive lures when I'm in my kayak and have a tackle back. Being a tightarse I also do a fair bit of swimming in the name of lure retrieval (mainly fish fresh)

[Rebel]

Great report.

There use to be some Cranka copies around,half the price.

I have a couple, you can't tell the difference and they work.

Cheers.

[Little_Flatty]

10 hours ago, Mike Sydney said:

Pricey lures like the crab have the danger of being ‘Too Awesome to Use’, where waiting for the perfect time to use one means you don’t use them at all….better to have fished and lost one in gnarly territory than for it to sit shiny and dry in a tackle box!

 

"We are certainly in great need," answered Caspian. "But it is hard to be sure we are at our greatest. Supposing there came an even worse need and we had already used it?" 
"By that argument," said Nikabrik, "your Majesty will never use it until it is too late."

— C. S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

 

That is definitely true in the case of Crankas. It seems like the very place to flick them is in the places where you shouldn't dare!

Without wanting to jinx myself, I do have both of my Ecogear SX40s which I bought 15 years ago, and they are still in active use. They are rather good at avoiding snags if you fish them carefully.

9 hours ago, Ganguddy Goodoo said:

Feel for you Mike and LF

I try and discipline myself and only use expensive lures when I'm in my kayak and have a tackle back. Being a tightarse I also do a fair bit of swimming in the name of lure retrieval (mainly fish fresh)

For now, I'm not swimming in the Parra, not even for a Cranka, lest I go belly up like the fish at Rydalmere last week. I think the tackleback might have been useful for me to get my lure back from the bream...if only I could stay connected 🤣

[Little_Flatty]

Crankas ordered, let's see if I can manage to keep these ones!

[kingie chaser]

The balance of fishing light to catch more fish over fishing slightly heavier & landing less fish but hopefully keeping your gear is an ever ending fisho's challenge. 

Some days you win some days you lose.

Once I have bought gear then its basically written off, the cost doesnt come into it, if I couldn't afford it then I shouldn't have bought it..................but then I dont have a missus to explain things to 😁

The only saving grace is if it brings me home a few fish to help pay for the outlay....................... but inevitably of course you will never end up in the black......................but we accept that & do what we do for the enjoyment right!

 

Cest la vie 😉

Edited February 15, 2022 by kingie chaser

[Little_Flatty]

1 hour ago, kingie chaser said:

The balance of fishing light to catch more fish over fishing slightly heavier & landing less fish but hopefully keeping your gear is an ever ending fisho's challenge. 

Some days you win some days you lose.

Once I have bought gear then its basically written off, the cost doesnt come into it, if I could afford it then I should have bought it..................but then I dont have a missus to explain things to 😁

The only saving grace is if it brings me home a few fish to help pay for the outlay....................... but inevitably of course you will never end up in the black......................but we accept that & do what we do for the enjoyment right!

 

Cest la vie 😉

C’est la vie indeed!

Yep I always joke my flatties fillets are $300 a kilo and to be honest it’s probably more than that given the proportion of C&R fishing that I do in the parramatta river.

My home brewing friends always say ‘brewing beer to save money on beer is like buying a boat to save money on fish’. Saving money on fish is not the whole point, because if it was we’d be just buying our fish from the shops because honestly speaking, it’s cheaper to buy them. Or else we’d only eat leatheries, yakkas and slimeys, which can be caught in large quantities with minimal outlay (wouldn’t be such a bad existence when you think about it.)

I have to say that losing bream like this gives me more appreciation of what a good bream is when it turns up on a plate, whether I caught it or not.

Edited February 15, 2022 by Little_Flatty

[Pickles]

Great report @Little_Flatty - I feel your pain loosing an expensive lure. Got to hand it to the developer though - an ingenious and effective initiative.

[Little_Flatty]

2 minutes ago, Pickles said:

Great report @Little_Flatty - I feel your pain loosing an expensive lure. Got to hand it to the developer though - an ingenious and effective initiative.

Ingenious indeed @Pickles. Hence my repeat purchase. I'm not so sure I necessarily need to catch a trophy bream, but hearing the sound of the drag zinging at a good speed was absolutely priceless! That's what I live (fish) for!

[Mike Sydney]

Some recent bream from the Cranka crab and Crusty Crabs over the past couple weeks. Crab and prawn imitations have been getting absolutely belted this year and the crab lures have been delivering very big bream.

 

Edited February 15, 2022 by Mike Sydney

[Rebel]

Super Bream. Well done.

[Chhayzor]

Potentially silly question on the Cranka crabs.. 

Light or heavy? I've noticed just about all the recommendations I've seen or recieved have been for the heavy.

I would have assumed it be dependent on  conditions? I.e. depth, tidal flow, wind, etc? But the almost 100% swing toward heavy has me questioning myself.

[Mike Sydney]

I have only been fishing the light ones but again have been doing so in shallow water. I tend to lean lighter on most lures if given the option. No experience catching with the heavier cranka or other big competitors like the Chasebaits Smash Crab / Smash Crab Jr.

[Chhayzor]

1 hour ago, Mike Sydney said:

I have only been fishing the light ones but again have been doing so in shallow water. I tend to lean lighter on most lures if given the option. No experience catching with the heavier cranka or other big competitors like the Chasebaits Smash Crab / Smash Crab Jr.

Thanks Mike.

I'll grab one of each and see how I go.

[Bryant fish]

Being a bit of a tightarse myself I looked at cranka crabs but got put off by the price so got the soft plastic crabs instead. I lost the first packet somewhere before really tried them out properly have bought  more but tend to fish in deeper water has anyone else tried them a much cheaper option

[Mike Sydney]

I tried the savage manic crab soft plastics which I found in the bargain bin and they got bites, unfortunately I couldn’t find enough of the corresponding crab Jigheads and so have run out. You need special Jigheads weighted with flat bottoms to ensure the crab faces the right way up. The manics also lost legs pretty quickly getting bitten off as they’re not particularly durable - but they certainly got fish to bite.

The chasebait crusty crabs are a 10x soft plastic moulded around a hard centre. $20 for a two pack is less than half price of the cranka.

[Mike Sydney]

@Chhayzor you’ll be pleased to know as well then that I caught a couple more with crabs tonight at the exact same spot where you got yours on the bent minnow yesterday. 😁

[Chhayzor]

1 minute ago, Mike Sydney said:

@Chhayzor you’ll be pleased to know as well then that I caught a couple more with crabs tonight at the exact same spot where you got yours on the bent minnow yesterday. 😁

Mate, if I had known you were going to be there, I'd have come by to say hi.

I wasn't too far away this evening, just around Bayview Park. No luck for me though.

Awesome to hear you had success. Now I'll definitely have to give the crabs a go there 😁

[Little_Flatty]

12 hours ago, Chhayzor said:

Mate, if I had known you were going to be there, I'd have come by to say hi.

I wasn't too far away this evening, just around Bayview Park. No luck for me though.

Awesome to hear you had success. Now I'll definitely have to give the crabs a go there 😁

That's one of my regular haunts as well. Some good results have come out of there lately, and the bream in my profile pic came from that general area (more like Friend Ave, but essentially the same patch of water). Went 42cm and I haven't caught bigger since...but that was back in 2006. But as you've seen from Mike's fish, the quality fish are still very much present.

19 hours ago, Bryant fish said:

Being a bit of a tightarse myself I looked at cranka crabs but got put off by the price so got the soft plastic crabs instead. I lost the first packet somewhere before really tried them out properly have bought  more but tend to fish in deeper water has anyone else tried them a much cheaper option

I suspect the crab profile is the most important factor in this kind of fishing. @Mike Sydney (now crowned the 'crab breaming king') has proven this by catching fish on all manner of crab profile lures. Just try a few different options and see how you go.

On another note, I'm ready for round two! Hopefully this one lasts a little longer than two measly casts! I might modestly upgrade my gear to give me more of a fighting chance. Wouldn't mind landing the original lure thief! If I do, I might be replacing my profile pic...

Edited February 17, 2022 by Little_Flatty

[Niall]

On 2/15/2022 at 7:35 AM, Little_Flatty said:

Last weekend my parents were minding the kids, the wife was doing some shopping in Balmain so I took the opportunity to visit Ottos and stock up my my favourite squidgy prawns. Thanks to @Mike Sydney's taunting of trophy bream on Cranka Crabs, I took it upon myself to buy one and give it a go. I never like spending that much money on a lure, but they seem to work, so why not.

While I waited for my wife to finish shopping, I scoped out some spots in the Drummoyne area and a park near Birkenhead Point caught my eye. Though I had gear in the car, I didn't get the chance to fish that day.

This morning I had a 4:30am wakeup courtesy of our youngest. Get her back to sleep, see that it was 5am, so I jumped on the opportunity to get out and high tail it to this spot before anyone else woke up. Start by casting over the flats, as I had a feeling that there would be flatties sitting there in the pre-dawn darkness. Got a few hits straight away, but struggled to connect. I was fishing EWG weedless, and normally when I do that, I wait a few seconds before striking. Normally flatties on the Parra spend quite a bit of time mouthing the lures. However, the past few weeks, I've found them rather tentative. The next hit, I counted to ten (which felt like an eternity) and then struck. Up comes a just-legal flathead:

Put him back in the drink.

The sun comes up and I start thinking about giving the cranka a go. I cast it towards the marina whaf. First cast lands way clear, but let it sink and slowly wind it back along the bottom. Next cast was much better, landing just a foot out from structure. Let it sink. Notice the line 'tick' on the way down, so tighten up, my rod buckles and ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...then my line parts at the leader knot. Bye-bye Cranka, bye-bye $24! Judging from the fight, it could easily have been a PB bream.

Serves me right for not re-tying the leader knot! Though in my defence, I haven't caught a fish in a few days!

Had to be back at 7am, so it was time to go.

If I replace the cranka, next time I'll up the outfit to my flathead raider/sedona 3000/10lb braid + 12lb leader. That should hopefully protect my investment!

The crankas are deadly on bream for sure.  I've caught some proper ones through the winter on them but it's always a heart in the mouth moment casting them around structure.

Definitely don't size up the gear for them.  Unfortunately you need an ultra finesse approach to get the best out of them.  Really light rods with a soft tip so you don't pull the tiny trebles. 

The trick to using them and not losing them is to never work them along the bottom unless you're casting over flats or you know the bottom well.  They snag better than any lure I've used.  

I always either cast them (or vertically drop them) next to structure (usually a wharf, pylon or pontoon) let them sink slowly to the bottom on a slack line,  The line needs to be slack to get them to drop vertically - if they pendulum then the bream think it's suss.  Once they hit the bottom count to ten (or thirty or a hundred) then wind in and try again.  

99/100 they get whacked on the drop.  Keep a good eye on that slack line.

Try the single hook ones if you're worried about snags.  They work but the little plastics claws are quite fragile.

Also be careful of the treble hook models' legs.  They're a crucial part of how they sink and if they get warped and your crabs starts twirling on the drop it won't work nearly as well.  Definitely figure out a way to store them like they are in the packaging - I've melted a few before leaving them in a tackle tray with other stuff.

This is my best one on cranka from last year - he went 41cm.