B
These new crankbaits by BassStar are designed to dive straight down when they hit the water rather than pendulum back towards the boat like typical lures. In other words you can throw it next to a 30’ tall tree trunk in 50’ of water and the bait will travel straight down parallel to that trunk until you start cranking. Then it stays in that zone all throughout the retrieve. They have lead wrapped lips as well as an internal weight that changes position through the cast. The hooks are by VMC so they’re nice and sharp right out of the box. The hooks are attached to split rings that are attached to swivels in the body of the lure, which should help in decreasing fish throwing the hooks. The body of the bait has a dimpled surface like a golf ball so that it gives off a different reflection than most other baits. This is a paraphrasing of the manufacturers information. So now on to the reality.
First a warning to any and all that may use these baits. Do yourself a favor and adjust the spoil tension and brakes on your reel before the first cast. You guessed it ,the mother of all backlashes. So after about 10 minutes of trying to untangle one of the worst birdsnest I’ve ever had I gave up and took a different reel off another rod and started over. At an ounce and a half its like having a decent sized swim bait at the end of your rod. I was a little concerned that casting would be difficult because of the heavily weight lip but not so. The internal weight keeps the bait from trying to go lip first.
So my second cast I’m sitting in 110’ of water I cast out and let it freespool for a count of 112 before it hit bottom so its fall rate is about a foot a second.
It stayed way deep through the retrieve dragging bottom for 20 yards or so. Surprisingly I didn’t get hung up but then it was probably pretty clean down there. Apparently when you start cranking the bait stands up lip down so hang ups aren’t as bad as you think. Then I decided to just drop the bait straight over the bow and watch it in my fishfinder . I dropped it right alongside a buoy cable in 45 ft. I could see on my screen it dropped straight down parerell to the cable again just about a foot a second. Ok I thought starting to be impressed with this bait lets see how it is in the rocks.
I started casting over a hump in 50-60’ of water that I know is full of various sized rocks. I got a few minor hangups but nothing I could shake loose. Eventually I did get it hung up but maybe once in 30 casts. Trying to use a plug knocker in 50 ‘ is a bit of a challenge. Finally got it back up. Than decided to change reels again and took one from a flipping stick that had 65lb braid on it and proceeded to really cast it into deep rocks and even a couple of tree trunks. The braid made it so much easier when I got it hung up. I just basically pulled until it came lose or once straightened the hook.
The worst hang up was when I swung on a fish and missed but nailed the tree trunk pretty good. That’s when I straightened the hook and I have to say it wasn’t that easy. I really liked the way the bait came through the water you could feel everything with the braid and it seemed to have a pretty good action on the retreive. The first couple of times I thought I was hooked up but it was just the weight of the bait. All in all I was pretty impressed with this bait. Would’ve been nice to hook up but that’ll come with time.
The paint job was very realistic and seemed to be of good quality. I ran them through some stuff and they were not much worse for it. The hooks were very sharp and strong. There are a couple of minor things that I think will make a good bait even better. I would change the hooks to a lighter wire one or change the split rings out for ones that will open up after so much pressure. Either of these will reduce the chances of breaking off in some rocks etc. Also I would recommend using braid for the same reason, it may cost a few bites but will surely help keep the bait on your line and not the bottom of the lake somewhere. At 12.99 each I want to keep them as long as possible. Here’s a link to a place to purchase them if interested http://www.fishermanswarehouse.com/shop/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=4979
All in all I would recommend this crankbait to anyone that fishes in deep water. I’m sure it’ll tear them up on deep ledges, humps and the like.
First a warning to any and all that may use these baits. Do yourself a favor and adjust the spoil tension and brakes on your reel before the first cast. You guessed it ,the mother of all backlashes. So after about 10 minutes of trying to untangle one of the worst birdsnest I’ve ever had I gave up and took a different reel off another rod and started over. At an ounce and a half its like having a decent sized swim bait at the end of your rod. I was a little concerned that casting would be difficult because of the heavily weight lip but not so. The internal weight keeps the bait from trying to go lip first.
So my second cast I’m sitting in 110’ of water I cast out and let it freespool for a count of 112 before it hit bottom so its fall rate is about a foot a second.
It stayed way deep through the retrieve dragging bottom for 20 yards or so. Surprisingly I didn’t get hung up but then it was probably pretty clean down there. Apparently when you start cranking the bait stands up lip down so hang ups aren’t as bad as you think. Then I decided to just drop the bait straight over the bow and watch it in my fishfinder . I dropped it right alongside a buoy cable in 45 ft. I could see on my screen it dropped straight down parerell to the cable again just about a foot a second. Ok I thought starting to be impressed with this bait lets see how it is in the rocks.
I started casting over a hump in 50-60’ of water that I know is full of various sized rocks. I got a few minor hangups but nothing I could shake loose. Eventually I did get it hung up but maybe once in 30 casts. Trying to use a plug knocker in 50 ‘ is a bit of a challenge. Finally got it back up. Than decided to change reels again and took one from a flipping stick that had 65lb braid on it and proceeded to really cast it into deep rocks and even a couple of tree trunks. The braid made it so much easier when I got it hung up. I just basically pulled until it came lose or once straightened the hook.
The worst hang up was when I swung on a fish and missed but nailed the tree trunk pretty good. That’s when I straightened the hook and I have to say it wasn’t that easy. I really liked the way the bait came through the water you could feel everything with the braid and it seemed to have a pretty good action on the retreive. The first couple of times I thought I was hooked up but it was just the weight of the bait. All in all I was pretty impressed with this bait. Would’ve been nice to hook up but that’ll come with time.
The paint job was very realistic and seemed to be of good quality. I ran them through some stuff and they were not much worse for it. The hooks were very sharp and strong. There are a couple of minor things that I think will make a good bait even better. I would change the hooks to a lighter wire one or change the split rings out for ones that will open up after so much pressure. Either of these will reduce the chances of breaking off in some rocks etc. Also I would recommend using braid for the same reason, it may cost a few bites but will surely help keep the bait on your line and not the bottom of the lake somewhere. At 12.99 each I want to keep them as long as possible. Here’s a link to a place to purchase them if interested http://www.fishermanswarehouse.com/shop/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=4979
All in all I would recommend this crankbait to anyone that fishes in deep water. I’m sure it’ll tear them up on deep ledges, humps and the like.