Enthusiast L bill crank?

From crankbaits to jerkbaits to wakebaits and more, TackleTour's new hardbait sub-forum has been a long time coming. Well, now your wait is over!
Post Reply
User avatar
LowRange
Pro Angler
Pro Angler
Posts: 4784
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2016 9:18 am

Enthusiast L bill crank?

Post by LowRange » Thu Aug 11, 2022 11:01 am

Anyone make one? The two I use are the BPS Grass Tracker and Strike King Hybrid hunter. They are really awesome baits with an erratic action that come through the weeds cleanly. The problem is they cast and look like garbage. Wondering if any Japanese brands have picked up on this design and make one with a weight transfer.

DirtyD64
Pro Angler
Pro Angler
Posts: 3050
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2017 4:23 pm

Re: Enthusiast L bill crank?

Post by DirtyD64 » Thu Aug 11, 2022 1:26 pm

LowRange wrote:
Thu Aug 11, 2022 11:01 am
Anyone make one? The two I use are the BPS Grass Tracker and Strike King Hybrid hunter. They are really awesome baits with an erratic action that come through the weeds cleanly. The problem is they cast and look like garbage. Wondering if any Japanese brands have picked up on this design and make one with a weight transfer.
Seen a ton of these you mentioned, and I have a 6th Sense one somebody gave me. What is the point of these lures? Cannot say I have seen a high end version of this bill design.

User avatar
LowRange
Pro Angler
Pro Angler
Posts: 4784
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2016 9:18 am

Re: Enthusiast L bill crank?

Post by LowRange » Thu Aug 11, 2022 1:33 pm

DirtyD64 wrote:
Thu Aug 11, 2022 1:26 pm
LowRange wrote:
Thu Aug 11, 2022 11:01 am
Anyone make one? The two I use are the BPS Grass Tracker and Strike King Hybrid hunter. They are really awesome baits with an erratic action that come through the weeds cleanly. The problem is they cast and look like garbage. Wondering if any Japanese brands have picked up on this design and make one with a weight transfer.
Seen a ton of these you mentioned, and I have a 6th Sense one somebody gave me. What is the point of these lures? Cannot say I have seen a high end version of this bill design.
Fish them around sparce weeds and they will deflect off a weed and hunt way off center then return or just plow through it and come out clean. Its been my go to search bait and the fish slam them. Its like a squarebill but for weeds. You want the bait to hit weeds and then defect off them. Great baits but the problem is all 3 are kind of cheap. No weight transfer. Loud knocker rattles. Look like they were carved from a bar of soap. Typical USDM hard baits. Going to try a Super Cisco musky bait next since it has a similar bill.

User avatar
LowRange
Pro Angler
Pro Angler
Posts: 4784
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2016 9:18 am

Re: Enthusiast L bill crank?

Post by LowRange » Thu Aug 11, 2022 6:54 pm

Here is my collection of these baits. From bottom up:
BPS Weed Tracker
Strike King Hybrid Hunter
6th Sense Swank
Super Cisco

I've only fished the BPS and Strike King baits. The house brand has been a winner so far but I have the most time on the water on it.

These outfish ripping lipless out of grass for me. Throw these when a squarebill just gets balled up in grass. You can power them through the grass and when they come off you often get a hard strike. If you watch you line you can see the bait veering off as it hits grass. All but the big musky bait have a knocker style rattle balast that I suspect might be part of what makes the baits hunt when they deflect. My hunch is that the bait turns on its side when it hits grass and in addition to flipping the bill out of the grass it lets the knocker roll to one side and the bait rolls out wide before tracking to center again. Not sure if the Super Cisco will do this. It appears to be a giant shallow Shad Rap copy for musky. The BPS bait has the quietest knocker and the Strike King the loudest.
Reel for size reference
Image

User avatar
LowRange
Pro Angler
Pro Angler
Posts: 4784
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2016 9:18 am

Re: Enthusiast L bill crank?

Post by LowRange » Thu Aug 11, 2022 7:04 pm

Anyways I still want to see a Megabass take on this type of bait. My dream list

Weight transfer
3/4 to 1 oz
Soft tungsten ball for a super soft knock or when silent
Meagabass detailing
They also make a giant one too because why not?

User avatar
uljersey
Platinum Angler
Platinum Angler
Posts: 1416
Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2007 10:39 am
Location: New Jersey

Re: Enthusiast L bill crank?

Post by uljersey » Sat Aug 13, 2022 10:00 am

Don’t forget the Yo Zuri Flat Crank. It’s a bit on the smallish side at 1/4 oz but casts very well and gets bit … Well made bait, stock hooks may be questionable …

Image
Attachments
43F166F4-38DD-4ABF-847F-5A6E109A35AC.jpeg
43F166F4-38DD-4ABF-847F-5A6E109A35AC.jpeg (36 KiB) Viewed 1765 times

User avatar
LowRange
Pro Angler
Pro Angler
Posts: 4784
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2016 9:18 am

Re: Enthusiast L bill crank?

Post by LowRange » Sun Aug 14, 2022 1:04 pm

uljersey wrote:
Sat Aug 13, 2022 10:00 am
Don’t forget the Yo Zuri Flat Crank. It’s a bit on the smallish side at 1/4 oz but casts very well and gets bit … Well made bait, stock hooks may be questionable …

Image
Thanks! I'll be getting some of these for sure.

User avatar
LowRange
Pro Angler
Pro Angler
Posts: 4784
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2016 9:18 am

Re: Enthusiast L bill crank?

Post by LowRange » Sun Aug 14, 2022 7:40 pm

Ok so I have had time to fish a number of these side by side. I've put some hours behind the BPS, Strike King and Sixth Sense baits.

The SK and SS are very similar in construction and how they fish. The SS had a wider harder wobble and casts about as good as the SK bait. Both come through weeds very cleanly.

The BPS is the surprising one. Its made from a cheaper plastic, is built poorly, has a soft knocker, is not quite as weedless and casts like crap compared to the other two but it hunts. It hunts like crazy. I don't mean that bull crap hunting that SK throws around where they call deflection hunting. The BPS bait hunts. Every one. You can see the line move. With a 6 gear and a fast retrieve you can get it going wild and even blow out. It hunts so much it is rarely at max depth and is actually a pretty shallow runner and it gets bit.

From a design perspective it look like they took their 3/4 XPS Deep Diver and modified the mold to have the bent down L bill. By doing this they unwittingly created a highly unstable bait that manifests this as a hunting action. I'm going to load up before these get discontinued for being too unstable or fixed. I like them they way they are.

Post Reply