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New Crankbaits

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Anyone tried the new line of crankbaits that AcadamySports is carrying as the in house line.I bought four yesterday and haven't tried them yet.I bought the shallow divers with a square bill.I think the name is H2O Express.They look as good as any Lucky Craft I have seen.You know how it is,always searching for something to replace that $15.00-$20.00 crankbait.And these baits were only a little over three dollars each.I know how it is with cheap imitations(action,castability,weighting) all may be different,but I thought I would spend $18.00 to find out.You never know.The wife has them wrapped under the tree from my kids,but I may be able to sneak one out to test it,if I can I will report back...Rob

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This has become a mission of mine. A few years back I grabbed some baits from the $1 bargain box and they ended up in Canada with me on Musky opener. Low and behold a cold front settled in and we continued to downsize lures until these found their way onto my line. They resulted in several Muskys up to 41inches. Not bad for a 4 inch $1 dollar minnow bait. My rational is some lure manufacturers must start with a low price to get in the store. Don't be afraid to try a few.

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Thanks alot for the imput guys,I have been there ,done that too but if you get a chance you should at least look at these.I went today but didn't get to try them but I did manage to land a very nice 4lb smallmouth,he hit a Lucky Craft crank like a frieght train,blue bird skies,slight wind,on a rip rap point,8ft.down.....didn't have my camera,imagine that....Rob :pissed:

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I have been looking at those myself lately,they look very well built and the paint on them looks pretty good.I would love to hear from anyone who has tried them to know just how well they work.I have compared them to the high dollar lucky craft baits and I dont see any difference at all.

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Ive got about 40 of the H2O crankbaits from Academy and fish tourneys avg three weekends a month. These things ARE AWESOME for $3. The compare EVENLY in my book to LC...and a heck of a lot cheaper. Nice colors and true running baits. I also have been stuck by buying the cheapo cranks but these are the real deal. Wouldnt be suprised if they go up in the future so you better get them now.

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Thanks for the info guys,and I went today and bought about 20 of them all mainly the medium runners and talked to the manager at our local academy and he tells me that these baits are being made exclusively for academy by a very well known bait company which they are not allowed to name and that these will always be available and always be priced very affordable.Now on to the good stuff,I did get a chance to go out for a while today before the rain came in and try one out for myself,I found the same results you mention as far as these things running true,straight rite out of the box.I only fished about two hours on some rock bluffs and caught three spots with the smallest being 2# and the largest 3.5 #.now I know this was a good morning weather wise to catch fish here and may have caught the same fish on something else,but this proves that with the rite conditions at the rite time that they will work and thats all that matters!

Good fishing and Merry Christmas.

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yea, its a dirty job but someone has to do it!!!!!I live in north Bama and feel very blessed to be within a fifteen minute drive to Neely Henry and Weiss and a thirty to forty five minute drive to Guntersville and Logan Martin.The weather is kind of misleading here though,we may go out today and it be sunny and 70 deg. and tommorow it could be 20 deg. ,windy,with ice,so its not perfect by no means.

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Maybe I should have kept my big mouth shut about these Cranks,I may have to fish against someone on here in Bama.Mine are still under the tree but looks like I may have to make another trip to B'ham to get some more from what I gather here.I didn't get a chance to get a good look at the deeper divers,but did buy some shallow diving square bills.I'll get em this week and try them out very soon and will post back on the outcome.It's good to hear the Spots love them,they maybe my new go to lures(proto type I got in the mail if any one in the Bass Club asks):whistle: .Finally posted something on here that got two pages of replies...Thanks guys.

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The H2O line of hardbaits that Academy carries is made by several different manufacturers.

Spro makes there rattletrap bait, as it is exactly the same mold as an Aruku Shad.

Bandit makes the small shallow and deep divers with the rounded lips.

Lucky Craft makes the CRM and CRS shallow divers with the square bills.

The jerkbaits and topwaters I am unsure.

I was told that a private company contracted by Academy buys the unpainted bodys from those manufacturers and finishes and hooks them out and packages them.

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If you compare the price point of Lucky Craft and Academy, you begin to see the power of marketing. I remember seeing Lucky Craft's booth at ICAST in 2002 or 2003. It was a simple 10x10 booth, just like mine. Nothing fancy but a lot of buzz from beginning to the end of the show. The next year, LC had this huge, 2 story display with glass cases illuminated from below, 10 people on the floor, private rooms aloft for deal making, etc. The point is they created margins the bait industry had never seen before and spent it on building their image. The Japanese are masters at marketing-do you remember the Miyata?

The plan goes something like this-Set a high standard and price point, create the demand (lots of buzz with pros backing them up), throttle back on supply until the price point is no longer an issue then hit the market hard.

I also want to say their Pointer series is the most neutrally bouyant bait I've ever fished. I have caught my share of fish with that series and I try very very hard not to use them.

The fact LC has had they're market staying power this long amazes me. Enough fishermen believe nothing else will work and it's all they feel safe to purchase. Now that's marketing! Others had tried, including BPS, but people want the real article.

I hope Academy blows them out of the water or at least pulls them off Mount Olympus. The cost of production for a LC versus Academy is probably in the range of pennies so more power to them.

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