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BobP

Bustin Bass Ko's

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I've been one of the TUers who regularly wales on plastic knock-offs, and for good reason. As a class, I find them mostly uninspiring and often unfishable. However, I keep sampling a few and recently got several KO's from Bustin Bass Baits because they appear to have some decent INTERNAL construction as well as copying the commercial baits' external looks. Today I test fished them and was happy with the results. Didn't catch any fish (it was a soft plastics kind of day) but I was satisfied with how the KO's performed. Here's a short review on each. All were fished with #4 trebles (short shank for the Crankster and SR-X, regular size for the Deps BuzzJet). Caveat: I only tried these 3 from the Bustin Bass lineup and can't comment on their other models.

Sebile Crankster (medium) KO - A medium action 3-5' slow floating diver. Casts well at around 1/2 oz. The bait has 2 compartmented ballast balls, one in front and one directly behind the belly hanger, plus a small glass bead in a rear chamber. Moderate high pitched rattle from the glass bead.

Megabass SR-X KO - A hard thumping wide action shallow 2' diver. Weighs about 1/2 oz and casts well. The ballast is a compartmented ball near the belly hanger plus a lead strip that is captured in the lower rear of the bait. Not much rattle but not silent either. It's 'claim to fame' is an open compartment in the nose of the bait with 2 forward holes in the nose to take in water, outlet holes on each side of the nose, plus large outlet holes incorporated into the eye recesses. The bait comes with half-round 3D eyes to fit its unique eye recess. There is also a water "funnel" on the bottom rear of the bait with a wide intake and a narrower outlet. And there are 2 small side "wings" like a Timber Tiger crankbait. Don't know what the fish think yet, but the water chambers are interesting hydrodynamic features.

Deps BuzzJet Jr KO - A 2 3/4" wake bait with both a lip and a rear prop. The body shape resembles a small bass. One medium compartmented ballast ball in front of the belly hanger, two medium balls behind the hanger running in a sloped tunnel from the tail to the hanger for weight shift on the cast. The medium size prop resembes those on Heddon Torpedoes. This bait has very wide action, virtually like a walk-the-dog Spook but without the work - you just crank it back to the boat. It puts out a nice wake plus a bubble trail from the prop. It casts well and the rear ballast balls create a pretty loud rattle.

How do these baits compare to the originals? I have no idea 'cause I don't own the originals. They all performed very well. The 3D exterior detail I would rate a "B". All baits were neatly welded with few if any external faults. They arrived 3 days after ordering. Bottom line, these are some of the best unpainted plastic baits I've seen in terms of construction and performance, and I have zero complaints. That's rare! My compliments to Bustin Bass. :D

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WOW Bob great write up!

To add I have tried the RC2.5 KO and the LV 500 KO... Both run decent and are put together better than any other KO I have tried. The seams or welds are good and they both have a low amount of defects overall.

The RC 2.5 runs similar to the real RC. I don’t think it has as much wobble and the bill is slightly different but it is a very fishable bait and one that I do use when playing around. Make no mistake I fish the real ones in prefish and tourneys but to go out and just goof off one night after work I use the KO's. But I live on the water so it’s not a loss for me to do that.

The LV is another story... IMHO the LV lacks in Vibration from that of the real LV. The top of the bait before the line tie is to thin and doesn’t create the vortices like the real one does. That is a big negative in my book as I want a lipless bait to just be as loud and obnoxious as it can be. Also the sound is off... it’s not as crisp if that makes sense. I don’t really fish these and I bought 10!!! They will probably all go in the pile for when the big strippers come into town.

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I've been one of the TUers who regularly wales on plastic knock-offs, and for good reason. As a class, I find them mostly uninspiring and often unfishable. However, I keep sampling a few and recently got several KO's from Bustin Bass Baits because they appear to have some decent INTERNAL construction as well as copying the commercial baits' external looks. Today I test fished them and was happy with the results. Didn't catch any fish (it was a soft plastics kind of day) but I was satisfied with how the KO's performed. Here's a short review on each. All were fished with #4 trebles (short shank for the Crankster and SR-X, regular size for the Deps BuzzJet). Caveat: I only tried these 3 from the Bustin Bass lineup and can't comment on their other models.

Sebile Crankster (medium) KO - A medium action 3-5' slow floating diver. Casts well at around 1/2 oz. The bait has 2 compartmented ballast balls, one in front and one directly behind the belly hanger, plus a small glass bead in a rear chamber. Moderate high pitched rattle from the glass bead.

Megabass SR-X KO - A hard thumping wide action shallow 2' diver. Weighs about 1/2 oz and casts well. The ballast is a compartmented ball near the belly hanger plus a lead strip that is captured in the lower rear of the bait. Not much rattle but not silent either. It's 'claim to fame' is an open compartment in the nose of the bait with 2 forward holes in the nose to take in water, outlet holes on each side of the nose, plus large outlet holes incorporated into the eye recesses. The bait comes with half-round 3D eyes to fit its unique eye recess. There is also a water "funnel" on the bottom rear of the bait with a wide intake and a narrower outlet. And there are 2 small side "wings" like a Timber Tiger crankbait. Don't know what the fish think yet, but the water chambers are interesting hydrodynamic features.

Deps BuzzJet Jr KO - A 2 3/4" wake bait with both a lip and a rear prop. The body shape resembles a small bass. One medium compartmented ballast ball in front of the belly hanger, two medium balls behind the hanger running in a sloped tunnel from the tail to the hanger for weight shift on the cast. The medium size prop resembes those on Heddon Torpedoes. This bait has very wide action, virtually like a walk-the-dog Spook but without the work - you just crank it back to the boat. It puts out a nice wake plus a bubble trail from the prop. It casts well and the rear ballast balls create a pretty loud rattle.

How do these baits compare to the originals? I have no idea 'cause I don't own the originals. They all performed very well. The 3D exterior detail I would rate a "B". All baits were neatly welded with few if any external faults. They arrived 3 days after ordering. Bottom line, these are some of the best unpainted plastic baits I've seen in terms of construction and performance, and I have zero complaints. That's rare! My compliments to Bustin Bass. :D

Thanks Bob! Glad you like them! Just wait until the new ones arrive it gets better! Much Better!:wink:

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Some of those blanks appear to be genuine Lucky Craft. At least if the description is honest.

I'll leave it for Bustin Bass to say (or not) but most of the descriptions explicitly say they are Knock-offs and I'd be very surprised to hear they are actual factory Lucky Craft or other brand bodies. You just don't see that happening, even among the lower cost U.S. bait companies, because it runs counter to their commercial interest. The sole exception I know of are some Yo Zuri unpainted bodies you can buy, advertised as factory originals and sold for premium prices.

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he says they are made in japan, not genuine lucky crafts. there is no way they are genuine

On the item page, in bold letters, I see "Lucky Craft LVR D-7 Unpa(i)nted lure body - Stock #1103" and below in the description

"Lucky Craft LVR D7" and "LVR D7" are both seen several times. What I DON'T see is "knockoff" , "KO" , or "copy". These are 4 dollars a piece.

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They can't be genuine I don't see how lucky craft could allow that. Also they are not from Japan. I get the same ones from China and they are the same quality as those. I fish them all the time when I go out and they do run really good. They are good quality baits and see like they are better than the usual China lure standards.

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