Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD
No doubt you’ve seen the price of crankbaits (and other lures) skyrocketing faster than the price of eggs and bacon during the pandemic. Crankbaits used to seem expensive when priced at five or six bucks. Now, they are often two or three times more, these days. Maybe that’s okay with your budget, but it’s not with mine and that’s what attracted me to the H20X cranks at the Academy Sports store that opened near me in Lafayette, IN last spring – the price.
Often shopping by price alone is a poor choice when it comes to fishing equipment. Cheapskates are setting themselves up for failure. I also have observed that “store-brand” knock-offs of big brand lures isn’t the same as buying a generic equivalent for other products. Far from it.
Often, just looking at the store-brand crankbaits tells the story. The molded bodies are rough, the paint or finish is notably inferior and the hooks and hardware on the lures are noticeably cheap. You know they won’t hold up, you know they won’t have the proper action and you know after a few trips you’ll be wishing you’d never bought them at any price.
I didn’t notice any of the above with the H20X (Academy Sports’ store brand) hanging on the racks. I did notice the retro price tags marked on the boxes.
Academy Sports is a chain of big-box sporting goods stores (think Bass Pro or Dick’s Sporting Goods), born in Texas and now found in states across the southeastern U.S.A. The Lafayette store was the first one opened in a Great Lakes state. Now, they are in Indiana and Illinois. (Academy does offer online shopping, however, so even if you fish Lake Superior, H20X products are just a few clicks and a truck ride from your door.)
Naturally, the H20X cranks were designed with bass fishing in mind and the colors available reflect that. However, many crankbaits used by salmon, steelhead and walleye anglers weren’t designed specifically for those species. They were probably designed for bass guys and us Great Lakes guys learned they were equally effective on salmon or trout.
For the first two or three months of the open water season in southern Lake Michigan, crankbaits are the top producers and some Great Lakes walleye guys use cranks all season long. So I selected an assortment of H20X cranks and tied them on last spring. Plenty of cohos and browns considered them edible and Lake Erie walleyes gave them a “fins-up” as well.
FISHING TOYS 