By: Shaye Baker

A lot of lure companies look at the current market, see what’s trending and then offer up a near duplicate of the hottest bait of the season. Or they’ll look at years passed and identify the staple bass lures that have stood the test of time, and then create their own version of it. And while that approach makes good business sense, there are a few brands out there that take pride in challenging themselves to birth something entirely new.

Lunkerhunt is one such company, and a frontrunner in this mindset of ingenuity and creativity. These guys tirelessly pursue innovation and come up with some of the most realistic looking chunks of plastic and rubber to ever hold a hook.

In anticipation of the long-awaited Lunkerhunt takeover (where our January 2022 Regional Pro Series subscription box is loaded exclusively with Lunkerhunt baits), let’s take a look back at a few of my favorite Lunkerhunt lure innovations.

Skitter Lizard

The Lunkerhunt Skitter Lizard appeals to the kid in me—the excitement I felt when I got my first bite on a buzzbait or felt that first thump on a jig. I have a tendency where I get in a rut of doing the same old thing. Where my techniques become stale or monotonous. Tying on a 5¼ inch lizard (which is realistic enough to prank my nieces with), and lobbing it around a pond for a few hours fires me up as angler. It rekindles some of that excitement that felt when I first started bass fishing.

Phantom Spider

The first time I saw this bait, I thought it looked a little gimmicky. But the first time I saw this thing in the water, I was mesmerized by how the legs moved and how nasty and creepy it looked. A bass fishing lure worthy to hang on the front porch around mid-October, the Phantom Spider looks as real as a bait can.

Built on a hollow body platform, the Phantom Spider has what most would refer to as a double frog hook inside of it. Coming in two sizes and six amazingly unnerving color patterns, these weedless masterpieces that can be creeped and crawled across nearly any cover with terrifying realism.  

Prop Frog

The essence of innovation isn’t to ignore what’s working, but instead to figure out how to push it forward. With the Prop Frog, you can see influences from the hollow body frog, the buzz toad and the Whopper Plopper all come together to create something really special.

The Prop Frog is built on a hollow body platform with feet that create a propeller-like kicking action unlike anything I’ve ever seen on the market. It’s a glowing example of combining a unique conglomerate of features seen in several other effective lures to create something new.

Link

Jointed baits aren’t a new thing. And a walking style topwater lure is nothing new either. But when you attach two walking style topwaters together from nose to tail, you get something entirely different 

As the Link is worked across the top of the water, it creates the illusion of two minnows swimming together. This gives bass a much more forgiving target to strike, and gives you more hooks than a traditional topwater, resulting in better hookup ratios and more bass in the bag. Available in 4½ and 6¾ inch versions and 9 realistic color schemes, topwater anglers have lots of options with this one!

With baits like the Skitter Lizard, Phantom Spider, Prop Frog and Link, it’s fun to think about what Lunkerhunt might come up with next—but we’ve only scratched the surface of what they have to offer. Their bold creativity and ingenuity is evident in everything they design, including some of their more traditional lure categories like jigs, spinnerbaits and crankbaits.

Are you ready for the Lunkerhunt takeover coming in January? Every bait in the January 2022 Regional Pro Series subscription box is a Lunkerhunt bait! Sign up today and use code SAVE10 to get $10 off your first box.