River2Sea Nest Raider bedded bass fishing lure

Lure Review

Effective bedded bass fishing with the River2Sea Nest Raider (continued)

Retrieving (cont'd): Again like a jig, you can swim this lure back to the boat. Find the right depth and swim it fast or slow. Though I was able to catch fish swimming the Nest Raider what can be improved is the tail’s movement as it swims back to the boat. You will see the tail move at fast speeds but when you slow down the retrieve the tail doesn’t move back and forth.

External gills give the lure a more realistic appearance

These are some of the more effective ways to retrieve the River2Sea Nest Raider though I’m sure anglers will experiment and come up with different retrieves for their environments. In addition to its aggressive stance and appearance the lure comes with two rattles that are added in the anal cavity for audible clicks when working the lure.

Notice the two rattles inside the air chamber

Application: As mentioned above, the lure can be retrieved differently depending on where you’re targeting bass. Though designed for sight fishing for bedding bass, our field tests showed that the Nest Raider not only raids nests but can entice strikes when lured along the bottom or swam back to the boat. The lure comes with a weedguard that should to be trimmed according to your application and depending on what type of cover you’re fishing in.

A tail that has an air chamber lifts it into a stand-up position when deadsticked

Durability: The Nest Raider does pretty well but there are some concerns. The lure’s plastic body, legs, tail, and even external gills which I thought would fall off almost immediately, held up pretty well. Wear and tear was evident after catching some smaller aggressive bass. The thin plastic part on the back surrounding the hook has torn but it doesn’t affect the action of the lure. Instead it might even add more action to the tail than before.

Ribbed body gives the lure some shape and detail

Another area that didn’t have any damage yet but could potentially develop an issue later is the leadhead digging through the plastic and coming out of the mouth of the Nest Raider. The front end of the leadhead seems to be somewhat pointed. When you retrieve the lure, the leadhead is tied to your line pulling it towards you. The plastic body could grip onto resistive surfaces sending the leadhead going one way while the main body of the lure remains stationary.

Trim the weedguard according to your application and cover

Price: River2Sea tells us it was actually tough making the decision on the pricing of the Nest Raider just because there isn’t another manufacture out there that makes one at the moment. It’s not a swimbait or a jig or a plastic lizard. So if you break the River2Sea lure down into each component, plastic body, lead head, rattles, and add a few for the design, the Nest Raider actually comes out to be a fair price point. They could have easily charged a few more bucks since no one else makes one but the company did their homework and priced it at a cost people should be willing to pay for.

This is where the air chamber is location and where you can insert or remove rattles

Ratings: (We've re-calibrated our ratings standard for 2008 and have included a key at the bottom of the following matrix as a guide):

River2Sea Nest Raider 190 Ratings (?/10)
Construction/Quality	Pretty decent construction and quality aside from what was pointed out in the durability section	7
Performance	The lure has good overall action and can be worked at all levels. The only thing is the tail can be tweaked to give greater action at slow retrieve speeds	7
Price	A fair price for a lure of this size, design, and features	6
Features	The lure features a realistic appearance with added external gills, eyes, and limbs. It also includes a weedguard and two rattles per lure	7
Design (Ergonomics)	Designed for bedded bass fishing the Nest Raider resembles a real waterdog or salamander	7.5
Application	Though it was primarily designed for sight fishing for bedded bass, it can also be lured at different levels targeting bass and I’m sure other species throughout other regions	7
Total Score		6.91
Ratings Key: 1 = terrible : 2 = poor : 3 = lacking : 4 = sub par : 5 = mediocre : 6 = fair : 7 = good : 8 = great : 9 = excellent : 10 = unbelievable! For More Details of the updated rating system visit our explanation here

Pluses and Minuses:

Plus Minus
J Great lure for bedded bass fishing	L Tail needs more action at slow retrieves
J Can be worked at all levels	L Only one size available
J Realistic appearance	L Durability concerns
J Tail-up poster

The Nest Raider will "piss off" big bass on or near their beds into striking

Conclusion: Going for that record breaking fish? Now is the time to target those big females that are either moving up or already on beds getting ready to spawn. What more fun and effective way to get these bass to bite than using the new River2Sea lure. The Nest Raider is a large plastic waterdog or salamander looking bait that’s pre-rigged with a leadhead and hook. The lure has a realistic appearance having everything from legs to external gills. The Nest Raider is a lure that can be worked at all levels even though it is designed to be jigged or deadsticked it near a bedding bass. If the River2Sea Nest Raider won’t make the big bass angry, nothing will.

Time to target bedding bass? Tackle Warehouse has the Nest Raider