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Lure Review


Lucky Craft goes finesse with their Flat CB MR Crankbait

 

Date: 5/8/06
Tackle type: Lures
Manufacturer: Lucky Craft
Reviewer: Cal





 

Total Score: 8.00

Introduction: In November of 2005, we shared with you, our thoughts on Lucky Craft's Big Daddy Strike (BDS) Crank, a large bodied, shallow crank built to churn up and tear into thick cover areas. Today, we look at the BDS's more refined sibling, the Lucky Craft Flat CB MR, a flat bodied, mid to shallow depth crank built for open water and finesse cranking applications. In fact, this bait is seemingly so popular, Lucky Craft is even producing a customized version for a certain retailing giant under the name of bass fishing tournament veteran Rick Clunn.

 

Lucky Craft Flat CB MR Specifications

Type Crankbait
Depth 0-4 ft
Class Floating
Size 2 1/2" (3/8 oz or 11 grams)
Colors/Patterns Approximately 46 different colors
Hook Sizes #4 front & rear
MSRP $15.00


Impressions: Lucky Craft seldom disappoints when it comes to the packaging and finish of their lures. They have this part of the entire equation figured out rather well. The plethora of colors offered is more than any sane angler could want and then some, and after looking closely at the selection in the tackle store, how could any avid enthusiast such as myself want for anything less at least one in every single color?! Well, the key to any situation like this, of course, is to keep it simple, so we walked out of the store armed with only a half dozen of the more than two dozen presented before us at the time.


The Lucky Craft Flat CB MR up close and personal
 

A look inside the internals of this slim bodied lure

 

The Field Tests: We took the Lucky Craft Flat CB MR out for tests in some of our local reservoirs in Northern California as well as the California Delta. We fished the Flat CB on a variety of rigs, but for the most part, used one of two. As is customary with the majority of high priced baits I acquire, before hitting the water, I replaced the split rings of all these Lucky Craft Flat CB MR's with LureSaver titanium split rings to mitigate against potential loss as the result of a snag.

 

Complete test rig for Lucky Craft Flat CB MR Field Tests

Rig One Rig Two
Rod G.Loomis MBR842C GLX Kistler Helium He76MC
Reel Conquest 101 Conquest 51
Line 12 lb Yozuri Hybrid 10 lb Yozuri Hybrid


One of our featured graphite cranking sticks is the Kistler Helium He76MC. We paired this rod with a Conquest 51 and spooled this reel with 10lb Yozuri Hybrid. For closer-in situations we also enjoy throwing cranks on our G.Loomis MBR842C GLX and for these tests, matched it up with a Conquest 101 spooled with 12lb Yozuri Hybrid.
 

The silkscreen says it all...for finesse cranking
 

A detailed scale pattern adds realism


Casting/Pitching: Thanks to the internal tungsten bearing and an overall solid body design, the Flat CB MR casts just about as well as any other lipped crankbait can cast. There is nothing extraordinary nor deficient in this area of the lure's performance and that's just what we've come to expect. In headwind conditions, we found the flat bodied design of our baits to perform respectably. This is probably due more to the internal tungsten bearing rather than the bait's profile as we expected to encounter some difficulty casting in these conditions. Those difficulties simply did not materialize.

A head on view


The one area of difficult we did experience during casts, interestingly enough, was with the hooks. Apparently, the LureSaver split rings (large size) are a fraction longer than the stock split rings that come with the Flat CB MRs. As a result, the front and back hooks on our baits had the tendency to tangle up during some casts. We found it odd that while this happened on the occasional cast, the entanglement did not seem to hinder the action of the lure to a great degree. Case in point, we could still feel the bait wobbling in the water through our rod tip when retrieved with both hooks tangled together. Most bait retrieves would spoil if this happened, looping in the water in an action typical of an injured crankbait. So just a note of caution if you're one to swap out split rings like we do, stick to the smaller sized luresavers to avoid this issue.

Protruding 3D eyes also add life to this lure

 

Next Section: Its all about the presentation

 

   

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