Real World Tests: For our real world tests, I the McRip 85 to the end of the line on my Denali Kovert Lite K863JW and JDM Casitas MGL casting reel. I spooled the reel with fifty pound (50lb) Sunline FX2 Braided line.

The middle two bearings in the McRip 85 shift to the back of the bait during a cast. The remaining two stay in place.

Castability: The McRip 85 benefits from an internal weight transfer system that shifts to the back of the bait during a cast enhancing your casting motion and putting the bait's momentum in the direction of travel. The results are, of course, good casts for distance and accuracy.

Spro's detailing in their color patterns are very good.

Dive Time: It takes about four, sometimes five pulls of your rod to get the McRip 85 down to maximum depth. This will vary depending on the length of your rod and the aggressiveness of your pulls, but once there, the bait will dart forward with each successive twitch or pull, shimmying its way as it moves. The McRip 85 doesn't dart off course very often.

The McRip 85 comes with two, very good sized #4 Gamakatsu hooks.

Suspending Action: When you do stop your retrieve, the bait stops immediately and suspends with maybe a very slight head down angle. It's difficult to see for certain given how far down the bait runs but its rated depth of eight to ten feet feels accurate.

This color, Watermelon Craw, is very intriguing.

Additional Observations: Of course, braided line isn't the ideal type of line to use with a rip/jerkbait but my motivation behind using this type of line was to see how the McRip 85 behaved on a slow steady retrieve over a rocky bottom similar to a crankbait. The bait's nice, wide bill gave me the inspiration for this experiment which actually worked out really well! The bait has enough built in action even at slow speeds and with the added attraction of bumping off rocks and digging into the dirt, I managed a couple of bites with this unconventional application of the McRip 85.

Conclusion: As a tackle tester, nothing is more gratifying than fishing a product in an unconventional, out of the box way and being rewarded with a fish or two. More often than not, such experiments are left with zero results, but in the case of the McRip 85, we had some fun playing around with the bait as if it were a standard crankbait. Of course, be aware if you decide to try this, if you get snagged, the bait won't float back up - hence my use of 50lb braid. Just the same, whether fished conventionally or unconventionally, the McRip 85 is an effective and versatile bait and another nice job by Spro and Mike McClelland.