Top 10 Lucky Craft Lures - #3
By: “Triton” Mike Bucca
(www.tritonmike.com)

With the extensive lineup of baits that Lucky Craft has I can certainly understand why it might cause a lot of people mass confusion on what tool to purchase and for what job. I have received countless emails pertaining to my opinion of various baits in the Lucky Craft lineup. I have been fishing with Lucky Craft lures since the late 90’s and I have also been on the Lucky Craft Pro-staff for the past year and a half. As a fishing guide here in Georgia with over 200 days a year on the water, I have extensive experience in using pretty much every bait in their entire lineup, as well as several Lucky Craft baits that aren’t even offered here in the U.S. I felt this top 10 list would help ease your pain in your bait selection before you plop down the bucks for one of these fine pieces of craftsmanship. Do keep in mind that these are the top 10 baits that I find myself using most often and they are listed in no particular order.

Be sure to check in here at Probass.net often, as I will give a different review on my top ten Lucky Craft baits that I rely on the most. You just might be surprised to see some of the baits I rely on everyday that you might not think is an effective bait.

#3 Pointer 128

Sheesh another Jerkbait!! The bad boy Lucky Crafts Pointer 128 jerkbait gets my nod for #3 rank in my top ten listing. The Pointer 128 comes in 22 different shad colors and dives a good 5 feet. This bait weighs a solid ounce and is approximately 5 inches long and has 3 sets of #4 treble hooks for extra fish catching appeal. Like most of the jerkbaits in the Lucky Craft lineup the Pointer 128 is also a great suspending bait and the numerous shad color selections can be seen at the Lucky Craft website.

On a serious note, if you have a clear water lake near you where you have 4ft or greater clarity and you don’t have jerkbaits as major part of your arsenal uh you need to get with the program like quick. I personally feel jerkbaits are by a landslide, the best clear water hardbait you can ever throw in a lake full of any kind of fish and the BIG pointer 128 is certainly no exception to that rule. Make no mistake about it the Pointer 128 is a BIG BOY plug and it is all man and not for the faint at heart as the strikes on this bait will without a doubt make your heart skip three beats. When I go bear hunting for a big Spotted Bass or Largemouth this is the bait I like to throw. If you are into jerkbait fishing for any amount of time you will find that anytime you can get three sets of treble hooks on a bait vs. two sets of trebles that’s a good thing. I personally would much rather have 3 sets of #4 treble hooks than 2 sets of #2 treble hooks on any jerkbait that I use. If you can get all 3 sets of treble hooks into the fish, that takes off the stress of the other hooks to keep the fish buttoned up until you get it put into your livewell. Also 3 sets of treble hooks cover more of the bait than 2 sets of treble hooks, which helps in catching those Spotted Bass that are notorious for trying to pocket pick or tail slap your bait. Plain and simple, any bait with 3 sets of hooks will increase your landing percentages tremendously over a bait with 2 sets of hooks.

Spotted Bass Caught on a Pointer 128. Notice the water clarity in the background

Another feature of the Pointer 128 is the unique action of this bait. Most jerkbaits that have 3 sets of hooks on them are notoriously lacking in action and normally just have a very tight and forward only wiggle, unless they are jointed somehow. But the Pointer 128 has a very erratic action, which the entire pointer line is notorious for. What I like to do a lot of times is to jerk the bait down to its maximum depth by jerking my rod tip straight down in front of me (perpendicular). Once I get it down to the 5 ft range I like to start jerking the rod sideways (say a little less than 180 degrees) very quickly vs. straight downward in a walk the dog fashion. What this does is makes the jerkbait walk the dog under water.

I like to use the big Pointer 128 in both clear and stained water situations. I will admit the Pointer 128 is probably the only jerkbait I will throw in heavily to fairly stained water due to it’s bigger profile. I do the best with the Pointer 128, Late February, once the fish begin to move up shallow to stage for pre-spawn and through Late May, which is basically through post spawn and into early summer. Due to its 5 inch profile it reflects the shape of the big gizzard shad that we have in our lake. Most of our gizzard shad like to roam around in the stained water. An ideal situation for this bait is if you have a mud line nearby with gizzard shad present. Normally when I start flushing or seeing BIG gizzard shad I immediately pick up the Pointer 128 because usually there’s a big fish nearby.

As I stated earlier I like to walk the dog with this bait and due to it’s size I like to rip it very fast in clear water. I don’t want the fish to get a good look at this bait and see that it is not real. So instead of pausing this bait I like to work this bait with a rapid jerk retrieve with no pause.

As far as equipment is concerned, I like to use 15lb triplefish fluorocarbon (www.triplefish.net) fluorocarbon line when fishing the Pointer 128. This is one of the very few jerkbaits that I fish on a heavier size line. Not only is the bait heavier and stresses the knot more than on a smaller bait, but also the fish that hit this bait are typically bigger as well. In fact, big stripers are caught on this bait fairly frequently. Due to the sinking characteristics of fluorocarbon line it also allows the bait to dive more effectively and freely to its maximum depth better than monofilament lines. Also, I’d like to tell you that the bites on this bait are very subtle but they are not LOL. It’s not uncommon to have your bait just come to a complete stop like your hung up on nothing in 20feet of water. I would strongly recommend a 6ft 6inch MH action rod to work the Pointer 128. Your gonna need that faster action rod to not only help you work the bait, but also to winch in the big fish that hits it. ?

The knot that I use for fishing jerkbaits is called a “Loop Knot”. I feel that the loop knot allows the jerkbait more freedom to move more erratically since the knot is not cinched around the split ring in the eyelet of the jerkbait. Here is an Internet link with directions to the loop knot that I use on jerkbaits. http://www.stren.com/knot4.htm

That’s my review of my #3 pick of my most often used Lucky Craft baits. When you need that kicker fish to finish off your limit try the Pointer 128 especially if you got big gizzard shad in the area. I’ve always said if you want to catch a bear you gotta use bear bait!

Coming very very soon!!! My TOP 2 picks of Lucky Craft that I rely on the most. Are they topwater? Jerkbaits? Cranks? Hmmmm Keep an eye out here at probass.net to find out what in my opinion are the best 2 baits in the ENTIRE Lucky Craft lineup that I rely on the most to catch bass for me consistently. I have also decided to do a few “honorable mention” reviews of a few baits that didn’t make my top 10 rankings, but I have relied on these honorable mentions baits quite heavily over the years. In reality it’s hard to pick just 10 baits from Lucky Craft for all situations.

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