The Original Fred Young Big O Crankbait

[VABassin'14]

I had never seen these before today, but a local outdoors store had a few on the shelf and they looked great. So I picked one up to tryout. Has anyone had much luck with these before?

[Bluebasser86]

I bought them in 3 different colors when they were first re-introduced. I never caught a fish on one and don't even think about bouncing them off any kind of cover, I lost the lip off every one that I had when I tried to fish them like every other crankbait I own and pull them through the rocks.

[EastTexasBassin]

I didn't know Big O made crankbaits, I thought he was more of a soft plastics guy.

jk

[Stringjam]

If they were  "original" Fred Young Big "O" cranks, you could throw them on eBay and fetch $250+ a piece for them.    There have been many reissues over the years, though....both in plastic and balsa.   

[BobP]

Cabelas or Basspro was selling a Big O reproduction in recent years.  I never fished an original but I was underwhelmed by the repro I bought.  If they are sale items in a sporting goods store, they surely aren't original Big O's.

[Nick]

These reproduction models were closed out ( I recall from Norman?) and I guess Cabelas got stuck with a bunch.  They discounted them for about $3 each, so I hope you didn't get fooled by these. The smaller size caught more fish for me, but nothing special. They seemed rather ordinary for a balsa lure with no "hunting" movement.

[Puma Jim]

I got to say this crank has been a money maker for me. I always have one tied on and it comes through the rocks very well. I have a couple of plano 3700's with just Big O's in them. Even had some custom painted

[Avalonjohn44]

I bought a bunch of these from the Bargain Cave. The wooden reproductions were made by Cotton Cordell. I am not impressed with the action or durability of the baits, although some of the color patterns are fantastic. I have much more success with other wood cranks (Rapala DTs, Bagleys, Catching Concepts), and so I leave these at home in my ever-growing pile of stuff not worth bringing along.