H2O Xpress Frogs Crankbaits And Spinnerbaits

[BrianHMississippi]

I started the day fishing with a new H20 Xpress spinnerbait.  Within the first 30 minutes, the main willow blade fell off.  I tied another one on and 30 minutes later it was also gone.  I tossed the spinnerbaits since I cannot find any willow leaves at the local Academy.  This morning I tied on a new, beautiful H2O Ultimate frog.  After 30 minutes of fishiing the paint started peeling off.  I don't mean there was a spot here or there where the paint was coming off.  The entire frog which was a natural brown color is now white.  There is no bonding of the paint to the rubber.  Since I only had 2 H2O Xpress frogs in my box, I tied another color on and within minutes, the same thing happened.  All the paint came off.  If you don't mind fishing with white frogs, it isn't a problem.  I prefer brown.  Their deep diving crankbaits also do not run true.  They run sideways and cannot be tuned due to the location of the eye.  All in all, I will never buy another lure from H2O Xpress.  It is all cheap garbage.

[kikstand454]

I'm not sure what happened in your water there. .... but I can't think of a single problem i have ever had with anything H2O I have got from academy, and their frogs and cranks are the only ones I buy anymore.

Sorry to hear about that ! Hope quality isn't suddenly changing. .....

[Catch and Grease]

IBTL, H2O express is like any other company they have great products and bad products. I love their squarebills, they also have decent frogs but I started fishing other brands I prefer more. I like their lipless crankbaits a lot also.

IMO their hardbaits are very good overall for the price. Far from "cheap garbage".

[Jrob78]

I've fished their hard baits and hollow belly swimbaits for years.  I've never had a problem with any one of them.  I don't use their frogs, spinnerbaits or jigs so I can't comment on those baits.  Take them back and get a refund if you aren't happy.  It sucks that you had a bad experience but I imagine you're in the minority of H20 Xpress users. 

[Sam]

The company needs to know about your experience as it is a quality control failure.

 

Take them back and while you are there buy some LSU stuff.

 

How about an introduction so we can get to know you better and where you are located so we can give you better input.

 

Thanks.

[GoDeep]

I started the day fishing with a new H20 Xpress spinnerbait.  Within the first 30 minutes, the main willow blade fell off.  I tied another one on and 30 minutes later it was also gone.  I tossed the spinnerbaits since I cannot find any willow leaves at the local Academy.  This morning I tied on a new, beautiful H2O Ultimate frog.  After 30 minutes of fishiing the paint started peeling off.  I don't mean there was a spot here or there where the paint was coming off.  The entire frog which was a natural brown color is now white.  There is no bonding of the paint to the rubber.  Since I only had 2 H2O Xpress frogs in my box, I tied another color on and within minutes, the same thing happened.  All the paint came off.  If you don't mind fishing with white frogs, it isn't a problem.  I prefer brown.  Their deep diving crankbaits also do not run true.  They run sideways and cannot be tuned due to the location of the eye.  All in all, I will never buy another lure from H2O Xpress.  It is all cheap garbage.

I've never once had any issues with their lures or terminal tackle. Love their lipless crankbaits and squarebills. No issues with their spinnerbaits either. IMO, they are even better than BPS' Lazer Eye spinner baits, and those are pretty decent for the price.

[TheSmilingSwordsman]

I just bought that same frog on clearance. I haven't used it yet but am interested to see if I have the same paint issues.

I primarily use H2O square billed and diving crankbaits, I'm not a big fan of their lipless, and have not had any real trouble with them.

I will be careful when buying any of their spinnerbaits. I haven't used any yet but will make sure to only get one or two to try out before I commit to the brand to see if I have the same issues.

Thanks for the warnings. Hopefully it was just bad luck and you have better results next time out.

[Bluebasser86]

I have a bunch of their cranks from the small squarebill up to the biggest deep runner, never had a single one that didn't run true. I have no idea why you wouldn't be able to tune one? I guess I've never noticed the line tie being difficult to reach. 

 

I also have their frogs and have caught quite a few fish with them, never had one with any bait peeling off and the hooks are very sharp and strong. Also a big fan of their EWG hooks and when i buy tungsten, it's their sinkers. I've also had good luck with their pistol minnow, TWS, and slush daddy topwaters.

 

Never fished their spinnerbaits but I've had the same problem with Terminator and Booyah spinnerbaits. It's very easy for the blades to fly off if the wire loop doesn't get closed all the way.

 

I have 7 or 8 of their rods and 1 of their baitcasting reels and have no complaints about any of them. 

 

One thing I've found with Academy's house brand, if you have a problem with one, they have no problems exchanging it and making it right. 

 

20 1/4" Table Rock largemouth on a H20 TWS 

 

5lb La Cygne largemouth on a H20 squarebill

[Vancestilley]

i love their frogs i think they work well caught my pb on one i picked up for 1.99 however their spinner baits and crankbaits i have no trust in the cranks do have decent hooks but i have no confidence in them like i do my rapala dt series. or my KVD 1.5 and 2.5 

[Catch and Grease]

Honestly the KVD 1.5 and H2O CRS are Almost identical except the CRS is a lot cheaper.

The KVD kinda goes off on a tangent sometimes which I like, the CRS does too but not as often. When using square bills sometimes you need to be very accurate and the KVD going all over the place can mess that up.

[Vancestilley]

yeah i like the hunting action the 1.5s have. My whole thing is the confidence factor, sometimes ive started out with the h2o express and usually end up putting it back in the box for my kvd cranks its more me then the cranks i believe hah, ive never had a problem with them its just confidence my friend.

[kikstand454]

FTR - I routinely catch redfish in the 25" range on the h2o squarebills in the winter, cranking them down oysterbars. I can not imagine a more torturous test for a crankbait. An oysterbar is as bad or worse than any musclebar. The saltwater is a beast. And if you've never fought a redfish before....... imagine a 10lb smallmouth on steroids.

I trust them completely.