Luke Barnes Posted September 27, 2019 Posted September 27, 2019 I've been eye balling some Ozark Trail lures at Walmart. Particularly the lipless and square bill crankbaits because I always loose them but love using them and $4 for an H2O Express let alone like a strike king for $6 adds up. So $2 a piece is not that big of a deal if I lose a few. Has anyone used Ozark Trail lures, if so how did they compare to higher dollar lures? Quote
Sam Janssen Posted September 27, 2019 Posted September 27, 2019 2 hours ago, Luke Barnes said: I've been eye balling some Ozark Trail lures at Walmart. Particularly the lipless and square bill crankbaits because I always loose them but love using them and $4 for an H2O Express let alone like a strike king for $6 adds up. So $2 a piece is not that big of a deal if I lose a few. Has anyone used Ozark Trail lures, if so how did they compare to higher dollar lures? If you use them you need to change the hooks and split rings, the stock ones are terrible. Quote
Luke Barnes Posted September 27, 2019 Author Posted September 27, 2019 10 minutes ago, Sam Janssen said: If you use them you need to change the hooks and split rings, the stock ones are terrible. The packages say they have eagle claw hooks, but I'm assuming the cheapo ones. I use the eagle claw Laser Sharp hooks and love those so will probably upgrade to them. But then that offsets the cost difference. Hmm... Quote
Brett's_daddy Posted September 27, 2019 Posted September 27, 2019 I wouldn't bother, I've heard terrible quality components so once you upgrade them to quality components you're at the price point of much better made lures to begin with! 2 Quote
Luke Barnes Posted September 27, 2019 Author Posted September 27, 2019 2 hours ago, Brett's_daddy said: I wouldn't bother, I've heard terrible quality components so once you upgrade them to quality components you're at the price point of much better made lures to begin with! So if I buy them, fish them stock and get what use I can out of them, if they suck I learned my lesson and I'll get better crankbaits. I tend to buy H2O Express ones from academy because they seem like they are the best for the price. Most come with VMC hooks too. Quote
Brett's_daddy Posted September 27, 2019 Posted September 27, 2019 2 hours ago, Luke Barnes said: So if I buy them, fish them stock and get what use I can out of them, if they suck I learned my lesson and I'll get better crankbaits. I tend to buy H2O Express ones from academy because they seem like they are the best for the price. Most come with VMC hooks too. It's up to you buddy, it's your time and your money ;). If I were you I'd stick with the H2O baits, they are the best "house brand" baits out there and come with quality VMC hooks to begin with plus they are cheap...can't get much better bang for the buck with H2O baits. Whatever you do, good luck and tight lines!!! 1 Quote
Dirtyeggroll Posted September 28, 2019 Posted September 28, 2019 12 hours ago, Luke Barnes said: So if I buy them, fish them stock and get what use I can out of them, if they suck I learned my lesson and I'll get better crankbaits. I tend to buy H2O Express ones from academy because they seem like they are the best for the price. Most come with VMC hooks too. Just try them. I spent the first 15 years of my fishing life using exclusively $1 spinnerbaits and Omniflex. If you lose them at a rate faster than they are destroyed, you are ahead. 1 Quote
moguy1973 Posted September 28, 2019 Posted September 28, 2019 Fish don't care if they are $1 or $15 if they bite them. Quote
Brett's_daddy Posted September 28, 2019 Posted September 28, 2019 11 minutes ago, moguy1973 said: Fish don't care if they are $1 or $15 if they bite them. True but if the bait has inferior components and a split ring breaks or a hook bends out or the bait breaks (i.e.-cracks a bill, takes on water etc.) you won't be catching the fish either! Quote
moguy1973 Posted September 28, 2019 Posted September 28, 2019 3 minutes ago, Brett's_daddy said: True but if the bait has inferior components and a split ring breaks or a hook bends out or the bait breaks (i.e.-cracks a bill, takes on water etc.) you won't be catching the fish either! I've had one split ring break on me in all the 40+ years of fishing I've done and it was on a $15 whopper plopper. I've had hooks straighten out on $10 lures with Gamy hooks on 2lb fish. So is it worth spending a lot on a lure to have the same thing happen to one that may or may not have quality components? It's worth a shot to give it a try. Like he said, the Academy H2O stuff that is $4 performs just as well if not better sometimes than similar lures 3-4 times the price. Quote
Brett's_daddy Posted September 28, 2019 Posted September 28, 2019 34 minutes ago, moguy1973 said: Like he said, the Academy H2O stuff that is $4 performs just as well if not better sometimes than similar lures 3-4 times the price. I 100% agree with this. IMO that would be money better spent than messing around with Ozark Trail lures but that's just me. Quote
Luke Barnes Posted September 28, 2019 Author Posted September 28, 2019 I like H2O Express stuff but I broke half the bill off my squarebill and didnt even fish it that hard. I like their colors too. But these 2 lures in particular I go through fast. For some reason a lipless lasts me usually 1-2 trips before I lose them. Squarebill I've actually yet to catch a fish on so not sure I want to crack another bill on a higher dollar lure. Hmm. Quote
schplurg Posted September 29, 2019 Posted September 29, 2019 I just posted in another Ozark Trails thread so I'll be brief. The cranks are about as good as Bass Pro branded cranks, at least the hardware. I haven't changed out the hooks but if I did it wouldn't be that expensive to do so and it definitely would not raise the price of the bait very much at all. A $2 bait will not cost you 7 dollars to change hooks and rings. If you're looking at Walmart baits you probably don't have a lot to spend on fishing, or just don't want to. I've caught a 5 pounder on a OT crank. I made a barbless tackle box full of Walmart baits with pinched barbs. Cheap way to do it. Try them you have little to lose. Quote
Luke Barnes Posted September 29, 2019 Author Posted September 29, 2019 40 minutes ago, schplurg said: I just posted in another Ozark Trails thread so I'll be brief. The cranks are about as good as Bass Pro branded cranks, at least the hardware. I haven't changed out the hooks but if I did it wouldn't be that expensive to do so and it definitely would not raise the price of the bait very much at all. A $2 bait will not cost you 7 dollars to change hooks and rings. If you're looking at Walmart baits you probably don't have a lot to spend on fishing, or just don't want to. I've caught a 5 pounder on a OT crank. I made a barbless tackle box full of Walmart baits with pinched barbs. Cheap way to do it. Try them you have little to lose. I pulled the trigger tonight and got a lipless and a squarebill. Headed to the lake tomorrow with them. The paint looks as good as any, body shape looks good, anything else can be replaced. If I lose them I'm not upset. I have the money, I just cant stomach paying $6 for a lipless i KNOW I'm going to lose. Quote
schplurg Posted October 1, 2019 Posted October 1, 2019 On 9/28/2019 at 10:07 PM, Luke Barnes said: I pulled the trigger tonight and got a lipless and a squarebill. Headed to the lake tomorrow with them. The paint looks as good as any, body shape looks good, anything else can be replaced. If I lose them I'm not upset. I have the money, I just cant stomach paying $6 for a lipless i KNOW I'm going to lose. Yep, I lose lipless every time I throw them, mainly because I fish from the bank a lot. It is nice not worrying so much about cost. I made my first homemade crankbait last weekend. Gonna try it today and see if it swims upsidedown or in circles (good chance it will). If I catch enough fish, or big enough ones, to ruin the hooks then I'll move on up to better things, but for me having some bargain baits in the box is a good thing. BTW all the OT cranks that I've tried have rattles in them, and not just the lipless. Quote
BassinCNY Posted October 1, 2019 Posted October 1, 2019 Give them a try and report back. I fish with nothing but Gamakatsu hooks except for round bend worm hooks. For those I use the Granite Trail brand from Walmart because they are the best I've found at any price. Quote
BigAngus752 Posted October 2, 2019 Posted October 2, 2019 Last year this was, totally by accident, my #1 bass catcher by a pretty decent margin. As you can see she has been mauled repeatedly and lost an eye. This is a Cotton Cordell that I bought at Walmart for just over $2. As far as the posts that knock the cheap lures I will tell you that I don't recall losing a single on this cheap lure with cheap hooks. I may have had one or two shake off but I really don't remember any coming off and this thing (and some identical lures that I lost to snags) caught several dozen fish. I never intended it to be my top lure but I bought five or six of them because they were cheap and, because they are cheap, I will throw them into anything without a second thought. And that mentality is what caught all the fish. Try the cheap ones. I will be buying these $2 Cotton Cordells until the day I am too old to cast a line. 1 Quote
Luke Barnes Posted October 2, 2019 Author Posted October 2, 2019 I bought a cotton cordell and an OT lipless and fished with the cordell once so far and caught a good fish. It is the chrome and blue and I wanted flash. I got the OT trail lipless and square-ish bill in their "perch" color which to me imitates a bluegill decently. Will try those out this next weekend. Quote
j bab Posted October 2, 2019 Posted October 2, 2019 @BigAngus752 I love those Cotton Cordell Super Spots. The 1/4oz on an ultralight spinning setup caught me hundreds of pond bass in college 1 Quote
DSTN Posted October 2, 2019 Posted October 2, 2019 I caught my PB largemouth on a red craw pattern Super Spot. It was less than $3. I've used and abused more than a few Spots and they do just fine. Stock hooks have done ok for me but I replace them after they get some use. I'd personally stick with the Super Spots over the Ozark Trail lipless but for $2 not a major loss either way. 1 Quote
r83srock Posted October 3, 2019 Posted October 3, 2019 I will also add, that the super spot is pretty darn good. I still prefer an American made trap, but the spot is solid. As evil as people make Walmart out to me, you can set yourself up well with their fishing section. I think their chatterbaits are the cheapest I’ve seen as well. I’ll shop there from time to time, but I’ve been giving my nice local shop the nod lately. They give us club guys a nice 25 percent off anything fishing so... ? Quote
schplurg Posted October 4, 2019 Posted October 4, 2019 On 10/1/2019 at 2:34 PM, schplurg said: Yep, I lose lipless every time I throw them, mainly because I fish from the bank a lot. It is nice not worrying so much about cost. I made my first homemade crankbait last weekend. Gonna try it today and see if it swims upsidedown or in circles (good chance it will). If I catch enough fish, or big enough ones, to ruin the hooks then I'll move on up to better things, but for me having some bargain baits in the box is a good thing. BTW all the OT cranks that I've tried have rattles in them, and not just the lipless. It did At least I know why. 1 Quote
Luke Barnes Posted October 5, 2019 Author Posted October 5, 2019 Haha. Circle fish!! Yeah I've got 2 super spots now and caught a good bass on the chrome blue back one so far. I was given a red craw one ive yet to try. Quote
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