Best overall hard bait company?

[bluenitrouscoupe]

Hey there fellow anglers its Mike here been a while since I've posted.    I know that when it comes to hard baits we all probably prefer one or a couple brands over others but my question is if you where to buy one brand of hard baits which brand comes with the best quality hooks and rings?  Heard the 6th sense and megabass come with overall good quality hooks just wanted some insight on this.  

[Bluebasser86]

If I had to pick 1 for hard baits, I'd have to go with Strike King. 6th Sense and Berkley would be a close 2nd and 3rd.

[Finessegenics]

Definitely Rapala. DT's, Shad Raps, X-Rap, Husky Jerks and the list goes on forever. It doesn't get more classic than that. I've never had the hooks or split rings crap out on me yet but lots of people complain about them. 

 

A second choice would be Berkley. I love their squarebills as well as the choppo and the fusion19 hooks are super sticky. 

[jbsoonerfan]

Probably SPRO for me, aside from not having a topwater popper I like there cranks and lipless a lot. If not SPRO it would be Megabass simply for the 110 and Pop Max.

[DitchPanda]

There's a lot of great ones out there but for me factoring in complete line up its a toss up between Strike king and Rapala...they just have most if not all the bases covered and at reasonable prices per quality imo 

[Jrob78]

I have no idea who makes the best but my favorite is Lucky Craft. They make hard baits in most all categories, come with decent hardware, good colors and they mostly all run well. I haven't used any of their hard swimbaits but their crankbaits, top waters, jerkbaits and lipless baits are great.

[scbassin]

I agree with Jrob78.

[greentrout]

rapala ... then heddon (top water) ...

 

good fishing ...

[camman]

Lucky Craft for me

[scaleface]

  Berkely for me .

[Fishes in trees]

To base your crank bait choices on the quality of the hooks & split rings seems a little weird, what with hooks & split rings being relatively easy to replace.  My hard bait choices are  all over the board.

Best jerk baits - probably Lucky Craft, but I carry Rogues, Rapala, Bombers, & Excalibur as well

 

Best Crank Bait - Timber Tigers get used the most by me, but I also carry Bandits & Wiggle Warts & Rapala & Bombers & Norman DD22's & some old Rebels

 

Best Top Waters - I like my Lucky Craft version of the Pop-R and I like Sammies over spooks.

Best other cranks - I'm going to throw Rapala Sub-walks more this year.   I like the Academy version of the big ounce and a half square bills.

[J Francho]

7 hours ago, Jrob78 said:

I have no idea who makes the best but my favorite is Lucky Craft. They make hard baits in most all categories, come with decent hardware, good colors and they mostly all run well. I haven't used any of their hard swimbaits but their crankbaits, top waters, jerkbaits and lipless baits are great.

I'm probably almost 80% Lucky Craft already.  This is what I'd recommend.  

 

4 minutes ago, Fishes in trees said:

To base you crank bait choices on the quality of the hooks & split rings seems a little weird, what with hooks & split rings being relatively easy to replace.

I think a bait should be perfect, straight out of the package.  No messing with hooks and split rings.  Ever change out hooks and split rings on any more than a half dozen baits?  It's not easy.  I don't think it's weird to want that.  Anything else is a compromise - good baits for the price, but...  I also want baits that run consistently, from bait to bait.  A northern eats my lucky jerkbait, and I want to be able to get another one just like it - just as "lucky."  Lucky Craft has done that for me.

[smalljaw67]

I have more Rapala baits than most others but it would be tough to have to have just one. If Xcalibur was still a brand they would right there, good components and I've had success with all their baits whether it was a lipless crank, square bill, jerkbait, or topwater.  

[Maico1]

The ones that get "used" the most are....Megabass, Jackall, Imakatsu and of course Lucky Craft. I like John want a bait out of the package and onto the water ready to go. Certainly have extra hooks and split rings but look to use them only when one gets destroyed by the usual suspect Mr. Tooth.

[Cgolf]

For me it is Rapala. I have had good luck with almost all of their baits I have tried and they cover a wide range of applications.

 

Not sure of a second though. Other brands I just have a few of certain classes of lures, but haven't tried the full line. One I have tried most of their line, Strike King, I have been hit or miss with some cranks. The ones that work are incredible, the others are zeros for me, so on average just ok.

 

6th sense so far has seemed to be good quality to me and thanks to a sale I have a good representation of their full lineup. So next year we will see if they become a goto brand for me.

 

[Todd2]

Rapala..no matter how you pronounce it...lol

[Smalls]

I hate being a fanboy of any particular brand. My tackle box has a little bit of something from a ton of different brands. But you're right, we all do usually tend have a preference. 

 

That said, I probably have more 6th Sense and Storm Arashi hardbaits than anything else. 

 

Both brands are inexpensive, especially when you take into account that you don't have to immediately replace hooks/rings on either. I've broken a few bills off the 6th Sense squarebills after some heavy use, but otherwise both brands are pretty durable.

 

Most importantly, I have caught a ton of fish on em. The Arashi cover pop has probably put more fish in my boat than any other piece of tackle I own. 

 

I'm of the opinion that I only need 4-5 different colors in my tackle box. But if you need more, 6th Sense probably has whatever color you wanted. 

[Tizi]

6th Sense, Strike King, Rapala are my favorites, Berkley makes some excellent hard baits too.

[JediAmoeba]

Lucky Craft, then probably 3 others in second place.  

 

Lucky Craft has great baits for just about every category.  

[LonnieP]

Spro for me. Good quality hooks,tuned out of the box. Not cheap but worth it to me. 6th Sense would be my 2nd choice.

[NYWayfarer]

Strike king/Berkley tied for first place for me.

[J Francho]

58 minutes ago, LonnieP said:

Spro for me.

Here's where I have to diverge from the "one brand is best" diatribe, I just made, and I can make a pretty good point about variety.  When it comes to lipless baits, I cannot find a better bait than the Aruku Shad for the way, and where I fish lipless baits.  It does what no other bait in the category can do, and it works right out of the package as well.  Another category is poppers.  A Megabass Popmax is about all I'll ever use in this category anymore.  It's my most productive bait, over everything else.  I'm sure I could sub in a G-Splash or similar LC bait for it, but I love my Popmax.

 

Hopefully, this demonstrates to the OP that it's DIFFICULT to ONLY pick one brand.  There's usually a few baits from other companies that are in the mix.  Can you stick to just Rapala or Boo-Yah, Berkley, Lucky Craft, OSI, MB, or Bandit?  Yep.  They all have baits in just about every category.

[Finessegenics]

1 hour ago, Smalls said:

 

That said, I probably have more 6th Sense and Storm Arashi hardbaits than anything else. 

Storm Arashi series are great too. It seems like they haven’t been making new baits since I always find them in the discount bin at my tackle shop. When I see a color I like, I go for it.

[MN Fisher]

35 minutes ago, Finessegenics said:

Storm Arashi series are great too. It seems like they haven’t been making new baits since I always find them in the discount bin at my tackle shop. When I see a color I like, I go for it.

Rapalas and Storms for me - same company actually...Rapala also owns Luhr-Jensen and Teminator, though I don't own any of those.

 

BTW: They also own Suffix and VMC

[J Francho]

Rapala is owned by Sofina.  They also own Dannon yogurt, along with many other things.