Store brand lures that work better

[NavyVet1204]

Last year I did pretty well on BPS brand of ribbon tail worms. The equivalent in color of zoom or Culprit ribbon tails didn’t hit on anything. This is across multiple colors such as June bug, Black, Watermelon Red. Maybe there was a slight variation of length or coloring that was the key, but I’ll take that. 
 

Is there a store brand of lure that works better for you than the more mainstream brands?

[gim]

I have always liked the Storm Subwart. Unfortunately it was discontinued when Rapala bought Storm years ago. So I went looking for a similar replacement. The best one I have found is the Bass Pro Shops XPS Super Shallow Crank. It’s $3.99 and made in a variety of colors. It’s the closest I have found to the subwart and at only 4 bucks, it’s a steal.

[NavyVet1204]

It would seem that BPS is hitting the mark huh? I also found that their version of the senko does well especially in Crawberry color.

[Aaron_H]

I don't know about "better," but there are two I would throw out there:

 

1. The BPS Stik-O (I cannot tell the difference in action/fall rate between it and the senko when looking at underwater footage).

 

2. The H2O Xpress Ultimate Jerk Shad, which has caught my three largest bass of 2022 so far including my PB.

[NavyVet1204]

6 minutes ago, Aaron_H said:

I don't know about "better," but there are two I would throw out there:

 

1. The BPS Stik-O (I cannot tell the difference in action/fall rate between it and the senko when looking at underwater footage).

 

2. The H2O Xpress Ultimate Jerk Shad, which has caught my three largest bass of 2022 so far including my PB.

Stik-O! That’s what I meant thank you for that. I much definitely prefer them to the double in price Yamamotos.

[Basser2021]

Anything H2O express

[king fisher]

The 1.5 size H2O square bill is better than any other square bill I have in that size. I  prefer my 6th sense and old Bagleys in the larger sizes but would pay premium balsa price for the small H20 if I had to.  Fortunately they are always less than $5 so even the price is right.

[Bluebasser86]

H2O Jerk shad and 1.5 squarebills are both well worth the money. 

[FishTank]

The only store brand item from BPS I like are their worm hooks and maybe their trebles.  They have been sharp and held up well for me but lures have been a goose egg.  Soft plastic, I have caught a few but the originals have always produced better.  In the end, BPS's knockoffs are just that....knockoffs. 

[Mike L]

I don’t know much about store brand knock off lures, but the BPS Pro Qualifier casting reels are one of the toughest reels made. 
With regular maintenance my 12yr old one still works as good as a few of my more expensive reels. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

[Bankc]

I trust the BPS and H2O brand lures.  I can't say if they work better or worse than what they're mimicking.  If I buy one of these brands, I'm trying to save money, so it makes no sense to spend more money on an identical lure from a different brand to waste my time in a real-world comparison experiment.  However, every BPS and H2O lure I've owned (that I can remember) has served me as well as any of the other major brands.  

[volzfan59]

When I worked for BPS, all soft plastics were made by a company called Southern Plastics, or something like that. The late Tom Mann owned the company for a long time. Other than the hooks, the XPS line of hard plastics were great lures. The XTS line of hard plastics, not so much. 

11 hours ago, Basser2021 said:

Anything H2O express

I agree with @Basser2021 100%. I've never had an H20 Express lure that didn't run true out of the box. Oval split rings, great hooks, fish catching machines!

[Sphynx]

I like the $1 Walmart spinnerbaits, they catch fish and they are fantastic for exploring new fishing holes, sure you might get a couple of them hung up doing it that way, but it's $1, and by the time you figure in the bullet weight, hook, and whatever soft plastic you put on it's basically as cheap and much less bother.

[Bankbeater]

I started fishing with the BPS Egg about 3 years ago.  I don't know if it's the paint, the buoyancy or the way it swims, but the bass around here tear it up.

[Bird]

Have to assume that BPS reels, rods and baits are all made by formidable manufacturers, simply rebranded.

[GRiver]

7 hours ago, Sphynx said:

I like the $1 Walmart spinnerbaits, they catch fish and they are fantastic for exploring new fishing holes, sure you might get a couple of them hung up doing it that way, but it's $1,

I use their spinner and buzz baits too and, I don’t feel like I’ve got to go swimming to retrieve them if they get hung up.

 

13 hours ago, Mike L said:

I don’t know much about store brand knock off lures, but the BPS Pro Qualifier casting reels are one of the toughest reels made. 
With regular maintenance my 12yr old one still works as good as a few of my more expensive reels. 
 

 

 

 

I have a BPS carbonlite combo, it’s the rig I use the most and I also have an 10+ year old BPS extreme baitcaster reel that is still working great. 

1 hour ago, Bird said:

Have to assume that BPS reels, rods and baits are all made by formidable manufacturers, simply rebranded.

 

23 hours ago, NavyVet1204 said:

Last year I did pretty well on BPS brand of ribbon tail worms.

I did too, I like the garlic scent. I check their line up of plastics to try and find a comparable to name brand, just trying to save buck or two. I have a few BPS hard baits too.

I’ve been real happy using Bass Pro items and even get most of my other tackle there too.

 

[Jaderose]

I like a lot of the BPS soft plastics.  Stik-O's are the bomb!  I also like their square bills.  

[roadwarrior]

The only store brand I fish is the BPS Tender Tube.

[Luke Barnes]

I likee H2O Express when I was more into crank baits and such and they always looked and worked great. I dont know if its an Academy store brand but they carry Wahoo spinner and buzzbaits for about $2 and ive had great luck with them as well. 

 

I like the 8up scent BPS uses on their soft plastics but only ever bought a pack of their roboworm knock offs and they look great. 

 

One thing I do buy specifically for the price is BPS Tungsten weights and weighted wacky jigs. For tungsten they are priced fairly.

[Happybeerbuzz]

The big thing that sucks about H20 Express is that they stopped shipping to California.  I like their hard lures.  They are good quality with good colors. 

 

[schplurg]

Blame California and prop 65 for the shipping to Cali issue.

 

Complying can be expensive if you need to re-label all of your merchandise, which is probably the issue. I've had to do it at the place I work and it sucks. Prop 65 is a terribly written piece of legislation, everybody knows it, but nobody wants to bother to fix it apparently.

[Big Swimbait]

The $1.00 buzz baits at Walmart. Sharpen the hook, bend the blade down a little and throw it anywhere since they are a buck!