Lew's Hack Attack Signature Cranking Rod + Lew's Hack Attack HD LFS review

PTasker15 · October 2, 2023

(Day of writing this) Oct. 02 2023

Will update this as I use this specific combination more. Just bought the reel but arrived without a bearing retention clip for the spool tension bearing, so had fun taking one out of a black max and shoving it in there.

Sep. 09 2023

I purchased the Cranking rod this day. Got it on sale, and was looking for something to chuck Squarebills, Lipless, and the odd Chatter or Jerk on, so figured I wouldn't be taking too much of a risk for the price. I felt nice in the hand, but didn't test it until later

Sep. 16

Caught my first decent fish on it that day, running a silent square bill around rocks at the time I was using 10lb Stren Monofilament. I was also using a Lew's Tournament MP until my Hack Attack reel came in. Paused it after bumping some rock and felt the take. Good 16 1/2in, 3.13lbs. The rod loaded up excellently and she was stuck with all 6 points. Did not budge during her jumps. Caught a ~2lber right after, still handled well. Caught a smaller white bass in a 12ft flat on a blade bait. Didn't actually know I hooked him, had thought I got vegetation on my lure.

Sep. 22-23

Used the same setup for a tournament, but replaced mono with 12lb Seaguar BasiX. (Will not be using anything else than this from now on for cranking lol)

Fluoro works really well with this rod as it gives you amazing sensitivity for a cranking rod. It is nice to feel every little bump and movement of the bait to let me know about snags, fish, structure, and whether my lure is functioning properly or not. First day practice, this setup was responsible for putting some good fish in the boat. Biggest fish at 3.33 and 16 1/2, was caught rolling a 1/2oz lipless crankbait near the bottom in a 20 foot deep flat. Hooked into her about 50 feet from the boat and again, around 20 feet down. Was a fight getting her up, but again, the rod handled it very well. During this nearly minute and a half fight, the fish was not able to jump once. I was able to keep her perfectly pinned with this rod. Also caught a dink by the rocks. I will say, Sometimes when a smaller fish runs at you, Its hard to tell if you have them on. Have had trouble noticing smaller fish being on as mentioned in Sep. 16

Oct. 1

Tested the Hack Attack HD LFS for the first time since I bought it. Feels great, no fish on it yet.

PTasker15 · November 9, 2023

Oh yeah forgot I made this. I don't remember dates but I'll tell whoever is stalking me what I think.

Still have it. Still runs great. I've put it through the ropes on squarebills during an October Tournament and it did extremely well. I still would urge one to buy a slightly softer rod, but it is perfect for shallow cranking. I did pull off medium-depth cranking as well.

I feel after using it that the lure rating is off. It is rated for "1/4-3/8" but I would place it around 1/4-5/8oz. While this rod really shines with squarebills of the 3/8oz size (1.5), it can pull off lipless crankbaits (3/8-5/8oz) and larger squarebills like 2.5, 3., and I've even thrown 4.0 on here ( would suggest thinner hooks). As I said, it handles medium divers too, but the furthest I would push this rod is 10ft.

The rod is pretty sensitive (for a crankbait rod). You can very clearly tell when you're hitting things such as rip rap, feel the rattles in a lipless, or feel the swing of your crankbait.

The reel is, of course, still working well. I am a fanboy of the dual braking system. Working a smaller crankbait? 2-3 pins. Working a larger crankbait? One pin. I can get a 1.5 close to as far as a 2.5, or about 50-70 feet depending on wind, and how brave I'm feeling. I have rarely backlashed this but I did lose a lot of line when my co-angler decided the make and overhead cast at the same time as me. Did not end well. Took one look and said, "Can you give me some scissors?". 10 minutes later and 30 yards less of line, I was back at it.