Lures

Founded by Robert Castenada, Livingston Lures has made a mission out of combining classic, realistic lure design with cutting edge technology to create unique, diverse, and effective fishing lures.

Their main claim to fame is their proprietary EBS (Electronic Bait Sound) technology. A far cry from the rattling BBs or bearings used in old-fashioned fishing lures to create clattering noise, EBS technology is designed to mimic the sounds of baitfish in distress, using modern technology, piezo transducers, and a smart chip that emits the sounds in 4-seconds bursts upon contact with the water.

These high-tech, durable lures come in all different shapes, sizes, and styles, and you can choose between two basic model types – the classic EBS technology that activates one tone upon submersion, and a variable-selection Multitouch EBS offering that features four different sound modes, which can be activated by pressing various locations around the lure body.

With this high-tech technology integrated into tons of lures over dozens of different applications and presentations, Livingston Lures has quickly made a name for itself as one of the go-to lure brands if you're looking for a high-tech fishing solution that maintains a vintage, classic design.

If you're interested in upgrading from standard rattlers to a more high-tech solution, Livingston Lures is definitely the brand for you, so in this article, we're going to go over some of Livingston's most popular products, and give you some recommendations on the best lures to start out with.

Top rated Products

Fresh Water Series Pro Ripper Gold Shad

The Fresh Water Series Pro Ripper Gold Shad is a lipless crankbait designed with Livingston's proprietary EBS technology which mimics the call of an endangered shad and combines it with a brilliantly realistic design that presents a realistic profile and color. Featuring two Mustad hooks, this lure emits an electronic croaking sound that's sure to drive your quarry mad with excitement, projecting large distances through underwater sound waves.

It also utilizes a slow sinking action which gives it an attractive and realistic side-wobble on its descent and allows you to drop it slowly and accurately to depths of your choice, depending on your rig.

When pulled at a low speed, it maintains a lazy side-to-side wobble, while as it’s pulled faster, it begins to move more rapidly from side to side, accurately mimicking the motions of a fleeing baitfish. This, combined with its distinctive calls, attracts fish from all over, and combined with the huge variety of depths it can be fished at in the water column, makes it a great go-to choice when you’re getting the feel for a day of fishing.

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Fresh Water Series Pro Sizzle Xxx Shad

This topwater jerkbait is specifically crafted to create a smooth, realistic profile and silhouette as it rests on top of the water, and its EBS technology emits low-pitched rattles and croaks that mimic the sound of an injured or dying baitfish. In addition to its silhouette and sounds, it features a small LED light that occasionally flashes to cause a little bit more visual interest, which is especially useful during muddier water conditions and overcast days.

It’s designed with a mid and rear hook, allowing a variety of strike angles to secure your prey, and given its sound and light design, it functions perfectly while being almost completely still.

However, best results are found by using this as it’s meant to be used; a top-quality jerkbait. Even slight twitches by the angler provoke quick reactions, and if you’re tired of just jerking this bait around, it’s very easy to “walk”. We recommend combining walking the topwater lure with momentary pauses and jerks – doing so will help you imitate a wounded fish, and combined with the EBS technology and LED flash, is sure to bring ‘em in.

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Team Livingston Series Howeller DMC SQ    Chartreuse Shad

This crankbait has been designed with a medium lip designed to help it reach those middle water-column areas that are often so hard to reach with other lures, and it walks a perfect balance between shallower lipless crankbait and heavier, bottom-water crankbaits. 

Along with its large lip, it incorporates the natural profile of a baitfish and is available in a large variety of colors, though Chartreuse is generally a favorite. It also has EBS technology which emits loud, periodic calls and creaks, as well as an internal rattle.

The compact silhouette is designed for maximum wobble and motion, with a nice side-to-side action at low speed and falling that becomes more intense and pronounced with increased speed. This is a great lure to go for if you enjoy repeated casts and quick pulls, as its pronounced calls and motion will lure plenty of fish to mid-depth locations.

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It’s also useful to fish in smaller areas where some crankbaits struggle with hang-ups – the compact design allows it to escape weedy or rocky situations where some other medium-depth crankbaits may get stuck, and the combination EBS and rattle technology is loud enough to bring out plenty of fish, even from secluded places.

Livingston Lures Team Series Walking Boss ll - Chartreuse Blue Shiner

If you love topwater walking – seeing fish circle, circle, circle, and then strike your bait hard at the very top of the water’s surface, you’re going to love this lure by Livingston. The Walking Boss II is specifically manufactured to provide an incredible topwater walking experience, with a long, sleek profile accented by a reverse-angled front lip that helps keep it on the top of the water, and helps give it a seductive side-to-side action that, combined with EBS technology, brings in the fish from far and wide. 

Unlike some of our other choices, this lure integrates the EBS Multitouch technology, meaning that you can vary its calls depending on the situation by switching to one of four built-in tones and calls, making it a very versatile choice.

The aforementioned double-cupped lip combines with the “broken-back” silhouette design to cause tons of splashing when walked along the surface, and makes it easy to dip, dart, and dodge around with this lure while you’re walking it along the surface.

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. It’s hard to overstate how much of a pleasure this lure is to use while topwater walking – it’s quick to respond, easy to control, and it presents so accurately that it might even fool an experienced angler if they were to just glance at the water. If you’re a walker/topwater jerkbait fanatic, you’re not going to want to miss out on this lure. Its high-tech design plus classic function and presentation make it an absolute delight to use.

Livingston Lures Tournament Series  JerkMaster 121 - Chrome XXX Shad

If you’re more into mid-water jerkbaits, the Livingston Jerkmaster 121 is sure to do the job. Built with an internal weight chamber that suspends it perfectly in the medium-shallow depths of the water column, it integrates EBS technology into a slim silhouette that’s carefully designed both for realism and for attractiveness, mimicking the long profiles of baitfish favorites like shads and minnows.

This heavy weight also makes it easy to cast long distances without extra rigging, and it’s balanced so that even slight rod movements will cause big rolling actions which are very attractive to prey fish. Along with its EBS technology, it incorporates manual rattlers, so there is a huge variety of sound with which to attract faraway fish.

This lure is especially useful in muddier or darker waters – the loud sounds and bright patterns combine to make it very visible and obvious even in tougher conditions, and it works just as well in good weather, making it a great all-conditions suspender lure for your tacklebox.

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B Venom 6 Tiger

It's not cheap, but the B Venom 6 Tiger has the feature-set to back up its high price. It features a two-section design that mimics natural swimming motion perfectly, multitouch EBS technology that features multiple sounding options, a variable weight-chamber that allows it to be used as a topwater, sub-surface, or suspending lure, and allows you to vary the sinking action from slow to fast, according to your needs.

Its massive customization options mean it can be useful in almost any situation, and combined with its incredibly reactive presentation, it won't take long for you to get used to the swimming action of this swimbait. With smooth reeling, it provides an underwater glide that's attractive and realistic, and with just a twitch of your rod, you can pull off 180-degree turns and jerks that are sure to attract the attention of larger fish.

While not everyone is into swimbaits, if you’re a swimbait fan or just getting started using swimbaits. 

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This is absolutely one of the best, most versatile swimbait lures out there. It’s not cheap, but it’s worth every penny.

Conclusion

Livingston Lures is constantly innovating – developing new smart chips that react better to immersion in water, crafting better bodies to hold their advanced technology, and always relying on the experience of veteran anglers and fishermen to develop a better product.

Their unique fusion of style, technology, and quality certainly make them an industry leader, and regardless of whether or not you purchase one of these lures, you should be keeping an eye on them. We wouldn’t be surprised if it was Livingston who discovers the next big innovation in lure technology.

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Heddon Lures was first established by James Heddon in 1898, in Dowagiac, Michigan. They can safely claim to be one of the very oldest lure companies in the world. Their reputation began to grow from the very start of beginning of the company when Mr. Heddon was manufacturing wooden frog “plugs” carved from broom handles.

What originally started as a boutique brand based out of a home kitchen expanded to Canada in 1910, and when plastic lure technology first surfaced in 1932, they became an industry leader, introducing their “spook” plastic fishing lures, which were named after their unique, transparent appearance.

These early prototype lures often fell apart due to novel plastic mixtures, but still, fetch a high price on the market as collector’s items today. Once their technique was refined, Heddon hard baits and plastic lures became known all throughout North America for their quality and innovativeness, and by 1950, Heddon Lures was creating more than 12,000 lures every day, and as they continued to grow, they expanded into rods, reels, and other fishing gear.

Vintage lures from Heddon’s past still fetch high prices on the used collectors market, and after its sale to EBSCO brands in 1955, some of these were discontinued, but many lures proved to be in such demand that EBSCO began remanufacturing them with modern materials, to provide a contemporary twist on Heddon’s past.

But this modern incarnation of Heddon lures isn’t stuck in the past – far from it. They’re still known around the world as one of the great innovators in the hard bait plastic market, and their sterling reputation hasn’t suffered. Their modern, cutting-edge designs bring great results at a low cost that makes them versatile and useful for just about any angler, and their product offerings are diverse and varied, with a lure for just about any kind of fish under the sun.

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Heddon Triple Threat

One of Heddon’s more unique products is their “torpedo” baits. These baits combine a realistic, bulky baitfish profile with rear flashing spinners that kick up plenty of water, make a ton of noise, and provide a lot of vibration and flash to create a unique and effective topwater bait. This three-pack comes with two different sizes and three different colors, and though these models are small, they can bring in just about any freshwater fish imaginable.

They’re best used in waters that are quite calm – when the surface is glassy and beautiful, that’s when the vibrating action and flashy blades of these lures do their best work, attracting schooling gamefish from far and wide, and creating massive, incredible surface strikes that you’ve got to see to believe.

It’s best fished with a jerky, cast-and-retrieve motion, with a varying pattern of casts and retrieves. Steady on one cast, jerky and slow on the next, fast and jerky - keep varying your casts, and you’re sure to grab the attention of a passing fish. 

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It’s great for beginners because just about any casting technique works to catch the attention of passing fish, and you’ll make a lifetime angler out of a novice once they see the massive strikes that this topwater lure attracts. For all these reasons, we highly recommend this lure to topwater fishers who are looking for something slightly different than standard walkers, suspenders, and jerkbaits. It’s a blast to use, and the results speak for themselves.

Heddon Super Spook Jr. Lure

The Heddon Super Spook Jr. is inspired by that classic, transparent topwater lure that first made Heddon Lures so popular – The Spook. This update is thoroughly modern, though, and this is a smaller incarnation of the larger super spook while maintaining the realistic “walking” action and explosive results that its big brother is known for.

It’s one of Heddon’s most popular lures, and is available in over two dozen colorways, ranging from bright neon transparent models to more naturally patterned, realistic lures, ensuring that no matter the conditions of the water or weather, you’ll have the lure you need. When fish are really biting at the surface, this is the lure to reach for.

It’s fished in the classic, “walk-the-dog” motion, splashing and causing an unmistakable ruckus on the surface, and a bit of erratic action causes a natural “wounded baitfish” presentation. 

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That’s sure to attract your prey from the lower areas of the water column, especially when combined with the realistic, highly visible silhouette of this lure. The unmatchable design, action, and linefeel of this lure will help you figure out for yourself why the Spook has been a bestseller since it was first created in the 1930s, and topwater enthusiasts won’t want to miss it.

Heddon Rattling Sonar Flash Lure's

If topwater fishing isn’t your game, don’t worry. This adjustable depth swimbait features a totally customizable design, allowing you to float it wherever you want, and it also features a crankbait-style front compartment with rattling BBs, which along with its flashy, bladed design makes it irresistible to fish. It’s really versatile, too – suitable for casting, trolling, or jigging (even for ice fishing!), depending on how you set it up, and it excels in all of these applications

.Whether you’re casting or trolling, the blade design combines a side-to-side roll with a vertical shake that creates tons of vibration and flash on its own and is a lethal combination when combined with the internal rattle chamber, able to attract fish from all depths.

Its versatility, along with its unique design and flashy, loud rattle make it a must-have if you’re interested in a longer casting, deeper lure that maintains the unique design sensibilities of Heddon with cutting-edge materials and technology.

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Heddon Moss Boss Lure's

This style of lure is probably the closest to the original plugs that James Heddon carved up in his kitchen in 1898. This lure is designed specifically with a wood, conical design that can help it punch through even the heaviest weeds and adverse conditions while remaining totally snagless. A living rubber skirt covers a sharp 4/0 hooks, and helps protect the hook from damage, and ensures easy motion even through the densest cover.

It also sinks slowly, but maintains its depth once it has sunk, so you can either use it topwater or let it sink down to the bottom of the water.

When fished topwater with a twitchy motion, this lure works with a sort of “skipping” action that imitates a frog or mouse skipping along the surface of the water, and when fished on the bottom of the water, you can work it towards yourself in a slow, jerky action that lets it kick up a little water and move the weeds, and attract plenty of attention from observant fish.

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Whichever way you decide to fish it, this lure is second-to-none if you’re fishing in an area choked up by lilypads, moss, weeds, or other vegetation, and also bounces off rocks and other obstacles easily, allowing you to use it in places where other lures fall abysmally flat.

Heddon Swim n Image Lure

This lure is a great sub-surface, suspending topwater crankbait that’s designed for a true-running, realistic action when reeled in with a steady cast-and-retrieve motion. The small plastic lip helps it maintain a subsurface, shallow water position, and the wobbling, shaky action that it creates when reeled in at speed does the rest.

It presents with a really realistic look in the water, wiggling back and forth and displacing tons of water, especially when pulled in quickly enough to leave a trail, so it’s a great lure to pick if you love reeling ‘em in hard. It’s not limited to that, though.

With a slower, jerkier motion, you can bring this lure to the top of the water from its 2-3’ running depth, drop it down with a fluttering motion, and pull it up again, mimicking an injured baitfish that’s having trouble maintaining a consistent depth, and producinga lot of strikes.

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Heddon Chug'N Spook Lures

Finally, we’ve got a true titan of the Heddon Lure family – the Chug’N Spook. This lure is quite a bit large than the Spook Jr, coming in at 4.875 inches, making it suitable for fish in much larger lakes and rivers. It’s been designed as a specialized version of the Spook, incorporating a loud knocking, a cupped lip, and uniquely weighted design that causes a ruckus on the surface of the water that’s second-to-none.

It’s easy to use, too – the uniquely weighted body helps you keep it just above and touching the surface, helping you maximize the amount of kick and commotion that you can cause.

This is a great lure to use if you’re looking to do some topwater fishing even in harsher water conditions – unlike some smaller, less fully-featured topwater lures, it can cause enough noise, vibration, and water-splash action to overcome even moderately windy days, and murkier water conditions.

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It's high quality, unique and modern design, and weather-independent versatility make it a great lure to turn to whenever things get rough, but you don’t want to do deeper fishing or are fishing in a shallower area which requires a topwater lure.

Conclusion

Heddon has been going strong for over a century, and given the quality and ease-of-use of their modern, yet classically designed hardbaits, we can’t see them going anywhere anytime soon.

Their list of lures grows by the year, and though they focus much of their lure development on topwater and shallow-water lures, they continue to expand and develop new, modern lures that maintain classic styling and influence from days decades past.

Their classic designs, decades of experience, and top-quality products earn them the distinction of one of America’s best homegrown hardbait manufacturers, and their products don’t disappoint. Poke around and find one that you might like, and you’ll be reeling them in by the truckload, just like James Heddon when he built his first frog-plugs out of broomstick handles, all the way back in the 1890s.

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When you’re looking for great fishing lures, you only have one thing on your mind, and that’s catching the most fish possible. Catching all those fish requires the right combination of the skill, and the right equipment. If you plan on catching a variety of fish, than Hoy lures may be a great place to start.

Choosing the right type of lure for you is a decision based on what you’ll be fishing for. If you choose the wrong lure for the type of fishing you are doing, you’re going to be at a severe disadvantage. Set yourself up with one of the excellent lure choices from Hoegy, and you’ll be ahead of the curve.

What Makes Hogy Lures Great

Experienced fisherman Capt. Mike Hogan started Hogy lures in 2004 when he left the corporate world behind in order to chase his dreams of being in the fishing gear business. Mike has fished all over America, and literally field designed and tested each and every lure that Hogy carries. Everything Hogydoes is with catching big fish in mind.

Focused on Trophy Class fishing, Mike began designing lures that would be able to compete against the livebait fisherman. This competition with other anglers pushed him to develop more and more situation-specific lures that worked better and better and a saw a continued need for large softbait lures that closely imitate their livebait counterparts.

Today, Hogy products, along with their sister company, Standard Issue Tackle, are used to fish in all 50 states, and in 32 different countries around the world. Their custom softbaits are available in a number of different series offerings, and when used in combination with the right rigging and other equipment, put you in a prime position to catch a ton of fish.

Hogy Product Quality

Hogy lures are made using only the best plastics and other components. This means your baits can be trusted as being both soft and having great action along as being tough enough to withstand extended fishing trips.

Choosing a Hogy Lure

Many people view fishing as an activity to escape the hassles and complications of life. Consequentially, they want to keep it simple and not spend hours and hours fretting over which lures to use, especially if you are a beginner. Most young fishermen and women like to start with a simple kind of bait and hope for the best. Asking yourself a few questions before buying will allow you to make the most informed choice, things like:

What kind of fishing will I be doing?

How easy is the lure to put on?

Will the lure aid me in catching more fish?

Fortunately, the Hogy lures are easy to put on your rig, so you’ll be fishing in no time. Hogy lures are also renowned for helping their users catch more fish, so the real question remains in what type of fishing you’ll be doing. Here are the selections of Hogy Lures for a variety of fishing types, each sure to up your game!

Hogy 10” Rigged Jiggn

This lure works well on Lakers and Halibut. It is another long hard hook.

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Hogy 7” HogyOriginal

This simple easy to use lure that mimics snook and lakers. It is easy to hook and a great lure for beginners.

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Hogy Swimbait Hook Weighted

Like the Hogy H10BONE4 10” this lure is light and makes for an easy and long cast in the Ocean or Gulf. It only weighs 1 ounce so you may lose your lure with a Baracuda, but it could be worth it to haul in a big 9” to 12” prize catch. It is also good for catching eel.

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Hogy 10” Hogy Original

This lure is light, and you can cast it long distances, as it only weights 3.2ounces. It is great for surf fishing for Barracuda, Tarpon, and Cobia. With its lightweight, it stays near the surface of the water but moves enough to attract the fish and reel them in with no trouble. You should reel the fish in fastso that you feel a burn for best results.

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Hogy 10”

This is a long pink lure that looks like a minnow or a baby Pinkfish. It weighs 3.2 ounces and like the other Hogy Lures is an easy and deep cast that has good movement under the water. This makes it seem real and live to the fish.

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Hogy Weighted Grip Hooks

These hooks are wide and give a lot of room for the fish to bite, with a small plastic lure on the end. The hook is sharp and makes it hard for the fish to escape or just nibble and swim on.

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Hogy 7” Hogy Sand Eels Light

This is one of the lightest of lures, weighing only 0.3 ounces. It is a good lure for beginners and works well in clear or murky waters.

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Hogy Weighted Grip Hooks

This is another light lure with a long sharp hook. You could have the lure and put live bait on it for extra effect.

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Hogy 7” Hogy Original

This lure looks like a black minnow and is attractive to all fish. As it bobs through the water, it is visible in well-lit water, marshes and even in muddy water. As with al of the Hogy lures it mimics live bait and looks alive as it’s movement is like sea bait.

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Hogy Hogy Flounder 5”

These lures look like an orange and yellow flounder with spots. They are good for catching striped bass as well as all fish eating fish.

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Hogy Swimbait Barbarian

This hook and lure has a long hook and a bottle cork like end which hooks the fish easily.

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Hogy 10” Rigged Jiggn

This is a 7-ounce lure which is long and yellow, and the hook sticks out from the bait.

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Hogy Trophy Tarpon Lures Flats Kit

If you want to get an entire packet of lures you can order Hogy Trophy Tarpon Lures Flats Kit – Premium Saltwater Soft Baits and Hooks – The contents contain pure plastic and the finest contents for durability and success with all breeds of fish. They are great imitations of worms, mullet, houndfish, and ballyhoo. They make the hooks from the finest and most durable metals. This may be the Hogy product that gives you the most bang for your buck.

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Hogy Pro Series 10/0 Barbarian Jighead 10 Pack

These lures are made from high carbon steel, with an extra-long shank. They have a needle-sharp hook point, and they come in a 10 pack. If you like to spend whole days on the water, this will keep you supplied

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Other Hogy Products

Hogy Hogy x Strong Jig Head

This is another large hook with an enticing bait.

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Hogy Tandem Quick Rig Mono, 14 inch 2 pack

This lure has two long 14 inch hooks that give the fish a choice of bites. It is one of the best because if the fish nibbles on one hook, it could bite the other.

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When you go out in the boat and reel in that barracuda, Flounder, Weakfish, or any fish, you enjoy the experience and often do not have time to analyze how well you are doing. Many people fish just to relax and enjoy the experience of being with friends and family. Sometimes your enjoyment of the cool breeze or the heat beating down on you that makes the experience worthwhile.

Other times you enjoy fishing because there are some rough seas. You cast your rod out only to have to reel it in again because the boat has to go headfirst into a wave that is a remnant of last night's storm at sea. Yet, you hope the fish stirred up and head right for your boat. A half hour from now you can cast your rod back in because the waves miraculously got smaller. Surf fishing has added challenges after a big storm, but boy it is worth it to haul in your prize catch.

Conclusion

Winter fishing in Florida or the keys has the following psychological benefits. You can sadistically think of people up in New England who are shoveling snow. Or cleaning their windshields of frost with their long john’s, scarves, and heavy coats while you enjoy the 75-degree air and water. You have a tank top on or just shorts and sunscreen. You will be happy if you catch anything because the experience is still enjoyable.

Hogy Lures are among the easiest lures to use to attract fish. They are easy to keep, to put on, to cast, and they attract a plethora of fish. You won’t find a tremendous amount of user reviews online, but that’s because Hogy users are busy catching fish! Their high salesvolume and sometimes limited availability is a testament to their popularity. Get yourself one of these lures, and spend more time catching fish and less time fishing!

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