Crankbaits With Big Bills
By now, all dedicated crankbait anglers have become used to a semi-standard bill-to-body ratio like those found in the Fat Free Shad, Strike King XD series, or the DT20. Once in a while, though, a manufacturer comes out with one where the bill looks outsized. Done properly, it allows for a small profile lure that gets down in a hurry, but it likely requires more careful balancing that the typical ratios.
Just before ICAST, but after our annual mid-year trip to El Salto, Nishine Lure Works introduced one that fits this description – the Chippawa XDD Crankbait. It has a 2.4” body, weighs ¾ of an ounce, and reportedly gets down into the mid-teens.
I’ve been impressed with the craftsmanship of the other Nishine products I’ve tried, and will likely get at least one of these before we return to Mexico.
Hiroshi Nishine lives in Canada, so if you’d like something similar from an established company based in Japan, check out the Imakatsu IK-800 R2. It’s approximately the same size and weight, and they claim it gets down to 18+ feet.
Neither of these lures is inexpensive, so if you take them someplace where you’ll be cranking in and around cover, be sure to tote along a lure retriever, too.
