Top Micro Ultralite Fishing Lures

Several months ago, I came across an excellent article at In-Fisherman, speaking volumes about “Might Mini Cranks.” The author discussed a wide range of tips, tactics and lures to use for ultralite anglers wanting to throw tiny cranks and jerkbaits. Since then, I've built up an ever-expanding collection of ultralite fishing lures and I wanted to take this opportunity to share with everyone what I have found. 

(Please excuse any typos in this post; it’s a fairly long one!)


Jet Tackle Lures is one of the best sources I have found of ultra cheap fishing lures in the United States. They also happen to offer a fantastic line of micro lures, perfect for ultralite anglers on a budget. While I love my expensive Yo-Zuri micros, I also maintain a collection of cheap small lures that I’m not afraid to cast near heavier cover or other snag-prone areas. Here’s their page of micro lures (web link-view ALL micro lures from Jet Tackle here) and following are profiles of several of these lures.

S3-Jetx (bottom 3) vs S4-LKA039

Catches trout too!

Tiny

Jet Tackle’s S3-JETX0002 is pretty solid little lure. Actually, it’s one of my favorite micro lures they offer, coming in at a tiny 1.2 inches (3cm). I’ve nailed a load of different sized green sunfish and other panfish on this tiny micro lure. I’ve also caught several wild rainbow trout on it from different secret SoCal creeks, thus showing off its versatility. It’s probably closest in shape to a mini Rapala, although considerably lighter. It has a fairly slow sink rate and a nice wobble on retrieve. They offer the S3-JETX0002 in 8 different colors, each for the stellar price of just $1.27. Try and beat that when you are looking for decent micro lures! It’s definitely one of the best micro lures offered by Jet Tackle and one I would urge any ultralite angler to purchase. ★★★★★

The S4-LKA039 is another tiny (1.6 inch) lure from Jet Tackle, in a mini jerkbait shape. It’s also one of the most detailed micro lures they offer and comes in a wide array of enticing colors. I have several of them in my ultralite box. It has an excellent side to side wobble, but unfortunately, it doesn’t sink fast enough to be of as much use to me as the S3-JetX. I still like it and adding a snap swivel to the front does help, but it’s mostly shallow water bait. It’s available for $1.27 as well. ★★★★


The tiniest true crankbait offered by Jet Tackle is the S4-LKA046. It’s definitely a solid shallow water crankbait, with an excellent wobble, even on faster retrieves and required little to no tuning. However, I wish it could dive a little deeper, as it is probably limited to 6 inches or less of diving depth. It’s still not a bad lure for $1.27 but it won’t replace my trusty Strike King Bitsy Pond Minnow crankbait. ★★

One of the neatest tiny topwaters offered by Jet Tackle is the S5-FLA031. It’s a typical topwater popper and looks great in the water. The S5-FLA031 comes in at a true 2 inches and pops like a pro on retrieve. I’m not worried about casting it near thick cover for bass or sunfish on my urban creek fishing trips, because at $1.27 it doesn’t hurt to lose it (well, not too much at least). Definitely one I would recommend picking up for topwater ultralite fans, one of the better lures offered by Jet Tackle. Get it! ★★★★★

( more after the jump) 

The S6-FLA076is another tiny jerkbait, although not as small as many of the other lures profiled here (2’’). It looks really good, nice details and all, and is also super cheap ($1.27). It’s decent on retrieve but feels a little too lightweight to be of much use. I think a slightly heavier model would be better, as it would offer better balance and diving ability. I’ll keep it as backup but not as a primary lure at all. ★★

Jet Tackle Micro Crankbaits

I can’t rave enough about the  S6-JET10966 line of mini crankbaits from Jet Tackle. These 2.4 inch cranks are excellent, with great diving depth  action (throw a snap swivel on front for best action), tons of excellent patterns, and they catch fish! I hooked up with largemouth bass and sunfish on these ultralite fun lures, no questions about that! While I’d love them even more if they were .5’’ smaller, they are awesome ultralite lures and definitely some of the best bargains offered by Jet Tackle. ★★★★★

Sadly, the S7-FLA040line of 2.8’’ jerkbaits look amazing but do not perform well, in my opinion. They simply don’t have much action in the water, unless violently jerked (much harder than many Rapalas or XPS jerkbaits requires). A steady retrieve makes these look like a knife cutting through water, with little or no action. I was really disappointed by these as I had high hopes for them with their excellent appearance and price. ★

Lastly, the TinyBomber range of crankbaits are a little chubbier and longer than most covered here (2.4’’ long) but they look great in the water! They have an excellent wobble, dive well and come in 5 different colors. $1.39 is a terrific bargain for these too! I liked them so much I put in a second order for them, definitely worth a shot. I think they are a little too “fat” for most panfish, but will work great for city park pond and urban creek largemouth bass fishing. ★★★★


Overall, I’m really pleased with the line of small Jet Tackle Lures. While you can purchase a few of their lures from other websites or eBay for cheaper on occasion, only Jet Tackle ships from inside the United States. Their customer service and shipping times are excellent; shipping costs are very low as well.

Other Micro lures:

Conquer Outdoors

Imagine my surprise when I walked across a new stand of lures in the fishing section at WalMart, complete with micro crankbaits for just $1! Sold under the name Conquer Outdoors, these “Crappie Lures” were incredibly cheap and came in several different colors. They are just a little larger than a Bitsy Pond Minnow but have a similar action in the water. Not only do they work fairly well on both slow and fast retrieves, but they catch fish too! I was super excited to find these and have to admit that I may have cleaned out one WalMart’s stock of these lures, sorry! Unfortunately, when I returned, they stopped carrying the smaller ones and only carry bass-sized jerkbaits, cranks and spinnerbaits now. These are also very cheap ($2 or so) and I’ve picked up a few of them as well.  I’ve seen the little cardboard stand holding these lures at several WalMarts now but haven’t seen the crappie crankbaits previously sold at any of the stands. Keep your eyes open and maybe you’ll find them at your local branch.

wLure

Both wLure (C146) and Jet Tackle (S4-LKA046) carry a nice selection of chubby micro crankbaits. They don't have a very deep diving depth (6-10 ''?) but they have a solid wobble and definitely catch fish.I've caught a lot of green sunfish on these, as you can see in the photos.

Yo-Zuri

 Yo-Zuri Goby

Yo-Zuri Aile Kilifish

Between the Aile Goby and Aile Killifish, Yo-Zuri has some of the highest quality micro lures, period. The Killifsh is great for topwater and the Goby is more of a crankbait. They require light line and gentle touch to fish, but they absolutely destroy the sunfish! The Killifish is one of my favorite ultralite lures available on the market today.

Top and Bottom-Tsunami MicroCranks
Middle-YoZuri Snap Bean

Also worthy of mention is the Yo-Zuri Snap Beans. These are the ultimate in micro cranks. While a few decent alternatives exist, these little guys are fantastic on sunfish. I’ve had my ultralite fishing pole violently struck as I’m slowly retrieving a Snap Bean in an urban creek, thanks to aggressive green sunfish. I highly recommend picking up a few of these for sure!

Rebel

Rebel Jerkbait

Rebel has a nice selection of ultralite lures available. I have a few, including a small jerkbait (it performs excellently). Prices are decent but it can be hard to find some of these at local tackle stores (easiest is to look online for them). They also have a really nice tiny crawfish crankbait, a bee, frog, grasshopper and more. The one I really want to get but haven’t yet is the Rebel Tadfry-keep your eyes out on this tiny guy, looks like a killer lure for panfish.

Bass Pro Shops

BPS MicroMinnow

BPS MicroCrankbait

BPS carries a great line of micro lures. They have a nice micro crankbait, a Yo-Zuri style ultralite crank, and a unique “worm” colorful wiggler crankbait. All are very affordable and I’ve scored some decent fish on the micro crankbait.

Ladybug (generic) Lure

This little lure pops up on eBay from time to time and always interested me. I finally picked one up and was rather disappointed by it. It’s small, but is also quite wide-not the micro lure I was looking for. It also struggles to dive on retrieve, although it has a decent wobble. Stay clear of this one.

wLure HS6 Swimbait Review

After taking a look at wLure's excellent trout swimbait and chunky sunfish swimbait, let me turn your attention to another interesting Chinese swimbait they offer. The HS6 from wLure is an affordable sunfish imitation lure, not frequently seen in the United States.

(More after the jump)

Design

The HS6 is a 4 inch swimbait, shaped after a basic sunfish pattern. wLure offers 4 unique patterns for this lure, including a black crappie one (seen in my photos). They all look pretty great, especially for a bargain Chinese swimbait. The joints are rather unique for a swimbait. Instead of using the typical hinge metal joints found in many swimbaits, wLure has opted to go with a flexible band of tough material to link the swimbait. It's pretty unique but doesn't seem to detract from the motion of the lure.

Price
The HS6 is priced fairly competitively, at a little over $7 with free shipping from wLure. For this price range, a comparable model is the H2O Academy Sports line of swimbaits, with one seen in the following image. The H2O swimbaits sell for a little more and are considerably more difficult to obtain, unless you happen to live in the South/Midwest. Bass Pro Shops also sells a similarly priced swimbait model, but I'd argue that the wLure model is much more appealing to the eye. 

wLure's HS6 in action at Ford Park

Action
I found the HS6 to have the best action at a medium to fast retrieve. It's not a lure that has to exclusively be retrieved quickly to get any good action, but a very slow retrieve is not recommended! Also, it reacts favorably to short pauses with rapid intermitent jerks and twitches. I'd estimate that it sinks at about the same rate as a Baby BBZ swimbait, and it falls horizontally in the water column (as it should). It's really not a lure I would throw for timid or lethargic fish, especially during the colder months. However, I think the HS6 will certainly shine and catch loads of bass when they are feeding more heavily on sunfish (Fall), or protecting their beds from hungry bluegills (Spring). Working it medium-fast past ambush points should also yield good bass.

Durability
The paint job on the HS6 appears to hold up decently well, even with a few errant casts on to the concrete shoreline at a portion of Fairmount Park in Riverside, California. As far the inner band that links the swimbait, I have no complaints. Anglers will certainly be wary of a non-metal joint material, however, I applied a lot of pressure to the joints and couldn't get the link material to rip or stretch easily. Of course, a massive strike from a hard-fighting bass may not be easily replicated with out of water tests and this remains an area I haven't tested yet.

Summary
The HS6 swimbait from wLure is another interesting and unique lure from this fishing company. With multiple patterns and a good swimming action in the water, it looks like a solid contender for an affordable swimbait. While I have not gotten to throw it in the conditions that I would consider the best (yet), I'll be updating this with more info on how it catches fish as my trips progress throughout the year. So far, I am pleased with the HS6 sunfish swimbait and I would recommend it if you are looking for a bargain-priced sunfish imitation swimbait.

wLure's Bargain Chinese Bluegill Swimbait

For the second lure in my series on wLure's Chinese swimbaits, I have the HS145F2, a jointed, chunky swimbait somewhat shaped after a bluegill. It sells for $5.49 online, with three different color options, length of  5 3/4'', and a weight of 1 2/3oz. 

(Continued after the jump)

The HS145F2 swimbait is pretty chunky. It's certainly not a "knock-off" of any specific lure I've encountered, and it seems to be a hybrid swimbait/crankbait style lure.
The entire lure is hard plastic, complete with a nice set of fins sticking out both dorsally and laterally. However, the tail is a soft plastic/rubber piece, attached by two pins. If any part of this lure was to fail after repeated hits, this may be it. Still, it's fairly well attached and shouldn't present too much of an issue.

This swimbait will float, diving around 2-3 ft on retrieve. When using the HS145F2, I found it had excellent action, even at slower retrieval speeds. The added crankbait lip really helps increase the bait's enticing wobble action, for the better. Here is a few YouTube videos of the HS145F2 swimbait that I took while trying it out at Ford Park, in Redlands.You'll notice the excellent side to side action upon retrieve.

Details on this lure are fairly impressive. The paint job isn't amazing, but it certainly looks much nicer than many generic Chinese eBay lures. Of the three color options available for this lure, my favorite is the bluegill-style pattern. The other two, a goldfish (?) and a striped bass pattern really don't appeal to me. The finish on the lure seems quite durable and didn't chip, despite some rough handling on rocks on my part. Will it hold up to the smash of a toad largemouth or striper? I'm not sure, but the joints and attachments certainly feel tough.

Overall, I was pretty impressed with the HS145F2 bluegill swimbait. It's cheap, has great action in the water, and looks decent. I'll post updates with how it performs on the toads as the water starts to warm up. Tight lines!

wLure's Cheap Trout Swimbait: ODS HS5X374 Lure Review

ODS Swimbaits

The ODS HS5X374 from wLure is jointed, hardbody trout swimbait, selling for $8.99. It's a completely new bait to me, as I have never seen this model before. I ran into it on the wLure website and couldn't resist asking about it. I have purchased several Chinese knock-off (KO lure) or non-name brand lures in the past and had mixed experiences, so I was a little wary at the time. Thankfully, this swimbait turned out to be quite a keeper, with a great price, great motion in the water and a great design.

Size Comparison

wLure is a Chinese fishing lure website with a local US branch in Houston, Texas. I recently stumbeled upon their website and was amazed at just how low the prices on their lures was. Also, they offer free shipping, no matter how small the order, which is super nice on top of the low prices. If you do order from wLure, do expect to wait at least 15 days for your order. After all, it's coming over from China and is not going to arrive at your doorstep anywhere as fast as a TW or BPS order. Still, I don't mind the wait, as long as I order well in advance of major fishing trips.However, if you would like to avoid waiting roughly 3 weeks, consider ordering this same lure through Amazon, for slightly more (see sidebar).
(More after the jump)

Gill detail

The HS5X374 comes in a 6 1/2'' and in 4 different colors/patterns. Behind the front gill joint is a bright red, painted gill, certainly a nice touch. I've included several photos showing how this ODS wLure HS5X374 compares to the sizes of other swimbaits offered by wLure (more reviews on these to come).

There are several internal rattles in this trout swimbait, making it a little louder than the Megabait Charlie's I usually throw. I'm not sure how useful this rattle is, or if it might even be a deterrent to getting wary fish to bite it. I would prefer it to be almost silent, instead of the rattle. However, in some murky conditions this may be a benefit. The ODS swimbait casts quite well and handles well in the water.

Awesome detail

For a little lure trivia, the HS5X374 comes in a "ODS Lure" box. Never having heard of such a brand, I did some research online and found several Chinese eBay sellers offering these ODS lures, including this one, for the same or more than what wLure sold them for. Several foreign wholesale websites offered them in massive bulk lots, and I could find only one US-based retailer also selling them, albeit under a different name (hardbait hitch swimbait). The box comes with English and Russian script, I suppose ODS is a tackle manufacturer in China, selling a affordable line of swimbaits. Learning more about the slowly burgeoning tackle industry in China and looking at the different lures produced there is pretty fascinating. In general, most diehard anglers steer away from generic Chinese lures, but I've started to see a slow increase in quality from these overseas baits. 

More awesome detail

The pattern on this swimbait is pretty unique. It's closest to a trout, although not exactly a rainbow trout. There are four patterns to choose from for this exciting swimbait model, including two trout-style ones, a carp/rough fish patter and a baby striped bass pattern. wLure has a taken a photorealistic finish approach to the coating of this swimbait and it looks excellent. Paint job seems to be strong too, with no chipping or cracks despite being bounced around in my swimbait box a little too often.

 

YouTube video of trout swimbait in action

The HS5X374 swimbait from wLure has a very interesting performance in the water. It is a surface/subsurface swimbait, and looks just like a confused, terrified stocked trout when retrieved a medium to medium fast speed. It has an absolutely wonderful "S" swimming pattern, as you can somewhat see in the following video, where it really comes alive. I also found you could cast the lure, let it sit, then give it quick "walk-the-dog" style jerks to really get a unique action. It will dive from side to side, subsurface, sure to be a hit. It's worth noting that at very slow speeds, or on line that is too light, the lure's swimming action is impacted negatively and doesn't show quite as much motion. I haven't fished with a lure like this before, nor seen one on the market in BPS stores yet.

Second video showing this swimbait in action on top
Thanks to gf for video help!

Unfortunately, I haven't gotten a chance to fish this trout swimbait in "real" conditions for striper or largemouth. The trial casts and videos I've posted above are from Ford Park, in Redlands, California (better known for its dog park and large swarms of aggressive waterfowl). While the lure seems durable, only intense use over time will really tell how strong it is. I am curious to see how it holds up to larger fish, as it is certainly designed for heavier fish than the usual city park pond bass. I'll be posting more updates on to how this swimbait works for me as the season progresses.

|Summary|
The HS5X374 trout swimbait from wLure is a interesting lure for a very affordable price. It is the the best example of a no-name, generic, Chinese-brand bait that has excellent swimming action and a great selection of lure color patterns that I have used so far. I have no complaints about it, only praise, at least at this early stage. For swimbait collectors, or those interested in trying out a really affordable swimbait for a fraction of the cost of name-brand models, the HS5X374 from wLure may be a good choice.

Want a sneak peak at my next set of fishing lure reviews? Enjoy my Flickr page!

[Update]: I did a little more research online and found the actual producers of this lure. It's from a Chinese company called ODA Fishing Tackle, in Canton, China (southern area of China). They have a fairly extensive line of "photo-finish" lures, and a pretty decent website, located here. It looks like they are trying to break into the US market, with plenty of lure options for anglers. Here is a photo from their website of some of their baits being produced.

Dirt Cheap Swimbaits from wLure

Coming soon: Exclusive, in-depth look at a previously-unheard of, dirt-cheap, line of swimbaits never before reviewed in the USA, courtesy of wLure. Expect photos, videos and complete reviews of these impressively-affordable swimbaits. Stay tuned.