Today’s product review is all about top water bassin’. For the last couple of season’s nothing has come close in my view to matching the fish catching ability of the Reaction Innovations Barely Legal Vixen. I have caught countless fish on this lure and really didn’t think that anything could match it fish for fish.
However, on my last trip a new lure not only matched, but exceeded it both in terms of quantity and quality of fish. That lure is the new Heddon Spook One Knocker.
I really wasn’t expecting this lure to produce so I only picked up two patterns. The melon and foxy shad. The afternoon that we went fishing we had seen a cold front come in and roll through So-Cal bringing overnight temperatures down into the high forties. For this area that is very cool during late May.
We went ahead with our plans to fish that night even with the low temps, a strong wind and to make matters that much worse, a near full moon overhead. Now around here that would usually mean one of two things. Either cancel the trip or definitely don’t fish top water lures.
We decided to both go ahead with the trip and to go ahead and fish top water. Both the Vixen and the One Knocker were tied onto seven foot medium action Bass Pro Shops Pro Qualifier rods with KVD signature series reels and both were spooled with 15 pound P-line Floroclear line. I was using the Spook as my son had claimed the Vixen.
Fishing The Spook
As we began fishing, the first thing that strikes you is the fact that the Spook is exceptionally easy to cast, even against the wind, due to it’s rather substantial weight to length ratio. At 4 ½ inches and ¾ of an ounce you can really launch this lure a long way. The One Knocker doesn’t seem to penetrate the surface of the water as deep as some smaller lures and this helps avoid picking up some grass before you can begin your retrieve.
The Spook is very easy to initiate the walk-the-dog motion and the single tungsten ball makes a loud knock as it sways side to side. It didn’t take long for the first fish to react to this lure and on my second cast with it I hooked a chubby little two pounder. Now I have always preferred a simple round bend treble hook but these come equipped with the Mustad triple grip hooks which I was willing to try but was also perfectly willing to switch out if it became necessary to keep the fish buttoned.
That night, even with the conditions being far less than perfect, every fish that hit this lure stayed hooked and was landed.
The Final Score
As to the competition between the Spook and the Vixen, the final score was Spook – 6, Vixen – 0. When the score between me and my son got to 4 – 0, my son decided that he wanted to fish with the One-Knocker too. He did and that’s when he caught his fish.
This was one trip and the One-Knocker Spook really hit a home run. This lure is well designed and catches fish. The components work quite well and after having thrown it for an entire evening of fishing there doesn’t seem to be any problems with the lure itself. It casts easily and very far, it retrieves easily and any change of cadence that the angler chooses to employ will vary the walk-the-dog action accordingly. It is an uncomplicated lure that does what it is designed to do which is call up and catch fish.
And as a bonus, it does all this with a price tag that has to be considered a bargain when compared to other top-water lures like the Vixen. While the Vixen at most retailers and e-tailers will set you back approximately $14.99, The One-Knocker Spook at most outlets will cost $7.99.
At this price point the sting of losing one of these lures is less intense than many other comparable lures in this category. If there is one complaint it is just that the number of patterns is very limited, but I suppose that’s to be expected with a new lure design. However, this is one lure that I will make sure I have tied on for the next trip and am really looking forward to using again and having the same battle of the lures to see which one wins the rematch.
[cjwizard]Heddon One Knocker Spook,3,,,,,,,0,,,,[/cjwizard]
[…] checked our line and retied all of them in anticipation of the evenings fishing. My son chose the Spook when we got there and started casting beyond some lily pads in what looked like a good spot. He had […]