With top-water season here in many parts of the country, you may be looking to add something a little bit different to your toolbox to throw at ‘em. Something that has a profile that the fish aren’t used to, an action that they aren’t conditioned to avoid, just something maybe a little bit weird.
If that’s the case, let us introduce you to the Savage Gear 3D Savage Fruck. Quite a mouthful so from here on out we’ll simply refer to this hollow body bait as the Fruck which is a melding of the words, “frog” and “duck”, and bingo … Fruck.
It was interesting to see just how many of the European manufacturers had in their line ups similar style lures. We really don’t know whether it’s due to the fact that so many of those same companies seem to produce products for pike and muskie. It could be that those species of fish more readily eat ducklings or that there aren’t as many frogs over there for forage or some other unknown reason. But the majority of them make a hollow body duckling imitator.
Another Ultra-Realistic Bait from Savage Gear
Savage Gear is known for producing ultra-realistic looking baits by using 3D scans of the real thing to base their designs on. To this they add quality components, nice finishes and unusual actions which, when taken as a whole, has earned them an excellent reputation.
The Fruck is available in two sizes, 3” – 3/4oz and 4” – 1-1/2oz. Both sizes share a palette of six colors that are all based on actual ducks except one. It’s green … we’ve never seen a green duck but that really is splitting hairs.
We obtained the 3” version as it seemed the right thing to do at the time. This bait does have little flat duck feet. As in the material used is flat so that in the water it appears as though the bait is paddling when it’s moving.
The weight is round, centered toward the back of the Fruck and looks to be attached not only to the body but also to the shank of the hook prior to the bend. During our testing, this lure always landed right side up in open water or casting in the middle of the slop.
A Little Bonus Gear
Savage Gear includes in the packaging a feathered trailer hook that is easy to install as it just slips over the double hook. You can position it high or lower on the hook depending upon your needs and the conditions that you’re fishing. We have used the Fruck with and without the trailer just to see if the addition of that hook affects the action of the bait and have found that it does not have a negative affect.
You fish this bait just as you would any other hollow body bait. Throw it out there with the intent of walking the dog which it does adequately. It didn’t take much to find the right cadence for this particular lure. Like most baits of this genre, there is a sweet spot in terms of how fast and hard you pop your rod tip to get the most natural action from the bait.
The Fruck likes slack line with short, gentle pops of the rod tip to show off its best strut. Doing it this way allows the bait to minimize its forward travel so that it can be worked in a fairly tight area to goad fish into biting.
The stock hook is sharp and while not as heavy as some on similar baits, it does penetrate willingly and produces a fair hook-up ratio.
It’s interesting that while the top of the bait certainly looks unlike the average hollow body frog, the bottom isn’t as distinctive. Considering this is what the fish are looking at when they decide whether or not to take a big, wet bite out of it, it would have been nice to see a more unique profile.
More or Less?
We really can’t say whether or not a bass can distinguish the Fruck from a frog when looking up but we can say that this bait has indeed put some fish in the boat for us. It has accounted for some vicious strikes as well as just being sucked under without producing an explosion on top.
The Fruck doesn’t take on water near as quickly as some of the frogs out there so you’re not constantly squeezing it out between casts. It has also held up fairly well to the abuse we and some bass have put it through.
It isn’t outrageously expensive either. On the contrary, at about $10 it’s a decent value for what you’re getting. But is it entirely different than other hollow body baits that are available? No, but different enough to warrant having one on standby in the event your first choice quits getting bit? Yes.
| Savage Gear 3D Savage Fruck | |
|---|---|
| Overall Rating |    |
| A competent topwater option | |
See ya’ on the water …
