Nico Posted June 1, 2011 Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 I've intentionally waited quite a while before posting this review, since it can take a very long time to start getting bites from big fish on a new lure. And after almost six months, I'm still not quite sure what to make of this lure, but I'll share my first thoughts all the same before too much time goes by. This is the 10 inch version, slow sink, dark trout. The bait lives up to its reputation when it comes to top notch build quality. Mine swims perfectly straight at any speed, appears completely immune to crushing 100 yard casts and still fishes like new. The 10 inch Freestyle is a bit of a hybrid swimbait. It's a mixture between the subtle realism of a soft bait and the ugly explosiveness of a hard bait. The big question out there, which I have not come close to answering, is if it's a hybrid of the good parts or the bad parts of these two sides. Hard swimbaits are inherently unrealistic. No matter how pretty the paint job, and how fluid the swimming motion, all the hard angles and noisy rattling cannot go unnoticed by a big bass. I think for this reason the most successful hard baits for really big fish have been those where the warning signs have been minimized and the action is aggressive enough to obscure what's left. By aggressive action I mean either surface disturbance or just by fishing the bait really fast and crazy. I find the 10 inch Freestyle difficult to fish fast and crazy. This is mostly just due to the large bulk of the lure. The bait is so large it would wear you down in no time at all if you tried burning it. Nor does the bait look amazing when fished in a fast, erratic manner. It looks a little too snake-like and mechanical at high speeds. The lure does look really great at slow speeds. Definitely the most visually appealing hard bait I can ever remember throwing. I've been sticking to a slower retrieve on this bait for a couple trips, with no love so far. It see bassindon was getting bit on the slow grind, so hopefully I'm on the right track. However for this bait to become a permanent member of my swimbait box it will have to beat out all the soft baits in the "slow sub-surface" category. And that's going to be a hell of a challenge, which so far it's losing. The lure test will continue... (Feel free to post comments if you have any. But please restrict them to the 10 inch bait only.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPEEDBEAD Posted December 15, 2011 Report Share Posted December 15, 2011 I've read this review quite a few times, makes me feel like I'm fishing the bait myself. Great descriptions and detail. Have you had any more success with the bait Nico? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBirdtn Posted January 24, 2012 Report Share Posted January 24, 2012 Man great review.Gotta get me a 10 in i love fishing the big baits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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