Illude/Lunker Fighters Diesel Lizard and Diesel XL

[jkarol24]

Swimbait Review: Illude/Lunker Fighter Diesel Lizard and Diesel XL

The Diesel Lizard from Lunker Fighters is a one piece billed wake and crank. The bait features a small lean bill, nice paint schemes, and a replaceable soft plastic tail.  The Diesel comes in at 5" of body, 10 in full length, and 2 oz of resin. It's big brother, the Diesel XL is constructed as a 2 pc Lizard, and is a noticeably larger profile. The Diesel XL comes in at 6" of body 11.5 in full length, and 3.5 oz of resin.

At a moderate/slow retrieve, The smaller Diesel Lizard swims in a waking fashion, with a wide back and forth head hunt. The bait seems to pivot on an imaginary axis right in the middle of the bait, with the rear section and tail swaying back and forth in opposition to the head. A slight amount of body roll is also present. The bill creates a subtle surface wake as it moves back and forth, staying up on the surface at these slower speeds.

Increasing speed to moderate allows the bait to crank down a foot or 2, with similar but slightly wider hunting action. The bait maintains its controlled back and forth motion, again with the tail swaying along behind. Increasing the speed beyond moderate causes the bait to loose its consistent action, and cranks more like a hunting-style crankbait, kicking out randomly along its retrieve path.

Walking the Diesel is quite easy, but it does not accept the traditional rod tip snaps as other similar baits might. Instead, easier rod tip pulls are what you are looking for, which will allow the bait to turn back and forth 180 degrees. Using a rod with a slower and more moderate tip also helps guide the bait along. Think about gentle, slow, and short impacts, as opposed to sudden hits.

You can however add some gusto to your pulls, and the bait acts more like a surface popper, with the bill throwing water, and the bait will randomly dart out to one side or the other. Using forceful twitches will cause the bait to jump out of the water, so again think about pulls rather than twitches.

It's bigger brother, the Diesel XL, follows the pattern of being a bait that excels in slow easy retrieve styles. The straight wake is achieved with a moderate/slow straight retrieve, producing a more fluid swimming style. As opposed to a hard bobbing head, the head and bill stays closer to center, and produces it swim with more of a roll than a back and forth. The swim is almost snake-like, with the soft plastic tail swimming behind the rear section. Slow and easy is the key, as I did not have success with faster retrieves or crankdown.

Following suite, rod pulls allows the XL to walk in place, turning back and forth in 180 degree sashays. A surface commotion and slight splash is present, with the bait staying very horizontal on the surface. The illude tails in general have lots of action, and their floating ability tends to keep the baits level and upright along the retrieve. Adding speed is difficult, but as you gain a feel for the rod pulls, it can certainly be achieved.

I threw the Diesel on a custom 7 ft 9 Heavy Levaithan and Curado 300E, and it's bigger XL brother on a standard Leviathan Heavy paired with a Tranx 400. Both setups were spooled up with 20 lb Copoly, although a mono would be just fine. I would hesitate to use braid, as the no-stretch may overwork the bait.

I hope you have a wonderful Sunday, and have had a great summer thus far. Get out there and stick a few fish for me! See ya next Sunday.