Chomp, Pelagic Extreme etc etc...Why not?

[Grant Budd]

I'm sure you all know about the bargain lures on e-bay. I got one today for $23 in the mail and first up besides the crap treble hooks and split rings it feels solid. The through wire is about 2mm thick and the swivels are more than adequate. As for the type of timber I don't know and the top coat feels a bit light...

Has anyone here used these with success? I saw on a well known GT facebook page that one guy used them to land some cracking fish and since then they have gone up in price...

cheers


Grant

[Mark Panhuyzen]

Ya get what you pay for.  They may look ok but action/castabilty  questionable.   I  dont buy expensive poppers but you cant go past cuberas for an all round popper that lasts and  works.  Ive had mates buy cheapies off ebay only to have the coating peel off after 1 fish or  you cant cast more than 30m into the wind with them.  Then they dont work how they are supposed to.  Same but only worse with stickbaits. Lots of the cheapies look good but dont cast and dont have any action and the coatings simply peel off and get waterlogged. 

[Leo Sorbello]

Hi Grant,

Why don't you post the picture of the lure your talking about.....in question.

Regards

Leo

[Grant Budd]

Here is a link to the lure in Question

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Big-Fish-Tuna-Marlin-King-Fish-GT-Wooden-Fishing-Popper-Blue-Striped-MF0163-SI-/151697797591?hash=item2351e4b1d7:g:zCwAAOSwpDdVaUMg

[Cameron Mundy]

You don't need expensive lures to catch GT's if they are in the mood they eat pretty much anything personally I'd spend 5 bucks more on this http://www.bcf.com.au/online-store/products/Halco-Roosta-Popper-195mm-Pink-Fluoro.aspx?pid=124511#Recommendations

[Courtland Babcock]

I had started maybe a joint discussion to this thread over here:  http://www.gtpopping.com/forum/index.php/topic,7601.0.html

I started making lures in the last year and due to the comments in my other thread I am hesitant to buy expensive lures. I fish with guys that do buy expensive lures and I also run a charter boat, so I see lots of different stuff.

As Cameron eludes, in a good bite it typically makes little difference. If the lure possesses the action that is eliciting the strike then little else matters, especially the cost. I do feel that certain lures have the action in certain conditions that I need. This could totally be for my speed of retrieve, fishing style and traits that are personal to me. Some lures just work better for certain people.

I saw over 6 days in Kirinda how well he Hammerhead G-cup works. I personally feel that the "lip" of the Hammerhead cuts into choppy water better and therefore was more successful. Lures were loaned out and I found a Maniac with a good lip in my bag that became my lure of choice as the Hammerheads were all spoken for. It was rough all week we were there and that is why I feel they produced the most fish. We had some Cuberas amongst us but the Heru do seem to get water logged or sit too low with big hooks.



I personally like to fish with about 5 different lures total. I make them or buy the ones that are best suited to my style of fishing and the actual rod/reel combo that I like to fish. I now make most of them myself of a 2 part resin using molds. These are for personal use only as I cannot bear to spend $100 on a lure that may not make it but a few casts.

I like to try new things but my arsenal consists of the following:

rough water- G and C cup, some cubera
medium to light chop- Heru Tuna/skipjack
stickbait- my own design 80/120/150 gram(floating and sinking)



I am personally addicted to seeing the bite so I typically fish topwater exclusively. Sinking stickbaits are very effective but not where my heart lies although I always have a few in my bag.

So my suggestion is to buy what works for you- your style and budget! Don't succumb to the "cool kids" and high dollar items as necessities if it doesn't make you feel right. Of course, after you spend $5,000 to fly around the world to go GT fishing what is another $100 for a lure, I get that. I just hate that people feel they have to.

[Joshua Fifis]

I bought 4 stickbaits and 4 poppers of all different shapes and sizes directly from a China bulk supplier. They were only around $5US each but postage doubled to price of the lures overall. As Grant said the lures all look good but you definitely can tell that they won't hold up for long or to big GT's. You can see these very similar lures all over ebay for around about $20-$30, so they really are ripping people off because they be buying them even cheaper than I got them for.
I was pretty happy with about 6 of the 8 lures. I'm still very new to this sport, so a bit of practice may improve the action of these lures but they could also be duds. After testing each lure for about 5 mins each I noticed later that day one of the stickbaits had a few cracks in the paint. This lure must not have been sealed properly. Another lure was very poorly balanced and layed 45 degrees on its side (even with big trebles). I have since re-sealed the cracked one and added a small amount of lead to one side of the poorly balanced one.

[Cameron Mundy]

Theres a lot of lures out there that work well and don't cost the earth especially when it comes to poppers. Off the top of my head there's
Halco Roosta +- 25 bucks
Jai Big head +- 40 bucks
River to Sea Dumbell +- 30 bucks
GT icecreams are cheap as chips and impossible to destroy
Pretty much the entire Adhek bali range can be had for less than 50 bucks

The Chinese lures in the pictures don't even qualify as knock offs especially the stick baits they are basically pieces of wood shaped like lures with a through wire they have zero weighting or balancing and therefor zero action.

[Joshua Fifis]

The Chinese lures in the pictures don't even qualify as knock offs especially the stick baits they are basically pieces of wood shaped like lures with a through wire they have zero weighting or balancing and therefor zero action.

Well that's not really quite true seeing as they all at least have tail weights, they all sit well in the water and when I tested them they all swim and dark around and return to the surface nose up just like videos of other lures I've seen. I'm not saying that they are amazing lures but for what I paid I'm not complaining.