spro BBZ-1

[Tom]

For the first time i am actually becoming quite interested in these, and i am seriously considering buying one. Generally i have done really well on swimbaits in the past, but i don't own that many of them (i own 3). The best one of the lot is the savage gear 4 play. I have two of these lures, a 13cm (5-6inch) 4 play lowrider, and a 19cm (8inch) 4 play lip lure. Caught nothing on the smaller one, despite repeatedly swimming it past a pair of small pike i spotted in the margins. On the other hand, the larger lure is superb as a pike catcher, but it shares the same problem of all the savage gear 4 plays; the build quality leaves a lot to be desired. It feels a bit cheap and tacky, its just 4 hollow plastic segments with a light coat of paint and no sealing. By the way, these aren't some cheap Chinese tut, they were actually the best selling lure in the UK of 2009, and the largest size costs around £20!!!

Anyway, i am looking for 1 or 2 new swimbaits, and would like to try the BBZ-1 instead of the 4-play. Out of choice i would go for the 8 inch model, simply because that is a more productive size for pike where i fish, but the 8 inch model weighs something like 130 grams, which is far too heavy for my rod. For that reason i will probably buy the 6inch model to start with and take it from there. Whichever size i choose, i will be buying it in slow sink, and in either of the two rainbow trout colours.

Has anyone tried these, and are they any good?

[sonicbass]

Tom,
Sonicbass here, I have tried and own a bunch of swimbaits both hard and soft. The The Spro BBZ swimbaits are made with exceptional quality and come with very sticky hooks. I've personally caught a number of excellant bass on them. I have 5 of the smaller one's and 4 of the 6" one's.
I, like you, needed a new rod just to throw the bigger one, I broke a rod just casting the 6'. It broke on about the 5th cast!! I now own around 40 swimbaits from different manufacturers; they are all pretty good allthough you may need to replace hooks on a few of the cheaper verzions. Hope this helps. Wet hooks and tight lines !!!

[sonicbass]

That's a 6 INCH BBZ-1 not a 6 Foot, and I'm told I need to use spellcheck before I post from now on; that's version not verzion, LOLOLOL.
And the rod that broke just in case anyone cares was a BPS H-MF Extreme 7'6"s, they gave me the price of the rod and I took it in merchandize.