The Lucky Craft, Skeet Reese Redemption Spinnerbait is a promise of new things in a spinnerbait.

It is designed primarily for clear water with a nice, compact profile...

The Skirt: Color combinations on the Redemption spinnerbait are somewhat unique developed to best reflect that of the standard array of Lucky Craft colors. They feature silicones skirts fastened to the body of the bait with a thick, rubber band. The skirts themselves are trimmed for a relatively compact profile.

... and very realistic detailing thanks to the polycarbonate head.

The Hook: Lucky Craft’s hardbaits usually come equipped with VMC treble hooks so we were a little surprised to find out the Redemption features a Gamakatsu hook. Nevertheless it was a pleasant surprise and allowed us to fish this bait with little thought as to any extra effort needed during each hookset. The Gamakatsu hooks performed and held up as expected.

It is finished in traditional popular Lucky Craft colors ...

The Head: The big news at the announcement of the Redemption Spinnerbait was the fact it would soon be available with rattles embedded into the head of the bait so you’d be able to buy a rattle or silent version of the bait. The product’s announcement came in December of 2008 and as of a full year later, we are still waiting for the availability of the rattle enabled Redemption Spinnerbait.

... with a yet to be fulfilled promise of a rattling version "coming soon".

The polycarbonate head of this bait, a feature which allows Lucky Craft to finish off each bait consistent with its hardbait colors, while still somewhat rare in a spinnerbait is not entirely unique. Our August 2007 review of the River2Sea Crystal Spin product is where we first saw this feature and in a bait at about half the price of the Redemption. That having been said, we really like this choice of material in a spinnerbait head. It is very durable and the finishes it enables are stunning.

Ratings: (We've re-calibrated our ratings standard for 2008 and have included a key at the bottom of the following matrix as a guide):

Pluses and Minuses:

Effectiveness: The Redemption Spinnerbait was designed for clear water situations where a lifelike profile and finish might be the difference between getting bit or not. As such, at Falcon Lake, Texas, we found it no more effective than the other baits but realize the water at Falcon Lake is very stained so we weren’t expecting to experience much, if any difference.

It certainly catches fish and the heads look great...

There were big promises for the Redemption Spinnerbait when Lucky Craft made its announcement over a year ago and we’re still waiting the one key, unique feature that was promised. A rattling spinnerbait certainly sounds intriguing and would certainly help this bait’s appeal not only in clear water, but it’d give anglers a stained water option for this quality bait.

... but at twice the price of some of the other baits in our shootout, it's a difficult cost to justify for a spinnerbait for many anglers

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McCoy V-Twin: McCoy is known in the fishing industry primarily as a line company, so it came as a surprise to us to find a spinnerbait in their name. What didn’t surprise us was that they’d sell a spinnerbait that is somewhat unique in today’s market. The V-Twin features two willow leaf blades, but instead of being in tandem with one another (along the same arm), the V-Twin features a side by side, or twin configuration with one willow leaf blade attached to each of its TWO spinnerbait arms. What’s more, this two arms retract along the primary body of the bait making it infinitely more simple to store this bait as compared to other spinnerbait products.

The McCoy V-Twin features a retractable arm making it possible to stow this bait in tight compartments.

A look at the twin blade arms fully retracted.

The Skirt: The silicone skirt of each V-Twin spinner are hand tied to the bait’s body and feature several mylar strips for added flash. They are available in six different color combinations including watermelon, shad, white, hot lime/white, bluegill, and chartreuse/white.

The V-Twin features a hand tied skirt with mylar highlight strips added.

The Hook: McCoy is the third of four manufacturers in our shootout leveraging the quality and reputation of Gamakatsu in their spinnerbait hooks.

And how the bait appears with the arms full extended.

The Head: The V-Twin features what we’d describe as a streamlined, teardrop shaped head that is hand painted in six different colors to match the skirt colors mentioned earlier. Each bait also features lifelike eyes embedded in the body of the bait for better durability.

Ratings: (We've re-calibrated our ratings standard for 2008 and have included a key at the bottom of the following matrix as a guide):

Pluses and Minuses:

This is a unique, and fun bait to throw.

Effectiveness: The V-Twin was a good producer for us at Falcon Lake, Texas. I particularly enjoyed the extra degree of weedlessness this bait seemed to offer with its twin arms. I couldn’t quite tell that the bait had any more vibration than a tandem configured double willow leaf bladed bait, but it was certain fun to chuck and wind. The thing I enjoyed most about this bait was the ease of packing it away. Just slide the retractable arm back and slide it into a standard Plano or Falcon bait box and I was good to go.

Looking for the McCoy V-Twin Spinnerbait? Try Tackle Warehouse