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Lure Review

 


No Hedge In This Bait, Just Hogs : Megabass of America's SonicSide Crank

 

Date: 3/22/20
Tackle Type: Lure
Manufacturer: Megabass
Reviewer: Cal






Total Score: 7.75 - GOOD

Introduction:
Megabass of America's support to win (STW) program continues to develop lures and fishing rods that are better suited for North American fishing environments. One bait sort of missing from their arsenal has been a flat sided crankbait. The FlapSlap kinda sorta fit that bill, but it also didn't. It's more of a jerkbait than a straight up crank. Last year, through their STW program, the company officially debuted their take on this type of crank and today, we take a closer look at their SonicSide crankbait.

 

Megabass SonicSide Crankbait Specifications

Type Shallow Crank
Length 2.6"
Weight 1/2oz
Depth 6ft
Material Plastic
Colors 12
Hooks unspecified (normal barb)
MSRP $19.99

 


Introducing Megabass of America's SonicSide crankbait

 

Impressions: The SonicSide crank is roughly a two and a half inch hard plastic crankbait built with a circuit board square lip and typical Megabass detailing and paint schemes. It's internal weights are fixed, so the bait runs silently and comes with two very sharp, standard barb, light wire treble hooks.


The SonicSide is a flat sided crankbait

Real World Tests: I fished the SonicSide this past Winter using a variety of setups depending on what I had to test rather than what I really suited this bait best. Fortunately, it's a versatile little crank, so the setup didn't really have much bearing on its success. Given the choice in an ideal world, I'd probably use something like Megabass of America's Orochi XX F5-75XX EMTF paired with my Shimano Chronarch MGL spooled with 8 or 10lb Seaguar Tatsu Fluorocarbon line.


The bait's weights are fixed, so it runs silent yet still casts very well

Castability: I fished this bait on both fluoro and braid, but would prefer fluoro as a go to for its better resistance to abrasion. As mentioned previously, the SonicSide has fixed internal weights, so there's no weight transfer system to aid in your casting. Weighing roughly half an ounce, this bait casts like a bullet.

The SonicSide doesn't need a moving balancer system and actually surprised me at how well it flies through the air despite those flat sides. I guess it's easy enough to build the momentum you need with today's choice in quality fishing rods.


The bait's hooks are the typical light wire option found on Megabass baits

Dive Time: Click your reel over after the cast and the SonicSide gets down pretty quickly. It has a tight wobbling action that you can feel through the fishing line and swims true at all the speeds I could generate with reels in the 6 and 7 to one range in retrieve ratios. I did not try this bait on any of the super fast, 8 to one and above retrieve ratio reels in today's market.


The SonicSide was made to bounce off hard obstacles not come through weeds, but sometimes, you gotta throw it where the fish are holding

I'd say the SonicSide does a good job bouncing off obstructions like rocks, stumps and the like. For whatever reason, I had better success running this bait on the edges of weed beds. It probably had to do more with where the fish were located though. Difficult to catch fish where there aren't any despite how good conditions look.


The crawdad colors are my personal favorite

In typical Megabass fashion, the SonicSide comes with light wire treble hooks though these hooks do not have the outbarb. Anglers that like to use heavier line when fishing cranks might want to swap hooks for something a little more stout.

I leave mine stock because I prefer light wire hooks in general. It's my feeling thinner wire hooks have better penetration so hookups are easier and more sure. I've never been one to muscle fish back to the boat, so the danger of straightening out a hook is minimal - with largemouth anyway.


Naturally this bait features a circuit board lip

Design/Ergonomics: Megabass's SonicSide crank is offered in twelve different colors ranging from shades of crawdad (my favorite) to translucent shad colors to the stable white, shad, chartreuse, and ayu options. The bait's circuit board lip features a little reinforcement on its underside to help with durability.


But unlike most, this circuit board lip is reinforced underneath

Price & Application: There was a time all Megabass baits were well over $20 a piece. The SonicSide retails for $19.99. Still high by crankbait standards, but a good deal below traditional Megabass pricing. How interesting it is when I can look at a $20 crankbait and think, "that's a good price!"

Ratings:

Megabass SonicSide Crankbait Ratings (?/10)

Construction/Quality Typical Megabass quality 9
Performance Casts well and comes through the water with little difficulty even with a lot of obstructions in the way 8
Price Good for Megabass, high for everyone else 7
Features Silent running, circuit board lip, light wire hooks 7.5
Design (Ergonomics) Those Megabass colors... 7.5
Application Good cold, shallow water option 7.5

Total Score

7.75

Ratings Key: 1 = terrible : 2 = poor : 3 = lacking : 4 = sub par : 5 = mediocre : 6 = fair : 7 = good : 8 = great : 9 = excellent : 10 = unbelievable!
For More Details of the updated rating system visit our explanation here

 

Pluses and Minuses:

Plus

Minus
+ Finally a flat sided crank from Megabass - Existing colors are nice, but we want more!
+ Reinforced diving lip  
+ Casts well  
+ Gets to work right away  


Only thing missing with the SonicCrank are those crazy, limited edition, hard to get Megabass colors

Conclusion: Megabass of America's SonicSide crank has potential to be one of the brand's cult following baits. It casts well, gets to work as soon as you start cranking, and is super effective at triggering strikes. The only thing keeping it from that crazy following are the limited and hard to get colors. Maybe they're already out there and I just don't know about them because they're so limited and hard to get! But seriously, for a manufacturer that makes baits that are just as fun to collect as they are to fish, they have another winner here in the SonicSide crank.

 

Looking for Megabass SonicSide Crankbaits?

Try TackleWarehouse


 

   

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