Diawa Peanut
Specifications |
Type |
Crankbait |
Size |
2
inches |
Colors/Patterns |
10
available |
Weight |
5/16oz |
Diving depth |
3
and 5 feet depending lip |
MSRP |
$4.99 |
Impressions:
Daiwa has making headway
into the premium lure market with their Team Daiwa offerings, and we have seen a
number of quality lures that can hold their own with some of the best. Problem
is that the lure market is so saturated that many e-tailers and retail stores
simply didn’t have the room, or were unwilling to slot another make in between
established Japanese brands like Yozuri and Lucky Craft.

Meet the Daiwa Peanut, a new
affordable lure with a traditional look and feel
Daiwa remains committed to
their premium lures and continues to expand their lineup, but at the same time
has introduced many new more affordably price mainstream baits simply branded
“Daiwa” lures. The flagship of these lures is the innovative “Dead or Alive,”
but there are many offerings that are designed to go head to head with
conventional lures. The Peanut is one such lure.

The Peanut comes in recognizable
proven patterns
This crankbait immediately
looks recognizable and it would be easy to mistake it for a Manns or a Norman
both in profile and pattern. Nothing truly innovative here, the Peanut is
presented as just another choice for anglers. The Peanut makes use of a classic
crankbait floating design, and is available with two different lips which allow
it to dive to 3 or 5 feet.

A look at the underside
Real World Test: To
test the Daiwa Peanut we headed East to find some spotted bass who would eagerly
volunteer to test the Peanut’s effectiveness and durability. Spotted bass are
quality fighters, and pound for pound easily outfight traditional largemouth.
Their mouths are smaller than largemouths and are right in between large and
smallmouth in diameter. For this reason the smaller Peanut would be a good
choice when targeting the fish in shallow to medium depths.

The Peanut comes with a short bill
that makes the lure dive down 3 feet
Casting: Both the
shallow and deeper diving Peanut models weigh in at 5/16oz and make use of #8
hooks. The lures have rattles inside but not a casting system explicitly
designed for long distance casts. The lures cast easily and really are more
designed for cranking alongside structure than deep water cranking anyways. In
terms of casting there really wasn’t much to report, as the lure cast similarly
to competing offerings, no better, no worse.

A longer lip on a second version
drives the lure down 5 feet
Retrieving: The short
billed Peanut looks like a wood hungry lure, and tossed against stumps and into
tree graveyards I was pleased with how well the lure bounced off even nasty
structure. The longer billed model is best used over weedbeds where it won’t
come in contact with vertical structure.

The fire tiger pattern was my
favorite and the only one with a matte finish