Keitech Tee-Bone Spinnerbait Product Review #keitechteebonesspinnerbait #keitechspinnerbait

Lure Review

The Porterhouse of Spinnerbaits? : Keitech's Tee-Bone (continued)

The Fall : When you pause your retrieve with the Tee-Bone, the lift of the blades is enough to keep the bait in its natural swimming posture on the descent. I'd like to say the head design contributes to this behavior, but I've fished other spinnerbaits with bullet weight shaped heads that will do the same. This behavior has more to do with the size and lift of the blades than it does head design. So in that respect, the Tee-Bone is perfectly balanced (at least the double willow config).

Skirts are traditional silicone

Position at Rest : Once the Tee-Bone hits the bottom, like most spinnerbaits, it just plops over on its side. It's definitely a bait designed to keep in motion. The good news is it does not take much motion to have the Tee-Bone looking fishy.

The Tee-Bone is also available in Tandem Blade configuration

Durability : I hear tales, now and again, of anglers wearing out their favorite spinnerbait to the point of wire failure. Sad to say, I've not had that level of success with any spinnerbait in my arsenal. I've also not had the patience to throw a singular non-soft plastic bait for a period of time long enough to wear it out to the point of failure. All I can do with the Tee-Bone is point out it seems to be built for the long haul with a relatively stout wire and hand tied skirt.

While effective, weeds, or really, gunk, still finds a way to get behind that cone shape guard

One thing I can comment on though is the effectiveness of that cone shaped debris guard in front of the first blade. Like the ball that some spinnerbait manufacturers use, unfortunately weeds still get behind the cone guard. Whether it's better than the ball shape is difficult to really assess.

Some of the colors feature a quite intricate paint scheme on the head - Bluegill Flash

Design & Ergonomics: Regarding that stout wire, the question in my mind of what really constitutes thick or thin enough wire for use on baits like this has hounded me ever since I became part of this publication. I've always taken for granted that if I catch a fish on a spinnerbait or buzzbait, the wire was good enough. But of course, "good enough" doesn't quite cut it with TackleTour, so I took a pair of digital calipers to my Tee-Bone Spinnerbait and recorded the diameter of that wire. Right now, it's simply a data point, but with enough similar reviews built up over time, hopefully we'll have a good basis for comparison. Also, this provides a point of reference for our readers to use in their own comparisons especially if they already have a preference of what's too thick, too thin, or just right for their purposes. The following illustration shows this and the additional data points I'll be collecting with the Breakdown table listing results for Keitech's Tee-Bone Spinnerbait.

Keitech Tee-Bone Spinnerbait Breakdown
Model	Skirt Attach Method	Wire Dia (mm)	Hook Length (mm)	Hook Bite (mm)	Hook Gap (mm)
Keitech Tee-Bone Spinnerbait	Hand Tied	0.95	35	17.5	16.35

Otherwise, design wise, this bait is available in twelve different patterns each with their unique combination of blade colors ranging from silver to platinum to gold, copper, pewter, and black. Though I only fished the double willow, as mentioned earlier, this bait is also available in a tandem configuration (Colorado + willow leaf blade). The bait's hook is a custom extrusion for Keitech by Katsuichi/Decoy.

The head finish on Ayu

Price & Applications: Retail on the Tee-Bone Spinnerbait, no matter the size or blade configuration is $11.49 per bait. Taking an average of over 130 double willow leaf spinnerbaits found on TackleWarehouse, I calculated a mean in price of $10.86 with the high being whopping $25.99! So while the Tee-Bone is above average in price, it's not too far above the mean. For the record, there were about thirty six double willow leaved spinnerbaits priced higher than the Tee-Bone - at least at the time of this writing.

The head finish on SP Bluegill

Ratings:

Keitech Tee-Bone Spinnerbait Ratings (?/10)
Construction/Quality	A very well made spinnerbait	9
Performance	Good at all speeds	8
Price	Not too far above average	7.5
Features	Hand tied skirt, unique debris guard in front of the first blade, custom designed hook	8
Design (Ergonomics)	Available in two blade configurations and at least 12 different patterns	8
Application	Can be fished fast or slow and at just about any depth	8
Total Score		8.08
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
+ Really well made bait	- Some darker colors and craw patterns would be nice
+ Hovers at desired running depth very effectively
+ Nice, horizontal posture during fall
+ Hand tied skirt

Keitech's Tee-Bone spinnerbait is an example of a refined interpretation of the classic bait, made with premium components, and the all important (to me) hand tied skirt

Conclusion: The spinnerbait bite, for me, is not as productive as it once was, yet it's a difficult bait for me to resist due to all the fond memories, not to mention the ease with which it can be fished, and all the different presentations one can employ. Keitech's Tee-Bone spinnerbait is an example of a refined interpretation of the classic bait, made with premium components, and the all important (to me) hand tied skirt. Burn it, slow roll it, count it down, and even pitch it to cover and fish it on the fall. If the bass in your area aren't tired of the classics, they'll surely annihilate the Tee-Bone like freshly grilled steak.

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