Impressions: Last month at ICAST 2004 in Las Vegas Lucky Craft took home top honors as the Live Pointer  was voted the "Best New Hard Bait" by the retail buyers. Lucky Craft has always been known for their premium lineup of fish producing lures. Most famous for their extensive line-up of jerk baits, the Pointer lures have proven themselves time and again for ripping and underwater "Walk the Dog" techniques. With their exceptional paint and holographic finishes the Pointers have long been my favorite lure for covering shallow water for Largemouth, or while ripping for Stripers.

Introducing the innovative segmented Live Pointer

Broken back minnows like those in Rapala's lineup have been employed by anglers looking for more tail action. In stark contrast to the Rapala's single joint the Live Pointer actually has 12 segmented sections, allowing for a larger range of motion and more realistic tail side to side action. I was surprised to see the same high quality finish on every single segment of the Live Pointer's body. The transition in segments is seamless, no matter what pattern you choose.

While the lures looked fantastic I had to wonder how durable they would  be? After all I usually use the Pointer 100 for Striper fishing, and have seen Stripers rip the treble hooks clear off the split rings, or damage intricately painted lures within just hours of fishing. How well would a lure with so many segments handle this type of ill-treatment?

The Live Pointer's segmented tail and reinforced stainless steel wires bring an unprecedented range of motion

  
Field Tests: To test the new Live Pointer I decided to fish local largemouth bass ponds as well as target some aggressive land locked Striped Bass. All tests were conducted on board a Nitro bass boat.

Lucky craft doesn't sacrifice an ounce of detail with the new design, even the transparent Ghost Minnow design looks seamless

Casting: While the Live Pointer does have a ball bearing rattle it doesn't have the same weighting as most of the other Lucky Craft Pointers. Casting distance was good, but not as effortless as with the traditional Pointers. While I usually fish the Pointer 75 and 100 with 12lb line, it makes sense to run the Live Pointer with 10lb test line to get more casting distance and accuracy. Once I adjusted to the lighter weight of the lure it wasn't difficult to position the lure parallel to weedy pockets. Currently the Live Pointer only comes in a 4" size. While the same length as the Pointer 100, the lure is physically smaller. After casting the lure for an hour the entire team agreed that it would be very nice if Lucky Craft released a 5" version, weighing about 5/8oz, this would allow anglers to more quickly cover water in search of larger fish.

A feather tail is added on the rear treble hook to add yet another element to reaction bait fishing

Retrieving: Fishing jerkbaits are among the most entertaining techniques anglers can employ, partly because you are always moving, actively attempting to incite reaction strikes. When the fish hit the lure the battle almost always immediately ensues since your jerking motion has likely already set on the unsuspecting fish. Once the Live Pointer is in the water the merriment begins. While the Live Pointer's head motion is near identical to the traditional Pointers, the multi-segmented tail delivers a very distinctive set of actions. The best way to describe the side to side action of the segmented tail is fluid, and realistic. If you jerk the bait the Live Pointer will surge forward, with the tail whipping side to side, creating quite a commotion right below the surface. But if you slow down and make a constant retrieve the Live Pointer will appear to swim like a live minnow.

While I can get the Lucky Craft Pointer 100's to a depth of around 5 feet, I could only bring the Live Pointer down 3-4 feet. Because of this anglers will often see the actual chase and strike of the fish when water visibility is decent. During our tests bass would often chase the lure, fascinated by the tail whip, but choose to strike the lure while at rest during pauses. The Live Pointer is so effective because it combines a number of elements to entice fish, this includes extreme motion, flashy yet realistic appearance of the body and feather tail, and the added component of sound.

A constant retrieve will cause the tail to swim side to side in a very realistic motion, generating a very nice fish attracting disturbance in the water

 
Durability: When fish comparable to Stripers are deep it is often a good idea to send a jig or rat trap down to the strike zone. The Live Pointer wasn't able to get down deep enough to enter the deeply schooled strike zones, but it didn't have to. The aggressive fish calling action of the tail combined with the clicking sound chamber was enough to entice a number of fish close enough to the surface to strike the lure.

Once the fish is set the Live Pointer has another unique benefit. When fishing rigid hardbaits fish can sometime successfully shake the lure with quick rolls or dives, not the case with the Live Pointer. The segmented tail actually absorbs the shock of the fleeing fish and actually flexes in the direction the fish runs. During our test I hooked into a 19 inch striper that put up a fight so great that I could of swore he was over the 20lb class. Though he twisted, dived, and rolled away from me the Live Pointer retained a solid hookset. The segments were never damaged, and the fish was successfully landed. Once landed I noticed that the rear treble hook had been pretty badly mangled from the ordeal, but the lure itself remained in top condition. Unlike jointed lures that use a single metal linkage the Live Pointer utilizes 2 reinforced steel wires under the laminated protection of the plastic segmented tail. This not only allows for a much more free range of motion, but proved to be exceptionally resilient.

While good for largemouth the Live Pointer was devastating to Striped bass which simply could not resist the aggressive tail whipping action

Price: This is not a cheap lure, and you can be sure that you will feel the hurt if you ever lose one of these 16.99 dollar lures to a large fish or structure. Paying 16.99 for a lure is pure motivation to make sure your line is in top condition and knick free. Is it worth the money? Absolutely. There is no other lure on the market that delivers the exact same action or design. While anglers probably shouldn't go out and buy a tackle box full of Live Pointers, it is a good idea to have one or two when you need that extra edge.

Pluses and Minuses:

Conclusion: Lucky Craft makes some of the best jerkbaits on the market, one look at the detailed design and anglers are often torn on whether the lures belong in a display case, or in the water. When jerked the Live Pointer truly comes to life and presents a lure that so closely resembles live bait that both anglers and fish are immediately drawn to it. During our tests the Live Pointer was fantastic, generating strikes from the depths, and producing explosive close to the surface action on hot days. Good for largemouth bass, and excellent for striped bass these lures have a balance of sight, sound, and action that truly produces. While they will set you back 17 dollars per copy, serious anglers will smile when they inspect the build quality, and grin ear to ear when the lure delivers it's first reaction strike. Lucky Craft engineers really came through on this design, and are worthy recipients of our TackleTour Innovation Award! Great job Team Lucky Craft, now can you make us a larger size Live Pointer so we can hammer up some reaction strikes from lunker sized fish?