Rock'n Runner

Location: Castaic Lagoon, California

When I opened up my test product package from BassinUSA I saw the Blakemore Rock’n-Runner for the first time and thought, “What’s this bad boy gonna be able to do up at Castaic?” The packaging was very average and contained no extras.

I was excited about getting up to the lake to try it out. Frankly, for the most part I am not a spinner guy and most of the time do not fish with hard baits. The prospect of fishing with a lure that was a combination spinner/chatter bait was intriguing.

The model I was provided with was the 3/8 oz. in chartreuse. The skirt was generous and I liked the fact that it was finished off with a bleeding red bait hook. Which was super sharp by the way. Nice touch.

The lure also had a nicely finished head, holographic eyes, a small silver Colorado blade on a swivel beneath, and a gold wobble blade in the front to provide added action and vibration. The ability of this wobble blade to slow the lure down is a big advantage especially when going through or over heavy cover.

In my situation I was tossing this out into very clear Castaic water over a rocky bottom, with some grass line and hydrilla not far offshore. What I liked most about this chatter/spinner combo was how slow you could retrieve this and still have that killer wobbling action going on.

I was popping it off the top of the rocks and trying to get it to run parallel between the riprap and the weeds. The paint job on the head held up very well and I did not see any chipping of the paint after the beating I was giving it on the rocks.

I was picking up many interested followers but no takers. As the saying goes, “Size does Matter.”

A little more beef on the plate might be what the bass were looking for so I cut the head off a five inch plastic swimbait and trailered that for a while with a good helping of scent. Going without the skirt and a watermelon shad attached might work so I put the tuna on and hammered away in that mode for a while.

I was now approaching the alteration stage. Ya know that moment when you realize this is why you brought the clippers along?

 OK so I put the “Size does Matter” concept in reverse and decided to do a little skirt trimming.

Hold the tuna and mayo Jake….. she’s going out with no scent, no trailer and a mini skirt.

I had shortened and thinned out the chartreuse strands of the skirt so they were no longer than the hook; the two black and yellow strands I left at original length.

Second pass through the hydrilla in the slimmed down mode and WHAM!! A very sharp strike from a feisty 2 lb. largemouth. Good thing I was fishing this on 8 lb. mono rather than my usual six pound fluorocarbon.

My set up rod and reel wise for this was 7’ medium hard baitcaster. The lure cast very well and I was able to get very good distance with it. One point of caution, this lure will tend to float up on a cast if it is breezy so keep your brakes and spool resistance adjusted to avoid backlashing.

My overall impression of the Rock’n-Runner is that it has tremendous potential under the right conditions. The chartreuse version that I was testing would most likely be best suited to stained water where heavy cover is present. The price of this item on the Blakemore website is $8.25.

It comes in 3/8 oz. and ¼ oz. in white, chartreuse, blue/black, chartreuse /white and fire tiger.

My ratings of the Rock'n Runner is as follows:

Overall Construction: 10
Overall Design: 10
Functionality: 10
Castabiliy: 10
Price: 8
Packaging: 7

Overall Product Rating (1-10): 9.16

This lure can be deadly when dialed in size and color wise to your particular situation. I definitely recommend trying these out. For clear water go with the smaller size... LEARN MORE

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