By: Tyler Brinks
I was going to save this review for next week when I start "TBrinks Fishing Soft Plastics Week", where I am going to review seven new soft plastics in seven days and give away some new stuff at the end of the week. Instead, I couldn't wait to get this review out after the fishing day I had today. I am also starting something new, where I am going to rate my product reviews on several categories. I'd like to hear what you think of the rating system.
TBrinks Rating System: Each category will have a value of up to five.
Here are the categories:
Price/Value
Durability
Performance
Innovation
Availability
Total Scores:
20-25 : Must have
15-19: Good buy
10-14: Worth a shot
Less than 10: Save your money
Now for the review:
When the Havoc line of baits were launched last month at the Bassmaster Classic, I was like most bass fishermen out there and was really interested in trying the new baits. When they announced the four new baits, I have to admit, the Devil Spear designed by Mike Iaconelli wasn't the most exciting to me. I don't know what it was about this bait, but I didn't think of it being that great. I won a pack of the baits in a Bassmaster Classic contest through Bassmaster, so I decided to give it a shot today. I was impressed!
The first thing I noticed about the bait (and the Havoc lineup in general) is the lack of the famous Berkley Powerbait scent. I have never been one who relies on the scent, but it was kind of weird using a Berkley bait that didn't smell like dead fish.
The shape of the bait is unique as it really does look like a "devil's spear" and the tail segments provide great action. Looking at the bait, I immediately thought of the Lake Fork Lures Live Magic Shad and Poor Boy's Tru Action swimbait. I have used both baits in the past and the action is great. The one difference between the tail segments is the Devil's Spear has horizontal segments versus the vertical segments on the other baits. When reeled through the water, the tail action was really good. I found myself swimming the bait more often than just fishing it along the bottom. I caught fish both ways with the bait and could even see this bait being used as a trailer for a Swim Jig or a Chatterbait.
As far as the rigging of the bait, I fished it with a 3/16 ounce Junebug Eco Pro Tungsten worm weight to match the color of the bait. I used a 4/0 offset worm hook and fished it on 15lb Seaguar InvizX Fluorocarbon. In the picture, you can see that at one point I was rigging the bait sideways. I did this just because the bait started to get torn up after a few fish, but saw it had a much different action and started doing it on new baits. Overall the bait was very easy to fish and I didn't find a bad way to fish it. I caught several fish, including one over four pounds on it and was definitely pleased with the performance.
Scoring for the Berkley Havoc Ike's Devil Spear:
Price/Value: 5
At just $2.99 how can you go wrong? The baits are worth every bit of this price no matter which of the Havoc baits you decide to pick up.
Durability: 3
After ripping the tail section off on my first missed fish, I wasn't happy about the bait, but it held up fine over the trip and I was able to catch multiple fish on the same bait. I caught nine fish total and only used three baits.
Performance: 4
The bait did as intended and worked no matter which way I tried to use it.
Innovation: 2
It was too close to the design of the Lake Fork baits to give it a higher score, but the spear and overall appearance was something new.
Availability: 3
This is kind of unfair since it is brand new, but the only place I have found it is online.
Total: 17 - Good Buy!
12 comments:
Great review Tyler !!! I believe this bait will be very versatile - effective for many techniques. Should be awesome for bed fishing right now. I agree with your thoughts for adding it to a swim jig also. I will look forward to using them for a punch-rig in the grass this summer. Last Friday I used one for muddy water conditions in place of a jig....work great around and through the cover the fish were holding tight to.....and like you said, the price you just cant beat !!! CAST and DESTROY TBrinks.....
Thanks Larry! I agree...this bait is versatile and worth the money.
Maybe all categories should not weight the same, why should availability be as important as performance & price?
Great looking bait and you obviously had excellent results Tyler.
As far as the rating system, it really depends on how you break it down.
Unlike HellaBass, I think every category should be the same. I can't tell you how many people ask about availability when I feature products. We have a lot of younger kids watching us; they aren't able to just whip out a debit card for online purchases.
The only other thing I can think of, is that not every bait is going to see an identical environment. Sometimes you're fishing cold front conditions, while other times your fishing sunny days.
How are you going to score them fairly in this sense?
@Hellabass...I definitely see your point, but in the interest of keeping it simple I will keep them all the same. I was also thinking of including in that section how easy it is to buy it online.
@FHC I agree...not everyone can and/or wants to order online.
To make the performance section fair, I'm not going to just judge it on fish catches, but how it performs compared to other similar products, and if it performs as advertised.
My opinion on the "Availability" issue is this....Try buying a Strike King KVD 1.5 in Chartreuse Black Back online right now. The fact that Kevin Van Dam has won the last 2 BASS Classics with this bait and it costs less than $6.00 doesnt matter much if Strike King cannot keep up with the overwhelming demand....in this instance, Availability carries much weight...great comments fellas !!!
I really want to try this bait out after reading your review.Sounds like it has great action.
Regarding the innovation score and associated comment about the Live Magic Shad, I thought that i'd mention that those too are a copy-cat. In fact, they are a blatant rip off of Imakatsu Japan's product offerings. The only difference is that the Live Magic Shads don't swim as well as the Imakatsu Javallon.
@Anonymous. Thanks for the input. It's amazing how many baits are just a copy of others.
I recently discovered this bait for saltwater use on the flats! Anybody who is familiar in the area knows that a paddletail grub or a spadetail design is killer on trout,reds,snook,and flounder. I rig this bait "sideways" in that the flat of the tail is inline with the hook on a 1/8-1/4 jighead. It is essentially an oversive spadetail grub. When you pop it hard off the bottom or out of grass on slack line it walks the dog underwater and the extra kick from the tail works really well!! I must say the results so far have been absolutely devastating! :)
@JGROOM thats a great idea. It's not just for bass, thanks for sharing
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