The Strike King Hybrid Hunter is an innovative crankbait that features a fat body, flat side, and a unique L-shaped 90 degree bill. This combination creates a hard thumping, exaggerated hunting action, and an extremely loud rattle that bass can't resist. It is designed to be fished on heavy line in 1-5 foot depths, and can be thrown with techniques that anglers commonly use with lipless crankbaits, jerkbaits, or swimbaits.
This bait excels around submerged vegetation, and is able to get to the bottom more quickly than other shallow-diving hardbaits. With a tight wobble, and extra buoyancy that allows it to rise faster out of cover, the Hybrid Hunter is an excellent choice for fishing around grass lines and other types of cover in the 2-5 foot range.
Strike King pro staffer Todd Castledine has kept one of his hottest new baits to himself for more than a decade. But the Texas bass ace is ready to unveil his secret weapon, and it's going to help anglers put more bass in their livewells all over the country.
It's called the Hybrid Hunter, and it can be retrieved with a stop-and-go style like a jerkbait, straight and steady as a shallow square bill crankbait, or burned back to the boat quickly like a Red Eyed Shad type lipless crankbait. The Hybrid Hunter has little in common with a traditional square bill crankbait, but Castledine says it's equally effective in clear or stained water. He suggests fish it in what he calls "jerkbait colors" in clear water and "Red Eyed Shad colors" in stained water.
