Here's some shots of the Lunker Punker from all angles. The bait shown is the 9" model. There are two versions, a 9" and a 6" that weigh 3 and a half and 2 and a half ounces respectively. The 9" goes for $55, the 6" for $50.

http://lunker.calfishing.com/reviews/topwater/black_dog_baits_lunker_punker/
http://lunker.calfishing.com/files/Images/lures/topwater/black_dog_baits_lunker_punker/black_dog_baits_lunker_punker_profile.jpg

I know half of you guys own this bait so how about kicking down a review or three :) I have some catching up to do with this lure.

http://lunker.calfishing.com/reviews/comment.html?product_id=1352

first of all the lure is EIGHT (8) inches.. not nine... and second of all no ones fishing this bait because it doesn't catch any fish...}( :P :P }( }( :P

Erik I just bought this bait but have not used it much. I have bought way more tackle than a guy should be allowed to. It seems to prove true for me that people will say anything to make a buck and that my expectations are usually to high. It seems like there are plenty of new baits coming out that are supposed to be "the hot ticket" that for me do not end up being worth what I paid for them or even close. How much have you thrown the lure and in what conditions? I bought this one because of all the good things I heard about it. I know that everyone is trying to make a buck to raise their families and be free and I seldom trust a salesman anymore. Is that really your opinion of the lure? and when and where have you fished it? Im not trying to cap on you, I really want to know. By the way whats up with the Castaic Rock Hards? I have not heard much positive about this lure since it has been out and if it does not have realistic looking action, prove to be durable and run true. I will never buy Castaic products again, especially after the lack of quality that went in to the origonal Platinums. They were always running on their side or breaking. I dont want to sound negative but lets tell it like it is and keep it real, thats one of the reasons for this site in the first place right. I appreciate Rob Belloni and all you guys that make this site the excellent resource that it is. I guess I am getting tired of buying "the new hot lure" that runs bad or doesnt last. I will write a Lunker Punker review after I have fished the bait a lot more. Sometimes I wonder how much easier the Northern strain hits than the Florida strain. Florida strain on Casitas can be kind of tough sometimes and then my bud tells me about 50 - 100 fish days on Naci when his thumb got rubbed raw from lippin bass.
Peace Rich

I feel your pain in regards to buying baits and having them turn out to be junk. I have boxes and boxes of lures that I don't use.

This is part of the reason it takes me so long to review products here on the site. Some lure deficiencies are obvious right away. You make the first cast, the lure rolls on it's side and you know it's no good, etc.

Other times the drawbacks are more subtle. Weak hinge pins that can break or pull out on big fish. Hooks that seem good but bend out too easily. Paint jobs that hold up well for a few trips but swell and crack when the bait is put away wet.

If you want an unbiased opinion, read magmaster's review of the Lunker Punker which was just posted. Dan (magmaster) knows his stuff and tells it like it is. Erik knows his stuff too, and he's just joking around saying not to use the bait. If you read his posts a few months ago, he got some nice stripers on the punker.

I have not had time to use the bait yet. Given that it's November now, it may be a while longer before I use one much. I have heard of some good catches on the lure though, and I saw the prototypes in action with my team partner Cris a few years back. These baits walk the dog with a very convincing action, and they get bit. The only thing I saw first hand was that the hooks tend to tangle a lot. You have to adjust your casting style to lay the bait flat on the cast, and it can be tough throwing in to the wind.

I can't comment first hand about durability, and won't until I see how things pan out with my own baits. That's why I post the pics up first for each review, allowing other people to comment - then wait until I've had enough first hand experience to comment myself.

offduty - I'd love to post your comments once you have some time in with the bait. You seem like an unbiased guy who takes the good with the bad and tells it like it is. That's exactly the kind of review comments I like to see on the review pages, and that's the model I try to use in each and every review.

I have my own bias like anyone, but no matter what my relationships are with the individual bait makers, I always strive for fairness and honesty in the reviews. If you ever disagree with my stuff, the beauty of the system is that you can chime in with your own comments too. I hope to see many reviews for the Punker :)

Here's a review writing guideline I wrote up a while back that may be helpful.

http://www.calfishing.com/help/review_comment_guidelines.htm

This bait does work. It workes very well. Like I said in my short review: the bait is pretty poor quality for a higher $$ bait. Unfortunately I have not found a bait on the market with the same action as this bait. Sure there are several other surface baits that walk-the-dog. They just do it in a different way. Some are excellent choices and others are just not good bass baits IMHO.

I'm not telling anyone not to buy it. I bought 2 more even after I learned of the poor quality. Hey it works and I will continue to fish them and buy more if I need to. I will do so until I find a lure that can do what this one does and holds up.

I am mad that they knocked off Scott and Mickey. At some point everyone will knock everyone off. I just think they need to do something different. The Black Dog wake bait has a lexan tail (3:16) and even has the same shaped bill and almost the same lip angler as the 3:16 Wake Bait. They also made a bait that is supposed to be like a TT also. My friends bought some and its "not the same" in their words. I say why go with a knock off when the original is so good? Look how many people jumped on knocking off the Hudd. Its still the best for a reason. The Lunker Punker is original from what I can see and so is the Shell Cracker. My hat is off to these guys for making something new and different. I do give them a thumbs down for poor quality though :)

Sorry to rant, it just makes me mad to see certain people get knocked off. Especially when the designers put all the effort into designing something for us to catch fish on.

Rob
Thanks I appreciate your comments they are helpful. Maybe I need to get out of constant swimbait mode. I have a lot of tackle that I need to master but right now I am trying to spend my time on the water in the moment. In the past I have gotten frustrated with slow fishing days and tried to blame it on weather, time of year or something else. Lately I have been trying to put in my time and find the pattern, sometimes I go a day or 2 without a bite but I am throwing swimbaits. What fishing techniques would you reccomend for Casitas this time of year? I tried the guide thing for swimbaiting and ended up fishing behind someone for 8 hours at the cost of $350.00 and that soured me a little. Maybe I need to hook up with a guide for other techniques. or maybe I can meet some guys on the site that want to fish Casitas on the week day, a guy could hop in the boat and we could fish together. I keep hearing about dropshotting but I think I get satisfaction from a well placed cast even though it can take 100, 200 or 300 casts to get bit. Always looking to meet new people especially if you can do an 8 - 10 hr day on the lake and have fun. Oh and Dan thanks for the post.
Rich

mmm, Casitas is a good lake but not an easy lake. It's a weird dynamic there because there are just loads of big bass, but at the same time there are a ton of people fishing for them - many of whom are very good fishermen. I think a lot of guys go out expecting to stick 'em, and it's not really like that there most times.

My limited experience on Casitas has shown that it can be very tough or very good. eg. sometimes the fish decide to go on a bite and people catch 50lb sacks. Other times it's very tough, with smart fish that short strike and follow and don't eat. Casitas also has a ton of 6-9lb fish, but getting 10+ fish there is not super easy. I can think of a lot of other lakes where it's easier to get 10's.

If you're going a lot, I'd just try to fish when it's not crowded, use baits that other people aren't using, and just focus on whatever gives you confidence - not chasing other people's bites. At that lake it's not a question of getting around the fish - you are going to be around big fish in most areas. The trick is being there when they want to bite and differentiating from the crowd a little bit.

If you're at a point of frustration, you're probably just a trip away from a good catch :) That's what I always figure anyway.

Rob
Thanks I am going to continue to fish those custom swimbaits mon > thu when I am not working. I lost a big fish yesterday on a 10" trout swimbait, I did not set hard enough. I placed a $900.00 order for those baits and I will be getting 4 of the 12", 10", 8", and 6" as well as 4 shad swimbaits and 1 of each size will be a floater. I have been taking pics of the stocked trout and the shad for my luremaker to use for the painting of those lures. I have heard that if you can go to Casitas and get bit consistently that you can catch fish anywhere. I am not frustrated but determined to get my time in on the water and evolve to be a better fisherman through practice, mastering new techniques and learning the lake and the fish's migratory routes. I've got swimbaits, stickbaits and cranks down as well as Carolina and Texas rigging. I guess I need to get in to dropshotting and jigs as well as jerkbaits, spinnerbaits are almost worthless on this lake. Thanks for communicating and providing the resource to do so.
Peace Rich

Rich... Rob was right I was just kidding about the Lunker Punker not catching any fish. I haven't thrown it for that long seeing as how I picked one up in late july and lost it about a month and a half later to a striper that kept it as a souvenir. It took another month to get another one. Threw it thursday last week and while the bait didn't seem to walk as good as my first one I did have 2 hits on one cast from a nice sized largemouth. It hit, took it down and came straight up out the water and with a head shake or two my Punker came flying out... x(

The bait does seem to have durabilty issues as my original bait had 2 erasure sized chunks of wood taken out of it presumably from where a hook point dug in and pulled out fighting a striper. This bait definately doesn't have the durability of the resin based swimbaits on the market. It does however catch fish and when it comes down to it for me that's all that matters.

Dan... I'm not sure how you can say they knocked off Scott or Mickey. Their wake bait, the go2 minnow is no where near the level of Mickey's bait. Ok it has a lexan tail, but so did their Shellcracker. I think quite a few swimbait makers might be going the lexan tail route as it eliminates a problem the soft tail swimbaits have which is finding replacements for the damn things.

The Tailwagger IMO looked more like a double jointed lipless swimbait along the lines of a BBZ-1 or Rago Baby Tool type bait which seems to be very common nowadays. The tailwagger also has a lexan tail for what its worth.

I've said it before but the market for swimbaits is reaching a point where A LOT of the baits are going to have the same features as others on the market. Lexan tails, double or triple jointed etc etc... whats going to differentiate the lures is the lure makers artistic abilty.

You can take a Spro BBZ-1, a 3:16 1-up, Rago Baby Tool and put them side by side and while they are all double jointed, lipless trout imitating baits each lure maker has their own interpretation of what that lure should look like.

umm yeah... happy thanksgiving too

Erik
Thanks for the reply. I wonder if the Lunker Punker could be epoxied I have about a dozen of those tubes of that Devcon 2 ton. Sometimes it seems you find a sweet lure and then it just gets tore up. I may be trying to epoxy some lures soon.
Thanks Rich