Does anyone feel there is a big difference in how well name brand lures work over house brands? I don't mean quality of hooks etc, just how well they work at catching fish.   I had lost a favorite "go to" lure that consistently produced, I replaced it with an off brand clone (same size, same color and pattern) but I never caught a thing on it. That made me think, maybe there is a difference.  What do you guys think?  Maybe this season I'll try to experiment and keep track of the results.

I think your right K-rap. Just because a lure looks the same does not mean it behaves the same. of course some of that may be due to confidence in a specific lure. There is on particular lure that I use alot. well the guy who invented it was a good friend of my best friend. this company was sold and some new folks are making it. I use both the new and the original. the original outfishes the new.

Brian

Brand name lure compinies spent thousands hours reserching and developing a lure' They have the pros field test them before reliesing them to the general public. The off brand lure makes just copy a lure without doing the reserch to see if it runs true or has a tight wabbel or a wide wobbel and so forth. It's like a knock off Rolex it may look the same but never works as well as the real one. I have great success with Bandit crankbaits so I stick with that brand I'm I going to buy one that looks like a Bandit? the answer NO

basbandit, you took the words right out of my mouth! Companies like Rapala or Lucky Craft don't just churn out garbage lures without extensive research and development. They spend a ton of money perfecting every aspect of every lure. Unlike a brand like Norman's Lures. Which are incredibly cheap and ineffective (in my opinion) and don't catch fish. Buy name brand! Or watch the anglers around you catch all the fish.

lets take a look at cranks . now a rebel , storm thunder stick and rapala all look the same kinda . but there is a lot that goes in to making a crank.
you have size and shape that effects the action as dose material used . then you have the angle of the lip and the shape of the lip . now add the angle of the lip and were the line tie it is placed on the lure. and you can really tinker with the action of the lure .So you can see there is alot of factors that go into how that biat runs and looks in the water weather it dives deep or runs shallow or runs horizontal or nose down . wide woble or tight side to side roll.

Long story short, you get what you pay for. That bargain bin at Cabelas might look like it has some good deals, but chances are there is a reason you have never heard of that brand before!

Look alikes are not going to perform within the same specs as originals. I've tried some Cabela's look alikes, but bad quality along with bad performance has really turn me off. I admitted that it was the great looking color and paint jobs that caught the fisherman in me. If I was comparing a Salmo minnow or shad look alike to a similar Rapala, I prefer the Salmo in terms of lure performance and fish catching ability. It's different but that aspect is what catches fish that I otherwise didn't catch with the Rapala. When I compare a Rebel minnow to a Rapala minnow, they may appear alike but they performs very differently. I like the Rebel minnow wobble more, but the Rapala minnow has always caught me more fish. I've also bought some limited edition Pinnical minnow lures and some Abu Garcia minnow lures, different looking, but has caught me fish when least expected for a need of a different presentation. I guess I'm always a fool for bargains, but once in a while I do find a gem in the junk pile.

Every once in a while you may find a knock off that catches fish but the name brand will always be consistent, besides you normally don't need to change or sharpen the hooks on a new name brand. Tom

Have any of you guys heard of Norman Lures? They are pretty cheap. Yet, they sell them at most outfitters.

I have heard of and seen Norman lures, but I'm not sure I've ever used one. If I did, it probably didn't work well or I would remember it.

I bought one. The finish is really cheap looking. The paint overlaps the bill in a few spots and it looks like a drunk orangutan applied the colors! The only thing this lure has caught so far is ME! Not a worthy enough brand to be placed next to Lucky Craft on the shelf!

March 19, 2011 Norman Lures

Hello Fellow club members. When I paid off my B.A.S.S. Life membership dues I received a set of lures valued at $75.00 at the time, the summer of 1985. The only 3 lures I remember were Norman Little N Deep Divers. One was solid brown, one had a fire tiger paint scheme and the third one had a chartreuse body and belly with a black back. Almost all of the fish I caught in a two week period were caught on the chanteuse colored bait. On a hunch I switched to the brown colored Little N. I didn’t get a bite, not even a single nibble. I managed to catch a few fish on the fire tiger pattern. My partner only had plastic lures so he dug out chartreuse colored shad baits and started catching fish also. Color was the biggest factor during that trip. I used that chartreuse colored lure with great success all over Spain and in South Dakota. None of my other Norman lures have produced like “Rocky”. My fishing buddies nick named my lure cause with my poor casting skills my lure was just as apt to crash into rocks on the bank or trees as it was to land on the water but it never cracked and the bill remained in tack.
It has been 26 years since I first tried out those Norman lures. Just like anything else, things change, often driven by the bottom line. Companies want to make a profit so they look for ways to cut costs and increase revenue, which normally means using cheaper materials or processes and that translates into poor quality for the consumer. Just my thoughts.

Try to enjoy the sport we all love so well.
Tight lines,
gonfishin

P.S. My casting skills have improved some since those days.

Posted By gonfishin on 19 Mar 2011 10:26 PM
March 19, 2011 Norman Lures

Hello Fellow club members. When I paid off my B.A.S.S. Life membership dues I received a set of lures valued at $75.00 at the time, the summer of 1985. The only 3 lures I remember were Norman Little N Deep Divers. One was solid brown, one had a fire tiger paint scheme and the third one had a chartreuse body and belly with a black back. Almost all of the fish I caught in a two week period were caught on the chanteuse colored bait. On a hunch I switched to the brown colored Little N. I didn’t get a bite, not even a single nibble. I managed to catch a few fish on the fire tiger pattern. My partner only had plastic lures so he dug out chartreuse colored shad baits and started catching fish also. Color was the biggest factor during that trip. I used that chartreuse colored lure with great success all over Spain and in South Dakota. None of my other Norman lures have produced like “Rocky”. My fishing buddies nick named my lure cause with my poor casting skills my lure was just as apt to crash into rocks on the bank or trees as it was to land on the water but it never cracked and the bill remained in tack.
It has been 26 years since I first tried out those Norman lures. Just like anything else, things change, often driven by the bottom line. Companies want to make a profit so they look for ways to cut costs and increase revenue, which normally means using cheaper materials or processes and that translates into poor quality for the consumer. Just my thoughts.

Try to enjoy the sport we all love so well.
Tight lines,
gonfishin

P.S. My casting skills have improved some since those days.

Thanks for the input gonfishin! Cool story. The colors you mentioned seem to be good at catching bass despite the lure. Chartreuse will always be productive when it comes bass. But who really knows how much Norman Lures have changed in quality in 25 years.

Hey CQ, that junk Norman crank you bought was probably just a dud, I've got a few Little N's and they work good. The deal on crankbaits doesn't have as much to do with the name on the side as the way it vibrates. The way a crank FEELS to a fish is as important(maybe more) as the way it looks. They use their lateral line to pick up on them, and one lure might trigger way more strikes than another, even if they're the same brand. Now stick with me here...this is where it gets good. You know those cheap lures we all hate? Well guess what, their inconsistency is perceived as variety in the menu to fish. The tough part is weeding through a bunch to find that golden one, but believe me, ITS WORTH IT! I've got one bargain basement crank that won't swim strait no matter what I do with it, but as it staggers and veers from one side to the other, it draws bass like a turd draws flies!