I've bought a few things from Academy. Mostly just their rods. Have yall found any of their lures or other gear that is worth buying over name brand stuff? How do their lures run?

I know their H20 small frog baits are really good.

I bought a few of their crankbaits both square bill and the 7-8 ft divers. They seem to be okay but I can't bring myself throw them when I have better ones right next to them.

The squarebill crankbaits are good. I hate to buy any Shina stuff, but they are up to speed, and a lot cheaper than the highly promoted stuff by the pros.(but I have some of that too!)

The H2O cranks/topwaters are Great!! Paint jobs, split rings look like any high dollar lure(they use the oval shaped one in front which is almost a Strike King exclusive or used to be). Hooks are sharp, have heard others swap em out. They run straight and I haven't had any issues with them. Best part is they go on sale like all the time so nothing like getting a lure for $2 that I can't tell a difference from the $12 lure in the box! They have the "8.0" but cheaper and it catches fish. Just saw their version of the "live target sunfish walking bait" for $6!! Threw it yesterday and it looked just like the LT bait in the water!

Picked up some braided line a few days ago but haven't spooled it on yet. Cheaper than other brands for sure. I dunno give em a try!

I like their stuff. Their reels are great, and if you swap the rings and hooks on their hard-baits they work better. Although they will catch fish as is.

I love the square bills and other hard baits. They run true and have good paint on them. I like the hooks, some of the topwater baits have really light hooks but ive never had a fish straighten one out. I change out all the split rings, they seem ok but every knot I tie the kine wants to go in between the split ring. It may not be a big deal some but that drive me insane. Other than the split rings I love the baits.

cephusjoe- man I love the oval ones! almost impossible to tie "in the split". what knot do you use? I try to change out my other lures that have circle ones to the ones with ovals!!

cephusjoe- man I love the oval ones! almost impossible to tie "in the split". what knot do you use? I try to change out my other lures that have circle ones to the ones with ovals!!

I use a polomar and uni, I like the oval shape. Its just the some of the split rings have gaps in them allowing the knot into the ring.

Only use one color of their crankbait. Tremendous success with it. They have stopped making it so I have found some from another source and bought as many as I could.

The small sunfish swimbaits work well also. They come with VMC hooks but I change them to Gammy's.

I use the H2O square bills, crank baits and lipless crank baits. They run true and are reasonably prices. Try the diamond dust which is an all around great color.

Rods and baits are great. Heck the pop r looking model kicks my Yellow majics butt every time I compare them for a 1/4 of the price.

I like the CRS+, CRM, and CRS.....But Wait, their stupid web site changed a bunch of their names OR discontinued them. I questioned them about this but I haven't quite sorted it out from their answers yet.