About a month ago I was looking for some whopper plopper 90's. Scheel's had the 90's for $14.99 and the larger one for $17.99. I see that BPS has them for $12.99. I figured, what the heck, I bought a 3 pack of plopper lookalikes on TEMU for a little over $6. They look like a whopper plopper, sound like a whopper plopper, and catch fish like a whopper plopper. I did upsize the hooks, but I do that on a brand name whopper plopper anyway.
Your thoughts. Would you, or do you buy the lookalikes or stick to the name brands.

I've bought look a likes when I felt like I was being duped by the OEM. When I realized that the knockoffs use inferior hardware, hooks, etc. I decided it wasn't worth the risk or cost to upgrade everything so I felt comfortable.

Exactly.

I bought some copy Chinese jackhammers and they were ok, some would wiggle great and some were sporadic and blew out while retrieving.

Tried some knockoff MegaBass 110's. I guess there's a reason they can charge what they do.

The academy brand square bills work just fine.

Underrated for sure.

I normally stay with the originals... Dan

Yes, they do. On a side note, I can't believe what stores are charging for hollow body frogs! There is nothing to them!

X3! More times than not cheaper “knock-offs” are not as good as the original. Often the phrase “you get what you pay for” proves to be true. I don’t know if I would call the Academy H2O brand “knock-offs” but rather just another brand of fishing lures. That said for many, many years I have found the H2O square bill crank baits to be easily the most productive squarebills I have used. None better for me. Neil

I try my best to not reward companies for knocking off others’ pproducts.

Its ABS plastic. They can clone the bait pretty much exactly but like has been mentioned the hardware will be inferior. Thinner wire and less expensive materials affect density which can affect action. That is less of an issue with top waters such as ploppers but can possibly be noticed with walking baits due to balance. Most definitely with jerkbaits and cranks. There are websites out there where you can buy these clones and all you need is an airbrush. The ploppers are like 3 bucks and some are dirt cheap in the 1-2 dollar range. Its a no brainer if you need dozens of ploppers but the cost of the paint and brush along with the accessories may outweigh the weekend warriors needs of a plopper or two in his box. Temu is probably the better choice for those trying to save a little but the hook upgrades need to be factored in. Split rings too. It all adds up.

I bought some mega bass 110 jerk baits look alikes and I did up grade the hooks paying attention to the suspending of the bait and they worked great. Paying attention to small details makes a big difference

I also use the Rage bug look alike and they work very well also

I buy a lot of Bass Pro look alike lures. The XPS stuff catches fish just as good as the brand name stuff. After buying a few square bills, top waters, and jerk baits I quickly realized I didn't have to spend in the neighborhood of $20 to catch fish, that same $20 could get me multiple lures that work just as well. I buy Strike King and Berkley lures as well, they aren't super pricey either.