Blakemore Roadrunner

Blakemore Roadrunner 

©Copyright 2007 by Brice Sanchez

As the smooth water ripples from just under the surface, the hooked large mouth bass takes a nosedive, strips about a foot of line from the ultra light reel, turns his head and swims straight towards me.  Quickly reeling in the slack I play him.  He catches a glimpse of me and makes one more run that culminates in a nice aerial show.  He pulls a bit more and tires. Easing him to the bank and grabbing his bottom lip tightly he is hoisted up.  “Good fish for this part of the lake” I say to myself.  Hurriedly snapping his picture, putting him on a hand scale and releasing him into the water he swims away after a bit of a hesitation.  I felt relieved that he made it through the entire ordeal seemingly unharmed.

 

This four pound Large Mouth Bass was lurking next to the bulk head and fell to a slow rolling Roadrunner in three feet of water.

 

The Tournament 

Another quality fish produced by a Blakemore Roadrunner is ready to be entered into the TXFISHES.COM Roadrunner tournament.  This tournament provided a great opportunity to experiment with a spinner bait known for its versatility.  Though modest in scope this tournament is great fun for anyone who enjoys fishing with just a bit of competition thrown in for good measure.  It tests the skills of all entered anglers while limiting the lure selection to just one, the Blakemore Roadrunner.

First Impressions 

This little lure is extremely versatile and catches a lot of different species of fish as evidenced from the photo gallery on the TXFISHES.COM website.  Though using spinner baits may not be a preferred method for all anglers, it is one of the most productive techniques for catching numbers and size of fish and should be part of all fishermen’s arsenal.  The Blakemore Roadrunner is no exception and may become one of your best friends especially when the fishing conditions become tough and bites become far and few between.

 

Utilizing a bulk pack these lures have been rigged with various action and color bodies.

 

 

Since 1958 Blakemore has been manufacturing these lures in a variety of colors and has several variations including the marabou, curly tail, buck tail and others. These spinner baits can be fished by jigging, trolling or casting.  I’ve bounced them off the bottom, used start and stop retrieves, burned them by boat docks and jigged deep tree structure with good success. Not only does it catch large mouth bass but white bass, crappie, gar, cat -fish, carp and other species.  The lure is basically constructed with two parts; the spinner and the body. The spinner portion of the lure produces flash and vibrations and doesn’t tangle easily with the fishing line.  (Notice how the spinner portion is on the bottom of the lure which attracts the fish as they look up towards the surface). The body of the lure can be rigged with just about any soft plastic available including grubs, worms, flukes, paddle tails and crappie jigs.  Being able to change presentation with out having to stop to retie a different lure is a very efficient use of precious time on the water.  Changing colors is easy as you only have to remove the body of the lure and slide on your new color or action selection.

 

 

This Rio Grande Chichlid was caught with a cane pole on a White/chartusese Roadrunner.

 

The curly tail grubs are deadly on pan fish and the Marabou worked well for at least three species of bass including white, large mouth and spotted as well as crappie. Jigging the Roadrunner with 3” senko type baits produced very well during the hot summer month of August in the deeper water of a local reservoir. Slow rolling it along a bulk head produced several sun fish (that always put up a great battle) and a four pound large mouth on ultra light gear. However, I found fishing it like a jig seems to be the most effective technique for landing numbers of fish. Like the package says “You can’t fish it to slow”.  

 

Blakemore also offers the Roadrunner heads in bulk ranging in size from 1/16oz to 1/4oz. These are great options especially if you all ready have an investment in crappie jigs or bass jig trailers.  Since it has an exposed hook it does snag on structure so keep plenty on hand when fishing these areas. Or use extra strong line so you can pull the lures free from snags.  Though using ultra light gear I recently spooled some 50lb braid on my reel and I haven’t lost a Roadrunner since.  If I manage to straighten the hook out while pulling through brush I just use my pliers and bend it back into shape and start working it again.

Conclusion 

The Roadrunner is a great all around lure that consistently produces various species of fish.  It’s flexible in presentation techniques, generates a lot of action, easy to change body styles and colors on the fly and it’s affordable.

 

* I have no affiliation with Lake Fork Trophy Bait & Tackle or any other company or publication. All information provided is of my personal opinion and should be interpreted as such. Not responsible for any action anyone would take based on this article. Form your own opinion and do your own thing.