Q. What made you come up with the concept for the Lucky Craft BDS Marty 1.2? |
Stone: Lucky Craft has a lot of great crankbaits, but I felt like we were missing one particular niche – an extremely small bait that can cast very well. To come up with the Marty 1.2, I combined characteristics from baits such as the old B-2 and the Crappie Crank with characteristics Lucky Craft uses when making baits, such as castability, weight systems and small profiles. I added a square bill, much like the other members of the BDS family and the RC series. The Marty 1.2 has a very slender profile, runs true and casts like a rock, which is unheard of with a bait this size. As with all Lucky Craft baits, the Marty 1.2 runs true straight out of the package. |
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Q. What makes it different from the other crankbaits in the BDS series? |
Stone: The BDS series includes crankbaits with a bigger profile. Even the BDS 1 is a fat-bodied bait. The Marty 1.2 is very slender and looks almost like a small, scaled down version of the BDS 3, which, until the development of the Marty 1.2, was the most slender crankbait in the series. It also has a slender tail, giving the bait a good side to side wobble. The Marty 1.2 has a unique action not seen in any other crankbaits of this size and profile. It’s smaller, but can cast a great distance on bait-casting gear, and that’s what I wanted. We hit this one dead on the money. |
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Q. How would you work this bait and in what conditions? |
Stone: This bait is all about cover – lay downs, rock, wood, etc. The Marty 1.2 is a very target-oriented bait. It’s ideal in early spring and summertime in the backs of creeks, and in the fall when the fish get in the backs of creeks on mud flats. The fish are keying on really small baitfish and this bait works really well. It casts very well, which allows you to be very specific with your target. In the fall, when the fish get back on the flats, you have to be able to throw this bait a long way and bring it back at a very rapid pace. The weighted system allows me to do just that. Also, by bringing it back at such a fast pace, I can mimic shad running in the fall and generate strikes. So basically I’m looking at targets or fish roaming the flats. |
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Q. Where in the water column does the Marty 1.2 run (how deep)? |
Stone: It all depends on the line size you’re using, but I can put it on 10 – 12 pound test and I can get it to run at about three to five feet. It really runs deeper than most people would imagine for being as small as it is and having such a shallow bill. I can even throw the Marty 1.2 on 15-pound test, keep my rod high and get it to run around two to three feet. It can reach different depths, but can definitely go deeper than most baits its size. |
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Q. How do the fish react to the different ways you can work this bait? |
Stone: This is a bait the fish don’t see very often. They don’t see anything with such a small profile that can get as deep as it does while maintaining the ability to run so true. I’ve been able to generate strikes behind other anglers, or use another bait and follow behind myself. For example, if I’m on a good spinnerbait bite catching some nice fish, but feel like there are more in there, the Marty 1.2 is what I will pick up to go back through and fish the same water again. It’s a bait the fish haven’t really seen. There are some other small crankbaits out there, but most of them don’t cast well and you aren’t able to get the bait close enough to cover to generate strikes. |
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Q. What other tackle would you use when throwing the 1.2 – i.e. rod, line, etc.? |
Stone: I’m throwing the Marty 1.2 on a seven-foot American Rodsmith (1 Series), because it has a very fast tip, meaning it gives a lot and is designed to handle small baits. I’m also using a 5:2:1 gear ratio reel and, depending on cover, 10 – 15 pound green monofilament. I personally like throwing all my moving baits – crankbaits, spinnerbaits, etc. – on monofilament because it can give a little bit. When the fish bites, my rod lets the fish load up and my line gives the fish an extra half a second to inhale the bait a little bit deeper, giving me truer hook-ups. |
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Q. Did you throw the Marty 1.2 in any tournaments this year and did it work like you thought it would? |
Stone: I found the fish I caught on the Potomac on the Marty 1.2. It eventually turned into a flipping bite mid-way through the tournament, but I did catch some fish in the tournament on the 1.2. However, it was one of the best practices I’ve ever had because of the conditions and the bait. I have played around with it a lot at home and I am sure we will have some tournaments where this plug will dominate. |
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Q. In your opinion, what are the best colors to use when throwing the Marty 1.2? |
Stone: Right now, I’m stuck on the Chartreuse Rootbeer and Original Tennessee Shad. The translucent colors, like Japan Craw and Ghost Minnow are my favorites on bright, sunny days. On cloudy, overcast days with dirty water, I usually go for more solid colors. Of all the eight colors we have, there will definitely be time and place for all of them. |
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052 |
077 |
112 |
238 |
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Aurora Black |
Original Tennessee Shad |
Chartreuse Rootbeer |
Ghost Minnow |
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250 |
270 |
286 |
299 |
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Chartreuse Shad |
MS American Shad |
Mad Craw |
Japan Craw |
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Q. How does it fit into Lucky Craft product arsenal? |
Stone: As a part of the overall system, the Marty 1.2 was the missing link. We have so many good wide-bodied crankbaits, but we’ve never had a small, streamlined version. It’s another piece to the puzzle. It definitely doesn’t replace anything, but it is a great new addition and makes the whole BDS series even better. The best thing you can do when crankbait fishing is choose a family of baits, such as the BDS series, and learn that particular family. Lucky Craft is one of very few companies that has a series of crankbaits that will run from zero to 25 feet, covering every depth range. Once you master a family of baits, you will become a much better crankbait fisherman. |
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