There are a lot of deep diving crankbaits on the market today and I have had the opportunity to throw many of them—some of which I heavily rely on. What often starts out as “tried and true†ends up turning into a resistance to evolve into the “newâ€.
With that in mind, I’ve been throwing the Livingston Lures Dive Master 20 lately and at first glance there was really nothing special about it—same body shape, same clear round bill, same two sets of sticky sharp treble hooks and similar-looking 3D eyes. Under closer examination, however, is when the magic came in.
- Intense wobbling action
- Casts very well
- Dives quickly
- Do the sounds and lights make a difference?
Vibrates your whole arm on the retrieve
The Livingston Lures Dive Master 20 has an extremely erratic hunting action throughout the retrieve. Regardless of my retrieve speed, I noticed a very wide wobble similar to that of a shallow squarebill crankbait.
Many deep crankbaits have a hard time running true when burned back to the boat, but I was very pleased with the Dive Master’s performance. I reeled it as fast as I could and it stayed on track and didn’t even come close to “spinning outâ€.
I’ve also found the Dive Master 20 to be very snag resistant, which is a huge deal for deep diving crankbaits. When I nicked treetops or brush piles with it, it kicked out very widely and came through the cover very well.
Easy to cast in all conditions
Long casts are essential when fishing deep crankbaits. If you have a deep diver that doesn’t cast well, you’re going to have a very hard time getting it down to your targeted depth range. Thankfully, Livingston Lures took notice of this because the Dive Master 20 casts like a champ.
The streamline profile casts well and dives quickly.
I’m a big believer of utilizing wind to my advantage and the Dive Master 20 allows me to do this very easily. Even when casting directly into a staunch wind, it doesn’t helicopter or spin in the air. Instead, it casts as straight as an arrow without catching a lot of wind. When rigged on my 7-foot, 8-inch St. Croix Big Cranker Casting Rod and a Lew’s BB-1 spooled with 12-pound Sunline Super Natural Monofilament, the Dive Master 20 is a dream to cast.
Gets down quickly
This crankbait gets down to where you need it—and quickly. Whenever I knock the Dive Master 20 into deep cover, it deflects nicely and begins diving immediately.
The efficient diving characteristics have been especially helpful for me lately. The bass in my home lake have been holding close to the bottom and the Dive Master has reached them without a problem. I’m able to employ a “stop-and-go†retrieve without any worry of my lure not reaching the bottom. With just a few cranks after an occasional pause, it’s dredging the bottom again.
There may be something to the lights and sounds
It’s important to understand that I’m not and never have been a “gimmick†angler. Oozing and blinking wingdings very rarely get much of a look from me. With that being said—hear me out on this one.
When I’m on a solid school of fish, I always change things up. I want to see if my success is due to the actual lure I’m using, the depth or other external factors. I recently ran across a gravel point stacked with not only bass, but hybrids and walleyes, too.
After catching a 6 1/2-pound bass, dozens of hybrids close to the 15-pound mark and a few smaller walleye with the Dive Master 20, I changed to a similar crankbait—same size and same color. The minute I changed crankbaits, the bite totally quit. I couldn’t even get one to sniff the other crankbait. As I started chunking the Dive Master 20 again, the bite turned red-hot.
Something about the Livingston Lures Dive Master 20 had to have been triggering these fish. Whether it was the pulsing lights behind the eyes or the sound it was emitting, I guess I’ll never know. But I will say, however, that this lure has caught fish for me when others failed.
If you’ve been curious Livingston Lures, I suggest trying a Dive Master 20. It’s been working wonders for me and I think it will catch a lot of fish for you, too. It’s available at LivingstonLures.com and retails for $11.99.
Talk about fun! The Dive Master 20 has been wearing out the big hybrids lately!
