Yo, what’s up Fat John?” Little John squeaked.  “Nothin’ Little John, but I got to tell you and all your little homies; I am not just a bigger Little John!” replied Fat John.  “Hey, I did; I mean you the man when it comes to square bills,” counters Little John.  “Keep up those smart aleck remarks and I will give you a fat lip like me!” insisted Fat John.  “Hey, you the man when it comes to shallow water cranking, really bro!” replies Little John.  Can you feel the love?  Well, it’s not your typical family for sure.  You see it’s, SPRO’s Little John family of crankbaits.  They have a tendency to be a little cranky.  Who wouldn’t, I mean being run into rocks, brush, retaining walls, ledges, stumps, humps, creek channels, mussel shoals, and other hard objects tends to make a lure cranky.

Crankbaits come in a number of different styles, shapes, and colors.  Every tackle store has walls and walls of this forage imitating lures hanging from pegs.  Although several characteristics are similar in all crankbaits, not all crankbaits run or react alike.  For example, custom handmade balsa wood baits cast and react different when retrieved compared to crankbaits made from plastic.  Plastic crankbaits can be made in a variety of shapes, sizes, textures, and color patterns; in fact, the numbers of ways are limited to only the Lure Company or pro staff creativity.
While a number of companies employ their own Research and Development Department to come up with new ideas for lures or lure colors, SPRO (www.spro.com) listens to their talented pro staff for input on designing lures that catch fish and anglers want.  One of SPRO’s pros is John Crews.  Crews’ is not your typical R/D guy.  Instead of sitting at a desk or searching the internet for ideas and trends in lures, Crews goes fishing and he is not your run of the mill angler.  Crews is a Bassmaster Elite Series Angler with over $619,977 in career winnings, been in four Bassmaster Classic Championships, and won one Bassmaster Elite Series Tournament last year.  It’s his input that makes the Little John Family of crankbaits one that anglers want to buy and fish love to bite.  His latest crankbait is the SPRO John Crews Signature Fat John 60 square bill crankbait.
“The Fat John 60 is a unique crankbait; I designed it for the times when I wanted a different bill angle, fatter, and longer bait, sometimes you just need big bulkier baits compared to the Little John.  The perfect situation to fish the Fat John is in off color water, in the back of creeks, or when an angler is targeting bigger fish,” explained Crews.  Besides the size difference between the Little John and Fat John, Fat John comes with #3 Gamakatsu treble hooks and runs in 1 to 3-feet of water.  Fat John also features a soft tungsten weight transfer system that allows for extra long casts similar to the other SPRO Little John family of lures.  “The Fat John can be bumped into cover when retrieved or it has a natural hunting action with a hard thumping action on a steady retrieve.  Normally, it will run on track then go 2-inches off center then return on track.  It has a computer chip board bill; this gives an angler a better feel when hitting cover and is more durable,” said Crews.  Nevertheless, looks are not everything, especially when you are talking about a crankbait.  It’s the action of the lure that separates crankbaits that catch fish and ones that look pretty.  “The Fat John is designed to come alive in the water when retrieved, it has a unique action,” explained Crews.

Can you feel the love?  It’s without a doubt not your typical family of crankbaits.  Yeah, they have a tendency to be a little cranky, but it’s just part of their disposition.  May be with a little love they could come around to having a more positive outlook, but I am guessing Crews and other anglers want them to stay just like they are…cranky.