“Hey, what happened to your lip Mr. Hawg?” I asked. “I don’t want to talk about it,” Hawg responded rubbing his lower lip gently against the tree limb,” and you had better stay away from anything that looks like a real crawfish or shad today.” Hawg’s demeanor was quickly sinking lower than his bottom lip. “All I did was go out for a quick snack and ended up in this guy’s boat going to a tournament weigh-in,” said Hawg. I knew what he was experiencing. It happened to me the other weekend. What I thought was a crawfish turned out to be a YUM Wooly Bug and off to the weigh-in I went. “I thought we only had to worry about soft plastic with that new YUM F2 scent?” I replied. “Not now, when I was up in the guy’s boat I saw a whole bunch of these new lures on his rods,” Hawg continued, “with a lot of new color patterns then I overheard him tell his fishing buddy that XCalibur Lures has 3 different size models to pick from.” “What else did you hear?” I eagerly asked. “Well, the guy that caught me called the lure a Square Lip after that I went up on stage to get my picture taken with him,” Hawg went on, “now don’t get me wrong, I like to have my picture taken, but not with a guy that just busted my lip.”

Apparently, bass aren’t the only ones excited about the new XCalibur Square Lip (www.lurenet.com) shallow running crankbaits. Bassmaster Elite Series Alton Jones is also excited about the new XCalibur Square Lip Crankbait. “What really makes this an exciting lure is it can catch fish any time of year. The Square Lip is not just a seasonal lure that anglers use just in the spring, summer, or fall,” said Jones. Jones also pointed out that there was 3 things anglers should look at when fishing a Square Lip. “I consider 3 things when fishing with an XCalibur Square Lip; the size, color, and speed of retrieve. As for size, I like to match the hatch in most situations, but not always. There are certain times when bass like a bigger bait or smaller one. You just have to experiment to find out what they want that day. The XCalibur Square Lip comes in 3 sizes and I like them all; the Xcs 100 is 2-inches long and is the smallest one, next is the Xcs 200 and that's 2-3/4-inches long and the Xcs 300 that's 3-inches long. Which color really depends on what forage the bass are feeding on. I like to use shad patterns when they are feeding on baitfish and crawdad patterns when bass are feeding actively on crawfish. What speed I retrieve an XCalibur Square Lip depends on the attitude of the bass that day. Some days you can’t reel fast enough while other days a stop and go cadence works better. One technique I like to do is burning it back fast around rocky banks, bluff walls, or riprap. This works best when the water temperature is around 45 degrees. One thing to keep in mind is this technique doesn’t work around wood,” said Jones. Jones likes to fish Square Lips around visible cover using 14-pound Silver Thread Fluorocarbon fishing line. His favorite color is Smallmouth Green. “It’s really not a smallmouth color pattern, but a crawfish looking pattern; it’s a fish catching machine,” said Jones. After Smallmouth Green, Jones likes Citrus Shad and Rayburn Red especially in cold water.

XCalibur Square Lips are effective crankbaits because of the wide wobbling action and broad lip that deflects the lure off cover; in fact hitting cover like wood will make it ricochet off it. In general, XCalibur Square Lips are shallow water lures made to probe cover like wood, aquatic vegetation, and rocks. Do they catch fish? Just ask Mr. Hawg and check out his fat lip.