The Best Selling Bass Lure in the World: Crush City Freeloader

Great design meets a trend in forward facing sonar and a major tournament win for a new best seller.

Crush City's Dan Quinn explains the science behind the Freeloader’s straight tail innovation. / Kurt Mazurek

Why the Crush City Freeloader is a Game-Changer for Anglers

I wouldn’t call it an accident, because I know months-to-years of planning and testing went into this bait. But a couple fortunate and random things happened at the right time which sent this very good bait into orbit as the best selling bait in the world.

Designed for Bladed Jigs and Spinnerbaits, Discovered to be Great for Shaking a Jig

The Crush City Freeloader was designed to be the best possible trailer for bladed jigs and spinnerbaits, which it is. But additional use and experimentation at a time when anglers were dialing in their approach with forward facing sonar, revealed the Freeloader worked perfectly on a jig for probing the middle parts of the water column and catching suspended bass.

Ready to fish—Crush City Freeloaders shine with their sleek design and natural fish catching colors. / Crush City

Dan Quinn, who was very involved in the development of this bait explained, “We designed it as a trailer for a chatter bait or spinner bait or things like that. But then this new technique of just rigging it on a on a jig head has taken the world by storm.”

“One of the cool features about this bait, is having a straight tail. The straight tail means that it doesn’t keel the bait, so it enhances the action and the hunting nature of the bait’s movement. If it had a more traditional tail on it, that would keel it (keep it running in a predictable, straight path).”

“In addition to that, it’s got a real wild, whippy action when it's on a jig head and you’re just
shaking your rod.”

“But the real key to this bait is the flat sides. And just as we do with some of our hard baits, I'm working with Finland where we make lures out of balsa. We have a lot of really talented lure designers. The flat sides enhance the rocking action. So as this bait’s being shaken on a jig, it's rocking and it's flashing. And this color, the gray and the white and the iridescence in there, make it an amazingly natural presentation. It's very subtle.”

Fish have a really hard time not biting the Freeloader’s natural rocking action. / Crush City

“I can tell you, fish have a really hard time, not biting it,” said Quinn.

Tournament-Winning Performance by Jacob Wheeler

Then Rapala Pro, Jacob Wheeler, won a Bass Pro Tour event on Lake Guntersville leaving no doubt about the effectiveness of this new bait. Sales have been through the roof ever since.

MLF Bass Pro Tour angler, Jacob Wheeler grabs another bass caught during his winning performance at Lake Guntersville using the Freeloader. / MLF | G. Dixon

So there’s the simple formula for producing the world’s best selling bait—make sure it’s incredibly well-designed, know that a huge new trend is developing in fishing, and get one of your pros to win a major tournament with it. Or you could skip all that and let Rapala/Crush City do the hard work while you just enjoy the benefits of their labor.

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