Ever heard of a Leland’s Lures Loc N’ Knoc? Well if you’ve fished much, you know hanging up baits is just a part of bass fishing. It’s actually a necessary evil in some ways. The way my dad puts it, “If you’re not getting hung sometimes, you’re probably not throwing where the fish are.” Bass hang tight to cover. Baits hang on cover. It’s just part of it.
And while there are multiple ways to get your bait unhung, a lure knocker is arguably the most effective for baits that are hung in more than 8 feet of water. When you can’t quite reach your stuck bait to try to poke it off with your rod tip, lure knockers quickly become the next (and often last) resort. And a good lure knocker is an even better first choice in rocky or otherwise hard cover situations that could damage your rod tip.
But what is a lure knocker? And more so, what constitutes a good one? Let’s talk more about that in today’s review of the Leland’s Lures Loc N Knoc Lure Retriever.
WHAT IS A LURE KNOCKER
A lure knocker, also often referred to as a plug knocker, consists of some sort of weight that can be attached to your line and lowered to a hung bait in an attempt to use the weight to dislodge the bill, wire, head or hook(s), of the lure from the cover. Lure knockers come in a variety of shapes and sizes and have various ways of attaching to the fishing line. You can even make your own, as I often have, by following this guide.
WHAT MAKES THE LOC N KNOC DIFFERENT
I’ve seen lure knockers made from old spark plugs, big catfish weights and other materials, but they have all used a metal clip to attach to the fishing. And while this has proved serviceable in most settings, there have been times where I’m fairly certain the metal clips have tangled up with the hooks of a hung bait or perhaps the ends of the metal wires have even scuffed the line. In both cases, the bait and lure knocker were lost to the depths.
What makes the Loc N Knoc different is the way that it attaches to the line. Using a twisting motion, you can open a cavity that runs the length of the lure knocker. Slip your line inside that crack and then twist it back shut. This all but eliminates any risk of damage to your fluorocarbon, monofilament or braid as the extremely slick and smooth plastic slides down your line. A genius design element in itself. But the shape is better too.
DESIGN OF THE LOC N KNOC
The shape of this lure knocker, paired with how it attaches to the line, gives you the best chance I’ve come across of getting your lure back. When a bait is hung shallow, you can usually free it by reeling your rod tip down to the bait and poking it undone. This works so well because it offers a straight push in the direction from which the bait came into contact with the cover. That’s exactly what the Loc N Knoc offers, only in much deeper water.
Other plug knockers that clip onto your line work well a lot of times, but they can also pull the line down and hang it up in the limbs and rocks. There’s more of a risk of that simply because the weight is off to the side of your line and not inline with it. It’s kind of like if you took your rod tip, reeled down to the bait, and then let out 3 or 4 inches of line before trying to poke it undone. That would be far less effective than the straight-line approach of reeling your rod tip all the way to the bait— which is more similar to what the Loc N Knoc offers.
HOW TO USE THE LOC N KNOC
To use this product to dislodge a stuck bait, move directly over your lure and attach the Loc N Knoc to your line with the plastic knob up. Drop the lure knocker straight down on a tight line, being prepared to allow about 6- inches of slack in your line when the knocker makes contact with the bait. Pick back up on your line to see if the bait is free. If it is, reel the lure and lure knocker in. If the bait didn’t come free on the initial drop, try bobbing the weight up and down, never allowing more than a foot of slack to prevent the line from tangling in the hooks or becoming damaged by the cover.
I’ve used this product multiple times already to get unhung over the last month or so. I haven’t lost a bait while using it yet, and it has dislodged the bait each time on the initial drop. It’s easy to keep one in my pocket while cranking, so that I’m always ready to attach it to my line and drop it quickly.
The Leland’s Lures Loc N Knoc Lure Retrievers come three to a pack for $8.99. This is an easy product for me to recommend, since, for basically three bucks for one of these, you could recover dozens if not hundreds of dollars in hung lures. I’ve used a lot of lure knockers over the years, built my own too, this is the best product like this that I’ve ever seen.
