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Osprey Tournament Talon - 6"

Full review coming soon.

Average Rating out of 1 voters
Tag( B'ham, WA) Dec 12, 2007
Tournament Talon
Here are a few of my observations after testing the Tournament Talon last weekend.

First off, great looking bait. As Rob mentioned, nice clean pour and good quality hook. The hook also appears to have the right sized gap for this bait. I would imagine the bite/hook/land ratio will be pretty decent on this lure. The Talon features good eyes and a realistic profile with the fins. There is an eye located on the belly for a stinger hook if necessary. There is a nice color selection currently available at Tackle Warehouse. $18.00 seems to be a fair price for this bait. It feels durable but I will have to wait and see how it holds up during battle.

I was impressed when I saw this lure in the water. I would describe the action of the Tournament Talon as lively. Very similar to the action of the Baby "E". In comparison, the Hudd, ABT Wag Tail and Baitsmith all have a subtle tail kick while the body remains relatively still. The body of the Talon gets more involved and the tail kick is more aggressive. Because of this I see the Talon being a better option than those three in off colored water.

The Talon sinks quickly and has a good looking tail kick on the way down. You will be able to retrieve this lure fairly quickly and still maintain good running depth. I think the Talon will be an excellent tool for covering water. One problem you will encounter is when trying to slow roll the bait. Because the Talon is heavily weighted in the head it will have a tendency to nose down and the tail will not kick at all if you retrieve the lure too slowly. This is just the nature of the beast with soft plastic swimbaits that feature no additional flotation. If you require a slow presentation you will be better off throwing a Wag Tail, Baitsmith or Hudd.

Looking at the size of this bait I expect the Talon to get a good number of bites and offer some big fish potential as well. It isn't the most realistic looking swimbait on the market but I believe this will be a very solid fish catcher.
 
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