I have been a big fan of the original Megabass Magdraft with its belly treble that was held in place by a magnet. It’s a very effective swimbait that gets bit. But it is limited when you wanted to skip it under docks or fish it around cover. A lot of anglers, like me, were cutting the magnetic harness out and using Mend-It to seal the bait up and then rigging it on a screwlock weighted swimbait hook. That allowed me to skip the bait around cover and not worry with a treble hook catching on anything I couldn’t see under the water.
Now Megabass offers the Magdraft Freestyle, an unrigged version of the original Magdraft. And they come in a two-pack. So you get two durable 6-inch swimbaits for around $12.
Rigs nicely on a weighted hook
The Megabass Magdraft Freestyle has the same great swim of the original but gives you two more rigging options for use on a screw-lock weighted swimbait hook or a swimbait jighead. I’ve fished the Megdraft Freestyle on both, and it definitely swims good and catches fish on both rigs.
But the real allure to me is being able to rig it weedless. The formulation of this plastic is a little more dense that gives it weight, rigidity for rigging without sacrificing its action. That’s not an easy thing to get right in a soft swimbait.
Nose is one of the best at holding spring lock
One of the things that I’ve always loved about the Magdraft swimbaits is how dense the nose is. That just makes for a better swimming swimbait but most importantly it holds a hook so much better. Whether its a jighead or a swimbait hook, you can catch fish after fish without worrying if the bait is going to tear off at the nose. Unlike the back of a swimbait, when the nose gets tore up, it can be very difficult to get it to rig right again even after gluing, melting, or Mending it with Mend-It.
That’s probably my favorite attribute of this new Freestyle Swimbait. The nose does not tear up easily.
Belly slot holds hook well
The belly of the Magdraft Freestyle balances this swimbait very well. It keeps the weight on a weighted hook from shifting which will cause a swimbait to turn up on its side and not swim right. This belly slot keeps your hook in line well again largely because of the plastic formulation.
It also doesn’t compromise the bait on a jighead which is an added bonus. I’m a big believer in having options to change your presentations. When I’m shallow around cover I want a weighted hook. When I’m fishing it on channel breaks and deep structure I want a jighead. And when I’m just fishing the middle of the water column in open water, I want the original Magdraft.
Swims great on a weighted hook
The Magdraft Freestyle has the same hard tail thumping action and head shake of the original which is what made this such a popular swimbait. The snub nose design gives it a great profile and swim, even when it contacts an object. It doesn’t roll over. It will turn and return to upright quickly so you get a lot of swimming action in cover.
Good color selection
My favorite colors in the Megabass Magdraft Freestyle are Silver Shad, Albino Pearl Shad, White Back Shad and Brownie.
Has a good hookup ratio
The most important thing to me on a weighted hook swimbait is whether or not you can stick fish. I personally prefer a jighead first, then a belly treble and a weighted hook last in order of which I think hooks bass the best. But I’ve been very happy with this swimbait.
I’ve caught several 3 and 4-pound bass this year on Magdraft Freestyle with a weighted swimbait hook. I prefer an 8/0 and the bass have had no problem getting hooked which says a lot when a 6-inch swimbait can get completely engulfed and hook a fish as small as 3 pounds.
I also like that Mend-It gets this swimbait back to new as does a hot iron melting the plastic back. The part of this swimbait that will tear is the back mostly when a fish thrashes on the surface. Try to keep the fish down as much as possible or tighten up where they don’t have the space to thrash back and forth. That is where your bait gets torn up. But I’ve Mended the handful of Freestyles I was able to get before their first shipment sold out.
They are completely restocked now so you can find the Megabass Freestyle swimbaits at Tackle Warehouse, Discount Tackle and other fishing tackle retailers that carry Megabass bass fishing lures.
