Breakdown

Performance: 8

Featuring a body that measures just two inches in length, the Evergreen Wild Hunch 5 Crankbait has a very compact profile complemented by a long lip that’s painted or unpainted depending on the color scheme. Designed with a line tie set away from the body further down the lip, the bait is engineered to run flatter through the water, giving it a more natural profile and making it a great crankbait for casting from the shoreline. Speaking of casting, the Wild Hunch 5 weighs 5/16 of an ounce and casts great despite its reduced size.      

The Wild Hunch 5 exhibits a distinctly precise vibration and tracks straight as an arrow through open water, even when burned at high speed on a 7.4:1 reel. Made to dive quickly and recommended for use on lines up to 20-pound test, one Tackle Warehouse tester reported no problems fishing the bait on 40-pound braid with an 18-pound fluorocarbon leader. The same tester also noted how he made multiple casts with the Wild Hunch 5 across a large area of shallow, fallen wood and was able to finesse the bait over several trunks and numerous branches without ever solidly snagging the bait. The long bill also helps the hooks resist snagging while also giving the bait a sharp and erratic deflection off cover.

The stock hooks on the Wild Hunch 5 are the definition of sticky sharp. Armed with a slightly smaller hook in the front compared to the back, both trebles are incredibly precise for supremely efficient hookups right out of the package. To help reduce snags, the front hook hanger is also slightly recessed into the body to keep the front treble a bit closer to the belly on the retrieve.

Durability: 7.5

After mainly testing the Wild Hunch 5 while fishing around rock and wood, we never experienced any major failures or abnormal wear. Other than the typical dings and scrapes that any crankbait exhibits after fishing through high-percentage areas, durability was about as expected.

Value: 6

The Wild Hunch 5 oozes quality, but the cost of $17.99 will likely be hard for some anglers to justify. However, that price still comes in less than a number of other ultra-premium squarebills and comparable long-billed shallow cranks, including the OSP Blitz Magnum SR ($29.99), Nories Shot Omega Big 62 ($26.99), Deps Evoke 1.8 ($22.99), and OSP Rattlin’ Blitz Max ($24.99). Although there are numerous shallow cranks priced lower, we view the Evergreen Wild Hunch 5 as a fair value considering its level of refinement.

Utility: 6.5

Compared to the versatility of other shallow-water offerings like swimbaits, spinnerbaits, and Texas-rigged plastics, the Wild Hunch 5 definitely has more specific usage and lacks the extreme weedlessness of some other bait styles. Compact and void of any internal rattles, we view the Wild Hunch 5 as leaning more into the finesse-crankbait side, as it doesn’t produce immense noise and ruckus like other cranks. 

With that said, the bait’s less-rowdy presence helps give it a distinct edge when targeting highly pressured bass or fishing in quieter, cleaner conditions. With a price that slots between the popular Spro RKCrawler 50 ($15.29) and OSP Blitz Dr ($20.00), The Wild Hunch 5 makes a viable premium alternative to these and other cover-friendly crankbaits. Ideally, we would reach for this crank when fishing rock and cover in lightly to moderately stained water in both calm and breezy conditions.

Final Thoughts

Small in size but big in quality, the Evergreen Wild Hunch 5 Crankbait thoroughly impressed us with its exquisite paint schemes, precise action, excellent components, and ability to traverse cover. While it’s impossible to proclaim this as the very “best” crankbait at its price point, we all agree the Evergreen Wild Hunch 5 is definitely an above-average bait and worth the added cost.

Breakdown Summary