Storm SuspenStrips Review

What the strips look like together.

I received a pack of Storm SuspenStrips for Christmas and have learned a lot about different uses for them and have really had fun tweaking some of my hardbaits. Basically, a SuspenStrip is a thin, 1-inch piece strip of zinc with one sticky side so you can stick it onto a crankbait or jerkbait to alter its action and diving depth.
They don’t weigh enough to affect casting distance, but they can make a bait suspend, or slowly sink.  At only $4.69, they are a relatively inexpensive way to improve a hardbait for certain conditions. They really do a good job of sticking to a bait, but they are only good for one stick, but again they come in a 70 pack. From my experiences with them, the two best ways to use them are to either put the strip on the nose or lip of the bait, or the back hook. Both work in certain conditions and they both affect the action, fall, and diving depth of baits.

Nose/Lip

Putting a Storm SuspenStrip on the nose or lip of a crakbait or jerkbait can make it dive a bit deeper and suspend/sink at a more nose down position. I have been putting them at the nose of some older jerkbaits, such as a Smithwick Rouge (picture above) so that it has the same nose down position that many jerkbaits today have. However, I am convinced that it causes jerkbaits to have a narrower wiggle, which can be a big plus during winter when shad are constantly dying and fluttering around.  I have also been using it on deep crankbaits like the Little John DD (picture above) to get a little extra depth on them. Another big plus is that you can get an otherwise floating crankbait to suspend, which is something most crankbaits won’t do. The only negative might be that if you put the strip behind the bill it would be visible to fish, but I’m not too worried about that, because it is only an inch of  a dull gray color.

Back Hook

 The other use that I’ve found good is wrapping a SuspenStrip around the back hook of a hardbait. This is mainly for jerkbaits, but it can be useful on crankbaits as well. Putting it on the back hook gives jerkbaits a wider and more erratic action, which should be better for spring months. When you pause your retrieve, a jerkbait will give out somewhat of “kick” from the back of the bait. When the bait is stopped, the bait will sit tail down, so I’d recommend fishing it on the back hook when you are fishing for active fish and need to use a fast retrieve with very short pauses. I haven’t done a much experimenting with putting a strip on the back hook of a crankbait, but I think that it works best on shallower crankbaits. They still give out the “kick” action when paused and stay at a tail down position when stopped. In my opinion, the best time to use a strip on the back hook of a crank would be on a squarebill when you want to cover water fast.

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