My favorite square bill crankbait on the market right now is the SH-3 from Evergreen and I haven’t seen too many other people mention it so I figured I’d write a review about it and explain why I like this thing so much. I also want to mention that as of now I am not affiliated with or sponsored by Evergreen or anything like that, so anything I say about this lure is being said because that’s how I feel. Ok now that we’ve got the disclaimer out of the way let’s get into the lure itself.
The main thing I like about this lure the most is the casting distance I get with it. If I am throwing a square bill crankbait oftentimes it’s when I’m doing so from the bank and this thing has better casting distance than any other crankbait that I’ve tried in recent memory. I imagine the weight transfer system that they’ve included with it is part of the reason for that, but regardless of why I can tell you for a fact that this thing is easy to use on a baitcasting setup and you will be able to throw one of these a long way if you decide to pick one up.
Another thing this lure has that I really like is a solid hard knock sound profile to it. These days it seems like most crankbaits are either really loud or completely silent and I personally prefer a sound profile that falls somewhere in the middle…and if you haven’t already noticed this is why I use lures like the DRS version of the Lucky Craft LV 500 and the hard knock version of the Strike King 6XD.
Another benefit to this lure is the colors that are available. In my case for square bills I like a clear color like ghost minnow, a shad color and a chrome color. This lure is available in all three of those options and you can find the ones that I use in the summary section below. Long story short, if it’s clear throw the ghost version, if it’s a little windy and the water has some stain to it and it’s sunny or partly cloudy throw the chrome one and otherwise go with the shad one.
Finally, and this is mostly a personal preference the rings that hold the hooks on this lure are aligned in a way that you can swap out the trebles with single hooks. I like to do this on all of my lures for a lot of reasons, and if you want to know more about that you can read my post on it here. There are actually some crankbaits out there from brands like Lucky Craft and Megabass and OSP where the rings are turned sideways and these won’t work well if you want to swap out to single hooks. If not all three of those brands make good crankbaits too but if you are interesting in swapping treble hooks for single hooks make sure you pay attention to that.
One last thing that I will say about this lure is it has a wide wobble. So if you are looking for a subtle lure you might want to consider a flat side crankbait, but in my case I’m usually on a large body of water when I’m throwing a square bill and so I want more of a wobble and some sound to it for the added drawing power.
The only drawback that I can think of to this lure is the price. It is a JDM lure and as a result it does cost more than some of the domestic options available. Having said that there are definitely times when you are going to get what you pay for and I think this lure is a great value based on what it provides and so the cost is worth it for me. I’ll also mention that there are times when you can find these on sale and I usually like to buy a few of them when that happens.
Tackle Summary
Product: Evergreen SH-3 Crankbait
Category: Square Bill Crankbait
Length: 2.75″
Weight: 11/16 oz
Suggested Colors: Cold Shad, Big Bite Shad, Ghost Green Gizzard
