After seeing how highly regarded Xcalibur rattle baits were on this and a few other sites, I grabbed a few. At high retrieve speeds everything is fine, but these baits don't seem to swim very well when I slow them down to a slow but consistent retrieve. I know that below a certain point, no rattle bait will swim but this same speed seems OK on my Red Eye Shads and Aruku Shad.

Anyone else have this same issue, or could I possibly have gotten a few bum baits?

Well, I can't really tell. The Xr50 Chrome & Blue has been my most effective lipless crank,

but I don't "work it" at all. With this particular lure it's rip and retrieve only. For stop and go

or yo-yo, nothing works like the Red Eyed Shad. Two completely different lures as far as

I am concerned.

I fish an Xcalibur one knocker very slowly at times, just ticking it over the weeds, slowly at least for a rattle bait. I have a ton of their rattlers and have never had a problem with any of them.