If you fish deep lakes, river pools or fast water you owe it to yourself to try the Mepps® XD® (Xtra Deep). Mepps didn't invent the shaft-through-the-blade spinner, we perfected it.
Awhile back we took a hard look at deep-running spinners. We were looking for a lure that would hold up to the toughest fishing pressure. The Mepps Aglia Long® runs deep and there's no doubt it's very effective, but we were looking for something that would "hug" the bottom regardless of the water depth or the speed of the retrieve.
Early research showed us it isn't hard to create a lead-bodied shaft-through-the-blade spinner that will stay deep, but lead-bodied spinners don't stand-up to the rigors of every-day fishing. They're also not environmentally friendly. Break one off and you're leaving a chunk of lead in the bottom of the lake or stream, and there's a growing number of anglers who just don't feel good about this.
Creating a shaft-through-the-blade spinner that was environmentally friendly and would stay deep was much more challenging. Dozens of ideas were tried and tossed, but it all paid off when we came up with the Mepps XD. We discovered it not only met our expectations, it exceeded them.
To begin with, the XD's solid brass, environmentally-friendly body is attached securely to a durable stainless steel shaft so it can't slide-up and jam the blade, a common failure of conventional shaft-through-the-blade spinners. We also optimized the size and weight of the XD's blade and body so the blade would spin easily and the lure would stay deep.
Every XD also features a precision, solid brass fulcrum bead. This bead sets between the blade and body allowing the blade to spin at any retrieve speed. It also allows the blade to spin as the lure drops providing additional attraction. No other shaft-through-the-blade spinner offers this feature.
After perfecting the design we turned our attention to colors. Mepps Color Technology studies had taught us to select colors that would contrast the lure to the lake or stream background. But, for maximum visibility, under all fishing conditions, blade, body and bead colors also had to contrast with one another.
Mepps has always used strike attractors on its lures. A strike attractor is a splash of color added somewhere that enhances the lure's natural flash and vibration. Sometimes it's a strike attractor tube slipped over the hook shank. Other times it's a bead, or a special blade decoration. It could be a combination of any or all of these. For each XD we selected either a bright red or fluorescent fish attracting bead, but we didn't just slip it on the shaft. We tucked it securely into the back of the body to protect it from the extremes of day-to-day fishing.
We knew every Mepps XD had to be seen and under the toughest fishing conditions. Towards this end all XD silver blades and bodies (like all Mepps lures)are plated with genuine silver. Sure it costs more than chrome or nickel plating, but silver produces a bright white flash that's easily seen underwater. Chrome and nickel reflect black. Some blades and bodies are platium (plaý -tee-um) plated. Platium is a natural element that has a remarkable resistance to corrosion. Gold blades and bodies and polished brass. Painted blades feature a Mepps chip-resistant proprietary blend of acrylic and epoxy finishes. All XD blade and body color combinations adhere to the principals of Mepps Color Technology.
The standards we set for the XD were high, even for Mepps, but after three years of field testing, we knew we had done our job well. Not only did the XD catch fish, but it held up well when fishing the rocks, stumps and rip-rap where trophy fish hang out. It had not only met our expectations, it exceeded them. The XD ran deeper - size for size - than any other lure in its class. Tie on an XD. You're going to have a great time, and you're going to catch a lot of fish before you wear it out.
