As most Americans now-a-days, I suffer from the occasional bout of insomnia. Granted, my sleeplessness is brought on by the constant humming of demon voices inside my head, but no one wants to know about that. On the positive side, I have the opportunity to sit by the warm glow of the television, entertained by the genius writing of infomercials.

How does this relate to fishing you might ask? Well, two words, Banjo Minnow. Yes, I think we've all seen the ads. They even run them during the day now. And if you haven't seen them, feel free to catch up here..

I picked up the banjo lure system at my local mega fish store for $19.99. (Anglerlive Tackle shop doesn't sell them, yet.)

It claims to have 110 pieces. Although, what they don't tell you is that 60 or so of those pieces are the little plastic weed guards. So, that's stretching the truth a little bit.

The lures themselves do seem a little on the plasticy side. And yes, plasticy is a technical term. But the action did feel pretty decent (the bends in the lure to imitate the swimming of a fish.) The lures also have a unique hook system, which places the hook above the lure. The theory is that lunkers are going to bite the head of the fish, so that's where the hook should be. I am a bit skeptical of this theory.

The kit also came with a DVD, which I have not watched yet. But after reading the directions, I would recommend that you do, which I will explain later.

So, with the Deliverance song playing in my head, I tied a banjo lure on and gave it a try. Immediately, my first problem was with casting due to the low weight of the lure. I switched to my baitcaster rod and it improved a bit.

To be fair, it was a very hot day. The temperature was already in the eighty degree mark by 7:30am. And the lake was extraordinarily weedy, as proven by the whine of the trolling motor as I tried to figure out a spot to fish. Any lure was going to have a bad day.

I worked the lure with a slight twist and jerk motion. Stopping often to let it fall, before making it move again. It is said that the Banjo lures should not be cranked in at full speed, because that ruins the swimming action of the lure. I find that's true with about any plastic bait. Any experienced fisherman should be able to make this lure do it's thing. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you should probably watch the DVD that's included with the kit.

After several hours, I finally pulled in a smallmouth. The lake we are on is a trophy lake, which means that the bass has to be over 15 inches to be a keeper. So this little 12 inch bass went back in the water to fight another day.

I kept going with the Banjo all day. My fishing partner switched between crankbaits and his usual soft plastic selection (Bass Assassins and worms) and he reeled in several bass and a blue gill. I ended the day with the single fish.

Overall, I think the Banjo is a decent lure. My biggest problem was the weight of the "eyes", which limits the casting range. I also didn't care for the hook placement, it goes against my instincts. But I might be totally wrong about that.

The positives were the swimming action. I played with it in the shallow water so I could see what it was doing. I could make it move is some pretty realistic manners. Although, it doesn't matter if I think it looks realistic, it only matters if the lunkers do.

In the end, a lure is a lure. And like we always say in our reviews here at Anglerlive, it's up to the fisherman to make it work. Will the Banjo Minnow make you catch more fish? Probably not. But it will work just about as well as anything else. For example, did you really expect the RonCo Rotisserie to make you a better cook? "Set It and Forget It", Indeed.

I plan to take it back out on the water in a few weeks. I'll update this review with any new insights.

Remember, you can always find great prices on great fishing tackle in our tackle shop

Now if you excuse me, I have to go battle some demons and order a ShamWow.