New for 2026: The Livingston Triple Threat

Critter. Menace. Banshee.

Livingston Lures is set to release not one but three new musky baits for early 2026, designed by professional musky guide and lure designer Steven Paul. The Critter, Menace, and Banshee represent three distinct musky fishing strike-inducing solutions built for modern musky fishing.

The Critter

Compact Profile. Maximum Versatility.

The Critter may be small, but it is heavy for its size and built to fish deeper than most anglers expect from a compact bait.

Designed around three principles, small profile, fast fall, and versatility, the Critter can be straight retrieved like a bucktail, popped like a tube, slow/fast jigged or worked vertically with a reel stop cadence that produces a nose-down fall with spinning blades and a pulsing tail.

It excels in early-season scenarios, pressured waters, and situations where fish are conditioned to standard small bucktails. The Critter offers a familiar size with an entirely different vibration and sound signature.

With customizable blade configurations and heavy-duty through-wire construction, the Critter introduces a new style of compact musky presentation that punches far above its weight class.

The Menace

Rubber Versatility Built for Panfish and Shad-Based Systems

Measuring just over eight inches and weighing 4.7 ounces, the Menace is a rubber jerkbait designed specifically for panfish and shad-dominated systems as well as smaller forage bases. It thrives on a pull-and-pause cadence, delivering an aggressive fall at approximately 2 feet per second.

It can be worked with long sweeps, short downward pops for glide-style darts, or fished vertically in a hopping tube-style presentation. Its compact size makes it an ideal follow-up bait for tube presentations, all the while still maintaining enough presence to stand alone.

Optimized for forward-facing sonar and powered by Livingston’s Technology, the Menace delivers a multi-sensory strike trigger that allows anglers to track, target, and trigger fish in open water or around cover and structure.

The Banshee

Variable Weighting. Death Pause. Glide Control. True Wander.

The Banshee is the ultimate modern musky crankbait.

Delivering a hard pulsing thump and wide wobble, it checks every traditional crankbait box. What sets it apart is its variable weighting system. With the insert weight installed, the Banshee executes a near motionless death pause with a painfully slow rise that forces apex predators to commit. Remove the weight, and it behaves more like a traditional floating crankbait.

The Banshee can also be worked like a glide bait with controlled left-right action using short rod pops or sweeps. It responds with sharp directional changes, creating an erratic strike window during the pause.

Built for both casting and trolling, the Banshee produces a controlled wandering action when trolled at speeds up to 5 miles per hour. That tuned wander, once limited to larger wooden trolling baits, has been engineered into a compact hard bait platform with true year-round potential.

It also features a replaceable soft plastic tail secured with a rear screw system, allowing anglers to modify profile and vibration.

Three Lures. Three Solutions.

The early 2026 Livingston lineup was not built around trends. It was built around real-world musky scenarios.

The Critter delivers compact depth control and erratic triggering action.

The Menace offers rubber versatility in shad-based systems and open-water situations.

The Banshee offers suspending power, glide control, and high-speed trolling wander in one adaptable, easy-to-use crankbait platform.

Together, they form a complete system designed for today’s musky angler. These lures are definitely the next evolution of musky fishing.