Entry 88-5

Mark Rose

I Love The Zero

Editor's Note: Thirty-one-year-old Mark Rose of Marion, Arkansas, has fished professionally for several years and has several top-10 finishes. In the past, he's worked as a district executive for the Boy Scouts of America's national office. He went pro with Strike King several years ago. Although he's never won a tournament, Rose proves his consistency by always fishing near the top. This week he'll share with us what baits work best for him.

Rose: The bass-fishing world seems to have fallen in love with these ballpoint-pen-shaped soft-plastic lures like the Zero. These are do-nothing baits. You just cast them out and let them fall down sheer-rock bluffs or anywhere you use a fall bait and, for some reason, the bass eat them up. In the past, Strike King's Zero was made of soft plastic and floated on the water. If I used it as a fall bait, instead of a twitch bait or a jerkbait, I had to add lead to the line or the lure. But this year, Strike King introduced salt-impregnated 3X Zero's, which fall perfectly, without weights. The 3X technology Strike King uses allows you to catch five to 10 bass before you have to replace the lure.

Don't just cast the Zero out, and let it fall, without giving it any action. As the Zero falls, the 3X material causes it to bend and flex which makes it look alive and cause the bass to strike it. I like to fish the Zero with either a No. 4 or a No. 5 wide-gap hook, and I've always caught bass with this bait. I fish it around shoreline cover, in boathouses, on points and out in open water on drop offs and ledges.

This is my go-to bait when the bass don't want to bite. When I have a bass won't take a top-water lure, a buzz bait or a spinner bait, I'll cast the Zero to the spot where the bass attacked and many times that same bass will strike the Zero. I've fished the Zero just about every way that you can fish a lure. I have fished it on a jig head, rigged it wacky-style, Carolina-rigged it and used it as both a fall bait and a twitch bait. I don't think there's a way to rig the Zero and not catch your prize!




 

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