Entry 91-4

Mike Wurm’s Take on Strike King’s Bass-Catching Lures

I Love 3X

Editor's Note: Mike Wurm of Hot Springs, Arkansas, has fished professionally for 13 years and always finishes in the money.

Question: Mike, why do you like the new 3X lures that Strike King is introducing this year?

Wurm: One of the big advantages that the 3X material offered the fishermen when they were first introduced to the marketplace was that they floated up off the bottom, and they floated on the surface. If you want a floating, soft-plastic lure, you can't beat the 3X products. However, there are certain fishing conditions and fishing circumstances when you don't want a soft-plastic lure to float. To solve this problem, we would add weight to the 3X soft-plastic lures. But this year, Strike King has come out with some sinking 3X products. You still get the toughness and durability that you have come to expect in 3X so that you can use fewer soft-plastic lures in a day of fishing than if you're fishing with soft baits not made of 3X. However, these new lures this year have salt and garlic impregnated in them, which not only causes the bass to hold on to the lures longer, but also makes the lures sink.

One of my favorite new lures that Strike King has introduced is the Zero, a cigar-shaped bait that you just cast out and let it sink. Because the Zero is made from super-sensitive 3X material, it has its own action and wiggle as it sinks, and that action will often make finicky-biting bass come out of their hiding places and take the Zero. Because the bait falls so slowly and has such a life-like action, the bass can watch the lure longer, catch it and eat it easier and quicker and hold the Zero in its mouth longer because of the salt and garlic than he will with other types of soft-plastic cigar-shaped lures.

Another advantage that this new salt-impregnated Zero brings to the fisherman is because it is heavy (loaded with salt) you can cast it much further than you can other cigar-shaped lures. As you know, when bass are biting finicky and don't really want to take a lure, the further you can keep your boat away from the fish by making long casts, the better your chances will be to get the bass to bite your bait.

The other advantage of Strike King's 3X Zero is that you can catch more bass on it before you have to replace it than you can on other cigar-shaped lures that aren't made of 3X material. I'll often catch 10 or 15 bass on the same 3X Zero before I have to replace it. As you know, the more you can keep your lure in the water, the better your chances for getting a bite and catching a bass. If you're constantly having to change lures, you're losing fishing time. Besides its fish-catching ability, I've learned that Strike King's 3X Zero actually gives me more time to fish, which is extremely important when you're a tournament fisherman and only have a limited amount of time to find and catch bass.

Strike King didn't stop with the Zero when the company started impregnating 3X lures with salt and garlic. This year, we'll also have the lizard, the Z2, the 4-inch finesse worm and several other soft-plastic baits that will be sinkers. But the new Zero is the sinking bait that I'm most excited about this year. One of my favorite ways to fish this new Zero is to rig it Texas style without a weight up the line and fish the Zero through really-thick cover. Because it doesn't have a weight in it, I can slide the Zero over limbs and logs and let it fall in holes in the brush. I can swim it just above the grass and allow it to drop in holes in the grass. I can cast this bait out up on the Great Lakes and let it fall into a rock pile to catch smallmouth.

This bait is also great for Carolina rig fishing. Last year, I Carolina-rigged the Zero when fishing in a tournament on Wheeler Lake in Alabama. I caught three bass that I really needed to finish well in this tournament on the Carolina-rigged Zero. I also fish this lure rigged wacky-style by hooking it in the middle and letting it fall around cover and structure. Most other soft-plastic lures that are salt impregnated will tear up and rip when you catch bass on them or when you fish them through cover. But the Zero's being made of 3X material eliminates that problem. Remember when you buy a 3X Zero or any of Strike King's 3X products, that you really get your money's worth out of these tough, soft-plastic fish-catching lures.




 

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