Entry 202-5

Shaw Grigsby on What Makes Strike King Lures Great

Day 5: Become a Jack-of-All Trades

If you really want to be a better fisherman, you must become a jack-of-all trades. You must learn to fish a wide variety of lures, both old and new. You also must learn a variety of techniques, because that’s what keeps you consistent. Look at any of the Strike King Pros, and you’ll see that we all have our strengths. For example, I enjoy sight fishing. But if the fishing conditions dictate that I need to flip like Denny Brauer does, I’ll start flipping. If covering water with a spinner bait like Kevin VanDam produces the most big fish, then I’ll tie on a spinner bait and start chunking and winding. If I’m fishing a deep, clear lake after the spawn, and I know that drop-shot fishing will be the most-productive tactic, then I’ll use that technique. If I’m fishing a lake in California for really-big bass, I’ll use a swim bait like the King Shad or a big lizard like the Iguana to catch those bass.

Bass fishing has become so competitive, and so many great fishermen are on the fishing circuits that you must learn to read the water and the weather conditions and the fishing pressure, and be able to piece together patterns that will produce bass on those days. One reason I have a variety of Strike King lures is so that I can find the right lure in the exact color to produce bass on that particular day.

During this week, I’ve primarily talked about Strike King’s new lures. I think they’re great, I fish them often, and I’ve found great success using them. But let’s not forget Strike King’s other new lures, which actually are some of their old lures. Most professional bass fishermen will have a box of lures they hide from everyone else. These are old lures most people have forgotten. Strike King has made numbers of great fishing lures for many years. Most of today’s modern fishermen have forgotten many of those old lures, but those old lures will catch bass as well today as they ever have in the past.

Many of Strike King’s old lures are some of the best lures on the market today. Here’s why. As new lures hit the market, fishermen forget over time old lures that once have caught bass for them when the old lures were the new lures. But those old lures haven’t forgotten how to catch bass just because fishermen have forgotten about them. Old lures will catch bass when some new lures won’t.

Remember when I mentioned that I fish a rainbow-trout-colored King Shad even in lakes where there are no rainbow trout? I do this because I know that bass will eat rainbow trout, and I know the color of a rainbow trout bait will cause bass to bite. The same is true of some of Strike King’s older lures. Bass haven’t seen these baits for a long time, so the colors, the shapes and the actions are new to them.

If you have an old Strike King lure that’s special to you because it’s caught bass for you, but you’ve stopped fishing with it, order some of those old lures. Then watch what happens. You’ll learn that old lures still catch bass like they once have, and because no one besides you is fishing with them, the lures may catch more bass than they ever have in the past. Every year, someone will win a major tournament fishing an old lure that everyone else has forgotten.

In an attempt to help you catch more bass this year than last year, I encourage you to not only buy some of the new lures I’ve described this week, but to take a step back into the past. Find some old Strike King lures that you’ve fished before, and take them out on the water with you next time you go fishing. Then watch what happens. The good news about Strike King lures is that they will catch bass today, and they’ll continue catching bass 20 years from now.

When you buy the best lures on the market, you can bet on them to catch bass now and well into the future.

Contents:

• Part 1: Pure Poison – There’s Nothing Like It
• Part 2: Catch the Red Eye
• Part 3: King of Shads – King Shad
• Part 4: Computers and Bass Fishing
• Part 5: Become a Jack-of-All Trades