Entry 262-3
Fishing the New Strike King Lures with Mike Wurm
Editor’s Note: “I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t a Strike King pro,” laughs Mike Wurm of Hot Springs, Arkansas, as he tries to remember when he actually began working with Strike King. With two tournaments left in the season, Wurm still has the chance to qualify for the 2008 Bassmaster Classic. This week, we’ll find out where Wurm has been fishing this year and how he’s catching bass.
Part 3: The Space Monkey
Question: Mike, what other new Strike King baits did you use this year?
Wurm: Strike King has a new creature bait, the Space Monkey, which is about 4-1/2-inches long with curly legs in front, a paddle tail and two flappers. This lure works well with Carolina rigs, since it gives the bass a different critter to look at besides the plastic worm and the lizard. The lure has a coffee scent and large amounts of salt and comes in a wide variety of colors.
The Space Monkey is extremely-versatile. You can Texas-rig it, flip it or put it on a lead head. Too, it’s very-effective when used as a jig trailer. The Space Monkey can really bulk-up a lure like a jig, and it gives you a lot of action in the water as it falls or swims.
Question: What are your favorite colors of Space Monkeys?
Wurm: I like green pumpkin for nearly all Strike King lures. I also prefer kiwi with orange and green metal flakes in it and a green-pumpkin base color. This puts a lot of flash in the water and makes the bait resemble a bream. The bass look for green and orange flash when holding around brush and grass because these colors are the same ones you see on a baby pumpkinseed bream and small shellcrackers (redear sunfish).
By throwing the Space Monkey next to cover or weeds, you often will trigger an instinctive bite from the bass, even when they’re not very hungry. 
When bass see a bait like the Space Monkey, they don’t know whether it’s a crippled critter or a type of bait they’ve never seen previously.
Question: How do you primarily fish the Space Monkey?
Wurm: I fish it most often on a Carolina rig. I’ll use 17- to 20-pound-test main line and 10- or 15-pound-test leader. I always use a fluorocarbon leader on my Carolina rig or any other type of lure I fish with a leader. I prefer the fluorocarbon for the leader because it’s invisible to fish, has low stretch and is very sensitive. In front of my leader and barrel swivel, I’ll use a Tru-Tungsten weight, which acts as an amplifier to let me know when I’m getting a bite
Contents:
- Part 1: The Shadalicious - A Deadly Swim Bait
- Part 2: The Ocho
- Part 3: The Space Monkey
- Part 4: The Sexy-Shad Colored Red Eye Shad
- Part 5: The Stronger, Bigger Football Head Jig
