Entry 272-3

Mark Menendez – His Chances at the 2009 Bassmaster Classic and Why and How He Fishes Differently

Part 3: Space Monkey – A New Bait that Combines Many Great Features

Question: Mark, why are you so excited about the Strike King Rage Space Monkey?

Menendez: Strike King combined the best features of several-different lures – the Rage Craw, the twin-tail grub, the frog-style bait and the lizard – into the Rage Space Monkey. This bait has all the fish-catching characteristics and the combined appearance of these four lures, yet it’s a completely-different bait. I’ve been really successful using the Space Monkey as a jig trailer on a swimming jig. The Space Monkey has a flat-bodied style, so it keeps the jig high up in the water column when you’re swimming it. I swim the Space Monkey in and around docks, grass lines, brush piles, trees or anywhere I need a bluegill-type profile when the bass are feeding on bluegills. I combine the Space Monkey with the 1/4-ounce Strike King jig.

Question: Do you use the Space Monkey any other way?

Menendez: I really like the Space Monkey on the Carolina rig because it has four Rage-type legs, which gives it a lot of movement and allows it to move a lot of water. Even though the bait is only 4-inches long, the Space Monkey is very wide, which makes it look big underwater. I fished the Space Monkey on Kentucky Lake on shell beds there. When you use a 1- or a 1/2-ounce bullet-style sinker up the line, it clicks on the shell beds. The bass can hear the clicking noise, and when they come to the sound and see the Space Monkey, they see a bait they want to eat.

Question: What color Space Monkey has been the most productive for you in 2008?

Menendez: When I’m fishing the Space Monkey on the swimming jig, I prefer a black-and-blue jig with a watermelon/red-and-black-flake Space Monkey behind it. This is an odd-ball combination for a jig and trailer. You’ll generally match a black-and-blue jig with a black or a blue trailer. But when I got the first prototypes of the Space Monkey, they were watermelon with red-and-black flake. So, I put this color Space Monkey on my black-and-blue jig and started catching a lot of fish at Lake Amistad in Texas. Too, I caught a number of fish on Lake Murray in South Carolina and in Florida. I’ve found that using conventional tactics, such as fishing a watermelon-with-red-and-black-flake Space Monkey on the back of a black-and-blue jig really out-produced the conventional colors you’d usually put on the back of a black-and-blue jig. When I’m fishing the Space Monkey on a Carolina rig, I like the green-pumpkin color. But don’t be afraid to experiment with different-colored Space Monkeys.

Next: Mopping Up with a Red Eye

Contents:

• Part 1: Me and the Bassmaster Classic
• Part 2: Secrets of the Anaconda
• Part 3: Space Monkey - A New Bait that Combines Many Great Features
• Part 4: Mopping Up with a Red Eye
• Part 5: Don’t Forget the Spit-N-King