Entry 342-1
Mark Davis’s Dream Lures
Editor’s Note: One of the advantages that Strike King has over many-other lure companies is that Strike King designs the lures that tournament fishermen dream of fishing. When Strike King’s pros identify a bass-fishing problem, the pros work with Strike King’s design team to create that lure. This week, Mark Davis will tell us about some of the new dream lures that Strike King has created, and how and why he’ll be fishing them.
Part 1: The Tour Grade Swimming Jig
Question: Mark, what’s one of the new Strike King lures that you like?
Davis: I’m in love with Strike King’s new Tour Grade Swimming Jig. I love it, I love it, I love it. When you fish this lure with either a Rage Craw or a Rage Chunk on the back of it and swim it through vegetation, you’ll see that this lure is really a fish-catching son of a gun. I’ve been swimming jigs for a long time, but this one has the right-sized hook, the correct-size head, the best Perfect skirt for that jig and a keeper hook. This lure is the best-designed swimming jig that I’ve ever seen and is a perfect fit with all the Strike King lures. I’m really glad we’ve finally got this dream lure built and available not only for other fishermen but for me too.
Question: Where will you be using this swimming jig?
Davis: I’ll be fishing the Tour Grade Swimming Jig any place I’ll fish a spinner bait. Most fishermen want to cast this jig to the bank and swim it just under the surface like they fish a swimming jig on the Coosa River in Alabama and the Tennessee River lakes. 
This lure is great for fishing willow grass, and it’s also good in lily pads. It’s good to fish around submerged hydrilla and milfoil and to swim through brush. I’ll also fish it over underwater structure, just like I do a crankbait.
You can catch a lot of fish with the Tour Grade Swimming Jig, if you understand it’s not just a shallow-water lure. If you’re fishing structure where everyone else has been fishing crankbaits, spoons, worms and tubes, try using that swimming jig just like it’s a crankbait in those same spots, because when you do, you’re giving the bass a lure to look at that they’ve probably never seen. If you really want to catch more bass, don’t think of the Tour Grade Swimming Jig as a jig that you’ll just swim around bank cover and grass. 
In your mind, decide that it’s a different type of crankbait and a different type of spinner bait and fish it in the same places where you’ll fish those faster-moving lures.
I know there’s been a lot written about flipping and pitching a jig and hopping a jig off the bottom. However, this swimming jig has much-more potential than those two applications. I dare you to put Strike King’s new Tour Grade Swimming Jig in your crankbait box and in your spinner bait box to help you remember to use it anytime you’re fishing those lures to give the bass a different-looking bait in those types of fishing applications. If you’ll try what I suggest, you’ll fall in love with the Tour Grade Swimming Jig, just like I have.
