Entry 342-4
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 4: What Makes the Rage Thumper Worm Different?.
Question: Mark, what makes the Rage Thumper Worm different from any other plastic worm, and how and where should we fish it?
Davis: I got my hands on some of these worms this past summer (2009), and I caught a bunch of bass that weighed more than 7 pounds on them. I used the Rage Thumper Worm during both the daylight hours and at night. When you’re looking for a 10-inch-plus worm that will solicit a lot of strikes, this worm is the one you want to fish. I like to fish this worm with a heavy weight, either 3/8-ounce or 1/2-ounce weight with a No. 5/0 hook. I believe the Thumper Worm is the ultimate big worm.
Question: What color do you like?
Davis: If I have to choose just one color, I’ll pick plum. But blue fleck is a close second. We’ve seen the growth of the big plastic worm when Strike King came out with the Anaconda. Don’t get me wrong – the Anaconda’s still a great big worm. But the Thumper has an altogether different action. It also gives us the option of fishing a worm in a place where we catch big bass, and if the big bass stop taking one style of big worm, now we’ve got a completely different style of worm that we can show them.
The Anaconda has a ripple-tail swimming type worm action. 
The Thumper has a kicking-type action, and the moves that it makes are much more dramatic than the Anaconda. When you’re fishing for big bass, you need to have options. For instance, if the bass are biting big crankbaits, you don’t want to have just one big crankbait in one color to show them. The same is true of the big worm.
The Anaconda is a great big worm, but we really needed a different style of worm when we were fishing deep for big bass. That’s what the Thumper worm gives us – a big worm with a different action from the ripple-tail worms like the Anaconda. Nobody has to sell me on this worm. I’m used it, I’ve caught big bass on it, and if you use it you will too.
