Entry 342-5
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 5: Strike King’s Best-Kept Secret – the Rage Eeliminator
Question: Mark, what is the Rage Eeliminator?
Davis: I’m sure there will be many fishermen who look at this lure and say, “What is this, and how do you fish it?” But the bass will look at it and say, “What is it, and how quickly can I eat it?” The Rage Eeliminator is a very-versatile lure and works well weightless. Just rig it Texas style, cast it out, and reel it in to your boat. You can snake this bait through grass and weeds, and the bass will tear it up.
You can swim it through lily pads and probably get your arm broken. I use a No. 3/0 offset EWG-style hook in the Eeliminator. You’ll hook-up with bass with this lure and stop missing bass. One of the big problems that we’ve all had with fishing frog-, rat- and snake-type baits through grass and lily pads is that bass will blow-up on them, but you won’t hook the fish. The Eeliminator solves that problem.
When you look at the bait, you’re going to think, “Yeah, that’s just another kind of creature bait to be fished in grass.” But I’ll tell you a secret that most people don’t know, and you need to keep this info quiet. 
The Eeliminator is excellent when fished on a Carolina rig. It’s one of the best soft-plastic lures I’ve ever seen to fish on a Carolina rig. You’ll have to see how this bait works on a Carolina rig before you’ll believe what I’m telling you.
Go ahead, and rig up the Eeliminator like you’re going to fish it, and put it in a wading pool, an aquarium or the shallow end of a swimming pool and watch what it does. You need to fish the Eeliminator with about a 3-foot leader. When you pull your sinker on the Carolina rig, the Eeliminator will rise up off the bottom, and you’ll see that the whole body of the bait swims, not just the tail.
Now you think about this for a minute. How many different types of lures have you put on a Carolina rig that the whole body swims? On most Carolina rigs, only the tail of the lure swims. But when you use the Eeliminator on the Carolina rig, the entire body swims back and forth. If you’re fishing a lizard or a worm, the tail moves but the body goes in a straight line. The Eeliminator goes back and forth on a Carolina rig. There’s not another lure that I know of in the marketplace that will create this kind of action in a Carolina rig.
Question: What’s your favorite color?
Davis: Green-pumpkin and watermelon are my favorite colors when I fish the Eeliminator on a Carolina rig. Now, if I’m fishing the Eeliminator on top around grass, lily pads, tree tops, boat docks or any other type of visible cover, I prefer white or black. You know for a long time, creature baits were hot lures to fish on Carolina rigs, since they had a lot of appendages and wiggled a lot. But just like the worm and the lizard, the entire body of a creature bait doesn’t swim. However, I know once you see what this Eeliminator does under water, you won’t go fishing without several sacks full of them.
One of our jobs as Strike King pros is to learn to fish lures in a different way than most people fish lures, and this knowledge gives us an advantage as tournament fishermen. Also, because Strike King provides us with new lures every year, we can take those new lures and fish them in a different way than anyone else will. I promise you that 90% of the people who see the Eeliminator on the shelf at a fishing-tackle store will say, “Yeah, that’s a frog-type, rat-type bait that I can use to fish around grass.” 
There won’t be 10% of the people who purchase this lure that will see the Eeliminator as a Carolina-rig bait.
Therefore, if you’ll use the Eeliminator as I’ve suggested, you’ll know that only 10% of the people who fish this lure will be using it on a Carolina rig. I promise you, you’ll flat catch bass fishing this way.
We try to give the Strike King fans the newest and best information on these pages so that you can outfish the other fishermen. This is one of those secret tactics that will help you win tournaments and catch bass when other fishermen aren’t.
