Series 3 Pro-Model Crankbait

Each bait in the Pro-Model line of crankbaits is designed to perform a specific task. From shallow to deep, with tight, medium, or wide wobbles, these pro-designed baits will outcast, outperform, and simply outfish any other crankbait in most every situation. The Pro-Model’s designs have simple, yet fish-catching features - from free-floating rattle chambers (which allow for numerous sound frequencies) to 3D “look-alive” eyes, to integral flat surfaces that send out shack waves in the deeper-depth models. Yet, with all of these features and the beautiful chip-resistant chameleon coat finish, the Strike King Pro-Model crankbait is considerably less expensive than the competition.

Series 3 - 1/4 oz. - Dives to 8 feet

A small-bodied deep diver, the Series 3 is designed to enhance castability, thus reaching maximum depths. Lifelike 3D eyes and free floating rattles.

In Strike King Journal entry #8, Mike Wurm talked about using Strike King's Series 3 Crankbait...

Question: Describe your best fall pattern for bass fishing.

Answer: I'll use a Series 3 and find some rocky banks and throw that Series 3 down there while the bass are feeding on crawfish. The water temperatures should, ideally, be in the upper 50s or lower 60s.

In Strike King Journal entry #16, Denny Brauer talked about using Strike King's Series 3 Crankbait...

Brauer: I like the Series 3 crankbait when the fish are a little finicky and the water is still cold. The Series 3 works especially well on riprap banks.

In Strike King Journal entry #18, Mark Davis talked about using Strike King's Series 3 Crankbait...

Question: If you go to a lake you've never fished before, a cold front hits, and you don't know where the bass were before it hit, how will you fish?

Davis: I'll take a Series 3, a Series 4 or a Series 5 Strike King crankbait and fish those crankbaits extremely slow. I'll fish many different types of structure -- except grass. If bass bury-up deep in the grass during a cold front, they will become very hard to catch. If I'm fishing a lake that has grass and wood in it, then I'll abandon the grass and only fish the wood.

If I can find good offshore structure like ditches, humps or creek channels, that's probably where I'll concentrate my fishing. The problem with offshore fishing, however, is that you usually have quite a bit of wind associated with a cold front, which can make offshore fishing difficult. Often I'll stay close to the bank and fish wood or rock cover.

In Strike King Journal entry #21, Mike Wurm talked about using Strike King's Series 3 Crankbait...

Question: Tell us about a time that your Strike King lure saved the day.

Wurm: I was fishing the Pascagoula River in Mississippi. Whenever we have a tournament on the Pascagoula River, I know we'll be in for a tough tournament. The bass there are hard to get to bite, and the river has lots of structure, which should produce bass and doesn't. This river is just a hard river for many anglers, including myself, to catch fish there. I was flipping a Strike King tube and caught one or two bass on a spinner bait, but I was really struggling to catch bass.

None of my baits where working very well at all. As I motored down a creek, I noticed there were standing trees in the water on the edge of the creek channel. All of the other contestants were flipping a tube and casting a spinner bait just like I was; so I realized any time I fished behind another contestant I was presenting the same lures they were presenting to the bass in the same way they were presenting the lures. I kept thinking to myself, "There has to be another lure I can cast to match this situation, something everyone else isn't fishing."

I began to pick my brain to come up with something different I could present to the bass in a different way, which would trigger strikes other fishermen weren't getting. Finally, I said to myself, "Mike, the Strike King Series 3 Crankbait has won more money for you than any other lure you have ever fished. It has produced bass from Lake Champlain in the north to Lake Okeechobee in the south and all lakes in between. The lure is the perfect size, runs the perfect depth and has the right wobble for this lake. Fire Tiger is your favorite color, and nobody in his right mind will be casting crankbaits under these cypress knees and in this really gnarly cover. They all will be afraid they'll lose their crankbaits or spend so much time getting them un-hung that they'll lose valuable fishing time. Go to the crankbait, Mike."

So I picked up the Strike King Series 3 Crankbait and began to cast it around the cypress trees. I'd swim the crankbait by the stump of a tree and bounce it off a few cypress knees. Just about the time the Strike King Series 3 would dive off the edge of the channel, the bass would annihilate it. On that day and that place, the Strike King Series 3 Crankbait enabled me to get a check in the tournament. I'm sure that if I hadn't used this lure I would of gone home with an empty pocket. One of the reasons I had confidence in this crankbait in bad cover was the water was only about 5 feet deep. I knew if I got hung up, I could run my rod tip down to the line tie on the lure and get it free from the stumps and the roots. I decided it was better to get hung up from time to time and catch fish than not get hung up and not catch fish.

The crankbait will solicit a lot of strikes as it moves vertically through the water. When most people are flipping and pitching spinner baits and jigs, the crankbait gives the bass a completely different type of lure to watch. You can fish behind anglers who aren't using the crankbait and catch bass they aren't catching.

This past June I was fishing on Lake Champlain, and we had some really cloudy days during the tournament. The bass just wouldn't bite like they had been biting before the clouds arrived. All the competitors were struggling to try and catch bass. So I started throwing the Strike King Series 3 Crankbait around the grass, and the bass turned on for me. I did well in that tournament.

Just remember, many times when the weather and the cover dictate that you fish a spinner bait or flip a jig you can often turn bass on with Strike King Series 3 Crankbait. Remember, most fishermen are afraid to fish the crankbait, especially in heavy cover, because they're afraid they'll lose a $5 crankbait they've just bought. But think with me for just a minute. The crankbait can't dive very deep in shallow water because the bottom is so close to the surface. So even if you do get hung up, you can get your lure back.

The crankbait will produce so many more bites for you in rough cover that the flippers and the spinner bait fishermen won't get. The crank bait produces more of a reaction strike than worms and jigs do because it's usually moving fast. The bass has to make a quick decision of whether or not it wants to eat the bait. Most of the time a bass will eat it. So the next time you're in a flipping and pitching situation, just remember what everyone else who has fished down the bank has done to try and catch a bass. Change to the crank bait. Then you'll catch the bass those other anglers don't catch.

In Strike King Journal entry #23, Mike Wurm talked about using Strike King's Series 3 Crankbait...

Question: Tell me about another time when Strike King saved the day.

Grigsby: I was fishing a tournament in Monroe, Louisiana. I'd been catching a few bass flipping and pitching, but I was really struggling to try and catch fish. I knew I needed to catch a limit of bass if I was going to get a check in this tournament. I had four bass in the boat, and I just couldn't seem to get that last bite to make my limit.

The tournament was almost over. I was racing my boat back to the weigh-in site. When I came out of the creek that I'd been fishing and on to the main river, I looked over at a point and said to myself, "That ought to be a place where the bass are hanging out." I was running out of time. So, I just quickly grabbed a rod with a Strike King Series 3 chrome black-back crankbait on it. I knew I had only a minute or so to fish if I was going to get to the boat ramp in time to not be disqualified. But I decided to spend my one last cast on this point.

I made the cast and started to reel the crankbait down. My rod got almost jerked out of my hand. I caught a 2-pound largemouth and barely had enough time to unhook it and put it in the livewell to get back to the boat launch. That fish saved my day and allowed me to take home a check from the tournament that I wouldn't have taken home had it not been for the Series 3 crankbait.

That chrome black-back Series 3 crankbait has always been my fall-back bait, especially in the fall of the year.That bait has allowed me to go down almost any bank anywhere in the country and catch fish after fish after fish on it. When I'm in trouble in a tournament, that's my go-to bait. When I don't have much time to fish, and I have to catch a bass quickly, I'd rather be throwing this bait than almost any other bass bait in my tackle box. In this tournament, that bait saved the day.

Remember, crankbaits are very-versatile lures. They can be fished slow, fast, shallow, deep in open water or in thick cover, over grass and along rocks or logs. There is hardly any place you can't work a crankbait. I believe that if you fish a Series 3 crankbait, you can cover most depths that you want to cover. I think that because you can fish this bait relatively fast, you can often trigger strikes that you wouldn't get if you were catching a slower bait.

My favorite retrieve is what I call a burn-and-stop retrieve. I'll reel the crankbait really fast, stop the bait for less than a second, and then reel it really fast again. I'm convinced the fast retrieve causes the bass to chase the bait. Then when you stop it, they can't help themselves; they just have to eat it.

In Strike King Journal entry #31, Mike Wurm talked about using Strike King's Series 3 Crankbait...

Question: Tell us some ways you've fished the Series 3 crankbait from Strike King.

Wurm: I've also used a Series 3 crankbait in some weird ways. I've gotten into the habit of throwing a Series 3 in places where people don't normally throw it. I'll throw it in the middle of brush piles and around cypress trees. Many anglers fear that their baits will hang-up. Well, the bait will hang- up on occasion, but by throwing your lures around this wood, you're presenting a lure in a way that the fish do not normally see. Normally, the bass will see a Series 3 in about 6 to 8 feet of water going right down the bank as the angler casts it out and reels it in then casts it out again. But bass don't normally see this bait in this situation where you bang it into the brush or in any kind of wood.

As you reel the bait through the brush pile, and you feel your line getting taut as the bait comes up to a limb, slow down your retrieve, and reel it slowly. Your bait will hang if you reel it in quickly. As it comes in contact with that limb, it will go underneath that limb and come up and wrap a circle around it. If you slow down your retrieve, the reel has time to catch up to your retrieve, and the lure will bang the limb and pop on over it. Many anglers make the mistakes of throwing out and winding too fast, thinking if they wind their lures fast they'll make it through the brush. But the lure will wind around the limb and hang-up.

Question: Can you give me any specific examples?

Wurm: This retrieve will work in any river situations where you have lay-downs in the river. I used this technique in the Classic on High Rock Lake. When High Rock Lake gets close] to a river situation, there is a lot of lay downs on the banks. In those Classics, I took a crankbait and threw it on those lay downs and banged it off those limbs. Those are two great examples of how this technique can work in any situation where you have any kind of lay downs or brush in the water.

In Strike King Journal entry #36, Mike Wurm talked about using Strike King's Series 3 Crankbait...

Wurm: Strike King’s crankbait line is phenomenal. I have used them all, and they’re all phenomenal lures. There is one size I particularly like; I call it money bait, my go-to lures, the Strike King Series 3 crankbait. There is nothing really different in the shape and the way it works, but there is something about it that works extremely well for me.

The Series 3 runs 6 to 8 feet deep, looks to be about 2 inches long and has a nice lip on it. The way it works in the water is very consistent. It has a steady wobble to it. The lure comes through the water well and is the right bait size. The fire tiger is, without a doubt, my favorite color.

I call it one of my money baits. I have won more money on that bait than I have on any other over the last year or two. That bait is absolutely phenomenal. It is a go-to lure. I throw it around everything. I throw it around boat docks, lay-downs, trees, grass, down rocky banks, junk rock, and riprap.

This lure is phenomenal, and I've used it in very different situations from one end of the country to the other to produce fish. I’ve thrown it around cypress trees down in Pascagoula and Mobile to catch fish and caught fish in the grass beds up in Lake Champlain. It’s a very versatile lure. It is a lure I think needs to be in everyone's tackle box as a mainstay lure. It is something that will produce for you day-in and day-out - no matter where you are fishing.

Question: What kind of retrieve do you use with the Series 3 crankbait?

Wurm: You can vary your retrieve all you want, but nothing beats a good steady retrieve. You don't need to burn it; you just need a steady retrieve. You need a retrieve so you can feel it when it hits something. That is the real key to fishing crankbaits. When you hit something with the crankbait it makes the crankbait tremendously more affective. Suddenly you have an injured baitfish and still just a baitfish swimming along, it hits something and deflects off it, it causes something very erratic and odd, and the fish knows it. So any time you are fishing a crankbait, hit something with it. Make the crankbait deflect off of something.

One key thing you need to remember when throwing this around any kind of limb structure, like a limb or lay-down, be aware of your crankbait. Lots of guys fishing a crankbait forget what they are fishing and just throw it out there and reel it in. But a crankbait works as a field bait in many situations. Not only will you feel the fish hit the bait, you’ll also feel him spit it out.

If you feel it hit a piece of structure, particularly a limb, slow that lure down when you know your coming up on it. If not, it’ll go underneath the limb, wrap completely around it, and hang you up. The hooks may not even touch the limb, but the line will go all the way around and hang you up. If you slow it down and give it long enough time for the bill to catch the limb, the bill will deflect it over. But if you are going to fast it will just go around it. That’s a good tip to remember.

Find Tips & Tactics for other Strike King Lures here!