Your Subtitle text

Lures & Baits

Larry the Lizard

The six-inch Rattlin' Larry the Lizard in red bug color has produced well for the author.

Introduction: I have never had great confidence in fishing lizards. I just never did well on them despite my friends and so many professional anglers using them to great effectiveness. At the 2010 ICAST Show in Vegas I met the owner of this company and took home some to try out. Something about the action of the lure demonstrated in an aquarium at the event intrigued me.

Testing Scenario: Fishing a heavily-pressure private lake with gin clear water. The fish here are spooky and are shy of many lures.

Results: This body of water is where I do a lot of testing because the fish are so lure shy and many times I can see the reaction of the fish. I rigged this lure weedless/weightless and fished it on six-pound Stren Fluorocast. Every time I put this lure within sight of bass, they turned to come check it out. More importantly I was able to catch some nice fish like the one pictured here.

F.L.E.X. Notes: The sink rate of this lure is very slow which works great for fish in clear water. The tail and legs have action that will not stop and it is easy to work in different fashions. An angler can swim it fast, slow or crawl it along the bottom. This is not a big fish specific lure but it definitely has what it takes to catch big fish and that is what I was targeting here with strong results.

For more information go to http://www.larrythelizardcustombaits.com

Disclaimer: I was provided one of these units for the purpose of testing.

Stanley Wedgetail Mullet

The Stanley Wedgetail Mullet features hand-painted detail and comes in a variety of colors.

Introduction: Swimbaits have taken the bass fishing world by storm and in particular have gained fame by producing monster bass in several California lakes as well as Texas' Lake Falcon. They are starting to gain steam on the saltwater scene for anglers seeking big speckled trout. The special wedgetail design and uber-realistic mullet look grabbed my attention.

Testing Scenario: Fishing mud flats and scattered shell on Lake Calcasieu (Big Lake) in southwestern Louisiana.

Results: The fishing was tough overall due to almost zero tidal flow but in the end this lure produced a super fat (12.5-inch girth) and 23-inch long trout. The lure has incredible, lifelike action with the tail creating soft vibrations. It is easy to fish, cast a long-distance due to being deceivingly heavy (a good thing) and can be fished in several fashions. I simply fished the lure by reeling it in very slowly.

The author with a long and super fat Lake Calcasieu trout caught on the Stanley Wedgetail Mullet Dec. 22, 2010.

F.L.E.X. Notes: Big trout are super wary and feed almost exclusively on large finfish. The way this lure realistically mimics mullet is almost stunning and best yet it is easy to fish unlike many big trout specific lures. The water at Calcasieu was super clear so I used a natural colored lure with a green back, smoke-grey colored sides and a tad of chartreuse on the tail for contrast. They come in numerous color patterns that will allow anglers to make intelligent and very specific choices for matching various water clarity.

For more information go to http://www.fishstanley.com

Disclaimer: I was provided one of these units for the purpose of testing.

Basstar Prop Runner

The Prop Runner in action during testing.

Introduction: When I saw this monstrous topwater at the 2009 ICAST Show, I knew I had to test one out. Part of it was I know you can sometimes get those trophy-sized fish to strike on something huge when they avoid everything else and the other reason was I wanted to see what my fishing buddies would say when I broke out something that dwarfed their puny plugs. This thing is six and a half inches long and five and a half inches around.

Testing Scenario: I took it out to a private stocked lake that has been highly pressured. The smaller bass are fairly lure shy and the really big ones are super shy.

Results: The lure looks and sounds great on the water and is easy to cast long distances. I chunked it just past a fallen log and had a five-pounder come up from below and attack it with great gusto. It missed the first time and then came back for a second go. Very impressive. The lure is not without faults. For example, if you pull it a few feet and stop, the lure drifts to the side. It works much better simply reeled in and that by the way is when I found the big bass. Something else to consider is the weight of this lure does not allow for a very delicate presentation which could spook some fish.

F.L.E.X. Notes: This is not a lure for everyone but I know for a fact big bass will hit it. Will it work better than standard large topwater bass anglers fish? I doubt it but it might be worth trying for anglers looking to call out curious monster bass or to draw a curiosity strikes from fish that have never seen this kind of lure pulled across their stretch of water.

For more information go to http://basstarbaits.com/.

Disclaimer: I was provided one of these units for the purpose of testing.

Black Salty Baitfish

Introduction: The Black Salty is a kind of carp selectively bred to stay lively on a hook, live for long periods of time in captivity and be saltwater resistant. My initial goal was to fish the Black Salty for largemouth bass and for flounder but I only got to do the bass testing due to scheduling conflicts. Live bait bass fishing is a lost art and for anglers who are not skilled with fishing big fish specific plugs it gives them a good shot at catching a big fish. I wanted to see how well they worked.

Testing Scenario: A private lake where I do a lot of tackle testing and that has super lure shy fish. My theory is if I can catch a bass on a lure there I can catch one anywhere.

Results: On the first day of testing my friend Chris Houghton and I caught 28 bass between two and seven pounds. We had fish hit these fish that we never knew were in the ponds. We fished them on a free-line and also under a popping cork using Eagle Claw L144BK Kahle Hooks. Out of 28 fish, only two were hooked deep. The fish stayed alive a long time on the hook and also at home. In fact, I was able to keep two pounds of them alive for over a month in an ice chest with a recirculating aquarium pump with minimal feeding.

The author with the biggest bass of the day caught on a Black Salty.

F.L.E.X. Notes: The Black Salty did not produce ONLY big fish but it produced lots of them. Before this test the biggest fish we had pulled out of this pond was four pounds. We nearly doubled that and caught 10 four and over in the same day. These fish come in several sizes and the larger ones did seem to keep the bass under about four pounds away.

For more information go to http://www.blacksalty.com.

UPDATE (4/11/11): Since the initial testing I have tested the Black Salty at numerous ponds and small lakes and it has caught big fish at all of them. Last November I caught the fish pictured below on a friend's pond and have since caught well over 100 bass on these baitfish. For fishing small lakes and ponds I cannot overestimate their effectiveness.

Disclaimer: I was provided this product for the purpose of testing.