Entry 158-1

Fishing With Randy Dearman

King Kong

Editor’s Note: Randy Dearman, an avid fishermen and professional angler from Onalaska, Texas, has fished professionally for 20 years. He works as part of Strike King’s Pro Fishing Team and has competed in seven Bassmasters Classics.

Question: Randy, why is Strike King introducing the King Kong for freshwater fishing?

Dearman: The King Kong swim bait is so big it looks like a giant saltwater trolling bait. We all know you have to trick bass to catch them because they’re hard to catch. In recent years, anglers have been tricking them by finesse fishing, using small line, small baits and subtle actions. By the end of the day, you may have a limit of small fish like everyone else has, but you really need that one big bass to anchor your string and give you more pounds. If you look at the size of the King Kong, you know that when a bass bites this bait he’s going to be a kicker fish – a big bass that will anchor your stringer and give you those added pounds you need. Although, you won’t get many strikes on the King Kong, I bet before the year is over there will be one of the biggest stringers ever produced in a bass tournament caught on a King Kong.

Question: On what pound test line are you throwing this bait?

Dearman: You have to throw it on at least 20-pound-test line. The King Kong does not run very deep, maybe 2 feet at the most, depending on how high you hold your rod up. I haven’t had very much time to fish this lure because it’s so new. The smallest bass I’ve caught on it weighed about 3-3/4-pounds, and the largest bass I’ve taken weighed 9 pounds. I’ve fished this lure long enough to know that if you’re fishing strictly for big bass, or, if you are fishing for a kicker bass, this is the bait that you want to use. I think you’re going to be amazed at the size of bass you’ll catch using the King Kong.

Question: Tell me about the 9-pounder you caught on the King Kong.

Dearman: We were fishing a small private lake in east Texas where I take new lures to test them out. This lake had a lot of bass and big bass. I wanted to see how the bait swam, and what the fish thought of it. I was just walking down the dam, casting from the bank when a big bass attacked.

Question: How did the bass eat the bait?

Dearman: When the fish attacked, I didn’t know whether I had on a bass or an alligator. The fish didn’t ease up to the bait and nudge it; instead, he annihilated the bait and took it deep in his mouth. He took the bait head first and had the lure deep in his throat. He actually wanted that bait bad.

Question: What’s your favorite color of King Kong?

Dearman: Probably the Tennessee Shad color. Like I said, I haven’t fished it very much, and I haven’t tried many colors. I like the 8-inch King Kong swim bait better than the 6-inch King Kong swim bait. One time I fished the smaller version of the King Kong for about an hour on Sam Rayburn Lake and never got a bite. Then I tied on the big one and fished it for about an hour and caught three bass.

I just believe that if you’re going to fish for big bass, or, if you need that one big bass to win a tournament, this new swim bait - the King Kong that Strike King is producing now - is the lure to use. You have to remember, this lure just looks big to people in the East because they are not accustomed to seeing a lure this big. West Coast fishermen, especially those California anglers who are fishing for some of those really-large bass, have been using these swim baits for quite awhile and catching very-big bass. West Coast fishermen have learned that if they want to fish for a lunker-sized bass they need to use a lunker-sized lure like the King Kong.

Fishing With Randy Dearman

King Kong

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