Entry 246-1

Fishing Strike King’s New 2008 Lures with Mark Menendez

Part 1: Six Points Away from Fishing the Classic

Question: Mark, you almost made the cut for the 2008 Bassmaster Classic, but what happened?

Menendez: I fished a very-consistent year in 2007. I probably had one of the most-consistent years of my career. I can look back at the season and tell you two or three bass that could have given me the points I needed to make the 2008 Classic, if I’d caught them. The way the points system is set up, the anglers who win the tournaments receive a lot of points, but the guys who finish in the top 20 don’t. If the points were given out more equally, the consistent fishermen would be able to make the Classic more often.

Question: How far out of the Classic were you this year?

Menendez: I was one guy out of making the Classic. I lacked 6 points from making the 2008 Classic.

Question: How does that make you feel, Mark?

Menendez: I can’t really complain, because throughout my bass-fishing career, I’ve been the last guy to make it into the Classic so many times, it’s not even funny. I guess this year was just my turn to be the first guy out. Not getting a Classic berth is part of the sport and the competition. Probably missing the Classic by 6 points is the incentive I need to fish harder to make the 2009 Classic.

Question: What bait helped you most this year?

Menendez: When I got the new Strike King Rage Craw, I started catching more bass faster than I’d ever caught them. With the Rage Craw, I caught bass while sight fishing – both in extremely-shallow water and in 30-foot-deep water. Once I got the Rage Craw, my job of finding and catching bass became easier. If one lure helped me the most this season, it would have to be the Rage Craw. There are very-few places and very-few times of the year that you can’t fish the Rage Craw successfully.

With what I’ve learned about fishing this lure in 2007, I’ll have a leg up on the 2008 tournament season. I like the way the Rage Craw moves on the bottom, the swimming action of the pincers and the way the bait moves when you dead stick it. The Rage Craw is one of the most-versatile lures Strike King makes, and it comes in great crawfish colors. Bass eat crawfish year-round, so there’s rarely a time when you can’t fish the Rage Craw, anywhere in the nation.

Next: The Rage Craw and Jig Combination

Contents:

• Part 1: Six Points Away from Fishing the Classic
• Part 2: The Rage Craw and Jig Combination
• Part 3: Don’t Rush the Football
• Part 4: The Sexy Shad Isn’t a Gimmick
• Part 5: The Shadalicious and the Sexy Spoon