Entry 246-3
Fishing Strike King’s New 2008 Lures with Mark Menendez
Editor’s Note: Mark Menendez of Paducah, Kentucky, one of the Strike King Pro Team members, fishes the Bassmaster Elite Series and the FLW tournament circuits and has fished three Bassmaster Classics. This week, Menendez will tell us what barely missing the 2008 Classic was like, and what he thinks about Strike King’s newest lures.
Part 3: Don’t Rush the Football
Question: Mark, yesterday, you mentioned Strike King’s Football Jig. How do you use the Football Jig, and how do you catch bass on it?
Menendez: I’ve been fishing with the Football Jig for quite a while, and Strike King has the best football-head jig on the market, because the company puts the right-size hook at just the right angle to the jighead. So, when the bass takes the jig to set the hook, you only have to lift your rod tip and start cranking the reel.
I tend to drag the Football Jig more than hop it. I try not to get in a hurry when I’m fishing it. Sometimes, if the bass are feeding more aggressively, I’ll hop the jig to cover more water with it. I fish the Football Jig and the Rage Craw rig like a crankbait. I prefer to use a 3/4-ounce Football Jig with a Strike King Rage Craw trailer on rocky points and gravel points 5- to 6-feet deep. I’ll cast the jig out and retrieve it across the bottom, just like I fish a crankbait. It will bang and clang against the bottom just like a crankbait will. But this gives the fish something different to look at with a unique type of lure that they haven’t seen previously. This is a fantastic way to catch bass holding on points.
Question: How do you decide to fish the Football Jig instead of one of the other Strike King jigs?
Menendez: The depth and the cover I’m fishing dictate the size and the design of the jig that will work best. For instance, if I’m fishing a jig in less than 15 to 20 feet of water with a lot of cover like wood, bushes, treetops and stumps, then I’ll use a Strike King Premier Elite jig. The Premier Elite jig comes through cover much better than the Football Jig does, especially in wood or grass type of cover. But, if I’ll be fishing rocks and gravel that may have scattered, isolated stumps, then I prefer the Football Jig because it makes a lot of noise and takes a great posture on the bottom, making the bait easy for the bass to see and eat.
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
