Entry 315-3

What’s New From Strike King and How to Use These Products with Denny Brauer

Part 3: Hawging Up the Bass

Question: Denny, another new lure from Strike King is the Rage Hawg, and it’s also a creature bait. What makes the Rage Hawg different?

Brauer: The appendages on the sides of the lure make it different. Although this lure’s almost like the Game Hawg, the appendages come out the back end of the bait and are designed more like the appendages on the Rage Craw. Too, they’ll have a more-violent action than some of Strike King’s other creature baits.

Question: The Rage Hawg is obviously a flipping and pitching bait. But how else do you use it?

Brauer: Once again, you’re caught in the same trap as most other fishermen. You see a lure and automatically decide the technique with which that lure should be used. Most fishermen categorize lures. But other pro fishermen and myself will look at a lure and say, “Ok, everyone will see this lure as a flipping-and-pitching lure, which is more than likely the way everyone will fish it. So, how can I fish this bait in a way most other fishermen won’t think to use it?” This is being creative with a lure. Yes, it’s a flipping-and-pitching bait, but you also can use it on a Carolina and a Texas rig, rigged weightless and with a variety of other flipping strategies.

Question: To what type of cover will you be flipping and pitching this lure?

Brauer: I prefer to use baits like this from the spawn through the summer. The Rage Hawg resembles bluegills, so I’ll pitch it around bedding bass or under boat docks or any other type of visible cover I see. However, I won’t limit myself to just the flipping-and-pitching tactic. All the new lures from Strike King will catch bass on any lake or river in the country, if you’ll use creative tactics and try different styles of fishing with them.

Question: When would you choose the Rage Hawg over the Rage Tail Smokin’ Rooster?

Brauer: If I’m fishing a lake or a river where bass fishing is really tough, and there aren’t many big bass, I probably will fish the Rage Hawg instead of the Rage Tail Smokin’ Rooster. The Rage Tail Smokin’ Rooster seems to appeal to a lake with a large number of big bass. The Rage Hawg has a more-subtle presentation than the Rage Tail Smokin’ Rooster. Too, I’ll use the Rage Hawg after I’ve caught all the bass I can on the Rage Tail Smokin’ Rooster, because the Rage Hawg can produce many-more bass. Remember that the new Strike King lures give fishermen more options and more ways to present baits the bass haven’t seen before, using styles or techniques for which most fishermen won’t use the lures. Bass are like humans. They don’t want to eat the same meal every day.

One of the biggest mistakes most bass fishermen make is they start catching bass in one spot, and when the bass stop biting, they crank-up their big engines and search for other places to catch bass. I’ve learned that many times instead of leaving a school of bass that’s stopped biting, if you’ll change baits, you’ll continue to catch bass. As professional fishermen, if we catch bass using one lure, and the bass quit biting, we’ll continue to fish that same spot and change baits two- or three-different times, until we find the one that will make the bass start biting again.

Question: On the professional fishing trail, the Strike King pros have amassed a huge number of wins and top-10 finishes. Why?

Brauer: The Strike King Pros and the Strike King Company continue to bring new lures to the market and new techniques for catching bass, which seems to give us an edge. We’re on the cutting edge not only with new lures, but also with new colors of lures. We’re often asked if our success on the fishing circuit drives the success of the Strike King lures, or if the new lures Strike King produce every year drive the success of the pros. Both are true. New and better lures enable us to perform well on the professional-fishing circuits and our success in tournament fishing with those lures helps inform the public on not only the effectiveness of the lures, but also how to fish the lures successfully. We have a great marriage between the Strike King Company and the pros who fish under the Strike King banner.

Next: The Rage Eeliminator

Contents:

• Part 1: The Rage Thumper Worm
• Part 2: The Rage Tail Smokin' Rooster
• Part 3: Hawging Up the Bass
• Part 4: The Rage Eeliminator
• Part 5: The King Shad's Baby Brother