Imagine you’re in really deep water, there’s a ledge with a big shallow flat on top that drops down to the deep water. Most baits would have to be thrown to the edge of that grass, right where it starts to drop off, otherwise they would get hung up on the grass. Most people would make three or four cranks, hit grass, then get bogged down in it. The Hybrid Hunter bait won’t make you fear the grass; in fact it works best in this type of situation
When I’m fishing the Hybrid Hunter, I keep my rod tip up and feather the bait through the grass. I’m not jerking it through. When grass gets hung up on the hook and breaks off, I pop the bait to get the grass free. Other than that, I can almost sit and feather it through that short, thick grass underneath the surface.
I don’t think people realize there can be a lot of fish in grass like that. Most of the time, there’s only one or two ways to catch them in that scenario: a swim jig or a fluke. But there are a lot of fish that do not want the jig or fluke. They want something loud, just beneath the surface, making a lot of noise and being erratic. Especially in the colder months.
The Hybrid Hunter is flat-sided, even though it looks round. When you pop the bait, it angles from side to side and gives off a lot of flash. The lineup of colors all gives off that flash, similar to the Red Eye Shad colors. You don’t see that kind of flash on a lot of crankbaits, because they don’t have flat sides. When you’re hung up and working the Hybrid Hunter free, its body is angling around as it floats up. I would say most of the bites come as soon as it breaks free of the grass because of that flash.
When I throw the Hybrid Hunter in grass, I barely work it through it—not jerking it, just gently tugging. When I get free of the mat, I can get down about 3 or 4 feet. I can follow the grass from where it’s high to where it gets low. That’s almost impossible with other baits. You can get to the deeper stuff, but it’s harder to fish the shallow stuff. The Hybrid Hunter makes both depths easy to work with.
