ORLANDO, Fla., — During a lifetime of bass fishing, I’ve reached several personal benchmarks.
I’ve topped the 5-pound mark with spotted bass several times — and yes, I know they grow much larger than that out West. But as a guy who grew up on the Coosa River in Alabama, a 5-pounder has always been huge to me.
I’ve caught smallmouth that eclipsed the 6-pound mark. Living for a while in Tennessee with quick access to Pickwick Lake and the tailrace below Wheeler Dam helped those efforts.
But in all my life — despite trips to Mexico’s Lake El Salto, La Perla Ranch in Texas and numerous other largemouth paradises — I still haven’t put a 10-pound largemouth in the boat.
So, this year, I decided to walk the floor at ICAST (almost 18 miles in three days, according to my iPhone) looking for the baits that are best suited to help me get there.
Here’s a look a glimpse at what I found:
Crème Lure Company 16-inch Coach Whip worm
Since I enjoy getting lots of bites, I always tend to lean more toward a smaller soft plastic, like a 7-inch Berkley Power Worm or a Yum Dinger. But bigger baits often lead to bigger bites — and that makes the 16-inch Coach Whip from Crème Lure Company an interesting choice.
A coachwhip is actually a snake — and that’s exactly what this bait looks like when you first pick it up.
I’m sure most diehard bass anglers have fished with 10-inch worms before. Well, just imagine one that’s more than twice as big as those — and think to yourself about the possibilities it could have on a big-fish lake during the heat of summer.
Berkley Juke
The Juke probably looks a lot like many other jerkbaits you’ve thrown, except — like the Coach Whip — it’s bigger.
The largest one (sizes aren’t specified yet in Berkley’s media packet) looks a lot like the Redfins I used to fish below Pickwick Dam to catch 20-pound stripers. It also makes enough noise to wake up campers who had hoped to sleep in nearby.
If you get it around some jerkbait fish and there happens to be a giant in the group, it might be hard for the fish to resist.
I personally would love to lean back into a 7-pound fish on this bait. A 10-pounder would just be gravy.
Evergreen Noisy Dachs ND-90
During a press conference with several of their pros on Tuesday, Daiwa and Evergreen International announced a new jointed, hybrid wakebait-swimbait that will be sure to turn heads in the freshwater fishing arena, the Noisy Dachs ND-90.
They say the bait has a unique surface action that pushes a wake like most billed wakebaits, but also has a distinctive shad tail action that thumps loudly on the surface.
It dives a foot deep, measures 7 inches long and weighs 2.2 ounces. It comes in four colors — bass, Oikawa, peacock and black bone.
It sells for $89.99 — still a bargain if it results in your first 10-pound largemouth.
Booyah Streak IV
When it comes to big deep-diving crankbaits, the Berkley Dredger and the Strike King 10XD come to mind immediately — and I wouldn’t be surprised if my first 10-pounder comes on one of those.
But a nice new addition to the super-sized deep-diving crowd this year is the Streak IV from Booyah Bait Company.
Designers say the bait will easily surpass the 20-foot mark and has plenty of action to entice a strike from even the most finicky of fish.
Weighing in at 2 ounces and measuring 3.6 inches, the bait is easy to cast — and that means anglers will have no trouble achieving maximum depth.
A heavy feeling while using this bait during the summertime could certainly mean the fish of a lifetime is just a few yards away.
Storm Arashi Cover Pop
Given a choice, I’d probably rather join the 10-pound club with a topwater bait as anything — and the Storm Arashi Cover Pop combines the action of several great ones from fishing history.
The bait will pop, splash and chug, inching back toward you with minimal movement on each cast. You can walk it with a side-to-side motion, or you can pop it in a straight line, with it veering off course occasionally like a struggling baitfish.
Fitted with an extra tail weight to provide increased casting distance, bait enters the water with less splash. This will allow you to make a stealthier presentation to bass that are feeding along the surface near your boat.
