Featured photo: The new bass lure bass anglers are trying is the Dice Lure, a ball of plastic with tenacles.” Courtesy photo
My daddy got me started bass fishing when I was just a kid. We would take our old fishing rigs consisting of a steel rod, level wind reel and spool of black line to the lake or creek.
He would tie on one of the few lures he had back then – a Hawaiian Wiggler, River Runt or Dalton Special and we would give it a try.
Later, another lure captured the interest of bass fishermen when the plastic worm was introduced. At first, these lures were stiff and straight and featured a couple of hooks imbedded in the worm. These lures eventually gave way to a soft and pliable plastic worm that you rigged up Texas style with a bullet weight tied on above a single hook which was skewered onto the worm with the point concealed in the plastic, making the lure weedless.
Since then, there have been a whole array of lures introduced to attract bass and until recently, these lures were the mainstay for anglers going after bass.
Scan social media today and you’ll find that yet another lure, totally different, has taken the bass fishing world by storm and for the life of me, I can’t figure how the heck a bass can be attracted to a small round plastic or rubber ball with tenacles sticking out in all directions. Yamamoto calls theirs the Uni; others call it Sea Urchin, Strike King’s version is the Floating Tumbleweed or Dice Lures, to name a few.
How effective are these lures? I interviewed an angler who fished the Majestic Bass Tournament held a couple of weeks ago on Lake D’Arbonne, Kade Hillestad, a 24 year old student at the University of Louisiana Monroe, fished this lure exclusively during the tournament and when the deal was done, Hillestad won the award for the heaviest five fish stringer for the tournament with his five fish weighing 28 pounds. Included in his catch was the third largest bass in the tournament, one that tipped the scales at 8.03 pounds.
The tournament pays cash for the largest bass weighed in each two hour period throughout the event that ran from Saturday morning until Sunday morning. Hillestad had fish that won three of the five two-hour weigh ins including his 8.03 pounder. During the duration of the tournament, Hillestad was able to collect a pile of checks for winning three of the two hourweigh ins plus the third largest bass in the event along with winning the best five fish stringer.
“I only used one lure during the whole tournament to catch my fish,” he said. What lure did he use? He caught all his fish using one of those crazy looking new lures.
“The one I used is called the Prickly Pear and I caught all my fish on it,” said Hillestad. “I was fishing the thermocline which is the line where warm water and cool water meet. It varied in depth during the day and I was able to keep up with it because fish relate more to the cooler water.”
Hillestad is a member of the ULM fishing team and his club has a tournament later this month way up north on the Potamic River.
“I may try a variety of lures but for sure, I’ll have the Prickly Pear tied on one of my rods because I believe in this crazy lure and how well it works,” he said.
If you plan to bass fish anytime soon, you owe it to yourself to drop by your favorite outlet that sells fishing lures and grab a handful of these new, weird looking lures. Ask for
Prickly Pear, Uni, Dice Lure or Floating Tumbleweed – they’ll know what you’re talking about. Chances are, you’ll be impressed with what these strange looking lures can attract.