"Go to" Lure
Every year it seems that the tackle industry comes out with a plethora of new lures to fool the fish. And every year it seems like I have to add at least one of these lures to my tackle box. The hope when I try the new lure is that it will become a "go to" lure. Of coarse a "go to" lure is a bait that you can count on to produce fish under conditions that you face commonly.
The new lure for me this year was the Rapala X-Rap Subwalk. The Subwalk is a fishy looking fat cigar with with a couple of small wings; It is designed to "walk the dog" subsurface. I have found this lure to be tricky to control, but it does catch fish. It is close to being a treble hooked version of my "go to" lure the Zoom Super Fluke which is a soft plastic jerk bait. I don't think I will count on the Subwalk, like I count on the Super Fluke, but when smallmouth are around you can bet I will throw that Subwalk some.
My last Newsletter article was titled: "The Art of the Lost Lure" and was about losing and maybe getting back a lost lure. I have a lost lure story for the Subwalk:
I was fishing from shore and had a pike bite off my white Subwalk. Several days later when I was able to get out in a boat, I made my first priority on the water going to see if I could find that Subwalk as that it was bit off in a place that wasn't very deep or weedy. Sure enough when I got into the area it was bit off I spotted it and retrieved the lure. I proceeded to use the lure to catch several more bass before a pike bit it off a second time. This time the water was deep and weedy and so my white Subwalk was lost for good. Easy come, easy go!