Weight: 1/2 oz (without hooks)
Body Length: 2-3/4 inches (excluding lip)
Total Length: 4 inches (including lip)
Type: Hard Plastic. Deep Diver. Floating. Rattling.
Diving Depth: 8 to 12 feet (casting). Up to 18 foot range (trolling).

Note: These lure bodies come WITHOUT hooks and without split rings as shown below.

Where the blue and chartreuse meet on the upper back, the two color fusion creates a green line which shimmers as you change the angle of view. There's a flash of pale metallic pink off the side above the belly hook hanger. The hologram foil layer constantly refracts whatever available light, producing an ever-changing laser-like spectrum of  pale blue, green, chartreuse, pink and more glints of hologram color flashes.

1/2 oz Deep Diver Crankbait ~ Real Shad Hologram

The next three crankbaits have a rippling tiger stripe pattern. As the crankbait rolls on the retrieve, the wavy tiger stripes enhance the illusion of movement and speed. Even at slow retrieve speeds, the stripes appear to provide hyper movement, so that the crankbait appears to be "going nowhere fast."

1/2 oz Deep Diver Crankbait ~ White Tiger

1/2 oz Deep Diver Crankbait ~ Blue Tiger

The next two crankbaits are paler than usual fire tiger patterns. The paleness is achieved with pearlescent overtones that dampen down the underlying vibrant colors. The pale effect allows a softer, subtler fire tiger pattern that's good for clear water in all seasons.

1/2 oz Deep Diver Crankbait ~ Pale Fire Tiger

1/2 oz Deep Diver Crankbait ~ Pale Perch

The next color is great for night fishing or for dark water. It is basically jet black, but has wide swaths of dark blue pearl on the tail, dark green pearl in the middle and dark purple pearl on the head, all with the black backdrop. As this crankbait wobbles, it shows chunks and flashes of these dark pearl colors.

1/2 oz Deep Diver Crankbait ~ Midnight Shimmer

Weight: 1/2 oz (without hooks)
Body Length: 3 inches
Type: Hard Plastic. Lipless. Rattling. Sinking.
Diving Depth: Can be kept shallow or counted down to any depth.

Note: These lure bodies come WITHOUT hooks and without split rings as shown below.

1/2 oz  Lipless Crankbait ~ Real Shad Hologram

Where the blue and chartreuse meet on the upper back, the two color fusion creates a green line which shimmers as you change the angle of view. There's a flash of pale metallic pink off the side fin print area. The hologram foil layer constantly refracts whatever available light, producing an ever-changing laser-like spectrum of  pale blue, green, chartreuse, pink and more glints of hologram color flashes.

The next three crankbaits have a rippling tiger stripe pattern. As the crankbait rolls on the retrieve, the wavy tiger stripes enhance the illusion of movement and speed. Even at slow retrieve speeds, the stripes appear to provide hyper movement, so that the crankbait appears to be "going nowhere fast."

All three have thin, smoky black backs that can't easily be seen due to the camera angle.

1/2 oz Deep Diver ~ White Tiger

1/2 oz Lipless Crankbait ~ Blue Tiger

The next crankbait is a paler than usual fire tiger pattern. The paleness is achieved with pearlescent overtones that dampen down the underlying vibrant colors. The pearlescent sheen does not show up in the photo, but the entire body has a lustrous and reflective pearl sheen. The pale effect allows a softer, subtler fire tiger pattern that's good for clear water in all seasons.

1/2 oz Lipless Crankbait ~ Pale Fire Tiger

Last Minute Christmas Gifts at Bassdozer's Store

Order a last minute Christmas gift today at Bassdozer's Store, and you may get the items in time for Christmas!

I ship via US post office priority mail delivery (with tracking and confirmation). While the post office does not guarantee delivery time, priority mail usually takes 2-3 days to any destination in the USA.

So if you order a last minute gift item on Tuesday, there's no guarantee, but there is a great chance you'll get it on Thursday or Friday...

...in time for Christmas!

Here are a few new arrivals being added today. These will go into the store within the next few hours:

10 VMC Red Inline Treble Hooks ~ #2

X-Strong round bend treble. Most all treble hooks have one point or tine canted into a lure's or crankbait's belly. Most trebles are unbalnced as they swing, and that constantly arcs that in-turned tine across the belly and sides of a bait, causing semi-circular hook scrape marks, unbalancing the lure's action slightly toward one side, and that in-turned tine s not in position to hook a fish either.

On the other hand, the VMC Inline treble is one of the few trebles that turns all three points out away from the lure's belly, where they won't leave nasty swing marks and each point is outward for a better hooking chance. Also, the hook itself is perfectly balanced, so the hook can help a lure achieve better swimming action.

10 VMC Red Inline Treble Hooks ~ #4

10 VMC Red Inline Treble Hooks ~ #2

3/4 oz Jigging Spoon ~ #2 VMC Red X-Strong Treble

These chrome-plated spoons have a whiter flash than nickel-plating. Oversized x-strong stainless steel split ring and stainless steel Duolock snap is everything you need to go spooning.

Where bass or bait aren't really showing up on the meter, I tend to use the 3/4 oz size more to prospect blindly, bouncing bottom on rough patches, cover or structure. When bait or bass activity can be graphed above bottom, the 1/2 oz size falls a bit slower through mid-water, fluttering side-to-side like a falling shad.

1/2 oz Jigging Spoon ~ #4 VMC Red X-Strong Treble

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday Season!

Weight: 1/2 oz (without hooks)
Body Length: 3/4 inches
Type: Hard Plastic. Lipless. Rattling. Sinking.
Diving Depth: Can be counted down to any depth.

Note: These lure bodies come WITHOUT hooks or split rings.

Without any diving lip, the action of this lipless crankbait comes mainly from the internal weighting and the angler-imparted action. It has a very tight shudder or flutter, similar to the tight-swimming body movements of shad and sunfish. In addition to its powerful vibrating swimming movement, this lipless rattling crankbait also has a great shad or sunfish body shape. The body shape also allows bass to easily mistake it for a crayfish. It fits right into the food chain.

It has a great swimming action when retrieved at any speed from slow to medium to fast.

When paused, it sinks perfectly horizontal. It does not nose-dive or spin or foul the line with the hooks when it sinks. This is a common fault with other lipless crankbait brands - they spin when they sink and foul your line - but this lipless crankbait does not have that fault. It maintains a natural horizontal body position on the fall. It maintains its natural look and posture whenever paused and when allowed to deadfall momentarily (a great strike trigger). Many other brands of crankbaits do not do this well or at all, but this one does.

CONSTRUCTION

These crankbaits are plastic, with a durable finish, and made in America in the same factory that models, molds and paints a number of different hard plastic bait brands sold by various US tackle vendors.

If this crankbait look like one of your favorites, or looks the same as crankbaits found in catalogs, online and in tackle shops, it is because this same model crankbait is sold under several different labels and brand names.

ABOUT THE RATTLES

The internal chambers of this lipless rattling crankbait contain many ball bearings that rattle noisily on the retrieve and the sound resonates in the chambers. The internal chambers also shift the rattles to the rear of the bait during the cast to make for smooth, long and accurate casts.

The rattling noise made is moderate - not too loud yet not too soft. The sound can best be described as a chatter, and it can be heard rattling under water when the crankbait is still a good distance away from a boat. Many persons wonder why rattling lipless crankbaits work since they are so noisy? People feel the loud rattling noise is unnatural - but that isn't true. Most anglers do not know that the noise made by this lipless rattling crankbait is quite close to the noise made by shad, herring, sawbelly, blueback or alewife schools swimming tightly together. Few anglers have ever heard the very loud wriggling, writhing noise made by a school of such baitfish, but it is true. I have heard the noise made by tightly swimming schools of shad (herring, alewives, etc.) on occasion. The sounds of shad schools can even be heard above the water when conditions are right. The chatter of this lipless crankbait is remarkably similar to the noise made by such schools. The noisy rattling made by this lipless crankbait is a natural dinner bell for bass!

HOW TO USE

No doubt you've used lipless crankbaits before, and you're familiar with the common approach of chucking it out there, withthe option to count it down to a specific depth, then winding it in steadily. In addition, here are a few other, less common yet productive tactics to try with this lipless crankbait:

• Drop Back Tactic. The genre of lipless crankbaits is unique among hardbaits (topwaters, jerkbaits, crankbaits) because it is the only hardbait category that's primarily a sinking countdown bait. Not all lipless crankbaits are created equal when it comes to this trait, however. Some brands sink way too quickly and unnaturally to appeal to fish as they fall. Some brands careen into a tailspin and foul your line when they sink. The lures for sale here possess none of these faults found in some other lipless brands.
   
  The lipless crankbait here has a perfect horizontal fall and flutters as it slowly sinks when paused. So where you may countdown other brands simply as a means to get them deeper, you can also let this one pause, slowly fall and flutter as a key part of the presentation. This is especially powerful when you miss a strike. Just stop, let it fall and flutter, or twitch it. You may shake it like you shake a worm. Odds are high that you will get another chance at a strike as you drop back this bait to the bass that bit it or its buddy.
   
  Also when bass follow the lure to boatside but do not strike, simply let the lure drop and flutter all the way to bottom. Chances are the bass will follow it down and pluck it off the bottom. Just let it fall and let it hit bottom. Then wait for the bite. If not, just raise and let it drop back to bottom a few times. There's an excellent chance you can convert many missed strikes or follow-ups into fish landed with this drop back tactic.
   
  Even when a fish follows another type of bait to the boat - a topwater, jerkbait, floating crankbait, there's no way you can throw one of those baits back on a following fish, but if you keep this lipless crankbait tied on another rod, you can throw this in where the follower was last seen (or in the direction it was headed), and simply let it drop back to the bottom, popping or shaking it every so often. Due to the perfect slow-falling, fluttering action of this lure, you stand a great chance of enticing fish that chased other baits to the boat.
   
• Use It Like a Jerkbait. Everyone who owns a plastic-lipped, slender minnow-shaped jerkbait has caught fish ripping or jerking and then pausing it. However this retrieval tactic is not used when it comes to lipless crankbaits. The problem is, ripping or jerking and pausing a lipless crankbait won't work with many other lipless bait brands since they twist and spin and foul the line when ripped and paused, and don't suspend horizontally. However, the slow-sinking crankbait for sale here behaves beautifully when you use it just like a jerkbait.
   
  You can rip or jerk and pause any of the colors for sale here. However, my favorite colors for this tactic tend to be the reflective white pearl or hologram finishes. Reason is, when a pearl-bellied or hologram pattern flips and flashes its bright sides when twitched, ripped or jerked, that sudden flash is often what drives fish wild - when the lipless crankbait flashes its belly and sides at fish.
   
  A nice way to visualize this tactic as you are doing it, is to think of the flat-sided bait rattling and vibrating along, trying to keep its bright belly and sides hidden (the typical "dark back light belly" camouflage effect). Now when you rip or jerk it, think of that like flipping the lights on in a dark room. Any following fish get a sudden flash of reflective sides and belly. Then pause, which is when you get bit. It is an irregular action that works so well because bass have not seen such flipping/flashing action at all in a crankbait. Yet baitfish do it all the time, especially shad and herring flip on their sides constantly.
   
  No one ever said fishing is rocket science, but it truly is an art. Try retrieves using long slow jerks or short sharp snaps - and everything in between. This is one of the few lipless rattlebaits you can use like a jerkbait. Yet unlike long, slender jerkbaits, it has the perfect shape, deep-bodied profile and natural flipping action of shad.
   
• Pendulum Fall. When bass are suspended or simply schooling over structure (points, channels, ledges, etc.),  I'll tend to position the boat over a high spot or over the shallowest spot, and cast toward deeper, open water. Then simply let the lipless crankbait pendulum fall in toward me. The key is how far to let the crankbait sink at first. When I let it get down to where I think the fish are, I'll give the crankbait one flip. This is an attention-getter. It signals something is not quite right. It's just like a shad in trouble that flips up on its side, making an attempt to right itself. I then let it fall again and give it two flips. Then let it pendulum fall in toward me again. All the while it is coming back to me in a pendulum arc, and give it three more flips. Just pop it quick, to give it a short, erratic, struggling movement. It moves at most one foot when you flip it. It's just an attention-getter that shows bass something is not right. I basically let the crankbait swing back in to me, through the fish, above the cover, over the structure, and pop it once, twice or three times. On its way back in, as the bottom becomes shallower, it's advantageous if the crankbait bumps into brush or anything else as it gets closer in and closer to the bottom. That obstacle impact is a great strike trigger. More often than not, the crankbait will get nipped as it bounces off anything in its path. Once it reaches bottom, yoyo it up and down as you reel it in the rest of the way back to the boat.
   
• Don't Forget to Bluff. Along bluff walls, simply move the boat in close, cast horizontal to the bluff, engage the reel and allow the crankbait to freefall down the sheer face. Just give it a pop or you can gently shake it like you would shake a worm, as it falls along the bluff face, making it rattle, and picking up suspended bass as it shakes and sinks in an arc back to and under the boat. This is a great mid-summer tactic, and the most productive bluffs often have slivers of shade close to the wall where bass suspend and wait in the shade.

HOOKS TO USE

Note: These lure bodies come WITHOUT hooks or split rings.

Many anglers tend to have extra treble hooks and split rings. And many anglers prefer their own certain hook model to replace whatever hooks come stock on a lure anyway. That's why I offer you these crankbaits without any hooks or split rings. You'll need to provide your own treble hooks (two) and split rings (three) for this lure. There are three popular hook configurations for this lure:

1. #4 Belly; #6 Tail. There are many different brands of lipless crankbaits of this size (3 inches) and weight (1/2 oz). Most brands tend to come with a #6 tail treble and #4 belly treble. These are the most popular factory-installed hook sizes across many brands. If you desire to go with this configuration (#6 tail; #4 belly), I suggest the Mustad Triple Grip trebles sold separately in Bassdozer's Store. The Mustad Triple Grip lives up to its name. The uniquely-angled hook points to grip bass very well. Also, the Mustad Triple Grips sold separately in Bassdozer's Store have long shanks that keep the hooks further away from the bait, exposing them better when fish bite. This specific pairing of Mustad Triple Grip hooks will not marry or tangle each other too often with a #6 tail and #4 belly.
    
2. #4 Belly; #4 Tail. Many anglers feel that a lure manufacturer has some sort of optimum action or perfect balance in mind when the manufacturer puts specific hooks on a bait. To the contrary, I have not found it to matter nor anything "magic" about the factory-installed hook sizes on many crankbaits. For bass fishing with baitcasting gear, and going for better-than-average bass such as in tournament competition, I prefer to upsize the tail treble on lipless crankbaits to a size #4. Most manufacturers install a #6 on the tail, but I have yet found a single bass that somehow favored a smaller, weaker #6 versus a larger, stronger #4 tail treble. Upgrading to the #4 on the tail helps hook and land more and better bass. In the next section below, I describe the "Rigging Kit" (sold separately in Bassdozer's Store) which contains the pair of #4 VMC treble hooks I often use.
   
    
3. #2 Belly; #4 Tail. Anglers in Florida, Mexico, Texas (for example), or many other lakes and regions where big bass are common, often opt for even bigger hooks on this bait, upgrading the belly treble to a #2. The bigger hooks tend not to detract from the lure action or number of strikes you get, and will hook and hold bigger bass. The weak link in this set-up can become the figure eight hook hanger molded into the crankbait body. A bigger bass (and use of heavy tackle, especially braided lines) may or may not affect the #2 belly treble hook itself, but pressure of a big bass on heavy braided line can also twist or pull the hook hanger out of the lure body. Nevertheless, the benefits of a larger #2 belly treble still outweigh the risks, and most anglers who upgrade to a #2 belly and #4 tail treble should not normally experience problems.

HOW TO RIG

1/2 oz Lipless Crankbait ~ Rigging Kit (sold separately)

With the #4 hooks I recommend (sold separately), the hooks are not able to marry each other. This provides for fault-free casting wheret he hooks are unable to tangle on each other during a cast, which can causes many wasted casts during the course of the day. With the hooks sold separately in the Lipless Crankbait Rigging Kit, the hooks are spaced enough apart so they cannot catch on each other during a cast.

For your convenience, I sell exactly what you need to best rig one lipless crankbait in a separate kit.

The separate Rigging Kit includes:

• One each #6 X-Strong Stainless Steel Split Ring (for nose)
• Two each #4 X-Strong Stainless Steel Split Rings (for hooks)
• One each #4 VMC Red In-Line X-Strong Cone-Cut Treble (for belly)
• One each #4 VMC Black Nickel X-Strong X-Short Cone-Cut Treble (for tail)

All ready to rig, and comes in a convenient, labeled plastic clamshell.

For those who wish to buy lipless crankbait rigging components in larger packs, I also offer:

• 50 packs of #6 X-Strong Stainless Steel Split Ring (for nose)
• 50 packs of #4 X-Strong Stainless Steel Split Rings (for hooks)
• 10 packs of  #4 VMC Red In-Line X-Strong Cone-Cut Treble (for belly)
• 10 packs of #4 VMC Black Nickel X-Strong X-Short Cone-Cut Treble (for tail)

All the above hooks and components are sold separately in Bassdozer's Store.

Note: These lure bodies come WITHOUT hooks or split rings as shown below:

1/2 oz Lipless Crankbait ~ Red Eye Bass ~ No Hooks

A subtle-looking "finesse" crankbait color that's not loud or flashy. It blends in naturally with many underwater environments. A fine color for clear water. Imitates baby bass, small crappie and panfish for example.

1/2 oz Lipless Crankbait ~ Alewife ~ No Hooks

Whether you call 'em sawbellies in the southeast or alewives in the northeast, bass love to feast on this tasty member of the shad and herring family. This crankbait color has a thin black back, pale green chartreuse high on its shoulders, a pink flush along its sides and an overall gold sheen. Goes great with a chartreuse white feather-dressed tail treble hook.

1/2 oz Lipless Crankbait ~ Herring ~ No Hooks

For thirty years, I have favored this classic style of hard-to-find "antique" herring color pattern. Nowadays, herring have bee stocked in large impoundments crisscrossing the country. However, this seldom-seen herring color originated in the northeast Atlantic coastal states where herring are native and make spawning runs up freshwater rivers. This classic herring pattern has a light blue back, a light pink side stripe, a creamy white belly, with no red chin splash.

1/2 oz Lipless Crankbait ~ Purple Shimmer ~ No Hooks

This is a non-descript paint pattern that resembles a shad with a bad rash! However, that irregular blotchy and distressed look of a shad in trouble can be just what bass want to target at times.

Hologram Foil Finish. Refracts or separates sunlight (or any ambient light) into the full spectrum of many individual colors. The colors being refracted constantly change and flash as the lure moves through the water. The holographic colors reflect the present water and light conditions and also provide the illusion of an excited baitfish that is "flushing" and emitting color signals.

1/2 oz Lipless Crankbait ~ Junebug Yellow ~ No Hooks

If you think this looks good on the computer screen, just wait till you see it for real. An "instant classic" color that looks like a bullseye for bass attention.

1/2 oz Lipless Crankbait ~ Smokey Joe ~ No Hooks

This classic crankbait pattern is as old as the hills. It's timeless in that Smokey Joe has always caught bass and always will. The pearl white belly is highly reflective. Jerk or rip it, and the belly throws an awfully bright flash that triggers strikes. To use it like a lipless jerkbait, the sudden white flash and suspended pause, is a terrific tactic with this color.

1/2 oz Lipless Crankbait ~ Midnight Shimmer ~ No Hooks

Jet black dripping with reflective dark purple, green and blue pearlescents. The three dark pearlescents cover much of the body, adding sheens and accents that many other basic black crankbaits lack. One of the most beautiful crankbait colors you'll come across for dark water, dark light and nighttime.

1/2 oz Lipless Crankbait ~ Hickory Shad ~ No Hooks

A solid color pattern with a black and gold pearl back. Very natural-looking so it fits right into the food chain.

1/2 oz Lipless Crankbait ~ Olive Back ~ No Hooks

A beige white or dirty bone color belly, a thin black back and black print detailing over a pale olive upper body.  A subtle-looking "finesse" crankbait color that blends in naturally with many underwater environments. A fine color for clear water. An important time for this color usage begins in early autumn. This imitates the green hues that shad often become in early fall. Yes, shad can get watermelon green in fall. And that's not all. Fall is the same period when bass aggressively feed on young-of-year baby bass that are mustering into massive schools of baby bass this time of season. At times, switching to an orange feather-dressed tail treble really lights a fire under bass that otherwise were not hitting hard.

Optimum Furbit ~ Frog Popper ~ Natural Frog

In a watery world of look-alike hollow rubber frogs, "Furbit the Frog" (what a name!) is a refreshingly individual amphibian. Many other hollow rubber frogs you see out there today look a lot like each other, and perhaps Furbit does too.... until you get to its legs! It's two legs are soft supple strips of rabbit fur. Furbit's legs ripple and flutter in a manner that synthetic rubber or plastic legs never will.

The long soft thin rabbit fur legs flutter and shudder, wriggling in an S-like movement of the two tails. When you move Furbit in short stops and starts, the many individual hair fibers puff out separately and then pull in tight again, like a breathing action. Nothing artificial even comes close.

Furbit has a molded-in belly weight and weighs 5/8 ounce. As if its rabbit fur legs weren't unique enough, Furbit also comes with a ball bearing swivel and Colorado spinner blade attached beneath it. The Colorado blade adds flash, vibration and best of all, the small blade causes Furbit the Frog's entire body to tremble uncontrollably due to the blade's vibration.

Matt, Chinami and Tony Paino of Optimum win ICAST Best Soft Lure of 2006 Award for new Furbit Series

Furbit sits high on the water. When you twitch it, Furbit has a nervous, nose-twitching action that is most lifelike. Even when paused, any slight ripple or chop on the water causes Furbit to bob back and forth. That causes the spinner blade to flash and wobble which is a natural attraction. You'll attract a lot of panfish that like to take pecks at the spinner blade and at the legs. Not only do you have Furbit as the main course for a hungry bass, but the dangling, flashing spinner blade helps gather panfish schools around the frog.

Do you see small panfish swirls underneath or around your frog? Do you see the bait tick or shift sideways from panfish tugging at it? All this is good! It means a big bass may be under your bait, under the panfish, tensed up and ready to pounce when next you move Furbit. Just twitch it slightly - and expect an explosion as Furbit gets plowed by a big bass.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so a video must be worth a bazillion. Click below to watch:

1. Video: Furbit the Fog's Shivering Escape

2. Video: Stop-and-Go Retrieve

3. Video: Side-to-Side Walking with Furbit

4. Video: Mat Hopping with Furbit the Frog

Note: Set the video screen size to a smaller size to see a sharper picture - and keep your eye on the whipping rabbit hair legs in the videos. They're deadly!

In 1986, silicone skirts first burst onto the fishing scene in a big way when the prestigious US Open in Las Vegas was won on a jig with the new-fangled silicone skirts. Other top national tournament trails of today, they were not as highly-organized nor so prominent at that time, and the US Open was a much bigger deal back then, twenty years ago, than it is today.

The silicone skirt immediately proved to be a revolutionary fish-catching product with almost unlimited variety of vibrant colors and glitter flakes previously not possible with monotone living rubber skirts. Over the years, advancements in silicone skirts have included more natural appearances as well as reflective chrome and holographic appearances.

Still to this day, over twenty years later, anglers constantly question and debate whether living rubber or silicone rubber is a better skirt material. As with many topics in fishing, whether scent attractant works or not, whether lure color really matters, no one has yet given conclusive answers to such questions; nor has anyone proven whether living rubber or silicone rubber skirts do or don't catch more fish than the other. In my experience, I have experimented exhaustively with both living rubber and silicone skirts. I don't think I've come across one bass yet that would hit one but not hit the other material. Except for continued research and testing, I opt for silicone skirts over living rubber simply since silicone stores better before and after use, is more readily available with more colors, glitters and foils, and is easier to put on or get off a jig, to name a few advantages of silicone. I am not alone on this either. New advancements in and increased popularity of silicone skirts continues to this day, whereas living rubber appears to languish in today's marketplace.

I have put together these specially-selected patterns to provide you with a truly great lure skirt. A lot of experience and painstaking research went into defining each of these skirt patterns for you.

Some - in fact all - of my skirt photos do not do justice to the skirts. From the camera lens to the computer screen, a lot of the hues, fine glitters, foil flashes and complex color tones do not come through in these photos. You really need to see these beauties up close and personal to be truly impressed by the rich details.

So why not try a few? Give all your bass jigs, spinnerbaits and buzzbaits an exciting new look with these new Bassdozer custom skirts.

Bassdozer believes these are the best skirts ever made. Super soft for pulsating breathing skirt action. All have 44 to 50 backward- and forward-facing strands.

Approximately 5-1/4" total length, with the retainer band placed off-center to create one short side and one long side. Usually, the long side is put on facing forward, but you have a choice how you want to put it on, and it is fun to experiment.

Don't be afraid to pluck out some of the strands to adjust the color balance or reduce the fullness. Sometimes fish prefer a sparser skirt appearance.

Rattles Sold Separately. These skirts have two "ear" sockets on the band that will accept two optional rattle pods. Rattle pods NOT included. Rattles are sold separately in Bassdozer's store. It is worth buying the rattles since they can be a great strike enhancement in dark water, in dense vegetation or at night. There are times in crystal clear water it may seem rattles can make a difference too. Rattles can quickly and easily be plugged into or removed from the two ear sockets.

I also like to use rattle straps whenever possible. These rattle straps are sold separately in Bassdozer's Store and resemble a miniature pair of martial arts nunchukus. Reason I favor the nunchukus is because they float around and move out of the way easily and there is little or no chance the nunchukus could encumber a fish getting the jig into its mouth.

5 Spinnerbait/Jig Skirts ~ Green Craw

Green Craw Skirt. The black cross-hatching helps give this skirt a crawdad look, and the green flakes and green glitter glisten and flicker under water. This is a reliable skirt pattern I have used many, many years and is now available for you to try for the first time.

Note the photo makes the orange color appear out of proportion. There are 40 brownish green-flaked strands (20 are black-barred brownish green-flaked strands; another 20 are unbarred brownish green-glittered strands). Only 10 (out of a total 50) strands are black-barred orange, and you can easily pluck a few of them out of the skirt when you use it, if you so desire.

Try Gary Yamamoto's smoke root beer w/green & copper (color #236) soft plastic baits as trailers with this skirt.

5 Spinnerbait/Jig Skirts ~ Watermelon

Watermelon Skirt. Anglers and friends had been asking me to make just a plain watermelon pepper skirt, and here it is. One of the top-selling soft plastic lure color in the world is now a great color for jig skirts. Sometimes plain and simple really is better, especially if it's Bassdozer's new watermelon skirt color.

5 Spinnerbait/Jig Skirts ~ Dozer's Magic

Dozer's Magic Skirt. I had two concept goals in mind while researching and developing this new killer skirt color blend. My first design goal was strictly technical. The primary base colors of most all jigs are only four colors: black, brown, purple and green. Technically speaking, these are the four "primary" colors used on jig skirts. Note that other colors like red, blue, chartreuse, orange are often "secondary" colors used in small quantities to add accent and contrast to black, brown, green or purple jigs. Therefore, my first design goal was to express and blend all four primary jig colors - black, brown, green and purple - in a single skirt. In this way, no matter what jig color a fish may have a hankering for, it's here. It's not one or the other jig color, but all of them. My second design goal was naturistic - to concoct a well-balanced natural crawdad color. This goal was achieved by very close matching of the green, brown and purple tones. The green brown and purple are all subdued and muted matching colors. These carefully-chosen colors blend into each other like the colors of a watercolor painting, and the pervasive black barred and spotted mottling fully unifies the pattern into a cohesive crawdad color. It's killer!

Try Gary Yamamoto's color #330 (green pumpkin with purple and copper flake) soft plastic baits as trailers with this skirt.

5 Spinnerbait/Jig Skirts ~ PBJ Flash

PBJ Flash Skirt. Peanut Butter Jelly ("PBJ") first became popular as a laminate color in soft plastic lures in Southern California many years ago. Since then, the color had practically become forgotten until the last few years. PBJ has recently been rediscovered as a "new" jig color. PBJ jigs have spread smoothly across the Southeast and Northeast USA. But PBJ never looked anywhere near this good until now! Bassdozer's PBJ Flash skirt sticks to the roof of bass mouths. The photo here hardly does this color justice. The brown skirts are HEAVILY foiled on both sides with lustrous purple foil. The purple foil is laminated in an irregular swirling pattern. The purple foil constantly glistens in a fluid manner as the skirt strands ripple whenever moved. The purple flash flutters and practically drips off each strand in a liquid-like shimmering illusion. The photo hardly shows this. Note the process to laminate metallic foil onto these skirts leaves a residue of gold-colored particles, which look like gold metal flakes on the strands. These tiny particles adhere to the strands, but will wash off when used.

Try Gary Yamamoto's cinnamon w/purple (color #221) or smoke pepper (#150) soft plastic baits as trailers with this skirt.

Poppin' Furbit, Optimum Bait Company's newest product, not only lands bass but it landed the Best New Soft Lure of 2006 award at the ICAST tackle trade show in Las Vegas in June, 2006. New soft plastic lure competition was intense, not just among hollow rubber frogs but all soft plastic lures. When the votes were counted, Optimum Baits and Poppin' Furbit won the Best New Soft Lure award at ICAST.

Optimum's Poppin' Furbit is a weedless popper that can be thrown into the densest cover and thickest grass where it will remain snagless. With any other popper, you'll be sorry if you even come close to a blade of grass or a twig. That's because most popping lures have exposed treble hooks and they catch instantly on any little thing. That's no fun. Most poppers cannot be thrown in or around heavy cover or grass. But not the Poppin' Furbit! It's designed to get into the nastiest snags and thickest slop possible and to pop its way out of there... if it can make it back before a hungry bass hammers it!

Weighing 5/8 oz, the aerodynamic Poppin' Furbit casts like a dream, splats down loudly and thanks to the belly weight molded onto the hook shank, it never lands upside down. It's balanced to float high on the surface. It sits practically level with its big bowl-shaped mouth always poised to scoop up and splatter a ton of water in an attention-getting explosion.

Snagless, yes, but the new Poppin' Furbit is heavily armed with an Owner super sharp 6/0 double hook. A bulge molded in the body shape protects the hook from snags, but the hollow body collapses easily out of the way when a big bass chomps down on the Poppin' Furbit.

Poppers are not only exciting for an angler to use, but the noise and commotion of a popper can be highly excitable to bass as well!

An angler can use the splashing sound of the Poppin' Furbit to excite and call bass in, much like a hunter can use a turkey call or scrape old antlers together to make sounds that excite and call in birds or bucks.

In thick cover with limited visibility, the Poppin' Furbit sends out the right signals. The sound and splash of the Poppin' Furbit brings fish up from their hidden lairs deep in the grass and dense cover, and when they see the whipping action of the rabbit fur tail, they bite.

How this works is simple. You pop the Furbit to make an attractive sound. The dished face sprays water out to the sides. The Poppin' Furbit moves forward into the sprayed area, which helps obscure it from view. The Furbit also pushes a wake off its sides as it moves forward, further obscuring it. Then there's the pause after the splash. Perhaps only for a split-second, but sometimes longer. In the pause as the commotion settles down, that slinky rabbit hair tail works its magic, fluttering and twisting, hairs pulsing open and closed, and practically breathing. Any bass that had been called over by the splash now sees that rippling rabbit hair tail coiling and uncoiling, and blasts it!

As if that wasn't enough, the Poppin' Furbit comes with a ball bearing swivel and spinner blade to add flash, vibration and action. These are all good things to have in a bass lure. Whether it's the loud splash of the Poppin' Furbit or the rippling, breathing action of the trailing rabbit fur tail or the flash and wobble of the attached blade, the Poppin' Furbit is perfect right out of the package. Just add water... and pop loudly in the densest cover or thickest grass where the big ones lounge.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so a video must be worth a bazillion. Click below to watch:

• Video: Poppin' Furbit doing the "Kaboom"

• Video: Poppin' Furbit being a little (not much) more subtle

• Video: Mat Hoppin' with Poppin' Furbit

Note: Set the video screen size to a smaller size to see a sharper picture - and keep your eye on the whipping rabbit hair legs in the videos. They're deadly!

Optimum Poppin' Furbit ~ Frog Popper ~ Tree Frog

Optimum Poppin' Furbit ~ Frog Popper ~ Black Ghost

Optimum Poppin' Furbit ~ Frog Popper ~ White Ice

For your convenience, in this separate kit, I provide exactly what you need to rig one of Bassdozer's 1/2 oz Deep Diver crankbaits.

This Rigging Kit includes:

• One each #6 X-Strong Stainless Steel Split Ring (for nose)
• Two each #4 X-Strong Stainless Steel Split Rings (for hooks)
• One each #4 VMC Red In-Line Cone-Cut Treble (for belly)
• One each #4 VMC Black Nickel X-Strong X-Short Cone-Cut Treble (for tail)

All ready to rig, and comes in a convenient, labeled plastic clamshell.

Every side-to-side wobble of a crankbait rubs the hooks in a swinging circle against the sides of all crankbaits. This causes "normal" wear as the front belly hook rubs in a semicircular arc against the sides of all brands of crankbaits. I recommend you use the red VMC In-Line treble on the belly. This relatively new hook is one of the only trebles that does NOT angle a point into the bait. On the VMC In-Line's, the hook points scrape the belly far less than any other hook. So the VMC In-Line treble hook used on the belly of your crankbaits will help reduce or eliminate that hook track mark. the belly.

Use the black nickel VMC treble on the tail of your crankbait.

For those who may wish to buy these rigging components in larger quantity packs, I also offer (sold separately):

• 50 packs of #6 X-Strong Stainless Steel Split Ring (for nose)
• 50 packs of #4 X-Strong Stainless Steel Split Rings (for hooks)
• 10 packs of  #4 VMC Red In-Line Cone-Cut Treble (for belly)
• 10 packs of #4 VMC Black Nickel X-Strong X-Short Cone-Cut Treble (for tail)

These larger quantity packs are sold separately.

The price is for three (3) split rings and two (2) trebles in a clamshell pack as shown below:

1/2 oz Deep Diver ~ Rigging Kit (sold separately)

Weight: 1/2 oz (without hooks)
Body Length: 2-3/4 inches (excluding lip)
Total Length: 4 inches (including lip)
Type: Hard Plastic. Deep Diver. Floating. Rattling.
Diving Depth: 8 to 12 feet (casting). Up to 18 foot range (trolling).

Note: These lure bodies come WITHOUT hooks or split rings.

Many anglers tend to have extra treble hooks and split rings. And many anglers prefer their own certain hook model to replace whatever hooks come stock on a lure anyway. That's why I offer you these crankbaits without any hooks or split rings. You'll need to provide your own treble hooks (two) and split rings (three) for this lure. Most anglers prefer to put #4 trebles on this size crankbait.

CONSTRUCTION

I've found these deep divers work swell all season in any degree water, winter, spring summer or fall. I've used them almost exclusively for two years now. Before discovering these, I used many other crankbait brands on the market, including very expensive imports. I've proven to myself that these Deep Divers are at least as good as any I have ever used, regardless of price. I constantly fish with many top anglers using many other top brands of deep divers. So I can confirm the crankbaits for sale here are second to none.

If this crankbait look like one of your favorites, or looks the same as crankbaits you in catalogs, online and in tackle shops, it is because this same model crankbait is sold under several different labels and brand names.

These crankbaits are made in America in the same factory that models, molds and paints a number of different hard plastic bait brands sold by US tackle vendors.

With the #4 hooks I recommend (sold separately), the hooks are not able to marry each other. The front hook is not able to catch on the diving lip. The diving lips are integrated parts of the bodies. So the lips cannot loosen or break off. These are common faults of other crankbait brands - poor quality factory hooks that need to be replaced right out of the box, hooks that marry each other or catch on the diving lip, loose or broken lips - but these crankbaits do not have any of these faults.

It will impress you how little tuning these crankbaits need right out of the box. Most other crankbait brands, even the expensive imports, tend to require more preparatory work to tune them to get them to swim properly. However, the Deep Divers here come off the factory floor without needing as much tuning as other brands. They are made more precisely, the assembly, welding and finishing, than many other cranks out there.

Durability. Here's a photo of three different colors of this Deep Diver. All have been fished hard. Each has landed from 50 to 150 bass apiece, and exhibit a nominal normal amount of wear and tear:

The top crankbait in the photo has caught at least fifty bass so far. The bottom crankbait has caught about 100 bass. The middle one, easily over one hundred fifty bass (the difference in numbers caught is due to time used.) So they not only fish swell out of the package, but they withstand the test of time. The investment (excluding hooks) is about two cents a bass - and still going!

Note the belly hook track is caused since most trebles angle one point into the body. Every side-to-side wobble of a crankbait rubs the hooks in a swinging circle against the sides of all crankbaits. This tracking is "normal" and happens as the front belly hook rubs in a semicircular arc against the sides of all brands of crankbaits. I made the photo to intentionally show you the worst side. The unseen side is not hardly tracked as badly. Point is, these finishes last long. Even a needle sharp treble can hardly wear at it. If you use the recommended VMC In-Line trebles on the belly, this relatively new hook is one of the only trebles that does NOT angle a point into the bait. On the VMC In-Line's, the hook points scrape the belly far less than any other hook. So the VMC In-Line treble hook used on the belly of your crankbaits will help reduce or eliminate that hook track mark.

You can also see how the tail treble wears on the top of each bait. That's also from the hook swinging, and from fish rubbing the hook points against the lure. Most all brands of crankbaits develop similar wear and tear. It's more or less "normal". The ability of this Deep Diver to land and withstand 50 to 150 bass equals one great bait.

Rattles. The hollow internal chambers have ball bearings that rattle noisily on the retrieve. The sound can best be described as a chatter, and it can be heard rattling under water when the crankbait is still a good distance away from a boat.

HOW TO USE

• Use Them More Often. Most of all, 9 out of 10 anglers do not use deep diver crankbaits enough. If I do well in tournament competition or just fun fishing, I have no qualms to tell others I caught all my fish on crankbaits. Almost anyone will assume I meant a 2 to 5 foot shallow-running crankbait. Even on deep bodies of water, most anglers tend to throw shallow-running crankbaits.
   
• Docks, Tires, Bridges. This Deep Diver runs 8 to 12 feet deep, and will bring bass up off the bottom in 20 feet of water. Many fish that suspend under man-made structure, like floating marina docks or marina breakwater tire reefs, the majority of these fish suspend about ten or twelve feet deep. They're not always up high near the floating structure. Most guys think a crankbait that runs 4 or 5 or 6 feet deep - barely beneath the floating part of the structure should be perfect, but they won't get the attention from the vast majority of deeper suspended fish that won't come up that high to hit a shallow-diving crankbait. A shallow or medium diver will not get deep enough around deep man-made structure.
   
• Even in Shallow Water. Even when there's shallow water with an irregular or rugged bottom, such as shallow reefs or humps or points with only 5 or 6 feet of water on top (and deeper water nearby), this Deep Diver can work better than a shallow-runner. Reason is, this Deep Diver will crash into more of the irregular high spots on bottom. When that happens, just slow down, let it float up a bit, then start and stop it stuttering across the high spot. As soon as it stops tapping bottom, meaning it cleared the high spot, expect a ferocious hit.
   
• Skip a Turn. There are times you should retrieve this crankbait slowly, moderately or fast. This Deep Diver can be worked as slowly or quickly as possible, exhibiting great action and stability at any speed. Let the fish decide what speed they prefer on any given day. Whatever speed you use, an occasional pause, a sudden faster rod sweep or just skipping a turn while reeling are all high percentage strike triggers (as is bumping into anything). To skip a turn is easily done. Whatever pace you are reeling at, count each turn you make of the reel handle, and stop reeling to skip one turn. You may want to skip a turn every 6 or 12 turns of the reel handle, for example. Just count, skip, count, skip, count skip... and expect strikes to come on the skip.
   
• Try Trolling. Many bass anglers don't troll crankbaits. This deep diver is perfect to troll, and will get down about 18 feet or so at the most, depending on trolling speed, the distance rod tip is kept above water, and fishing line diameter. This Deep Diver is extremely stable, will not roll or spin out. The higher speeds and consistent deep level of trolling triggers many strikes that are just not always possible to get while casting. First of all, you can't cast one of these to get down to 18 feet, and even during a cast, the crankbait only achieves its maximum depth (about twelve feet) for a very small fraction of the time. Most of the time (at the beginning and end of a cast), a crankbait is not at its maximum depth. With trolling, a crankbait is ALWAYS at the maximum depth. Again, the max with this Deep Diver is about 18 feet by having the rod tip close to the water. Raising the rod tip will raise the diving level.
   
  I troll either with the electric trolling motor or with the big engine at low speed (800 rpms) trimmed up. The length of line is about the same as a long cast. With a fish finder running, it's a great way to cover large expanses of open water - or to prefish for a tournament (if trolling's permitted during practice). When you find productive spots, return to cast the spots out with crankbaits (or Carolina rig, jigs, dropshot, etc) on actual competition days. These types of spots may be points, ledges, gravel bars, humps, saddles, ditches or many other definable types of structure. Trolling lets you find these spots (and verify fish are on them) faster than casting.
   
  However, many fish caught while trolling will seem to be hanging out in the middle of nowhere. These fish you really can't come back to target, since they're like finding a one-time needle in a haystack. It's only made possible due to the faster speeds and long stretches or "runs" that can be trolled, sometimes for a mile or more. Often, there's no way you can catch these "needle in the haystack" fish while casting. They may be suspended in open water or hanging on little patches of rough bottom on an otherwise featureless expanse. These little patches may harbor barely enough crawdads or other critters to keep a bass there just long enough until it gets a meal (or your crankbait comes by). Otherwise, what these bass may be doing out there, I have no idea. They are out there however, and really only catchable while trolling. The bottom where they're caught often looks featureless and there may not be any bait schools or anything that show up on the graph. But trolling these featureless expanses can be productive whereas casting will not.
   
• A Note on Color. Color does indeed matter. It is a critical decision you must make since you can only tie on one color at a time. You CAN tie on the right color - or the wrong color. With that being said, many days it does not much matter to me what color crankbait I use. I spend much of my actual fishing time committed to research and test lure colors. This means that most days, I cannot use my "favorite" colors nor what I feel fish may want. Many days, I must test new colors regardless of my or the fishes' favorites. What I find is, as long as a deep-diving crankbait is fished in the above ways, color often does not matter terribly. In other words, I can get most any color to work most any day, often several, There certainly are some days I may feel one or another color was preferred. But even when that happens, I will intentionally use 6 very different color crankbaits. Despite what I may have at first felt was a color preference, I tend to discover that fish often hit 6 varying colors equally. Above all, bass are opportunistic feeders; like billy goats, bass will eat almost anything. Bass will often hit many color crankbaits you pull past them. The inherent swimming action, the depth and the strike triggers (as explained above) are probably more important than color.
   
  
  Have fun with color. Many different colors may work on any given day.

HOW TO RIG

1/2 oz Deep Diver ~ Rigging Kit (sold separately)

For your convenience, I sell exactly what you need to best rig one deep diver crankbait in a separate kit.

The separate Rigging Kit includes:

• One each #6 X-Strong Stainless Steel Split Ring (for nose)
• Two each #4 X-Strong Stainless Steel Split Rings (for hooks)
• One each #4 VMC Red In-Line Cone-Cut Treble (for belly)
• One each #4 VMC Black Nickel X-Strong X-Short Cone-Cut Treble (for tail)

All ready to rig, and comes a convenient, labeled plastic clamshell (not included, sold separately)

For those who wish to buy crankbait rigging components in larger packs, I also offer:

• 50 packs of #6 X-Strong Stainless Steel Split Ring (for nose)
• 50 packs of #4 X-Strong Stainless Steel Split Rings (for hooks)
• 10 packs of  #4 VMC Red In-Line Cone-Cut Treble (for belly)
• 10 packs of #4 VMC Black Nickel X-Strong X-Short Cone-Cut Treble (for tail)

All the above components are sold separately.

Note: These lure bodies come WITHOUT hooks or split rings as shown below:

1/2 oz Deep Diver ~ Red Eye Bass ~ No Hooks

A subtle-looking "finesse" crankbait color that blends in with many underwater environments. A fine color for clear water. Imitates baby bass, small crappie and panfish for example.

1/2 oz Deep Diver ~ Clear Green Craw ~ No Hooks

A stupendous crawdad-imitating color, especially when it digs its diving bill like a shovel through the sand or dirt. I like to find a sandy bottom that's shallower than the maximum depth this crankbait would otherwise dive to, and just let it dig, dig, dig in the sand until a bass darts out and plucks it out of the sand. There is not much of what you can call free-swimming action with this tactic. Most of the time, the crankbait bill is shoveling in the sand. A good percentage of the time, the crankbait is scuttling over the bottom its side. Bass don't mind this side-scuttling motion in the least. I often switch to an orange/copper feather-dressed tail treble to complete the crayfish illusion when using this tactic.

1/2 oz Deep Diver ~ Herring ~ No Hooks

For thirty years, I have favored this classic style of hard-to-find "antique" herring color pattern. Nowadays, herring have bee stocked in large impoundments crisscrossing the country. However, this seldom-seen herring color originated in the northeast Atlantic coastal states where herring are native and make spawning runs up freshwater rivers. This classic herring pattern has a light blue back, a light pink side stripe, a creamy white belly, with no red chin splash.

1/2 oz Deep Diver ~ White Pearl ~ No Hooks

White pearl works swell in all water clarities from super clear to dark and muddy. We often hear dark colors in dark water, but white pearl crankbaits are an exception to that. Ask any angler what color to use for night bassing, and the answer's black. Most anglers don't know that white pearl crankbaits are as productive at night as during the day, and under any dim light conditions at dusk and dawn, white pearl produces.

1/2 oz Deep Diver ~ Clear Threadfin Hologram ~ No Hooks

Transparent paint and see-through scale effect over a clear plastic body

Hologram Foil Finish. Refracts or separates sunlight (or any ambient light) into the full spectrum of many individual colors. The colors being refracted constantly change and flash as the lure moves through the water. The holographic colors reflect the present water and light conditions and also provide the illusion of an excited baitfish that is "flushing" and emitting color signals.

1/2 oz Deep Diver ~ Pale Perch ~ No Hooks

A pale touch of yellow belly color, a pale orange chin splash and an overall golden sheen makes this bait as beautiful as it is deadly. Imitative of yellow perch but in more muted and subtle tones than most other brightly-colored yellow perch patterns.

PRO MODEL TAPERED TUBE JIG. These are the best tube jig heads ever made by master jig modeler, Joe Rummelt. Now, Joe really does not know the reason why this Pro Model Tapered Tube Jig works so swell, but it does. Joe's customers who drag tubes on the Great Lakes and all across northern states, they tell Joe they've caught far more bass on this Pro Model Tapered Tube Jig compared to the several dozen other tube jig models Joe has made. Joe's the first to acknowledge, based on customer feedback, that the Pro Model tapered Tube Jig is truly a great tube jig in a class by itself. That's not to say Joe's other tube jigs aren't good, they are. But bottom line, there's just something about Joe's Pro Model Tapered Tube Jig that bass love best.

Gamakatsu Hooks. Wide gap round bend hook.

Two ways to rig are:

1. Starting Untied: To rig untied, start from the back. Simply insert the tube jig head-first into the hollow back of a tube. Push forward and pop the hook eye out through the tube skin at the head of the tube. Then tie the line on.
    
2. Starting Tied: With the jig already tied on your line, start from the front of the tube. A new tube can be "speed rigged" by inserting the hook point in a new tube's head (where you want the line tie eye to end up). Then thread the tube all the way up and over the hook and continue to insert the entire jig head, until only the line tie eye sits outside the tube. The insertion hole will be a little larger this way, but the tube will not fish any different, and the tube really won't pull down off the hook easily either.

5 Pro Model Tapered Tube Jigs ~ 3/16 oz ~ 4/0

5 Pro Model Tapered Tube Jigs ~ 5/16 oz ~ 5/0