Strike King Lure Company's Rage Cut-R Worm

Strike King Lure Company unveiled the Rage Cut-R Worm at the 2013 International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades at Las Vegas on July 9-12. Before that introduction, Kevin Van Dam of Kalamazoo, Michigan, had been using it and field-testing it for several months, and he was impressed with its performance.

Then when Van Dam was at a media event at Table Rock Lake, Missouri, on Sept. 10, he said he has become bewitched with its effectiveness. In fact, he coyly said it is such an alluring and versatile soft-plastic bait that he may never again wield Strike King's KVD Perfect Plastic Ocho, which is a Senko-style soft-plastic bait that has inveigled untold numbers of bass for Van Dam since 2008.

Its torso is similar to the rotund torso of the Ocho, but unlike the Ocho, it is embellished with a tail.

According to Van Dam, who is a tremendous angler and salesman, it is the most multifaceted worm that he has ever used. He has Texas-rigged it with a slip sinker, pitched it, flipped it, wielded it on a Carolina rig, used it on an unweighted offset hook, employed it on a weighted offset hook, and wielded it on a shaky head jig. In addition, he says it even works on drop-shot rigs and split-shot rigs. Van Dam says that he especially enjoys swimming it on a unweighted 5/0 hook, and when he executes a pause during the retrieve, the Rage Cut-R Worm falls slowly towards the bottom, and its tail undulates provocatively. He also likes to buzz it across the surface.

Van Dam said that its unique tail design, which features a flange or rim along its outside edge, is what creates all of those bewitching undulations. Even when he deadsticks it, the tail causes its entire body to enticingly quiver.

It is six inches long, which is too long for Midwest finesse anglers taste, but they can trim two to 2 1/2- inches off of it head and attach it to either a 1/16- or 3/32-ounce Gopher Tackle Mushroom Head Jig. This is the same tactic that Midwest finesse anglers have been doing with Strike King's Zero since Oct. 12, 2006.

It is available in 10 colors. A package of seven can be purchased at some retailers for$4.99.

---