February 25, 2016
By Ned Kehde
In January we published two gear guides that featured Lunkerhunt's new Vacuum and Swim Fish. While we were working on those gear guides, we became intrigued with the looks of another new soft-plastic finesse bait manufactured by Lunkerhunt. It is their Hog Grub.
It is three inches long, which in the eyes of many Midwest finesse anglers is an ideal length.
It is endowed with a round head and flat nose, which will allow it to fit flush and snuggly to the back of the flat head of a mushroom-style jig.
Its torso is relatively bulky and convexed. At its highest point, the torso is three-quarters of an inch high, and at its thickest point, it is a half of an inch wide. The texture of the torso is soft, and it is encircled with seven conspicuous ribs. Its belly is somewhat flat. Its back is arched.
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Its tail is flat and shaped similar to a beaver's tail. The tail is 1 1/2 inches long and a half of an inch wide. The link that is situated between its bulky body and beaver-style tail is thin, narrow, and flat.
An angler rigs it to a jig as if he is employing a traditional curled-tailed grub. But according to the folks at Lunkerhunt, it was designed to provoke largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, and spotted bass to focus on its torso rather than the rippling motions of the curled tail of a traditional grub. Lunkerhunt designers contend that anglers who employ traditional grubs often fail to hook strikes from black bass, and the reason for that is these bass are grabbing the tail rather than the torso, where the hook is affixed. These designers say that the Hog Grub presents "a bigger, meatier target which results in bigger fish and better hook ups."
It is impregnated with a fish-protein scent, and it is not impregnated with salt.
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It is available in the following colors: Black, Black Blue Fleck, Brown Pumpkin, Chartreuse, and Smoke.
Anglers can purchase a package of 10 for $4.99.
Endnotes
(1) Lunkerhunt says the Hog Grub says will work well on a ball-head jig, darter-head jig, or mushroom-style jig. But they recommend that anglers employ it with Lunkerhunt's 1/4-ounce Custom Football Head jig, which sports a 4/0 hook, 60-degree hook eye, and two wire bait keepers.
(2) Instead of employing the Custom Football Head jig, Midwest finesse anglers will day in and day out opt for a 1/16-ounce mushroom-style jig that is constructed around a No. 4 hook, which will allow them to effectively employ it with all six of the standard Midwest finesse retrieves. Here is a link to a Midwest Finesse column that describes those six retrieves: http://www.in-fisherman.com/midwest-finesse/six-midwest-finesse-retrieves/.
