September 05, 2014
By Ned Kehde
The pumpkin-green Money Maker at the top of this photograph is wacky rigged onto a 1/16-ounce Gamakatsu G Finesse Wacky Jig Head. The one on the bottom is affixed to a blue 1/16-ounce Gopher Tackle Mushroom Head Jig.
Pure Fishing recently introduced a new soft-plastic finesse bait to the angling world, and it is called the Berkley Havoc Money Maker.
Brandon Palaniuk of Hayden, Idaho, had a hand in creating it. And he is a professional tournament angler who competes on the Bassmaster Elite Series. Knowledgeable observers of the goings on in the tournament world often proclaim that Palaniuk is one of the sports' most versatile anglers. Thus, there are spells when he wields a spinning outfit and a finesse bait -- such as the Havoc Money Maker.
It is a 4 1/2-inch worm. In the center of its torso, there is a half-inch section that replicates an earthworm's clitellum. On each side of the clitellum, there are four ribs or rings that encircle the torso. Each end of the Money Maker is embellished with two balls, which Pure Fishing calls rounded ends. Each ball is about the same diameter as the clitellum. Each one of the two sections that stretches from the clitellum to one of the balls is 1 1/2-inches long, and the diameter of each section gradually decreases as it extends to the ball.
According to Pure Fishing and Palaniuk, the unique configuration of the Money Maker causes it to undulate differently and more alluringly than other four-inch finesse worms can generate.
In the eyes of Midwest finesse anglers, it looks like a wacky-rig worm, which is one way that Palaniuk uses it. But he and the folks at Pure Fishing have discovered that it is equally effective when it is affixed to either a drop-shot rig or shaky-head jig.
Palaniuk says his favorite tactic is to affix it wacky style to a light-weight drop-shot rig. And his drop-shot rig consists of a 3/16-ounce drop-shot sinker, No. 2 drop-shot hook, and a short eight-pound-test fluorocarbon leader.
It is available in 11 colors: Black Red Flake, Cinnamon Brown Purple, Green Pumpkin, Green Pumpkin Purple Copper Fleck, June Bug, Pumpkin Green, Smoke Black Glitter, Smoke Purple and Copper, Watermelon, Watermelon Gold, and Watermelon Red Fleck. Several of these color-combinations were created by Palaniuk.
The suggested retail price for a package of 15 is $3.49.
