September 11, 2017
By Ned Kehde
On Sept. 13, 2013, we published a gear guide entitled " Strike King Lure Company's Rage Twintail Menace Grub." It is a four-inch soft-plastic grub with a beaver tail. We noted in that gear guide that it was designed for power anglers. But we pointed out that Midwest finesse anglers could customize it by trimming an inch to three-quarters of an inch off of its head before they affixed it to either a 1/16- or a 3/32-ounce mushroom-style jig.
During the first decade of the 21st century, two of the most effective Midwest finesse rigs were a two-inch and a three-inch beaver-tail bait, which we always affixed to either a 1/16- or a 3/32-ounce mushroom-style jig. But around the end of that decade, the tackle manufacturer that made those two beaver-tail baits stopped making them. And until Strike King introduced its three-inch Rage Twin Tail Baby Menace Grub to the angling world at the International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades show on July 12 at Orlando, Florida, we had not found a ready-made replacement for our beloved two- inch and three-inch beaver-tail baits. And to our eyes, Strike King's three-incher looks as if it will be more effective than the ones we used to cherish.
The twin tails on the three-inch Rage Twin Tail Baby Menace Grub are adorned with what Strike King calls its patented Rage Flange. This flange, which some folks call a collar, adorns the outside edges of the two tails, and the flange will induce the tail to undulate, flap, kick, and thump when Midwest finesse anglers execute any of their six standard retrieves.
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Midwest finesse anglers can affix it to their 1/16- and 3/32-ounce mushroom-style jigs so that the tails are either horizontal or vertical. When the tails are horizontal, they will flap up and down. When they are vertical, they will move like the tail fins of a small fish. (These horizontal and vertical riggings are similar to the way Midwest finesse anglers rigged the old-fashion Mar-Lynn Lure Company's Ensley Reaper to their jigs back in the 1970s and 1980s, but the Rage Twin Tail Baby Menace Grub exhibits more gyrations and vibrations than our old Reapers were able to generate.)
From the tip of the Rage Twin Tail Baby Menace Grub's blunt nose to the junction of its tail, its torso is encircled with 21 pronounced ribs. The torso is somewhat conical-shaped. The torso's circumference is larger in the middle than it is at its head and at the junction of its tail.
The portion of the tail that joins the torso is cone-shaped. It is devoid of ribs, and the two tails radiate from each side of the cone.
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It is available in these colors: Black Blue Flake, Blue Craw, Bluegill, Candy Craw, Falcon Lake Craw, Glacier, Green Pumpkin, Green Pumpkin Purple/Gold, Hard Candy, Pearl, Summer Craw, Watermelon, and Watermelon Red Flake.
A package of nine costs $5.29.
Now, Midwest finesse anglers are hoping that a two-inch edition of the Rage Twin Tail Baby Menace Grub is in the offing. But until then, Midwest finesse anglers can make the three-incher a tad smaller by amputating a 1/4 to a 1/2 of an inch off of the head or top portion of its torso.
Endnotes
(1) Here is the link to our 2013 gear guide about the Rage Twintail Menace Grub: http://www.in-fisherman.com/midwest-finesse/strike-king-lure-companys-rage-twintail-menace-grub/ .
(2) Here is a link to a Strike King YouTube about the Rage Twin Tail Baby Menace Grub: http://www.strikeking.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=661&Itemid =.
(3) Here is the link to a YouTube of Shaw Grigsby of Gainesville, Florida, introducing the Rage Twin Tail Baby Menace Grub at the 2017 International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L-3qJeBfyY .
(4) The Rage Twin Tail Baby Menace Grub affixed to a mushroom-style jig will work with all six Midwest finesse retrieves. Here is a link to a column that explains how anglers execute those retrieves: http://www.in-fisherman.com/midwest-finesse/six-midwest-finesse-retrieves/ . Here is a link to another column about how Midwest finesse anglers present their jig-and-soft-plastic combos: http://www.in-fisherman.com/midwest-finesse/midwest-finesse-casts-and-retrieves/ .
(5) We crossed paths with Paul Finn of Olathe, Kansas, at one of northeastern Kansas' community reservoirs on Sept. 1. He is a veteran and talented Midwest finesse angler. As we talked, Finn said that he and his son Shaun, who is a member of the Kansas State University Fishing Team, have used the Rage Twin Tail Baby Menace Grub affixed to a small chartreuse jig, and they have caught a goodly number of largemouth bass on it. Their most effective colors ahve been the bluegill hue and the watermelon-red-flake one.
