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Deep or shallow, clear water or stained, wherever bass forage in cooler water, Ott DeFoe will be there throwing a BX™ Waking Minnow.
“That thing has an incredible amount of action – a lot of roll, a lot of flash – and it puts out a really nice wake,” says the Tennessee-based Bassmaster pro. “That makes it a really attractive bait for me for multiple situations. It can produce in extremely clear to fairly dirty water. I use it a lot early in the morning as a search bait.”
DeFoe’s favorite in Rapala’s BX™ line-up, the BX™ Waking Minnow features lifelike 3D eyes, realistic scales and gill detail, and an internal holographic foil for flash. It runs just under the water’s surface, throwing a bass-attracting wake behind it.
“That wake is very visible to fish underneath in really calm water,” DeFoe says. “It will get their attention. And then they see that flash and everything up in front and that’s what draws ‘em in for the kill.”
Like all BX™ baits, the Waking Minnow boasts a balsa core encased in a durable copolymer shell for unrivaled toughness. BX™ stands for Balsa Extreme™. “The balsa gives it that unique buoyancy you can only get with Rapala baits, and the clear-plastic shell makes it practically indestructible,” DeFoe says. “It’s a pretty clever combination.”
Field & Stream magazine named the BX™ line of baits a “Best of the Best” new lure for 2013. Rapala introduced the BX™ Jointed Minnow and BX™ Jointed Shad in the summer of 2013 after releasing the BX Minnow and BX™ Swimmer earlier in the year.
Weighing 3/4 of an ounce, the BX™ Waking Minnow “casts a mile,” DeFoe says. It comes equipped with three No. 5 VMC® black-nickel round-bend treble hooks. Measuring 5 1/4 inches long and weighing a hefty 3/4 ounce, it’s available in six color patterns: Blue Back Herring, Firetiger, Gold Shiner, Shadow, Smelt and Yellow Perch.
‘Wake’ up bass from the deep
In clear water in the fall, DeFoe fishes the Waking Minnow deep over humps and long points, and shallow around shoreline brush, docks and marinas.
“If you’re out on a series of points and you’re seeing the occasional fish breaking here or there, that’s what I like to see,” DeFoe says.
“That’s where that thing will really pay dividends, because they’re just kind of roaming and looking for an easy meal. You swim that thing by them, they’re going to eat it.”
In gin-clear water, bass will often rise 15 to 20 feet to hit the BX™ Waking Minnow. “It truly looks like a wounded baitfish that’s struggling to just to swim along,” DeFoe says.
If DeFoe sees signs of schooling bass, a Waking Minnow is one of the first bait’s he’ll fire at ‘em. “It’s a great bait for schooling fish,” he says, explaining that it runs right through the strikezone where schooling bass have herded a scrum of baitfish. And because it’s heavy and casts far, he can get it to a school quickly. “A lot of wake baits aren’t like that – especially minnow-style ones,” he explains. “Most are really lightweight and difficult to cast.”
If he doesn’t find a school on or near an offshore hump or long point, DeFoe will target shallow brush or the boat slips in large marinas. “Fish will group up on those a lot too, especially this time of year,” he says.
Stained, Shallow Water
In stained water, DeFoe throws the BX Waking Minnow on shallow flats where bass are chasing baitfish.
“In colored water, bass key on the commotion of the treble hooks swinging side to side, hitting the side of the bait, and just the amount of water that it moves,” he says. “You can feel it in the rod tip – it’s nearly like the thump of a squarebill crankbait – so you can tell it’s moving a lot of water. That gives the fish the ability to hone in on it until they get close enough to actually see it and eat it.”
The Waking Minnow is productive in many conditions, but it really shines on “slick calm” days, DeFoe says. “If its slick as glass, 9 times out of 10, I’m going to choose a Waking Minnow over a walking-style topwater, because of the way it disturbs the surface of the water, breaking up the fish’s view of the bait.
BX™ Jointed Minnow & Jointed Shad
Cast or trolled, the BX™ Jointed Minnow displays a methodical, slow-moving, floating kicking action that turns on otherwise finicky fish. If the fish are aggressive, however, turn up the heat on your retrieve and the bait continues to run straight and true, enticing a menacing jaw attack.
The BX™ Jointed Shad reaps all the great benefits of the BX Series in the most common prey baitfish profile. Deadly when trolled or cast, anglers will immediately sense the lure’s versatility when displaying its ever-so-enticing floating kicking action.
Both the Jointed Minnow and Jointed Shad feature lifelike 3D eyes, finite scales and gill detail paired with an internal holographic foil for ultimate attraction, and VMC® Black Nickel Treble Hooks. patterns.
BX™ Minnow & Swimmer
Featuring an articulated body built on a durable pivot system, the BX™ Swimmer is a slow-sinking bait that produces a methodical swimming action that entices strikes. A sleek, minnow-shaped bait with flat sides, the BX™ Minnow flaunts a strong flash on the roll as it slices and twitches through the water.
Both the BX™ Swimmer and Minnow feature internal X-Foil, along with molded 3D heads, gills and scales that meld together to form lifelike finishes unlike anything previously possible in balsa lures.
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