What happens when a Swimbait and a prop bait
get together, meet the Basstar Proprunner
(continued)
Casting:
While it is possible to fish the Basstar Proprunner on a flipping stick the lure
is best fished with a 7 foot or longer swimbait rod. With a swimbait rod it is
easy to catapult this 4oz. bait a serious distance with either mono or braid.
The Proprunner generates a decent sized splashdown when it hits the water and
rests on the surface waiting for anglers to impart some action.
An adjustable prop makes it
possible to alter the action of the bait
Retrieving: While
we actually had a few stripers snap at the lure when it was totally at rest
right after landing almost of our strikes from fish came a split second after
the Proprunner was jerked forward or during a constant walk the dog action.
There are a few ways to fish the Proprunner, obviously a straight retrieve is
the easiest and you can get the bait to churn a nice wake with the prop on a
standard retrieve or drop it right below the water on a brisk retrieve. We
didn’t catch any fish with this standard retrieve but did get a few fish to
follow.
During my tests I fished the
Proprunner with both mono and braided lines
The second way to fish the
Proprunner is to fish it like a popper, simply pull forward and accelerate your
rod tip and the bait will surge forward. Instead of spitting water in the front
of the bait the prop in the back will spin quickly churning water loudly. In our
tests we found that we could alter both the noise and rotation of the propeller
by bending the blades not back and forth but the angle of them in relation to
the back of the bait. You can vary the speed of the jerks, and it is also
possible to rip the Proprunner like an oversized jerkbait.
The bait is equipped with a
rotating hook system that helps prevent the lure from being thrown by fish
The tuning allows you to
adjust for a more subtle churn or a straight up rotational spray. With this
retrieve we caught a lot of stripers when they were looking for baitfish near
the surface. Splash hits were explosive and while we didn’t catch any huge
stripers we know that if you fish this lure long enough you surely will.
A topwater strike near the tules
The third way to fish the
Proprunner is to learn to walk the dog with this oversized bait. The Proprunner
can be walked in a pretty tight side to side pattern, nothing like the big
darting swings on the Punker. It does take a little while to get the hang of it
but if you can get it down the bait becomes much more effective to target bass
alongside both structure and over open water.
The Proprunner puts out a serious
wake thanks to the prop
It is also possible to
adjust the prop backwards to reduce resistance in the water and make it easier
to walk the dog while still churning some water on the surface. During the test
I found that the bait was most effective when the water was relatively calm on
the surface and I fished the Proprunner on” glass” water conditions near rock
pilings and bridge supports and caught a number of bass that were holding tight
to structure.
A schoolie striper tries to take
out the Proprunner
