June Tackle Warehouse Staff Picks

I like a Sweet Beaver and Bronco Bug because they're fairly compact, pair well with various weight sizes, and can be rigged with a large flipping hook. I catch fish on these baits all year long, but I really start to lean on them from prespawn through the fall.

These are some of my favorite baits for flipping, pitching, or punching visible and submerged cover, including downed trees, matted vegetation, brushpiles, and more. Put your bait in there, let it freely sink to the bottom, then give it some shakes and/or hops. If nothing happens after a few seconds, I’ll bring the bait in and make a new presentation into a fresh spot.

My main go-to colors for the Sweet Beaver are Payback, Dirty Sanchez, Tramp Stamp, Road Kill, Honey Doo Doo, and one of the various Green Pumpkins. In the Bronco Bug, I really like Bama Bug, Candy Bug and Green Pumpkin.

I have caught a lot of nice fish on these baits over the years, but the most memorable was an 8-lb bass out of an isolated grass patch at Clear Lake after fishing a stretch of similar cover for an hour or so without a bite. I thought I finally figured out a pattern…nope!

I like a 7’6” Daiwa Zillion 761HFB rod and Daiwa Tatula Elite Pitch/Flip 7.1:1 reel paired with 50–60lb Sunline FX2 Frogging and Flipping braid or 18–22lb Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon...depending on what cover I am fishing. At times, I could have three or four different flipping rods on the deck! I will be using Shooter if I am fishing wood or sparse brush, while I opt for braid when fishing grass. I typically rig these baits with a 1/4oz to 1-1/2oz tungsten flipping weight.

During the post spawn, bass need to feed back up after depleting themselves while spawning. The Magic Swimmer’s natural swimming action and realistic design perfectly imitates a solid baitfish meal to bass looking to feed at or near the surface.

A steady retrieve typically works best for me, but allowing the Magic Swimmer to sink just enough for fish to see it, then quickly fleeing it away, can trigger bass feeding higher in the water column.

If it aint chrome, leave it at home! Chrome is a herring-lake killer, but any baitfish color like Morning Dawn Chrome, Blue Vapor, or Perfect Ghost are fantastic choices for most fisheries.

One of my best memories with this bait wasn’t really a particular fish, but rather a day where I was struggling for bites on a soft Fluke. The wind finally had picked up a little, so I tied on a chrome Magic Swimmer and started paralleling seawalls. I caught almost every fish I ran the bait past on Livescope!

My favorite rod for the Berkley Magic Swimmer is a Shimano Expride 7’2” medium with a moderate action. I pair this stick to an 8.1:1 Curado 150 M spooled with 14-lb Spro Gouken fluorocarbon line. Gouken provides good stretch compared to other fluorocarbons, making it great for treble-hooked baits.

Fish are coming off the spawn and looking to feed back up. The water is warm and they’re super aggressive in the early summer. It represents a big meal!

I’ll choose a Texas rig when looking for big bass around brush and grass lines. On deeper lakes, I like rigging the Power Worm on a Carolina rig with a 3/4oz to 1oz weight for targeting ledges and other types of structure.

I either use Blue Fleck, Plum, or Red Shad. I honestly use Blue Fleck probably 90% of the time and think it works great in almost all water conditions, but Red Shad can really shine during the day if the water is very dirty. Red Shad is also a great color for night fishing, which is something that June is well known for.

I’ve never caught a real giant on the big worm, but it has been responsible for countless 4–6 lb bass over my lifetime.

For a Texas rig, I often reach for a Dobyns Champion XP Full Grip 7’4” heavy paired to a 7.1:1 Shimano Curado 200 filled with Seaguar 17-lb InvisX. I’ll rig the Power Worm on a Gamakatsu SuperLine Offset EWG Hook in a 5/0 size with a 3/8oz–1oz tungsten bullet weight. You need a heavy jig rod for that big worm and enough power to pull fish away from cover.

When fishing a Carolina rig, I like the Dobyns Champion XP Full Grip 8’0” heavy matched to a 7.1:1 Shimano Curado 200 spooled with Seaguar 20-lb InvisX. The worm is rigged using the same 5/0 Gamakatsu SuperLine Offset EWG Hook as with a Texas rig, but typically with a 3/4oz–1oz tungsten weight. The longer rod offers great line control and is necessary for casting those long 3–4 foot leaders.