Author: Rob Belloni
History/Overview: Shane Morgan makes these giant popper style baits in Palmdale, CA. I'm not sure when Shane started making these, but I picked one up from him around 2002. The Striper Special, as the name implies, is geared toward striper fishing but that's not to say that baits like this won't catch largemouth. The baits come in a 6.5" and 8.5" size both of which are heavily weighted for casting. Pros: The Striper Special has a classic popper body style with a skinny head section and a fat rounded out butt. With plenty of weight incorporated into the butt of the bait, these baits will really suck the line off your reel on the cast, great for making long bomb casts to busting fish. The action of the Striper Special is a squirrely head first action where the nose of the bait really jumps left and right on the retrieve. Just thinking about it makes me realize I need to try it more for bass! Because the baits are weighted, you need to work them briskly to keep them on the surface and the ideal retrieve speed is a fast walk the dog or long ripping action. The Striper Special has a great set of stock hooks (4x Gamakatsu on the 8.5" and some heavy duty black finished trebles on the 6.5"). The finish is epoxy, probably Aristocrat or Devcon 2 and you won't chip or ding these lures easily. The overall construction and hardware is definitely geared to withstand the strain of pulling on a huge fish with heavy line. Cons: The obvious one is the realism aspect. But this style bait isn't trying to lure them in by looking dead on like a trout, it's trying to draw the strike with the motion. As far as popper type trout imitators go, this is one of the best I have seen. The baits are also rather hard to get being that they are hand made one at a time by Shane himself. To get a Striper Special your best bet is to contact Shane at formorgans@adelphia.net
History/Overview: Shane Morgan makes these giant popper style baits in Palmdale, CA. I'm not sure when Shane started making these, but I picked one up from him around 2002. The Striper Special, as the name implies, is geared toward striper fishing but that's not to say that baits like this won't catch largemouth. The baits come in a 6.5" and 8.5" size both of which are heavily weighted for casting.
Pros: The Striper Special has a classic popper body style with a skinny head section and a fat rounded out butt. With plenty of weight incorporated into the butt of the bait, these baits will really suck the line off your reel on the cast, great for making long bomb casts to busting fish. The action of the Striper Special is a squirrely head first action where the nose of the bait really jumps left and right on the retrieve. Just thinking about it makes me realize I need to try it more for bass! Because the baits are weighted, you need to work them briskly to keep them on the surface and the ideal retrieve speed is a fast walk the dog or long ripping action. The Striper Special has a great set of stock hooks (4x Gamakatsu on the 8.5" and some heavy duty black finished trebles on the 6.5"). The finish is epoxy, probably Aristocrat or Devcon 2 and you won't chip or ding these lures easily. The overall construction and hardware is definitely geared to withstand the strain of pulling on a huge fish with heavy line.
Cons: The obvious one is the realism aspect. But this style bait isn't trying to lure them in by looking dead on like a trout, it's trying to draw the strike with the motion. As far as popper type trout imitators go, this is one of the best I have seen. The baits are also rather hard to get being that they are hand made one at a time by Shane himself. To get a Striper Special your best bet is to contact Shane at formorgans@adelphia.net
