Tackle Review - Medusa

To pass the winter months, I'll keep trying to post reviews of the stuff that was new for me in '08. Upon request, here is my review of the Medusa, the new soft-plastic swimbait that came out at the end of the '08 season.

Positives -
I liked the baits. They're definitely different from the other soft plastics out there, which is great. Creating another Bulldawg with an extra tail wouldn't have accomplished anything. The action of the tails is fantastic and I was pleasantly surprised to find that they didn't foul on the rear hook. Also, the bait didn't hook the leader like the dreaded Dawgball fouled cast. If I had to guess I would attribute that to the concentration of the weight toward the front of the bait. The easy-casting nature of this bait will make it a winner with for those new to the soft-plastic category or anyone who gets frustrated casting Bulldawgs. The concentration of the weight also makes it easier to "feel" the bait. Bulldawgs have kind of a soft, muted "feel", but I think concentrated-weight baits are easier to feel and maintain a sense of contact, especially for folks still learning to fish soft-plastics. This bait runs quite a bit deeper than the Bulldawg. The faster sink rate will make this a great bait for deep weed lines and deep reefs. Finally, this is an awesome bait for vertical jigging and semi-vertical jigging. By 'semi-vertical' I mean keeping the bait down, tight to structure or a deep edge, and moving real slowly the bow-mount motor, jigging and swimming the bait.

Negatives -
The faster sink rate will make this bait a little less versatile than Bulldawgs. I need more time with this bait during the summer, but I just don't see it being very good around shallow weeds, shallow edges, or shallow reefs. I'm also not sure about the hooks. I've never been a big fan of short-shank, wide-gap hooks and replaced th hooks on the Medusas I used last year. I switched to a 8/0 Mustad 3551.

That's my 2 cents, almost all positive.

Did you use the "Cow-Dussa" that wsa mentioned on some of the boards it's the medusa with the cowgirl blades in front of it

No, but I will this year. They were sold at the Chicago show but I didn't get any. I'll probably get a couple at Milwaukee. I've rigged blades in front of a
Big Joe and it works.

What don't you like about the hooks? You mentioned that you're not a "big fan". Can you explain?

I just don't think that short-shank, wide-gap hooks have good holding power. I believe fish are more likely to get off the hook. Those type of hooks have too much gap (technically the term is "gape") and not enough bite. The shallow bite relative to the excessive gape, I'm conviced, doesn't hold well after hooking. I lost my trust in this kind of hook after lots and lots of lost fish when this type of hook was used for awhile on Bulldawgs. Bulldawgs came in a lot of versions over the years and came with different hooks. I notices that the wide-gap, round-bend, short-shank (that's a lot of hook terms in a row) didn't hold well and I lost more fish. I found that when I replaced those hooks with Mustad 3551 or a VMC hook that I also use as a replacement, the trouble went away.

I will say that the hooks on the Medusa look better than the super low-quality hooks that were on the old Bulldawgs. I doesn't matter though, I replace them. I had bad luck with that type of hook in the past and I don't take my chances - I replace them. Period.

Here's a link to a diagram with all the hook terminology. I should have thought of finding it yesterday when I made the last post.


http://www.mustad.no/abouthooks/index.php