Mister Twister Poc’it Hawg Raiser

Versatile soft plastic gets quality bites

A Texas bass angler’s bid to get back to the Bassmaster Classic depended heavily on a soft-plastic creature bait that few, if any, others had in their arsenal when they fished the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship on Nov. 6-8 on the Ouachita River.

He might wish he had the Mister Twister Poc’it Hawg Raiser that Albert Collins has been throwing and catching on consistently while prefishing the river the last week of October.

The Nacogdoches bass fishing pro, who recently won a FLW Rayovac Tournament on Lake Sam Rayburn, has all the confidence in the world in the new artificial lure handed to him recently by Darryl Laurent of Minden’s Mister Twister.

“He said, ‘Wait until you try it.’ He got me some in my hand, and I said, ‘It’s going to be a good deal,’” Collins said. “It was soon thereafter that he made sure he got some more, many more, to have in stock.”

Collins, who turned 50 on Oct. 30, operates Albert’s Guide Service on Lake Sam Rayburn. He qualified for and fished in the 2013 Bassmaster Classic.

For someone whose livelihood depends very much on the artificial lures he ties on, Collins was confident in the Hawg Raiser. He was pleased as punch to have it during prefishing on the Ouachita River.

“I did throw it, and I did catch fish on it,” he said Oct. 25 while driving home, boat in tow, from the scouting trip on the Ouachita River. “It will definitely be in my arsenal (during the tournament). I will, for sure, be using that bait when we’re over there.

“It gets bites, yes, but it gets quality bites. When I get a limit, it’ll be my go-to bait the rest of the day because I feel like it gets me bigger fish.”

Mister Twister began developing its Poc’it Series a few years ago. The company had a similar soft plastic — the B-A-Hawg — in its line, but took it out of production to redevelop into the Poc’it Series at a later time, which arrived in the summer of 2014.

After consulting with pro staffers and a field team, tweaks were made, and the 5-inch-long, seductive Hawg Raiser was created.

“I think it’s going to be a really good product,” Collins said. “My personal opinion: I think it’s going to be better than a (Zoom) Brush Hog. It’s got more action.”

Collins can’t wait to see how versatile the soft plastic will be. At the time, he was rigging it Texas style and on a large shaky head.

“I’m going to have to play with the bait a whole lot more to see how versatile it can be,” he said.

The artificial lure manufacturing company took some key steps in the design of the Hawg Raiser. To wit:

To increase the action, the company used oversized curly tails on the back end of the creature bait. Those curly tails put out a tremendous amount of vibration and move much more water, while enhancing the visual appeal of the soft plastic.

The creature bait’s curly tail legs were extended behind the side tabs. The tabs will achieve full movement instead of collapsing, which happens on similar artificial lures. That feature is important when it is pulled a little faster or fished on a swim jig or Chatter-style artificial lure.

Curly tail arms were added to the front end for added movement, even if moved slightly.

Standard Poc’it Series features are included in the body of this creature bait.

The Hawg Raiser was scheduled to be released in early November. It will be available in 16 colors.

Collins said his favorite color at the time was june bug.

“Right now, I’m pretty much just throwing June Bug. To me, any basic color will be good,” he said.

Some of the more-popular basic colors are sure to be watermelon red, watermelon candy, green pumpkin, green pumpkin/blue and black neon.

Collins fishes it on 20- or 25-pound fluorocarbon on the Ouachita River, where he’s fishing it in heavy, unfriendly cover. Otherwise, he said, he uses 15- or 20-pound-test line.

It is a durable soft plastic, he said.

“You can catch more than one fish on them,” Collins said. “They’re not so tough that you can’t get a good hookset, but you can catch two or three, maybe more, on that bait.

“They seem to hold up pretty good. As a matter of fact, I’ve got one on my rod now that caught about five fish.”

For more information on the Poc’it Hawg Raiser and other Mister Twister LLC products go to mistertwister.com or call 318-377-8818.

About Don Shoopman 553 Articles
Don Shoopman fishes for freshwater and saltwater species mostly in and around the Atchafalaya Basin and Vermilion Bay. He moved to the Sportsman’s Paradise in 1976, and he and his wife June live in New Iberia. They have two grown sons.