Professional bass angler Tommy Biffle of Oklahoma is known as the founder of the bait presentation technique called “pitching.” Now after two hot summer major tournament wins in Oklahoma and Tennessee, he is also known to be the master of a new bait dancing technique that is now being called “bottom buggin.”
In a nutshell, bottom buggin is likened to reeling a crankbait along the bottom so that the bait is hitting and deflecting off of anything and everything it comes in contact with. The difference is that in bottom buggin’, a weedless-rigged soft plastic bait is used, providing the angler with even greater versatility in putting and keeping the bait right where bass live and eat.
Of course, the bait used is a key component to the rig, but the real hero is the weight and hook combo that allows “action” soft plastics to move freely in a lifelike manner.
Meet the new Biffle HardHead, the football head weight with a high quality worm hook loosely attached that Biffle has been refining and using for several months now for this new soft-plastic-cranking technique.
The weight comes with all the features and advantages of a football head design, while the hook is attached on a “loop” wire form that allows it to move freely with the bait. Since the hook is a typical worm hook, the bait can be rigged Texas style, making it virtually weedless so it can come through all types of cover with minimal hang-ups.
The wire form is quality stainless steel that is shaped through a mechanical bending process made to exacting specifications. Its design is such that it won’t pull free from the head even when the angler is using heaving fishing line, including braid.
The head is cast in lead from a CNC machined aluminum mold for repeatable consistency in weight and balance. The manufacturing process is superior to the results that come from the more common silicone molds that many companies use. The weight is then powder coated for a durable color finish called “Copperhead,” a complementary color to the most popular soft plastic hues.
The hook is a high quality imported J-style worm hook on a heavy black nickel chrome wire. The wire’s tensile strength was a critical factor in Biffle’s selection of the hook because of how and where the rig is being fished, often on heavy line.
The HardHead comes in four sizes: 3/16 ounce, 5/16 ounce, 7/16 ounce and 11/16 ounce. All but the 3/16 ounce come with a 4/0 hook. The smallest weight size comes with a 3/0. Biffle HardHeads come two to a package.
Biffle’s preferred bait to use with the HardHead is his signature Biffle Bug bait. The wide-bodied bait with hyperactive swimming legs has a crankbait-type action of its own when the angler swims the bait through the water. The fact that the bait has a hollow body means rattles and/or scent can be added inside for even greater fish-enticing versatility. The lure has a very distinctive broad and flexible cupped tail that creates even more lifelike appeal.
The HardHead name comes from Biffle’s reputation throughout his 25-year professional bass fishing career of being “hardheaded” and set in his ways about his fishing styles and preferences. But his successes speak volumes about his choices, with five titles and nearly $2 million in tournament earnings to date.
Biffle used the 7/16 ounce HardHead and the Biffle Bug to record back-to-back tournament wins this summer. The first was a BASS Elite Series event in his own backyard on Fort Gibson Lake in June. He followed that with a Professional Anglers Association victory on Cherokee Lake in Tennessee in July. For both events, his Biffle Bug color of choice was Sooner Run. Sooner Run is one of seven new colors added to the lure series for 2011.
Retail: TBA
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