The hottest freshwater bassing trend has finally arrived.

As anglers we are always looking for an edge. Something that will put the action over the top and make our day on the water a memorable one…or just flat out catch some fish! Bass fishing is no different than any other, except I think bass guys absolutely look for something different. Sure, we all have spinnerbaits, cranks, topwaters and worms, but we will also buy whatever “new” bait hits the market.

I remember many years ago when “Crazy” Alberto Knie mentioned a new bass bait that was knocking the socks off local bass, crappie and pickerel – it was this new Senko worm. Al said, “All you do is hook it in the middle and throw it out. As it sinks it gets hammered.”

Fast forward to a tournament on Eldred Preserve and on the wall of the tackle shop was every color Senko that Yamamoto made and, the local pro/guide, Mike Delvisco, was pushing them hard. On that one-day tournament my buddy Rick and I destroyed the bass using this new, what I called “stupid” method.

Last year I discovered the new fad – dice baits. When I first read about them, I thought, here we go, another “specialty” bait to catch more anglers than fish. After all, these things looked like something from out of this world – I don’t even know what they resemble.

What Is It?

Like I said, bass anglers will buy anything. So, what did I do? I hopped over to Tackle Warehouse and to my local Bass Pro – as no shops on the Island had them, and bought a handful of dice style baits – Strike King Tumbleweed, Geecrack Cue Bomb, Z-Man Fuzzy Nugget and 3 Brothers Dice.

I got them home and just started laughing out loud – these were Senko nuggets with hair! “Senko nuggets Tom? What the heck is a Senko nugget?” There was a day on Eldred Preserve when Rick Holmberg and I saw major blowups of bluegills and bass on the surface. We could not get these things to touch anything. On one retrieve, something smacked Rick’s Senko and sliced the tail, leaving a small, 1-inch chunk hanging off. Rick hooked the chunk, tore off the remainder and made a cast. Well my friends, that was the advent of the Senko nugget as we called it. And after mutilating several Senko baits into 1-inch chunks, we caught bass and bluegill non-stop for over an hour. Dice baits are the same thing, but with hair.

They Work Too!

Fishing one of my favorite Florida lakes, Winterset, this past winter I gave them a try on one of the slower days. It was sunny, warm and the bass had been biting well for days. On this day however, they had lockjaw due to a slight cold front that came through the previous day. I had already thrown the entire gamut of lures – topwater, Chatterbait, Strike King crank, spinnerbait and underspin to no avail. I was marking balls of bait in about 20-feet of water, but even a deep crank and slow rolled spinnerbait was not getting touched.

I grabbed spinning rod and reel and tied a drop shot rig on with a Strike King Tumbleweed in green pumpkin. I eased it down and before I got 10 feet, bam, I was in. A small but chunky 2-pounder came up. For about the next 30 minutes, I picked away at bass on the dice bait. Just to be sure they didn’t just turn on, I occasionally tossed a variety of other lures with no success, so obviously, this funky dice bait was either new or just had some form of enticement to the bass.

If you watch the bait fall, it really does look enticing, but what it resembles as far as forage is concerned, I have no idea. Maybe it appears like a bugs legs flailing as it drowns and sinks or is it just those tantalizing legs slowly waving back and forth. What I do know is that I have used it many times since that day, and every time I use it, I catch fish.

Easy Presentation

Dice baits, cubes or whatever you or the manufacturer want to call them work, but what makes them even better is they work in a variety of situations, and are very easy to use. You can fish a dice bait by freelining it under a float similar to float ‘n fly fishing. This method is great when working in streams and rivers on smallmouths. You can use this same method on largemouths and slowly work around and inside lily pads. A simple cast and sink method, similar to what you would use when using a Senko is also good. They are light, but spinning gear, lighter line and good drag allow you to cast a decent distance and allow it to slowly sink.

I have found that a drop-shot rig is probably the best way to fish them. A drop shot will enable you to “work” the bait by simple retrieve speed or rod sweeps and jerks. The drop shot also allows you to work different depths, and depending on weight, can cast quite far to cover a lot of area.

Tackle Tips

On Long Island where our lakes get considerable weed cover, your tackle may have to be altered for dice baits. Heavier gear is just not going to work. For the dice I prefer a spinning rod like the Abu Garcia VBPS70 spinning rod and Abu Garcia Revo 3X30 reel. Depending on grass or lily pad coverage, I will use 10 or 15-pound braid with a 10-foot length of 12 to 15-pound test fluorocarbon leader. The leader length for me is something I like for one simple reason; I want the knot on my reel coming down the guide train when I get close to landing the fish. It’s a personal preference that works for me, but it is your choice. I tie the leader to the braid using the GT knot, it is flat out the best in my opinion but other direct connections will get the job done as well.

If you plan on fishing heavier cover with the dice, you could switch over to 20-pound braid and slightly heavier leader, but this will also hamper your casting distance. If this is the scenario, utilizing the drop shot rig is the best option.

Dice fishing is another option for freshwater bass fishing. I am sure they will work on panfish, pickerel, trout and others, but for me, it is another bass catching tool in my arsenal that will always be tied on when I am targeting bass.