Cajun Lures gives one of its most-respected lures an update
One of the soft-plastic lures that launched Cajun Lures six years ago has a new look for 2021.
Founder and artificial lure designer Zachary Dubois of Nunez, La., wanted more action from the body of the lure, and he got it with improvements made to the original Bayou Bug. Bayou Bug 2.0 has arrived, and it is catching bass like the 8-pounder Dubois boated last March.
Dubois, 28, got the bug, so to speak, for tweaking the bait at the beginning of last year, liked the direction the physical changes were headed and refined them from there to create the newest version. He eliminated the bulbous “arms” and replaced them with flat arms featuring a flair, added ribs to the lower portion of the body to aid in “skin hooking” and, most important, in his opinion, added an extension to the upper of the body to give it more “meat at the top” where the hook is inserted.
“I wanted some improvements on it. Getting a big mold for my machine gave me the opportunity, and now we have a new one,” Dubois said.
As for the improvement, mission accomplished, he believes.
“Guys I’ve given it to test it out and review all like it,” said Dubois, a 28-year-old Louisiana-Lafayette graduate. “I have a feeling once more people get it in their hands and start using it, it’ll be the favorite flipping bait for a lot of guys.”
Testing the bait
Lucas Ragusa of Gonzales, La., who fished the Bassmaster Opens from 2013 to 2018, is one of the growing number of believers in the Bayou Bug 2.0. He fished with Dubois when the lure designer took it for a test drive.
Dubois, who has been manufacturing lures full-time in a small shed next to his house since 2016, said they caught some good-sized bass on the baits, fresh out of the new mold. He found out what he was hoping to learn.
“What I really wanted to see was how the fish reacted to it,” he said. “When I’d flip, a lot of fish bit on the fall or when I popped the bait. That tells me the arms generated the bite. I was happy about that.”
Ragusa later nailed a 5-pounder on the Bayou Bug 2.0.
The changes made the soft-plastic creature bait even more appealing, according to Dubois.
The extension at the top gives it a little more tip to use when a fisherman runs the hook into it, plus helps “nudge it up there and keep it up there so it lasts longer,” he said.
The small appendage on each side at the lower end of the body gives the lure a little more vibration as it falls, he said.
The new ribs over the small cavity in the middle allows an angler to tuck the barb of the hook in to keep it weedless, he said, but won’t interfere with the hooksetting capability of the Bayou Bug 2.0.
The revised bait is about 4 inches long and available in 14 colors, with the most popular being black/blue, junebug, Okeechobee craw and boudin, a color Dubois cooked up that is brown pumpkin on top, light tan on the bottom with black/blue flake.
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