On Sept. 13, 2013, we published a gear guide entitled “Strike King Lure Company’s Rage Twintail Menace Grub.” It is a four-inch soft-plastic grub with a beaver tail. We noted in that gear guide that it was designed for power anglers. But we pointed out that Midwest finesse anglers could customize it by trimming an inch to three-quarters of an inch off of its head before they affixed it to either a 1/16- or a 3/32-ounce mushroom-style jig.
During the first decade of the 21st century, two of the most effective Midwest finesse rigs were a two-inch and a three-inch beaver-tail bait, which we always affixed to either a 1/16- or a 3/32-ounce mushroom-style jig. But around the end of that decade, the tackle manufacturer that made those two beaver-tail baits stopped making them. And until Strike King introduced its three-inch Rage Twin Tail Baby Menace Grub to the angling world at the International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades show on July 12 at Orlando, Florida, we had not found a ready-made replacement for our beloved two- inch and three-inch beaver-tail baits. And to our eyes, Strike King’s three-incher looks as if it will be more effective than the ones we used to cherish.
The twin tails on the three-inch Rage Twin Tail Baby Menace Grub are adorned with what Strike King calls its patented Rage Flange. This flange, which some folks call a collar, adorns the outside edges of the two tails, and the flange will induce the tail to undulate, flap, kick, and thump when Midwest finesse anglers execute any of their six standard retrieves.
Midwest finesse anglers can affix it to their 1/16- and 3/32-ounce mushroom-style jigs so that the tails are either horizontal or vertical. When the tails are horizontal, they will flap up and down. When they…
