No matter where he fishes, and no matter what time of year it is, Buchanan always has a Thump’N Dinger on the deck. And it’s typically in the Junebug color.
“The Thump’N Dinger is not a normal shaky head,” said Buchanan, who played football collegiately at Austin College in Sherman, Texas. “You’re really fishing a worm on a shaky head. It’s like the old curl-tail worms. I don’t think a lot of people fish it like that now. The Thump’N Dinger gets the best of both because it does stand up off the bottom and also has a lot of action on the tail. And you can fish it like a worm and get that curl-tail worm action. There are also times you want to be pitching it to targets like you’re flipping, almost. Except flipping with lighter line.”
Buchanan never fishes the Thump’N Dinger on a Texas rig. He exclusively fishes it on a jig head with light line.
“I like the fact that it’s a perfect profile for a jig head,” said Buchanan, whose Hendrix Warriors won the Southern Athletic Association championship in 2015 and qualified for the NCAA Division III playoffs. “Especially 3/16. You can throw it on a light rod – bait casting or spinning. It’s got just enough weight that you can still throw it. You get a power fishing approach along with a finesse fishing bait. It’s the best of both worlds, in my opinion. You can still throw it around cover and it won’t get tangled up. It has the old school curl-tail without a lot of appendages.
“Really, I think it’s versatile enough to do whatever you want with it. It’s really great on rocky lakes where you’re fishing points, where they’re setting up and staging. You can swim it, drag it and hop it and fish it any speed you want. You can also fish 45-degree banks or where you’re dragging it down the bank or if you know where they are staging you can cast parallel down the bank and bring it back.”
Why Junebug?
