The first and biggest Bass.
Today, the 3/0 White Dive Bangers got lots of smaller bass and one Largemouth. Twice a Musky aggeessively followed the 5/0 Chartreuse Dive Banger without taking.
Dive Bangers have been effective on my last 3 outings. At Hudson Lake with difficult heavily pressured fish, the 5/0 White caught a very big bass, it surprisingly caught some 11 inch bass and hooked and held a good Musky.
At Point Mouillee the 2/0 White Dive Banger quickly took 3 good bass before I had to prematurely retire it when the new glue I was trying failed. I tie a thick thread base on the hook and any decent glue will hold it super secured because it is gripping solid foam on all sides of the hooks. Plain foam poppers last until the tail feathers are chewed off or chunks of foam are broken off from the front edge of the foam. The prism take wrapped Banger heads are extremely durable and keep their shape and keep popping even after they show lots of wear around the front edges of the tape wrapped foam.
That Musky that twice followed the Chartreuse 5/0 Dive Banger, on two successive cast he was all up and over it, nose to its tail feathers for 8 feet then back down. He didn't come to figure 8s. I didn't see him in the flesh but his length must have been 20 to 30 some inches. His name is Johnny and he was hanging out by the docks where people throw restaurant scraps to the ducks, bluegills and minnows not 10 feet away form the lakeside restaurant tables.
That particular Dive Banger nodded its head left to right, a 4 inch swing to turn about 45 degrees on each rhythmic short crisp strip. The white version shown tracked pretty straight. The White one got hit hard and hooked a good sized musky in Hudson lake a 6 days ago. For the Chartreuse version, I bent the hook down slightly toward gap because that has been hooking and holding fish better for me. The tail on the Chartresue version is tilted downward slightly and is sparser.
The Dive Banger has a different popping sound, more of a Splot..Splot..Splot. For the 3/0 version I was using today, I noticed it left this foot wide swath of bubbles behind it. The slanted head was making bubbles as it dunked on each pop and the slight hollow on the back of the head was dragging air down when it dived an inch or so. This quick, short diving and bobbing action shakes the tail flash and feathers. The sloped face makes it easier to cast. I am tying it with a cylinder one size wider than I have been using for my Marabou Bangers.
I tie all my poppers on short shank spinner bait hooks like the extra strong 2/0 or 3/0 Mustad 32606N or the lighter Eagle Claw 253 Limerick 1/0 to 4/0 Eagle Claw 253N. I tie some on the great standard shank spinner Bait hook, the VMC 7250BN 1/0 to 5/0.