Casey Ashley’s Classic-winning bait was built in his father’s shop

Homemade spin-head jig was “simple-looking thing” Classic champ says

If you followed the 2015 Bassmaster Classic held last week on Lake Hartwell, the second-hardest thing to do – behind keeping your fingers from freezing solid – was getting one of the pro fishermen to give up the identity of his lure. But when the Classic was over and South Carolina pro Casey Ashley emerged as the winner, his big secret lure being something his father build in his basement shop.

While Michael Iaconelli, Bobby Lane and Takahiro Omori talked about jerkbaits, drop-shots and Shad Raps, Ashley held up an white Zoom Super Fluke Junior that was impaled on a homemade “horse head” spinner jig made for him by his father.

“My father, Danny, who is a good bass fisherman in his own right and taught me most of what I know about bass fishing, gave me about 20 of these before the tournament said, ‘This is what you’re going to win the Bassmaster Classic with,’” Ashley said.

Ashley said he caught 13 of the 15 fish he weighed in during the Classic on the homemade bait, which is hand-poured from a popular jig mold. It has a crane swivel molded into the lower half of the jighead and a ball-bearing swivel and split ring that holds a nickel-plated willow-leaf blade. Though the bait can be produced in larger and smaller sizes, the weight Ashley used in the Classic was 3/8-ounce.

“It’s the silliest, simplest-looking thing you’ve ever seen in your life,” said Ashley. “It’s a pony head, and we attach a ball-bearing swivel and use powder paint on the head along with a 4/0 Mustad hook with a size 3.5 willow blade. The swivel is the key to that bait and the Super Fluke Junior. It doesn’t matter how slow I turn my reel. I could lift it off the bottom and ease it back and the blade will keep turning. That’s the key.”

Asked if there were any plans to commercially market the bait, Ashley’s only response was his signature boyish grin.