Lefebre Has the Bug
April 7, 2009
Dave Lefebre is something of a tackle minimalist. While his peers on the FLW Tours fill the storage compartments of their boats to the brim with every model of hard bait, soft bait and wire apparatus known to the tackle industry, the Pennsylvania pro often heads out onto the lake with just two Plano utility boxes at the ready.
He may have started practice with a wide variety of tackle in the boat, based on his prior experiences on the body of water and his pre-tournament research, but by the time competition day rolls around he doesn’t want to be burdened with the extra weight or with the distraction of lures that are inappropriate for the conditions at hand.
One of the boxes contains the terminal tackle he’ll need, maybe a few hard baits, jigs or spinnerbaits, too. The other one is filled to the top with Norie’s Bugs, one of the least publicized members of the Kinami Baits line-up, one which also happens to be among the deadliest. It’s a four-inch creature bait designed by Japanese pro Norio Tanabe. Tanabe’s credentials in the United States are unquestioned – he became the first non-American angler to win a BASS event when he earned a victory at the 1993 Kentucky Invitational – but since returning to his native country he has continued to make his mark both as a tournament angler and as a tackle innovator. While many of Tanabe’s creations are exclusive to the Japanese market, the Norie’s Bug is a legacy product that helps him to maintain his stamp on the American fishing industry – and continues to put money in the pockets of savvy tournament anglers like Lefebre.
Lefebre’s no slouch either. He’s fished the Bassmaster Classic, two BFL All-American’s (including a 2nd place finish in 2004), eight straight Stren Championships (his best finish was a 3rd place result in 2003), and six straight FLW Tour Championships. Last August he finished 2nd at the Forrest Wood on South Carolina’s Lake Murray, pocketing a check for a cool $100,000. While all of this success isn’t attributable solely to the Norie’s Bug, the diminutive creature bait with a big bite has played a huge role in his consistency.
Oddly enough, while he’s fished the Norie’s Bug for nearly a decade, he didn’t realize its true value until recently, in a tournament where he didn’t finish at the top of the leader board, the 2006 FLW Championship on Alabama’s Lake Logan Martin. He may have ended up 32nd overall, but the lesson that he took away proved to be priceless.
“There were real unstable conditions during the tournament,” he recalled. “I was catching my fish in a backwater area the size of a decent-sized pond. The fish were trapped in there and I had to go over a sandbar to get to them.”
On the first day, he had an FLW cameraman with him, and he expected the action to be lights-out. Unfortunately, on his first pass around the pond’s exterior, fishing a tube and a jig, he didn’t get a bite. “I hadn’t expected to have a problem catching them,” he said. “Fortunately I had one bag of green pumpkin (Norie’s Bugs) with me and in one more lap I caught exactly five bass.” Those five fish, which weighed just over 9 pounds, salvaged what could have turned out to be a miserable day, and showed him the power of the Bug.
Now he always has them in his boat, certainly more than just a single bag, and for a tackle minimalist like Lefebre, the biggest problem that remains is picking a color. His stalwarts, depending on water conditions, primary forage, the species he’s pursuing and regional preferences are junebug, black/blue, green pumpkin/watermelon and oxblood, but he admitted that all nine hues have a place in his repertoire.
The thing he loves most about the Norie’s Bug is that it’s exceptionally versatile.
“It’s deadly for bedding bass,” he said. “If you’re working them for a half hour or more, a lot of times it’s the only thing they’ll eat.”
While sight fishing for spawners may be the most exciting way to fish it, his most frequent rig in tournament situations is a Texas rig, in which the Bug is paired with a 1/8 ounce Penetrater tungsten weight and a 2/0 Sugoi hook. “It’s a finesse deal, when you’re trying to get another bite,” he said, “So I usually fish it on light line, some place between 10 and 16 pound test.”
He’ll also rig it weightless, on that same 2/0 Sugoi hook, around shallow grass and wood because it’s “heavy like a Senko, you can pitch it on a baitcaster and it flutters down.”
When he pursues smallmouths in open water, a frequent occurrence for this top Erie stick, he’ll cut the lure down shorter and remove the small legs, leaving the larger tabs in place. Then he’ll put it on a 1/8 or ¼ ounce jighead and go to town. When the normally voracious smallies turn their noses up at a dragged tube jig or a smartly-presented dropshot, they’ll still eat the Norie’s Bug.
Finally, it’s his favorite trailer when flipping or casting a jig. Once again, he’ll cut the legs off but leave the tabs, which provide a slow, deadly gliding fall. “I have a box of them cut and ready to go,” he said.
One bait, multiple presentations, and not just a limit getter. Lefebre said that despite the compact profile, it moves enough water that if you fish the Bug in the right places it’ll be your number one big fish bait, too.
Dave Lefebre’s website is www.davelefebre.com
For more information about Kinami products, check out www.kinamibaits.com
You can order the Norie’s Bug at https://store.baits.com/xcart/product.php?productid=16305&cat=305&page=1
For more information about Norio Tanabe and his products, go to: http://www.marukyu.com/eng/nories/index.html