Black Neon Flipping Baits: A 90s Staple That Still Wins Today
When I first got heavily into tournament bass fishing in the mid-1990s, plenty of flippers used black and blue jigs and soft plastics. It produced then and it still does today. Nevertheless, the two absolute soul-crushing heavy line hammers – Denny Brauer and Tommy Biffle – also relied on a heavy dose of black neon.
Generally speaking, that means a jet black body with red flake. Sometimes it incorporates other flakes as well. That tiny bit of flash can help you get more bites.
The Moment it Went Mainstream
The flipping tube was already known in some pockets, particularly to Arkansas anglers like Doug Garrett, but Brauer’s Classic win in 1998 put it on the national map:
And here’s the video of Brauer’s hard-fought win on the Potomac a few months later – a true battle between heavy cover flipping and finesse techniques:
Black Neon Baits You Should Have Tied On
Black Neon is a deadly color in dirty water, but for some reason it seems to have fallen out of favor. If you’re serious about flipping you need to have it ready to go. Sometimes, particularly when fish are pressured or otherwise finicky, it’s the absolute best choice. Here are five proven soft plastics to get you started.
You can’t go wrong with the lure that earned Brauer’s signature win at High Rock Lake in 1998, the Strike King Denny Brauer Pro Flip Tube
Before the deluge of craws hit the market, most mid-1990s flippers relied on the craws from Gene Larew, now rebranded as the Yum Salt Craw
Biffle also popularized the “Biffle Bug” both for flipping and dragging on a hardhead. It too has been renamed, in this case as the Yum Scutter Bug Creature Bait
Of course Andre Moore always has to be a little bit different, so the Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver version of black neon has chartreuse-tipped claws.
And while Kyle Welcher used a black and blue version last year for his record-setting victory on the Pasquotank, it’ll still make sense to throw a few bags of the black neon Rapala Crush City Bronco Bug in your shopping cart.
Everyone has black and blue tied on.
That’s exactly why you should consider alternatives when the bite gets tough.
Black neon gives you just enough difference to matter and it’s a proven killer when big bucks are on the line.
