Berkley, through its Havoc line of baits, has come out with some very good value priced soft plastics. Today we’re going to look at a new lizard, the Havoc Klein’s Boss Dog.
This lure was produced with the input of Elite Series Pro Gary Klein.
Some parts of the country tend to use more lizards than others because there are salamanders in the water who, during the spawn, are more than happy to raid nests and gobble down all the eggs they can before either getting run off by a buck or eaten.
The Boss Dog
The Havoc Boss Dog is a 6 inch bait with four lively legs and a J-shaped tail that all work in concert to provide a fluttering action from any angle. Additionally, one side of the Boss Dog has a sunken area to hide your hook point so that it comes through grass with little resistance while the other side has some ribs that will catch and release air bubbles as the bait is worked.
The color palette that is available has some interesting deviations of standard proven colors as well as some that come from the factory with neon tales and shading for a more subtle presentation.
Although this lizard is technically a 6 inch bait, it seems smaller than that because the body isn’t as long as some of its competitors. Sure, with the tail stretched out, it will reach the full length but just holding it in hand, the appearance and profile make it seems shorter.
This isn’t a negative by the way. It simply means that you should downsize your hook to a 4/0 for the best results.
The Boss Dog is, in our experience with it, best suited for a Carolina rig, a Texas rig or rigged on a belly weighted swim bait hook.
The appendages are thin enough so that it takes very little motion to get them kicking. On a Carolina rig, just the act of dragging the bait a few inches after it hits bottom will get the legs and tail moving. The same holds true for a Texas rig.
Our Best Retrieve with the Havoc Lizard
In fishing the Havoc lizard, we have found that using a C-rig with a shortened leader, say in the neighborhood of 14-20 inches has provided the most strikes. It also appears more natural as salamanders tend to hug the bottom more often than not.
We typically use a smaller weight with this bait, 1/4 – 1/2 ounce seems to be the sweet spot for dragging the Boss Dog through the shallows. This also allows you to pick your weight up off the bottom a few inches to get over logs, sticks or rocks without making the lure jump.
Whether C-rigged or Texas-rigged, the retrieve that has been most productive for us is the slow dragging of the bait as opposed to a more energetic method. More often than not, we’ve been hit just as we start the bait forward after a small pause.
The strikes with the Boss Dog have run the gambit as far as hits go. From nothing but a little additional weight on the end of the line to wrist busting jerks.
The results have been the same with most of them however and that is, a fish firmly hooked on the end of the line.
The way the body is constructed, there is not a whole lot of plastic for the hook to move through to get a solid hook set. This accounts for the high hook up percentage that we’ve gotten when using this lure.
Where Have They Gone?
Over the years, like so many other lures, lizards have fallen in and out of favor with anglers. These days, creature baits, worms, soft plastic jerk baits, craw imitations and other newer shapes seem to be foremost in a lot of anglers minds. However, there is a place for the lizard in your tackle box.
The Berkley Havoc Klein’s Boss Dog isn’t a whole new class of baits but it is a twist on a genre of baits that we would guess most of you that have been fishing for a while have used but may have put on the back burner.
For that matter, we would be willing to bet that many of you who are somewhat new to bass fishing, have never tied a lizard on the old ball and chain just to drag it over the top of shelves to let it gently slither down the other side.
If this is the case, you may want to pick up some of these to re-acquaint yourself with this method of fishing.
It can be highly productive given the bass are bottom oriented and looking for an easy meal.
The Berkley Havoc Klein’s Boss Dog is a competent performer, won’t set you back much at all, is easy to fish and gives fish a little bit different look. It isn’t the most technologically advanced bait out there but it works well for its intended use.
| Berkley Havoc Klein's Boss Dog | |
|---|---|
| Overall Rating |   |
| Bringing back memories | |
See ya’ on the water …
