D.O.A. Lures is built in Okeechobee, Florida, a short run from one of the best largemouth fisheries in the country. The freshwater baits in this line were designed on that water — heavy vegetation, matted hydrilla, reed lines and shallow shell — and they are made to be fished in cover rather than around it.
How to fish D.O.A. lures for largemouth bass
Matted grass and weed lines
The 12" Sna-Koil is the specialist here. It is a true snake profile that slithers over matted vegetation and through weed lines where a conventional bait fouls on the first crank, and its coiling action draws strikes from fish that will not commit to anything else. Fish it weighted, Tex-posed, Carolina rigged or on a drop shot depending on how deep the mat is.
Worm fishing
The 5" Stick Worm is a wacky-rig and Texas-rig staple — nose-hooked and left to fall on slack line beside a dock post or reed clump, it gets bitten when nothing else does. The 8" Trick Worm fishes weightless and high in the water column, twitched across the surface over grass, or Texas rigged when you need it deeper. Both pair with the long neck offset worm hooks.
Topwater
The PT-7 was built for exactly this water. Three inches and 5/8 oz with a rattle, it casts like a bullet and skips into places under overhanging cover that a standard walking bait cannot reach. The single 7/0 EWG hook keeps big fish pinned where trebles tear out, and it does not hang up in floating grass the way a treble-hung topwater does.
Soft plastics on a jig head
The saltwater side of the line crosses over completely. A C.A.L. 3" Shad Tail or 5" Swim Bait on a short shank or long shank jig head is a shad imitation that works on any lake in the country. The C.A.L. 4" Jerk Bait rigged weightless and weedless fishes like a fluke — twitch, pause, let it glide.
Color
Florida-strain bass in tannic water eat Rootbeer, June Bug, Watermelon and Copper Crush. In clearer lakes go to Pearl, Golden Shiner and Silver Mullet to match shad. Electric Chicken and Chartreuse patterns come out when the water is muddy after a blow.
