The Booner
The Booner is a glider that was conceived by André Koehoorn and Marco Dol (also well-known in Europe for the Dr Dre, Punisher, Jeckyl, Big-O, ... jerkbaits). These Dutch gentlemen build their jerkbaits together. This particular bait is 6" long and weighs approximately 90-95g. The lure blank is made using a mold and the lure is coated with a thick, tough epoxy coating. The Booner is weighted so it will suspend with the right size hooks and a solid jerkbait leader. Depending on how you fish this bait, the Booner will reach a depth of approximately 3-4 feet. It is possible that some Booners will run a little deeper.
How should you retrieve this glider? Well, there are some 5 methods that I used to get different actions out of the bait but don't limit yourself to these five. I'm convinced there are more ways to be discovered. I will know describe these five techniques.
The tail end hangs down a little and with each short pull the Booner will dive and at the end of the diving motion, it will glide to one side. During the forward motion the Booner will wobble. Now it's time to pause the lure. During this pause the Booner will reposition itself to hang tail down again and when you make the next short pull, it will dive down again and then glide to the other side. It is really important to accentuate the pause. Fished this way, the Booner will reach a depth of approximately 3-4 feet. The pulls that I use are about 6-10" long.
A second way to retrieve this bait, is to fish it the way I described it in the previous paragraph but to leave out the pauses. The Booner will glide side to side faster with an exaggerated wobble. The depth at which this lure will run, is greatly reduced and I think you can get no deeper than 2 feet using this retrieve.
A third way is to cast out the Booner and to simply retrieve it to the boat at the same pace. The Booner will swim back to the boat in a wide S-shaped track and once in a while it will do a 360 (a cork-screw motion). I presume this occurs because of the tail down weighting of the lure. I must say the result looks great!
A fourth way is to retrieve the bait with long, slow pulls like you would use to fish, say, a suick or a bobbie bait. Just cast out and make pulls of 2-3 feet long. You'll notice that the Booner will run fairly shallow and that it will wobble vigorously with the occasional 360.
One last way was described to me by André Koehoorn himself. Cast out the Booner and allow it to sink for a long time. If you allow it to sink for about 20 seconds, the Booner should be at a depth of approximately 6-7 feet (using a countdown method). Then start your retrieve by tapping the glider upwards instead of downwards. This method has been most successful for André.
To end this review I will add some remarks. I think this is a really nice and solid jerkbait and its action reminds me a lot of the action of a cobb's sharpnosed glider (no longer in production but word on the street has it that they will be available again soon). The Booner is in a league of its own though. It runs deeper and it can be fished in different ways to achieve different action.
If you look at this lure from the side, you would think that it is just a clone of a Salmo Fatso jerkbait but this is where every possible comparison ends. When you look at this lure from the top, you will notice the distinct fish-shaped body.
The only real disadvantage is its weight. Despite the handy size it weighs a lot and therefore it needs to be fished on a jerkbait rod. The use of a strong jerkbait leader is recommended as well. But don't let this scare you off because the Booner's action is just amazing. It is so easy to do a change-up in your retrieve to respond to a following fish and to turn it into a biter.
The Booner is only available at one Dutch store so if you should happen to come across one, I can only recommend that you buy one and give it a serious try!
Good luck fishing!
Dirk