Ever since the game of forward facing sonar was invented, I think every bait manufacturer in the fishing world has made some sort of minnow bait. All of them are very similar in size, shape and design to mimic a minnow, to roll like an injured baitfish, and to hover through the water perfectly. Being a big time “scoper” for smallmouth here in the northeast, you can bet I’ve tried every bait that’s available, and there’s a few that stand out from the rest.
Then there’s The Don made by Jenko Fishing. When this bait first came out, their mission statement was “built to change the way you mid-stroll.” According to Jenko Fishing, this is a bait that anglers have been keeping a secret for years in the southeast lakes. But what is so special about it?
First Impressions
Upon receiving the bait, I didn’t know what to think. I’ve experimented with just about every single minnow bait on the market, but I had high hopes that this one would fool my pressured finger lakes smallmouth.
At a first glance, the 5-inch minnow gives the look of a combination of baits. Like if a Deps Sakamata Shad and a Zoom Winged Fluke had a baby, this would be it. Now, I have never messed with a winged bait besides the two mentioned and both have worked wonders for bringing a few extra bites in the boat. The wings looked smaller in comparison to other baits making the bait have a tighter wobble, which I personally like.
The bait seems to be made with extremely durable plastic. On days when bass are chewing, this could save you from going through so many baits. According to the website, the plastic is a proprietary 0% salt formula that allows for overall neutral buoyancy. Having a neutrally buoyant is extremely important when using a minnow for suspended bass or walleyes to keep the bait staying horizontal at all times.
This minnow has a slender body with a forked tail like many baits on the market. But it’s the textured tail end that really caught my eye. It looks as if it’s meant to catch water and enhance the “strolling” side to side action of the bait.
The Don comes in one size (five inches) and 10 different colors to cover all of your baitfish mimicking needs. These baits come in packs of five and retail for $7.99
On The Water Testing
I decided to pick a very finicky, smallmouth-dominated lake for my testing. It’s a shallow, mesotrophic lake glacial finger lake with alewife as the main forage species for all predatory species that live there. It’s also where I take most of my clients who want to learn to fish a minnow on forward facing sonar. It’s not an easy lake to fish as the smallmouth get extremely pressured from local tournaments and other anglers chasing them around with electronics.
Like I said, these fish in this lake are flat out finicky. If a bait isn’t presented right, they will not eat. No questions asked. With all the hype it got from both largemouth and smallmouth anglers, it had to fool my wary local bass, right? Welp it did, to a certain extent.
The rolling action on the bait was superb. Arguably one of the most action packed baits I’ve scoped with. But, on pressured smallmouth lakes, that can really hurt you. I personally like baits that have almost no action that you can hover right over their face. It may seem boring, but to get a larger bass to strike, this is a proven technique.
I fished this bait on two different jigheads. One rod was rigged with my favorite Northland Smeltinator jighead in 3/8th ounce. Another was rigged with what I believe was a prototype jighead in a much smaller 1/8th ounce size that was in one of the bags of soft plastics. The prototype head was great, but for the fishing I do in much deeper water ranging from 30 to 60 feet, it’s just not my style. Of course, the Smeltinator performed flawlessly and the rolling action on the bait stayed true.
I was able to fool a few big ones into biting both styles of jigheads, so it is a winner in my book.
Final Thoughts
Where this bait truly stands out is in its exceptional action. It moves with a lively, natural presence that immediately sets it apart and earns it a place in my tackle rotation. Each season, I incorporate a range of minnow baits, and I can already see The Don excelling when bass are keyed in on larger forage or when a more dynamic presentation makes the difference.
It’s easy to understand why this bait has become a proven performer for many anglers on TVA lakes, where bigger baitfish are the norm and aggressive action gets results.When fish are on bigger meals and looking for a little more movement, I can see this bait being a real difference-maker.
