Jerry Rago talks about the Winning BV3D Swimbait

Introduction: The Bait Byron used was the Rago BV 3D pretty much exclusively. He used it in several colors but, the dark hitch was the one we saw him throwing the majority of the time.  Byron was short on baits so Jerry Rago himself made the drive Friday night to bring Byron some more baits.  Jerry joined me in the boat to watch Byron on the Saturday of competition. Although, we had a small car key at the bottom of the lake incident, we had time to ask Rago some questions about the bait.

We take a closer look at the Rago BV3D which helped Byron Velvick win the Elite Series Golden State Shootout at Clear Lake just a day ago

Spectators witnessed Byron relentlessly casting a brown colored swimbait all event long

Leo: How long have you been working on this bait?

JR: Not very long. Once I had an idea for the bait and got a hold of Byron. He told me yes, this is what I want and gave me some changes it basically took about a day.

Byron checked the bait often

Leo: How did the name BV 3D come about?

JR: I built this bait specifically for Byron and Skeet Reese knowing that it would be a great bait for Clear Lake and they are such great Clear Lake anglers. Truthfully, the bait was originally called the Hitch but, when you get a guy like Byron Velvick willing to put his name on it how can you say no. Then when you look at the bait in comparison to most other swimbaits you’ll see it has a lot more detail, it’s a 3D swimbait in a previously 2D world.  So it became the BV (Byron Velvick) 3D and that just has a big fish ring to it, doesn’t it?  

Jerry Rago shows us the BV3D

Jerry swims the bait demonstrating the subtle side to side tail action

This line through bait swims well even at slow retrieves

Leo: Where can people get the bait?

JR: There is a list of retailers on my site RagoBaits.com. We are shipping this bait as fast as we can make them and any retailer interested in carrying the baits can also contact us through the site. We have a ton of orders coming in right now, but, we want to get this bait out to as many stores as we can, as fast as we can.

We previewed these baits months ago when Jerry sent us a few prototypes and we brought them to the event. We showed Kent one of the baits at the event...

...and he jokingly wanted to conduct his own "extended tests"

Leo: What’s next for Rago Baits?

JR: Man, we have a ton of new stuff we have been working on and testing but, it looks like we’ll have to hold off a bit on releasing those in order to get the BV 3D out to everyone that wants one.  I showed off some of the new stuff at the Bass Jam in Northern Cal back in November and have had some great reports back on some of those baits including a 42 pound sack at Lake Perris for Pat Keniry and Rob Dickson. I can’t wait until Byron gets his hands on one of those!

One of the actual lures that Byron fished during the final two days of the tournament

After the event, we had one follow up question

Leo: It’s been a long time coming for a victory with one of your baits?  How do you feel about Byron being the angler to put your bait in the winner circle?

JR: It couldn’t have happened to a more deserving guy.  I have always been a Skeet Reese and Byron Velvick fan and I have always had a great relationship with Byron. We’ve done a lot together with swimbaits in the past and to have helped him, even in a small way, means a lot to me.

Cal experiences his own success during field tests with the bait on Clear Lake, this hitch patterned swimbait is the real deal