Koppers Live Target Bluegill Trap

Today’s review is on one of the contestant’s from our lipless crankbait cage fight, the Koppers Live Target Bluegill Vibration trap. As it turned out, this little bait was also our winner in that event.

It’s All In The Details

We have discussed the amazingly lifelike patterns that Koppers produces and this bait is no exception. In shape, color and detail, you’ll be hard pressed to come up with another lure in this category that can go toe to toe with the Bluegill trap, or for that matter, the Pumpkinseed trap.

These baits are available in three sizes, the BGV55SK – 2-3/16 in. 1/4 oz, the BGV65SK – 2-9/16 in. 1/2 oz, and the BGV75SK – 3 in. 7/8 oz. There are two color patterns, the Bluegill and the Pumpkinseed. Both come in a Natural Matte or a Metallic Gloss. During our cage fight, we were using the BGV55SK in Natural Matte as this is the smallest version of this lure and it fit right into the category that we were testing.

Appearance In The Water

While we were using this bait, it became very apparent that not only did Koppers design the trap to look like a small bluegill, they also designed it to swim very much like a live bluegill. While other baits in this genre swim nose down to a greater or lesser extent, the Koppers swims almost horizontal.

The drawback to this is the fact that with the stock hooks it will pick up more grass and gunk than other similar baits that do run at an angle. The plus side of this is that when you get this bait in front of a bass, it really looks like the real thing which explains why this lure did so well in our testing.

One incident in particular summed up the entire day. I saw a male and female who appeared to be in the process of setting up a nest although they had not spawned yet. I threw the Bluegill trap to them three times. The first two times, both fish completely ignored my offering. However, on the third cast, the female decided she had enough with this little intruder being anywhere around them and absolutely crushed the trap. She wasn’t spooked by the first two casts either which to me is a good sign.

Often, as you’re casting lures around pre-spawn fish, they spook easily as soon as the bait hits the water. This wasn’t the case with the Koppers. I guess there wasn’t anything about the trap that was immediately threatening or painfully phony to alert the fish to be on their guard. This little tid-bit may prove to be very useful in the coming weeks as the spawn gets going full throttle.

We also talked about the fact that this little bait casts very well considering its relative lack of weight. At only a 1/4 oz, you will be surprised how easy it is to get some real distance with the Bluegill trap.

We haven’t yet used the larger sizes but the finishes are just as lifelike in all the sizes. Whether or not they will swim the same way has yet to be determined but we’re sure looking forward to finding out.

You Might Consider New Hooks

The stock hooks on the Koppers are standard round bend trebles that are good and sharp and hooked every fish that bit. If I were to make any changes to this bait, which I haven’t yet, it would be changing out the stock hooks for a shorter shank triple grip hook. I believe that this would make the bait a little less prone to picking up weeds and gunk.

The only other modification that we made to the bait, which we did with all the contestants in the cage fight, was to use some Fish Sticks Lure Enhancer. I really don’t know if this had anything to do with the overall success of the day but as mentioned in our review of that product, I do believe that it has helped me catch more fish since I have been using it.

The Koppers is not an inexpensive bait compared to other lures in the same class. The Bluegill trap will run about $12 retail as opposed to about $7 for a lot of the competitors’ products. The thing you really need to consider is, if you have a lot of bluegill or pumpkinseed in  the water that you like to fish, is it worth it to pick up a couple of these traps? After all, you never know when and where you’re going to find that next bass fishing “confidence” bait.

See ya’ on the water …

Click Here to purchase Koppers Live Target from Bass Proshops(aff)