Here we are marching head long into spring and we have yet to see the top-water bite heat up. However, that doesn’t mean that we haven’t been using some of the new products that are now available. Today’s review is on one of those top-water baits, the Flip In The Bird Topwater Bait. Yes the name says it all.
This is not a frog but a bird! When we were first made aware of these, our minds started clicking in terms of where and how to fish it. The first thing that came up was some smaller lakes that just happen to have lots of bulrushes in different areas of the lake.
Having fished these lakes several times in the past and remembering the bird population that inhabits these reeds, we decided that this was the first place we were going to Flip In The Bird. Before we get to the actual results, let’s take a few minutes to give you the low down on the bait itself.
Flip In The Bird Construction
This Bird is 3 inches in length and weighs 5/8 of an ounce. Okay, very similar to a lot of frogs out there so what are the real differences? Let’s take a close look and find out.
In terms of the construction of the Bird, you’ll notice that there are molded hook slots on the top of the body which are very effective for keeping the hooks hidden. This allows the angler to throw this thing into the thickest slop one can find with absolute confidence that you’re not going to hang up. Since we obtained this bait, we have yet to get it fouled on anything and believe me, we have tried!
The hollow body portion of the Bird is indeed designed to mimic the body shape of small birds. It is elongated with the head coming to a rounded point. Again, much like a small bird. There are four individual groupings of rubber strands on each side of the body that make up the “wings” as well as one group on the rear end of the bait for the “tail”. The material used for these appendages moves very well in the water with little effort from the angler.
This is one of the coolest parts of the bait in our opinion. Just twitch the rod tip ever so slightly and the wings fold and spread just like a bird as does the tail. This occurs whether you’re moving it slow or fast. Incidentally, this bait is a cinch to walk the dog with. Much better than a lot of frogs out there although, you may not want to employ this type of retrieve for reasons we’ll get to shortly.
When you get your bird, much like tuning a frog, you will need to do some trimming of the wings and the tail. You can get the information for the optimum length from their website which is, flipinthebird.com.
Hooks
Since the Birds introduction, the creator of the bait has made some changes. They have replaced the hook with a hook that lowers the center of gravity which helps the Bird land on its belly much more consistently as well as making it easier to roll over if it does happen to land upside down.
The old hook used side barbs, barbs that are on the outside of the hook shank, versus the new one which uses standard barbs. They have also reformulated the rubber of the body to be softer but still be as durable as the older version. So with these upgrades in mind, let’s get down to the nitty gritty and talk about how the Bird performs.
Personally, I have watched small birds fall into the water as well as birds coming out of the reeds landing in the water just to bathe. On occasion, I have seen these poor lost souls wind up being a quick meal for hungry bass. With that in mind, we decided to try a few different retrieves to see if we could imitate what happens when either of these conditions occur.
Fishin’ The Bird
First up, the bird that just falls in. If you’ve ever watched this happen then you know that they really don’t do much other than periodically flapping their wings like crazy in an attempt to get back on something dry. So we tried to do just that. Cast the Bird right into some dense stick-ups, making sure to hit the reeds just above the water level, and then let it fall into the water.
Pause a few seconds, give the rod tip several short, quick twitches and then dead stick it. If nothing happens repeat the process altering the number of pops you give the Bird. Sure enough, we have been rewarded with several strikes on this retrieve.
In thinking about a bird bathing, we did the same kind of thing but not in the same area of the lake. For this, we chose water that had over-hanging tree limbs or bushes. Throw the Bird into the area directly below the overhang, let it sit motionless for a few seconds and then give it several pops without moving the bait to much in the water. Here again, we have gotten some good strikes using this technique.
Finally, what about open water or using it where traditionally you would use a frog like over slop or through lily pads? We have found some pads and thrown the Bird in there. However, we just haven’t gotten many strikes. Probably due the fact that it isn’t really top-water season yet! Yeah, I know thats a no-brainer but this is one of those lures that is just flat out fun to fish. And of course, we haven’t found any dense slop to throw the Bird into either but as soon as we do, we won’t hesitate.
Our hook-up ratio has been about 75% with the Bird which is right in line with what they advertise. Another little tip here, this is a lure that is designed to be fished on braid. In our testing, braid is certainly the way to go.
The Flip In The Bird Topwater Bait is not just a modified frog. It is a new class of bait that I would be willing to bet will see other companies introducing their own versions in the near future.
If you’ve been on the fence about this lure, give the Flip In The Bird a try. It has proven to be a versatile, well-made bait that will garner a permanent place in our tackle boxes both for right now and definitely for the coming summer months.
For more information on this lure, and to make a purchase, visit www.flipinthebird.com.
| Flip In The Bird | |
|---|---|
| Overall Rating |   |
| Outside the box design that really works! | |
See ya’ on the water …