Today we’re going to take an in-depth look at a product that got our attention last year. The Trigger X Slop Hopper.
For those of you who have been with us for a while, you know that one of our favorite class of baits is the soft plastic swimbait. These little beauties have produced so many fish for us over the last several years in so many situations that their effectiveness is unquestionable.
With that in mind, when a new offering comes out, we’re more than happy to get hold of some and give ‘em a few laps around the lake.
The Trigger X Slop Hopper piqued our interest because it has some unique features that we weren’t aware of. Not to mention that another bait from Trigger X was one of the main baits that the youngest ever winner of the Forrest Wood Cup, one Jacob Wheeler, used to win that event.
Before we get to the actual testing, let’s take a look at what differentiates Trigger X from a lot of their competitors.
Is there anything unique here?
The first is that all Trigger X baits are phthalate free. This is pronounced, “Tha-late”. Not to get to deep in the weeds but to clarify what phthalate’s are, we gotta provide a brief explanation.
Phthalates are used primarily to soften polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastisol. This is the stuff that most soft plastic lures are made of. Unfortunately, phthalates don’t chemically bind to PVC resin so they end up leaching out. There are currently lots of studies being conducted on the health risks of phthalates on human and animal populations that strongly suggests that it would be better to find alternatives to using this stuff. Okay, ‘nuf said.
Back to the Trigger X Slop Hopper. This is a 4.5 inch paddle tail style soft plastic swimbait that is not only phthalate free but also comes loaded with their UltraBite Aggression Pheromone attractant.
Like most paddle tail style swimbaits, the Slop Hopper can be fished with or without a weighted hook. We almost always default to using a weighted hook because generally speaking, it doesn’t negatively affect this style of bait. This lure was no exception.
In this genre of baits, there are several out there that exhibit some negative characteristics such as rolling over, running to one side or being very fragile.
The Slop Hopper hasn’t shown any of these annoying tendencies. That may be due to it’s somewhat unusual shape. While other similar style baits are more flat sided, the Slop Hopper is shaped more like a boat. The bottom is sort of shaped like the hull with the top being somewhat flat.
There is a hook slot on the bottom, albeit not an envelope, and another on top for hiding the hook point when you’re running it through vegetation. Both work better than expected and allow for good, positive hook sets.
The action
The bait in the water has a more subdued body action than some combined with a very active tail that puts out some thump at all but the slowest retrieve speeds.
The Trigger X Slop Hopper is a simple, versatile bait. Depending on the weight of the hook you choose, you can make it run with a nose down orientation, horizontally in the water or slightly nose up.
How we like to fish the Slop Hopper
We’ve had a lot of success with this bait by throwing it over emerging vegetation and allowing it to sink into open spots before continuing our retrieve. Once it hits bottom, rip it and hold on.
Another method that we’ve gotten lots of fish from is swimming the Slop Hopper through sparse tules. Just toss it as far back into the stick ups as you can, let it sink for a few seconds then begin a medium retrieve back to you banging into as many stalks as you can. When a bass hits, it’s aggressive.
We didn’t expect the Slop Hopper to hold up as well as it has to repeated strikes but we have been surprised. While some baits in this category can handle 2 fish max., the Trigger X has done much better than that for us. As of this writing, we’ve managed to get up to 9 fish on one bait.
There is an adequate selection of patterns available with several laminates in the mix that mimic any number of baitfish.
The Trigger X Slop Hopper retails for about $5 per bag of 6 baits which is reasonable in our opinion considering how durable this bait is.
| Trigger X Slop Hopper | |
|---|---|
| Overall Rating |    |
| effective grass fishing bait | |
See ya’ on the water …
