We did a lot of shallow water fishin’ in the spring to test several new squarebills. One of those is the subject of today’s review, the Koppers Live Target Baitball Series. If you hadn’t heard, or read our article on the award winners at ICAST 2013, this lure won in the category of, “Best new hard bait”.
What’s the scoop?
The theory behind the Baitball Series is that a crankbait doesn’t represent a single animal to the bass but rather a tightly bunched school of bait consisting of a few individuals which have broken away from the main school. We’re not going to debate this as we still haven’t found a way to directly communicate with the bass, but we’re still tryin’.
The squarebill version of this series is 2 3/8 inches long carrying a weight of 1/2 an ounce. It’s running depth is 3-4 feet depending on line diameter. All of the patterns mimic some form of shad in color.
Pictures don’t really give the angler a good idea of what this bait is like. The “baitball” consists of three separate and distinct images.
The two on the outsides of the bait are identical as well as being two dimensional while the one on the inside, which is in the center of the lure, is located more towards the nose of the bait and is three dimensional.
It almost looks like a little lure encased in a larger, clear lure to which all the components are attached.
The two painted images on the side are not just painted on a flat surface but rather on a raised, textured surface on the outside of the bait. This gives them a quasi three dimensional look even though they are paint.
There are two metal balls within the bait. One just forward of center is fixed. This serves as a weight and balances the bait in the water. The second is about half the size located in a chamber close to the nose and is the soul source of the subtle rattle.
Playin’ with the Baitball
We’ve probably mentioned more than once the fact that the first thing we do with a new bait is play with it in shallow, clear water to see what we can get it to do by changing our retrieve. I know that might sound a little bit strange but hey, it’s our m.o. and has revealed some hidden features so we keep doin’ it.
So what did our shallow water time show us in regards to the Baitball Squarebill? To begin with this bait has a wide wobble as wobbles go. Our guess is that this is intentional so that the appearance and action work together to enhance the “Baitball” theme.
After all, even just a few baitfish can’t swim so tightly together that a tight wiggle would accurately mimic them in the water. It also showed us that the deflection and recovery aspects of this bait are very good.
The thing that we didn’t really expect to find is that the angler can make this little dog hunt.
Yup, give your rod tip a very quick, short snap and this crank will wander a few inches off center then find its way back. Another quick snap and it will do it again, usually to the other side.
So while we haven’t seen this advertised as a bait that is designed to hunt, you can take it on yourself and make it do just that. After a little practice, you can get a predictable, erratic action going.
This is the case from a slow retrieve to a moderate speed to flat haulin’ butt. That quick snap of the rod tip will make this bait move, hunt, wander or whatever you want to call it. This unexpected feature makes this bait an effective open water lure as well as using it as a more traditional squarebill.
We found in our testing that using a moderate to fast retrieve was when we got the most bites whether in open water or banging it against cover.
Of course, the age old rule applies to the Live Target. When you make contact with an obstruction, kill your retrieve for a second before getting back on the gas. You will get most of your strikes as soon as you begin to reel again.
The hooks are identically sized, standard shank, round bend trebles. They are sized well for the bait, sharp out of the package, ride close to the body on the retrieve and don’t get hung up easily.
Memories …
We’ve caught numerous fish on the Baitball. While there are some scratches on the finish, it has held up well to our repeated abuse whether in open water or banging it around cover.
However, between the teeth marks, dings from hitting cover and other intentional as well as unintentional abuse, we’ve managed to mar the clear portion of the bait pretty good.
This hasn’t prevented the fish from biting it but it has kinda’ given it a worn look.
If there is anything we would change is the available patterns. While the current colors are everything that Live Target is known for in terms of ultra-realistic patterns, we fish several lakes where the primary forage is some kind of panfish. So, maybe a bluegill, pumpkinseed, red-ear sunfish, green sunfish, crappie yearling kind of thing would be a nice addition to their current line-up.
The Koppers’ Live Target Baitball Series Squarebill is a unique, well executed bait that is worth a look see for any angler looking to show fish something different.
On the MVF rating scale, the Koppers’ Live Target Baitball Series Squarebill earns 4.0 stars.
See ya’ on the water …
