In our humble opinion, top-water bassin’ has to be one of the most exciting ways to catch fish there is.
To see a follow, then the strike and within a split second, feel the weight of the fish … man, there’s nothing quite like it.
You may know the company Koppers’ LIVETARGET for their hollow body frogs which, like all their baits, are produced using ultra-realistic paint schemes to complement the engineering behind the lure.
What’s new in the Yearling Series
This year at ICAST, they added to their Baitball series by debuting the Yearling Baitball Series. This includes several baits which we will be reviewing but for now, the focus of our attention is on the Yearling Baitball Walking Bait. Specifically, the YWB90T.
This version is 3-1/2 inches in length and weighs 3/8 ounce. There is a larger model that is 4-1/2 inches and weighs 5/8 ounce. Both sport two trebles and share the same shape, internal weighting system, finishes that are as real as anything on the market as well as the use of high end components from stem to stern.
The patterns on the two are identical but there are 6 distinct fish on the 90 as opposed to 8 on the 115. Each individual “Yearling”, is about an inch in length and complete with gill plates, eyes, fins in all the right places and textured bodies.
All of this adds up to a very impressive looking bait but the true measure of a lure isn’t how it looks, it is instead how it handles in the water, whether or not it draws strikes and of course, can it stand up to the punishment of hard biting, hard striking bass.
Considering we got the smaller version, we threw on this on a 7’, medium heavy rod spooled with 10# co-polymer line so that we didn’t overpower the bait.
Thanks to an excellent weighting system, not to mention a fantastic new reel (we’ll do a full review of that in the very near future), the YWB90T casts like a bullet in spite of its lean 3/8 weight.
How’s the action?
Once the Yearling Baitball Walking Bait touches down, it takes very little effort to get it doin’ the cha cha across the surface. Just light, short taps with the rod tip will have this bait walking easily.
You can get a good glide for its smallish size by not trying to hard to make it work. This is the key. You’ve got to let it do what it’s designed to do by not pulling to hard or taking in too much line.
You can accomplish this by not taking full turns of the reel handle when you take up slack. A 1/4 turn will do the trick when using a reel with a gear ratio of 6:3 to 1 or something in that neighborhood.
Adding to its appeal during the walk is a concave nose that will make small splashes as well as a subtle bloop, bloop sound.
When at rest the Walking Bait sits tail down in the water so that any hesitant followers have a subsurface target they can hit without coming completely to the surface. In our time with this bait, about 30% of the strikes have come this way. Fortunately, the rear hook is plenty sharp resulting in a good hook up ratio.
As far as the issue of durability goes, the baits that we obtained have all held up well to repeated catches. The only sign of wear are a few teeth marks no doubt from some of the more vicious strikes that we’ve gotten. Oh yeah, they ended with fish on our thumb.
The Nitty Gritty
The premise of the Yearling Series is that when fish see a bait like this, they don’t see it as one lone critter but as a tightly grouped bunch of hors d’ oeuvres which represent an easy meal.
Whether or not this is factual, we can’t answer with any certainty. What we do know is that at certain times of the year, when bass are feeding on small baitfish, the Yearling Baitball Series will consistently draw strikes when other, conventionally designed hard baits are being snubbed.
Sure, hard baits in general are reaction baits. But this series does give the fish a different look as well as having the ability to match the hatch even if its an optical illusion.
In the final analysis, the LIVETARGET Yearling Baitball Series Walking Bait is a well designed, well executed lure that does draw strikes, gives the fish something they haven’t seen or grown wary of, is easy to use and durable.
We think that it’s worth taking a serious look at when you’re in the market to add some hard baits to your tackle box.
| Koppers' LIVETARGET Yearling Baitball Walking Bait | |
|---|---|
| Overall Rating |    |
| Innovative and effective | |
See ya’ on the water …
