Live Target Baitball

[toddwchandler]

I was at Dick's Sporting Goods yesterday and got a look at the Live Target Baitball lures. I could not help myself. I had to buy one. A couple of questions:

1. Have any of y'all fished with one of these yet and what is your feedback?

2. Is there a particular time of year or are there particular conditions that this lure would be best suited for?

The model that I picked up was the one that dives 2-4 feet.

[Tyler j]

Fall throw it in the rip rap & hang on

[bigbill]

I purchased the square bills and the larger billed one so I can cover the shallows and open water channels.

I'm going to hammer them in my hot spots to see how good they preform. I wish we had a reddish orange color and a chartreuse color to cover the different lighting conditions and water conditions.

Since they don't offer them in draws I'm thinking to cut up some crawfish cranks and build my own. I want the colors that catch fish that match my natural bait colors my craws are red in my ponds/lakes and there beige in the rivers. I use chartreuse draws in low light conditions..

I'm sorry for being a color freak. I take colors to be very important to the changing light and different water conditions.

Example, I'm throwing a Joe's fly bass 1/4ounce in blackgnat. That's a silver blade with black fly. The bass can see at supportive it's still light and the bite is on. As the light changes to dusk the bite stops. I switch to the brighter Joe's fly in fire tiger apache and land a few more fish. This tells me the fish can see the darker colored lures at dusk as the light is changing. Back to dark after its dark.

[bankbassassin]

I had a great day with the pearl/bronze shad crank. I was skipping it under branches and bushes, twitch once or twice, then a slow retrieve. Just look for a wake on the surface and chuck it as close as you can.

[gulfcaptain]

I purchased the baitball squarebill as well and I would say that these are baits to fish in clear water when the bass are on the smaller shad or various minnows. I have a few lakes I fish where once they get on the glass minnows or the 2-3 inch shad they aren't going after anything bigger then that.  So the only other choice I've had is the umbrella rig which does work great for me, but this gives me another option and there is less hardware for them to use to free themselves as well.  I would fish it from pre-spawn and then post-spawn into summer when conditions are right as well as in the fall.  It's a kind of match the hatch bait.

[WIGuide]

I purchased the square bills and the larger billed one so I can cover the shallows and open water channels.

I'm going to hammer them in my hot spots to see how good they preform. I wish we had a reddish orange color and a chartreuse color to cover the different lighting conditions and water conditions.

Since they don't offer them in draws I'm thinking to cut up some crawfish cranks and build my own. I want the colors that catch fish that match my natural bait colors my craws are red in my ponds/lakes and there beige in the rivers. I use chartreuse draws in low light conditions..

I'm sorry for being a color freak. I take colors to be very important to the changing light and different water conditions.

Example, I'm throwing a Joe's fly bass 1/4ounce in blackgnat. That's a silver blade with black fly. The bass can see at supportive it's still light and the bite is on. As the light changes to dusk the bite stops. I switch to the brighter Joe's fly in fire tiger apache and land a few more fish. This tells me the fish can see the darker colored lures at dusk as the light is changing. Back to dark after its dark.

Wouldn't it be more effective just to use the live target crawfish crank? It's ultra realistic and looks like a fleeing crawfish.They come the colors that you want because those are crawfish colors. Also, crawfish are more solitary creatures and don't form schools like minnows do so you don't need multiples together.

 

I purchased the baitball squarebill as well and I would say that these are baits to fish in clear water when the bass are on the smaller shad or various minnows. I have a few lakes I fish where once they get on the glass minnows or the 2-3 inch shad they aren't going after anything bigger then that.  So the only other choice I've had is the umbrella rig which does work great for me, but this gives me another option and there is less hardware for them to use to free themselves as well.  I would fish it from pre-spawn and then post-spawn into summer when conditions are right as well as in the fall.  It's a kind of match the hatch bait.

x2

[TorqueConverter]

Clear Super Spooks work well in the Ozarks when the fish are shy about a painted Super Spook.  The "bait ball" effect may be a gimmick but a big clear bait has produced bass in the past.  It's not uncommon to see people deep cranking in Biwa with unpainted plastic cranks.  These baits are much the same with the addition of some small baitfish inside the bait.