The urchin craze is alive and well – and for real.
Admittedly, I was skeptical at first because it didn’t fit my style of power fishing. Initially, I thought it was a forward-facing sonar technique for suspended bass, but we learned at Santee Cooper Lakes that you don’t have to scope with it.
I’m 100% a believer now that I have had some experience using these crazy-looking plastics. Once I started throwing them, I didn’t just get bites; I got violent bites. Fish crush it and the line jumps dramatically.
Why? Well, the big attribute of urchin baits is you can keep them in the fish’s face vs. most lures that fall through the bass’ line of sight. The longer you leave a bait over fish the better chance you have of catching him. It’s like having a horsefly buzzing your face and you swat at it.
When it falls slowly, every tentacle on the lure is quivering, constantly moving, much like the shimmy you find in baits like the Senko.
After a year or two and the fish see a lot of them, they will be like Senkos — always good but won’t win every event.
There really isn’t a wrong way to fish the bait, and as time goes on, we will find more ways besides scoping suspended fish or fishing shallow around docks and cypress trees. Now that we’re into summertime and fish are on structure, we will learn more about how powerful these baits can be.
I had a conversation with the Gamakatsu folks at the ICAST show and they told me the bait was designed in Japan to fish on top or to be weighted and dragged on bottom with something like a Strike King Wobble Head. I saw a video of a guy catch a bass on one with a Tokyo rig.
We’re going to learn different ways to rig them as anglers experiment more to find out what works best for them.
Also, we’re getting terminal tackle designed specifically for fishing these baits. For example, I really like Gamakatsu’s new double hooks and other urchin rigs they introduced at ICAST. I’m also impressed with Reneau Tackle’s flipping hook designed specifically for Urchins.
If you think the urchin craze is big now, wait until next spring when it will come back even bigger because it won’t be a secret any longer.
The cost will come down too. When I first heard of them, I paid more than $600 for five just to get my hands on some. I had to bite the bullet to experiment with them.
Strike King has since rolled out four sizes of its Chuker urchin, and they will be priced between $7.99 and $14.99. I was thoroughly impressed with the Chukers’ design, durability and color offerings.
Availability will grow. Urchin-style baits are being mass produced right now and will be hanging on Walmart shelves as well as in tackle shops this winter or early spring. You’ll be able to go to Walmart and buy them like you buy a pack of worms today.
In the meantime, keep an open mind, experiment with the ones you have and be prepared for when the urchin craze goes bonkers again next spring.
