Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk AL Fishing Talk The Urchin

Any of you guys tried them yet! Thoughts and how are yall rigging them? I just found some and going to give them a try the next day when it's not unbearable out! Man those things are so tough I couldn't a nail weight in it.

Supposed to be as a good as ffs is. Something new the fish haven’t seen before. I’ve used 30 year ago of baits that work well too.

I can't catch anything on them! I bought some months ago and have caught 2 fish so far. Neither was over 12".

Heat that wire that suspends it in the package and use it to bore out a little hole for your weight. They catch fish no doubt. Do not store them together in a lump in a hot boat or they will stay together in a lump. They need to stay seperate and suspended in storage if possible.

Fishco is a good one, hags prickly oear is just as good and $5 less. The davis ones are trash. Caught a few fish on em back in March/April

I’m sure I could find a video but I’m lazy……when/where/how are they intended to be fished? I still can’t shake the idea that this is an April Fools bit that got out of hand and now social media is just running with it

I was thinking they were a FFS bait. Can be seen easily and has a slow fall rate. I'm gonna give one a try down on the coast once i get there full time.

No FFS for me I fish out of a kayak!

Not to derail a thread....but I can't be the only one thinking bait/lure prices are getting out of hand. $15 for a single "soft plastic" bait is insane.

$12-15ea for crankbaits/chatterbaits/spinnerbaits is bad enough, but $15 for a hunk of squishy rubber is wild.

Yeah I agree Gomer but had to give these a try! I saw a glide bait in Academy for $75!

Oh don't get me started on those...I've seen them over $100. completely insane. Why not just catch an actual shad and throw it out live and fish it like a jerk bait at that point...

I watched an MLF tournament where the winner won on an urchin bait.
He was basically just casting it to different targets, mostly docks.
He’d work it like a jerk bait, twitch, twitch, pause.
From what I’ve read, the water needs to be somewhat clear, at least 2’ visibility.
I’ve tried one once but nothing that day. They sink real slow so you need to add at least an 1/8 oz to it.
I think 3/16 to 1/4 oz would be better. And use a big hook.
Those tentacles interfere with smaller hooks.

Actually they are the hardest bait I have throwm to see on ffs.

I’ve got at least 75-100 hard baits of some sort, 50 old spinner bait that I just bought skirts for and even some old Mann’s jelly worms. I refuse to buy new bait. Before I buy another artificial bait I’ll go back to live baits that I collect on my own.

Buy an eraser and drill small holes in it. Push rubber bands through and there ya go.

I think the main thing that makes all these “new” baits so effective is it’s just something different that highly pressured fish aren’t used to seeing. But with that being the case, some of the “old school” stuff should be just as effective since several “generations” of fish now haven’t seen them

The kosh ball

Prob gonna laugh, but... You can get these REAL cheap on Temu. I think I may have paid $3-4 for a pack of 5.

Man you gonna give all the bass the ChYna Virus with those temu baits!

So....serious question. Someone mentioned FFS.....are these primarily intended to be used with FFS or are people using them without?

Probably mostly used with ffs, but some are fishing them without it. Anywhere you’d have previously thrown a soft jerkbait like a fluke is a good place to start. Fish it the same way too.

Like I replied above, a lot of guys are using it with ffs but a bunch are just tossing it at structure like docks. And like Ben said, it’s hard for me to see it on ffs as well.

Well it was a little cloudy here today so I went out and gave it a try, nothing! But I didn't get a bite on anything and the clouds didn't help one bit, it was HOT!

Same results I had here on the St. John’s River. I think it needs clear skies and somewhat clear water to be successful

They are catching some big ones on them at the Elite event right now!

Sure are.
I’ve yet to have much success with it but it seems that I have been fishing it too fast.

With all the pressure in the fish in public waters now, you have to go slow and small.

ya - bunch of videos on DIY baits like this

You should make one and post the results. Badonkadeek 2.0 (iykyk)

Man are they ever...It's been incredible to watch it go down. Several bags over 25 pounds and I just watched one angler fall apart and cry after he caught a biggun.... I believe he thinks he has won the tournament, but there's couple other dudes thats whacked em too. The weigh in today will be real interesting...He's liable to cry again...

I’m watching here at work. Maybe you saw it, but he actually caught 3 big ones off the same stump in about 10 minutes. He’s probably got over 30 pounds for the day and that might put him in contention for his first bassmaster win.

Yes I'm watching it too... I hope he wins it but I don't think he will...

It’s gonna be close! I’m pulling for Anaya, but Christie gonna be hard to beat. It’s funny to watch them sandbag a little and lie about their weights. 😁 Makes for a good weigh in. I think bassmaster quietly promotes that for the drama.

Wide range prices on amazon. Temu had for like $3 and another spot had cheaper than that

I been out of fishing game too long

I'm not telling you what it looks like but...., I did catch my 11+ lb bass on a plastic bait bait from 50 years ago! Straight out of the package with an old green label that had 15 cents on it. One of a kind in the old red tackle box. Possibly a new style lure can be a game changer, but the old style was in my case.

we made up a bunch of homebrew fuzzy dice but haven’t had a chance to fish them yet

Gomer, have you ever heard of whatnot?? These urchin baits are going for $30 a piece for knock offs. And the name brand are going for over $100 for a single soft plastic.

You can get the hags prickly pear baits all day for $9.99 and I usually can catch 20+ fish on one if I rig it correctly

I saw a buddy catch several in the 4 - 5 lbs range on it last week on Eufaula and several over 3 lbs.

He has a pretty ingenious way of rigging the bait. He starts with a 1½-inch cotter pin and measures it so that it will barely protrude from the urchin. He then bends the legs of the cotter pin into a "T" shape and trims them to the desired length. Next, he slides a nail weight onto the shaft of the cotter pin, followed by a piece of heat shrink tubing. The heat shrink is positioned down to the T-shaped section, just above the looped end of the cotter pin, and then shrunk with a heat gun. Afterward, he trims the heat shrink just above the loop. The rig is then pushed through the urchin bait so that the covered loop protrudes slightly from the outside of the bait. From there, you can use whatever hook you prefer—a frog hook, a 3- or 4-hook treble, a circle hook, etc. Simply run the hook through the heat-shrink-covered loop while catching a small amount of urchin material with the hook point. This secures the bait well while allowing you to change hook styles as needed.

It worked like a champ.

He said this guy had a similar idea but the cotter pin is more robust.

lol.... just watch the video but change the spinnerbait wire to 1.5 in cotter pin. Super easy.

Just put the shank of a big 1/0 treble hook about 1/4 of the way across the bait hrough the bait so the tip of 1 of the 3 hooks is covered by the side of the bait which is sitting on the treble hook, heat the wire that comes in the bait and wiggle it to make room for a weight. Put bullet weight on the wire and bend the end so it cant come off, pull the weght down inside the center of the bait then remove the wire and you have a weighted and rigged urchin. No need for cotter pins or hooks or weights outside the bait.

Best way I have found to do it and far and away best looking finished product

Can you throw a finished pic of that up Ben? I think I follow.

I cant figure out how. If anyone wants to post it for me I will text a pic to someone

These are two I got from Davis bait co.

Say what you want but these flat out catch fish FFS or blind casting. I’ve thrown them shallow or deep. Guys on the elites are catching them the same way. I fought it but finally broke down and bought several. If you don’t have one tied on, your loss.

Mad how are you rigging it?

I got a dozen of em guess me and the young fellas will give them a go

Bite wasn’t great with the temps yesterday, but we did scratch out a few.

My son learned a few times you gotta get a good hook set with lt or they will spit it back at you at the boat. Lol

Need to trim some of the tentacles. I cut 4 or 5 off most of mine to make sure the hooks stay clear

What’s been y’all best colors of these?

Purple, black, silver, gold, black and red,. Anything but green pumpkin for me.