“ Dude , this thing skips and does things that no other bait really does .”
— Fletcher Shryock on the Yamamoto Yamatanuki
PHOTO BY ROB MATSUURA
What , exactly , this category of baits is meant to mimic remains an open debate . The Cover Scat and Craw Nugget were both designed to imitate crustaceans ( the Cover Scat is even imbued with crawfish scent ). Shryock believes the Yamatanuki looks like a bluegill . And there ’ s a growing number of anglers fishing the baits in shad patterns .
Ultimately , it seems less important that these baits imitate any one type of bass prey than that they simply look like something alive . Their heaviness without any central weight allows the baits to show bass living in deeper water the same type of natural action that has made the Senko a staple in just about every angler ’ s arsenal . They move and dance in ways that only weightless baits can — Paino described the action of the Cover Scat when it ’ s twitched on semi-slack line as walking the dog underwater . And when the bait falls to the bottom , it does so backward , toward any fish that might be following it .
“ When you twitch it , it will have that left , right , left , right ( movement ),” Paino said . “ But I think after that , it ’ s that scooting action as it falls back . It ’ s got to do a really good job of mimicking a crawfish or some kind of crustacean that ’ s scooting away on the bottom .”
Shapeless baits are also about as weedless as it gets — that ’ s the one key attribute apparent at first sight . They can navigate even the snaggiest rocky bottoms and brush piles , or be skipped and flipped around laydowns , docks , lily pads , etc . Pick a type of cover , and these baits can get in and out of it .
“ It ’ s a great vehicle ,” Shryock said . “ It ’ s like a 4x4 truck . It ’ ll go anywhere .” multi-use tools
If there was a coming-out moment that put the “ blob ” bait category on the map in the U . S ., it occurred in June of 2021 . During a Bass Pro Tour event at Lake Chickamauga , Fukae won his group and went on to finish sixth , in part by throwing a weightless Cover Scat .
Fukae used the bait to pluck bass from the ultra-pressured schools living on the lake ’ s offshore ledges . That ’ s how most Japanese anglers employ the technique , fishing near the bottom in water as deep as 40 feet . Fukae designed the Craw Nugget to cast even farther and sink faster than the Cover Scat , thus making it more efficient for offshore use .
When fishing offshore , Fukae lets the Craw Nugget fall all the way to the bottom on slack line , moves it a few inches at a time with a couple pops of his rod tip ( like twitching a weightless fluke , he said ), then lets it sink again . It ’ s not a technique suited for covering water . However , once an angler has located a school or a piece of cover that ’ s holding fish , it ’ s a great way to trigger even the wariest bass . It ’ s a bigbite getter , too .
“ Big fish will hit it ,” Fukae said . “ When I see fish on my ActiveTarget , I can tell which one is the bigger fish and the smaller fish . The smaller fish ( can be caught ) easier using a crankbait , a hair jig and a spoon , but the bigger fish , they are so smart .”
Baits like the Craw Nugget might have been designed to fish deep , but that ’ s far from their only use . As has been the case with most successful baits through the years , the
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