Four years in the making, it consists of
crankbaits, poppers, lipless crankbaits and
walking lures with multiple small baitfish
figures packed in a larger transparent lure
body. The concept is represented in two series
– Juvenile and Yearling.
Although the concept is fresh, Koppers and
Chopin felt that anglers had been exploiting
the concept unwittingly for years.
“In our backyard here on the Niagara River, a
smallmouth bass sees emerald shiners an inch
and a half long, yet it will hit a four-inch jerkbait,”
begins Chopin, reflecting on the genesis of
the inaugural BaitBall crankbait that earned
the company a fourth straight ICAST New
Product Showcase first place award in 2013.
“”Do they see that lure as a single baitfish or a
ball of bait? Look at the shad spot on lures, too.
We see the spot moved from where it should be
behind the gills to the middle of the bait or even
the tail. If you look at those spots as eyeballs, you
start to see that maybe we have been fishing bait
balls all along!”
New BaitBall are expected to appear with the
150 new LiveTarget products set for ICAST
trade show debut.
Action matters
The unique movement of forage species also
factors into LiveTarget realism. That’s why
its Rattlebait lipless crankbait line is not one
bait with different colors or finishes, but five
different lures with different profiles, rattles
and actions.
“When we create a species line like frog or shad,
we try to make the lures act in the same ways they
would in nature, too,” says Chopin.
That action can change with the size, state or
mood of the forage that the bait is imitating.
“The first LiveTarget bait I used was Grant Koppers’
lipless Golden Shiner,” recalls Bassmaster
Elite Pro David Walker, now a member of the
LiveTarget pro staff. “To this day it is one of my
all-time favorite lipless baits. Just check the detail
– the scales, the fins, the gill plate, the large 3D
eyes...But what’s really unique about LiveTarget
is that they come in so many versions -- crappie,
tilapia, bluegill, golden shiner, pumpkinseed,
gizzard shad. All are lipless baits but the big
difference is not just the color change. Each lure is
shaped like the baitfish it represents. The bluegill
version has a rounder body and wider wobble.
The crappie looks like a crappie. All the detail is in
place. They even have different sounds.”
LiveTarget’s first soft plastic, its Hollow Body
Frog, which took first place in the Soft Bait
category at the 2010 ICAST New Product
Showcase, was a breakthrough bait that
opened a new LiveTarget category and led to
a follow-up winner, a soft-bodied Field Mouse,
the following year.
When the company introduced its Frog
Popper, a popping hard bait, in 2012 and
Walking Frog, however, only the handsome
frog prince looks of its predecessor survived
the transfer.
“The Walking Frog is a fleeing frog profile,” notes
Chopin. “It moves as a frog gliding with its arms
at its sides.”
It all goes back to the basic tenet of LiveTarget
lure design: “Species first. Then the tool.“
“Matching the hatch with LiveTarget lures goes
beyond just making a fishing lure,” says David
Walker. “Wherever you go in the country, there’s
a LiveTarget bait to match the forage the fish
feed upon.”
Surprising to many anglers is the fact that
the largest number of LiveTarget products
stem from the yellow perch, ubiquitous in the
North, but with only spotty presence in the
southern U.S.
Fishhound Mag | Page 16