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Concealed weapons courtesy
of the CL8 Bait 9” Swimbait (continued)
  Everything
now seen in the final bait from the eyes, dots, fins, hooks, material, and
design is a result of extensive research and development in trout stocked lakes
in southern California. Clayton could have launched his bait 3 years ago, but
decided to wait until the bait was truly ready for primetime. After talking to
Clayton it was obvious that he takes a lot of pride in making the CL8 bait
durable, realistic, and ready to fish right out of the package... which is also
why he only uses top of the line Gamakatsu hooks and an incorporated a stinger
hook to reduce short strikes.
At the rear of the bait there is a
hidden hook recessed and held in place with a magnet
Upon initial inspection
the CL8 bait doesn’t look like other swimbaits and features a four piece design
with a flat tail molded seamlessly into the forth segment of the body. There is
only one profile that most resembles a trout or a shad and this body is painted
in various patterns including, Light and Dark Trout, Baby Bass, Hitch and
Chartreuse Shad.
The Baby Bass finish is painted on
the same profile as the trout bait
There are no traditional
treble hooks hanging underneath the body of this swimbait, instead all hooks run
parallel to the body and are held in place with magnets. An oversized pair of
eyes are found on the head of each bait, and there are three different rates of
fall available including, floating, slow sink, and fast sink. These weight
4.4oz, 4.7oz, and 5.2oz. respectively. For added realism and to improve the
tracking of the bait when swimming each lure has five rubber fins that match the
tail.
A closer look at the bass pattern,
notice the detailed scale design
Real World Test:
We were eager to see how the CL8 Bait would swim in the water, how bass reacted
to it, and whether or not the hidden hook designs really did increase the hook
up ratio. To test the CL8 Bait we head first to the California Delta where we
targeted both Largemouth and Striped Bass then we head to Clear Lake to target
Largemouth in crystal clear water in advance of the spawn.
A rubber tail is seamlessly
attached to the forth section of the bait
Casting:
The CL8 bait is a rather large swimbait and like other swimbaits of it’s size is
best fished with a true application specific swimbait rod versus a flipping
stick. With a swimbait rod rated at 4oz. and up the CL8 bait is easy to cast
with both mono and braided lines. I preferred fishing with 20lb. mono lines for
the subsurface models and 30lb. braided line for working the floating models to
ensure a quick positive hookset.
The bass version features the same
tail shape but is uniquely finished
Next Section:
Hooking up on strikes
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