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Concealed weapons courtesy
of the CL8 Bait 9” Swimbait (continued)
  Retrieving:
The CL8 bait comes rigged to fish, and there is no need to add an externally
wired stinger hook on this bait as a 2/0 Gamakatsu EWG treble hook turned into a
double hook is mounted on top and held in a recessed channel with a magnet. This
hook is designed to prevent short striking fish from coming off or those that
try and use the lure as leverage to shake the bait. On the front of the bait is
a traditional single main hook and on the bottom is a large 4/0 EWG frog hook
that is also held in place in a recessed channel with a magnet.
Side by side it is time to take
our test baits to Clear Lake for some clear water bassing
The floating model is
designed to be deadsticked and I found that small twitches was all it took to
get the bait to tail kick or wobble side to side like an injured baitfish. On a
steady retrieve the bait will slink back to the boat or shore right below the
surface. The slow sinking model is where anglers can get the best view at how
this lure really swims. The lure sinks a foot every three seconds and holds near
the top of the water column to draw strikes from fish in shallower or very clear
water. The fast sink model drops like a rock, and can be retrieved quickly at
all depths as it sinks just about a foot a second.
The lure features protruding fins
Of all the sinking rates I
found that I quickly grew fond of the Slow Sink as it could be fished in the
widest range of situations. When retrieved the CL8 Bait swims as well as some of
the very best 4 section baits on the market. The swimming motion looks natural
and the head remains fixed while the tail section slinks back and forth. The
extra fins and the well designed hinged tail section help the bait track well,
even at faster crank speeds.
In the bright sun the CL8 Bait's
finishes really shine
The clearer the water the
more effective we found the CL8 Bait to be. While we were able to get stripers
to hit the Chartreuse Shad version on the murkier water on the Delta we
witnessed numerous followers and hooked up on plenty of largemouth at Clear Lake
where the visibility was 15+ feet. We were surprised how many bass attacked the
Baby Bass version of the bait, and while we didn’t have a hitch pattern for
Clear Lake we think that one might really be the hot ticket. Even though the
Baby Bass version is painted like a bass it has the same trout style profile as
the other baits, and we believe that Bass also saw it as one of the Olive
colored hitches that inhabit the lake.
With four joints the lure can
collapse over in the fish's mouth
Whether bass swiped or
inhaled the CL8 bait they were hooked on, I even caught one five pound fish on
the outside of its cheek with the rear frog hook. Our biggest fish was a nice
seven pound Clear Lake largemouth that absolutely inhaled the lure, it really
didn’t matter that there were extra hooks in this fish’s case as the top hook
was firmly embedded into the top of the fish’s mouth.
A Clear Lake Bass falls for the
CL8 Bait
Next Section:
Durability, Applications and Ratings
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