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LiveTarget sunfish?? Is it worth it?

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I just bought the LiveTarget sunfish and am wondering if it was worth the 14 dollars or not?

  • Super User

Since you just bought it, go fish it and find out! haha

The hooks are Trokar and they do not play around! It is easy to walk, and hookup ratio is up there with some of the best! I've fished mine hard for 4 weeks now and it still looks like It is new after hooking around 20-30 fish on it. It will go through anything, I would be shocked for someone to show me it getting hung up.

Here is what I know on working the bait, this may be common knowledge. If you twitch it fast and hard, it will dart and dip across the surface. It will jump out of the water a few inches and then plunge back down into the water a couple inches.

If you do a normal walk the dog retrieve it will do a nice wtd action!

But, my favorite is to do a walk the dog retrieve but with short twitches. That livetarget bluegill will walk back and forth in almost the same spot, like it is sitting still but turning left and right!
 

Hope you enjoy yours as much as I have enjoyed mine!

I've got one added to my wishlist on amazon after watching a fishing show this weekend showcasing them. Tagging thread for updates as I'm curious too!

LC

Its an awesome bait. The hooks are angled up just enough and the Trokar hooks are awesome. Hookup ratio is great! When you fish it a little faster it dips a little bit. And like said above, it will go through anything. Great bait even for the price. Working on building up a box of them!

 

  • Super User

It's humorous to me that you ask this question AFTER you bought it.  TOO late!  : )

 

I've been trying to make a decision on one, this thread is not helping.

I picked one up at DIcks last week after mulling over whether to get one for a month or so. It looks very realistic and those hooks are no joke. I am a mustad, vmc, and gamma guy but very impressed with these hooks. The bait is actually quite a bit smaller than I had expected it to be. Will hope to get it tied on this weekend and will let you know my thoughts, but my out of the box answer would be yes its worth it .

I honestly expect it to be more expensive with the attention to detail and look of it. I know I would have paid double ~25$. I wish they painted the weight so there's not some silver dot in the center of their amazing paint job but that's just me whinin about something silly. 

What size is best for this bait? I want to get one but I want to make sure I'm not getting the wrong one. Does the size make much of a difference or is there one that's better?

9 hours ago, RyanFishing said:

What size is best for this bait? I want to get one but I want to make sure I'm not getting the wrong one. Does the size make much of a difference or is there one that's better?

Get the bigger one. The small one is realllly small, probably good for small pond fish or something though 

3 minutes ago, j bab said:

Get the bigger one. The small one is realllly small, probably good for small pond fish or something though 

Just FYI, small baits do catch big fish, along with smaller ones.  And vice versa.  There's definitely a time and place for both sizes, same as other hollow-body type lures.

9 hours ago, RyanFishing said:

What size is best for this bait? I want to get one but I want to make sure I'm not getting the wrong one. Does the size make much of a difference or is there one that's better?

Only the fish will be able to tell you the answer to your question.

43 minutes ago, lecisnith said:

Just FYI, small baits do catch big fish, along with smaller ones.  And vice versa.  There's definitely a time and place for both sizes, same as other hollow-body type lures.

Yeah I know, I didn't say small is bad. He asked what size is best and in my opinion the bigger size is best. :)

I ended up picking one of these up from Academy. Got it out on the water today. Couldn't get it snagged even if I tried and very nice action. I could see a couple of different retrieves that would work for this thing.

I didn't catch any bass on it, but a fairly large snake did come out and smash this thing, and took it under. It held on for about 20 feet before letting go. I also had a few turtles show some interest lol.

LC

 

I watched a snapper swim up and grab a wounded bluegill floating after being deep hooked. If it looks real enough to fool snakes and turtles I imagine the bass will be in it too. 

The action is really good, and recently they were on sale at a local sporting good store 2 for $15 so I grabbed a few more since they had some new colors I had not seen in person...I am sure they work fine, just like a frog....I have played around with them and the larger size seems to be the better of the 2 only because they seem to glide better which may or may not make a difference, and I like making long casts with topwater baits. I figure I will put one through a full test in about a month....

Regardless if it looks gimmicky, It has quality hooks, good color, Floats pretty good and only needs a squeeze every 4-5 casts, and they look great in the tackle box...that is important to me since I like buying tackle as much as I like fishing....And I love buying frogs and hollow body rats etc...So far I have found that almost every hollow frog is pretty good, with only one that I just can't buy after seeeing it in person....The Giant Mann's Frog could be the funniest looking lure I have ever seen. They can't sell them for $3.99 at a local liquidator which is odd, Mann's usually has good designs. 

Live Target has alot of lures that seem to be designed to catch fisherman (Like all companies I guess) but it is hard to argue with the success of the Live Target Frogs and Mice...So my guess is the Gill will be a winner.

I put one in my tackle bag today.

  • Global Moderator
On 4/21/2016 at 5:18 PM, j bab said:

Get the bigger one. The small one is realllly small, probably good for small pond fish or something though 

Even the big one is really small though. I have a bigger one still in the package. Bought it before I saw one in the store, pretty disappointed with how small it is. I'm sure it will catch fish, but it's going to have to really impress me for me to want to buy another. 

  • Super User

I have a few of these, and I put one through its paces out on the Florida Everglades recently. Caught several quality fish and found there are pro's and con's to this bait when compared to its cousin the Live target HB frog. Pro's: walking this bait is easy, hooks are very sharp and tough, ability to cast easily is good. Con's: takes in water quickly, can't handle abuse, the lip around the counter weight slips over the weight after a fish or two, contributing to even more water intake. 

Does the bait warrant a $13 price tag? After my experiences so far, imo no. The LiveTarget HB frog is superior to this bait. 

  • Super User

I've been mulling over buying one of those Live Target sunfish. The 3" version. My only problem is a lot of lakes I fish have pike/pickerel in them. Anybody know if these baits get tore up by toothy fish easy? I know my frogs don't last very long after hooking a few nice size pike on them. They start looking like sushi after a couple trips.

2 hours ago, Gundog said:

I've been mulling over buying one of those Live Target sunfish. The 3" version. My only problem is a lot of lakes I fish have pike/pickerel in them. Anybody know if these baits get tore up by toothy fish easy? I know my frogs don't last very long after hooking a few nice size pike on them. They start looking like sushi after a couple trips.

Based on what Bassinlou said, I would say "no"

  • 3 months later...

My question is....after buying it guys...does it work? Simple yay or nay...mine sitting in the living room and apparently I got the wrong size!!:P

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