So, how many of you are fishing with the Coike / urchin style baits? I'm sure most of you watched the Bassmaster event at Santee Cooper last week and saw that most of the leaders were using them.

There are a few problems with them. First, they are flying off the shelves and tough to find. The second is that they are EXPENSIVE. But from what I hear, the good ones last a long time.

As fate would have it, I'm headed to Santee Cooper for a tournament next week. And unlike 99% of the tournaments that I fish, I'll be there for 5 days of pre fishing. But I'm not sure if I'll get in 5 days because the weather forecast is calling for thunderstorms a few days. And of course, the tournament days are calling for bluebird skies which will change everything.

Naturally, Coike's were sold out. But from TW I picked up some Yamamoto Uni's and some Aros Double Nex Mankai. Then I went on Amazon and bought some cheap knockoffs.

I've seen these fished a few ways including as a drop shot. I have some smaller ones to try that, but I think I'll start off throwing one on a big treble hook.

I do have to say that this will probably be an interesting tournament with 230 kayakers fighting for the same spots and throwing the same baits.

Good luck in the tournament.

Have no idea what those Coike baits represent or why they'd be effective but several fishing companions have asked me about them.

Good luck in the tournament and be safe.

On the ones made of TPE, you can run your hook through the bait. On the ones made of regular plastic, I use an Owner centering pin and then run my treble through that. Make sure to run a bobber stop/bait keeper over the treble barb hooking the bait. That keeps the hook from backing out and lossing $$$ baits. I am experimanting with some very slender BFS drop shot baits with the ring eye. I push it thru the hole almost to the top and then run my hook through the eye. This solves slinging $$$ drop shot weights on the cast.

Good luck!

The Bsssmaster Classic article that asks the pros what they will make their first cast with had a couple guys showing the coike on the end of their line. In prespawn no less. I thought this must be something I need to investigate 💁

I picked up one of the Coike's at the Classic and ordered a couple of the Hag's back in the Spring. I spent a fair amount of time messing with them in the pre-spawn and I have to say, I've never seen a bait that gets a fish's attention the way these baits do. Rigging these has always been the challenge and I'd say my first several attempts I probably hooked about 15% of my bites. I was so frustrated I actually stopped fishing them until a little better information started coming out regarding rigging techniques. The big treble hook is definitely the way to go if you're not fishing around grass or directly into heavy cover. I will put a dab of super glue on the hook to help hold the bait and I've yet to have a fish throw one, so as long as you dont get it hung it will last a really long time. If you have them, I'd definitely have one on.

I would think that inserting a tube and leaving it free sliding above a weed less wacky hook or octopus style hook would be a good method of rigging . That way it slides up the line away from the fish avoiding loss and damage. You could put a bobber stop above and below so it doesn’t separate itself from the hook too much.

I use a #1 BKK treble and a 3/32 VMC neko weight. Jewel has a new, contoured weight. that has teeth on the shank to hold it in place that I'm going to try.

Bait monkey for the win!

I think the urchin shines on lakes with high fishing pressure. All lures will catch bass if you put them where the bass are and move them at the right speed and depth to trigger a strike.

I avoid places where there are more people than bass so no advantage for me.

The lakes I fish are brushy so an exposed hook would be a PIA.

The succes rate will go down as the urchin flogging rate goes up.

1 hour ago, Lottabass said:

The success rate will go down as the urchin flogging rate goes up.

Well observed and well stated, Al.

3 hours ago, Lottabass said:

I think the urchin shines on lakes with high fishing pressure. All lures will catch bass if you put them where the bass are and move them at the right speed and depth to trigger a strike.

I avoid places where there are more people than bass so no advantage for me.

The lakes I fish are brushy so an exposed hook would be a PIA.

The succes rate will go down as the urchin flogging rate goes up.

I just saw your post and I was like, "Great minds think alike!" After playing around with the coike I have determined that for me this is the best setup. I have a guy who makes custom jigheads and I have him make me a custom head with a longshank 4/0 hook on his shakey head and I use that as my coike hook. I can fish it on the bottom. I can swim it I can jerk it and I can do pretty much anything and everything i want with this rig. I have one other way I rig that is kind of like a mid strolling rig but I don't use it very much as this seems to handle that job just as well.

30 minutes ago, IYAOYAS said:

I just saw your post and I was like, "Great minds think alike!" After playing around with the coike I have determined that for me this is the best setup. I have a guy who makes custom jigheads and I have him make me a custom head with a longshank 4/0 hook on his shakey head and I use that as my coike hook. I can fish it on the bottom. I can swim it I can jerk it and I can do pretty much anything and everything i want with this rig. I have one other way I rig that is kind of like a mid strolling rig but I don't use it very much as this seems to handle that job just as well.

So this is exactly how I was rigging these at first on a shaky head. I had a heck of a time getting a hook in a fish with this setup. I did find if you put a stopper on the shank of the hook to keep the bait from sliding it helped, but I still would say I hooked less than 50% of the fish I had bite. Is this not something you've noticed rigging them like this?

12 minutes ago, VAFolks14 said:

So this is exactly how I was rigging these at first on a shaky head. I had a heck of a time getting a hook in a fish with this setup. I did find if you put a stopper on the shank of the hook to keep the bait from sliding it helped, but I still would say I hooked less than 50% of the fish I had bite. Is this not something you've noticed rigging them like this?

The jighead I use has a flipping hook style keeper. I haven't had any problems with it sliding down the hook. I also use mine more to cover water than anything. I've had a few come off(fish) but I just figured that was a part of coike fishing. It works loads better than a treble hook(at least for me) What kind of hookset are you using? I use a sweeping hookset with 15lb fluorocarbon. I started off with a vertical hookset like a jig but that was blowing the bait out of the fish's mouth alot. I switched to a sweeping hookset like a crankbait and it helped.

I’ve rigged one on a #1 treble with a stopper and a 1/8 oz bullet weight on top, but will probably change that to a Neko weight.

I’m on Santee Cooper this week and headed out to the main lake specifically to fish a Coike under docks. But strong winds today meant big waves on this shallow lake and I got off the main lake.

Hit another ramp and lightning in the area kept me on and off the lake all day and close to that ramp. Coike plan is back in action tomorrow on a different part of the lake. Excited to see if this pays off.

12 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

Well observed and well stated, Al.

I watched this a few months ago, Drew Gill seemed adamant that while it interests bass enough to eat it. They only do it once. That was enough for me to resist the monkey for now. I don’t need a pile of $15 soft plastics that won’t work in a year.

16 hours ago, VAFolks14 said:

So this is exactly how I was rigging these at first on a shaky head. I had a heck of a time getting a hook in a fish with this setup. I did find if you put a stopper on the shank of the hook to keep the bait from sliding it helped, but I still would say I hooked less than 50% of the fish I had bite. Is this not something you've noticed rigging them like this?

Not having any problem. I put a bait button behind the lure.

I mostly have KO's from overseas and have had decent success with them, mostly the smaller 13MM sizes on a dropshot. I did get one of the Berkley Meobas but haven't fished it yet, kind of saving it for an upcoming tournament since they aren't TPE material like most of the rest of them.

I have been fishing all manner of poop/bug/tentacled baits for awhile now. Although I fish the Coike Shrimp more than the "original", I've used a simple method with the Coike that works for me.

I use a Decoy DS-15 Sinker Coil, and that goes in the bottom..with some effort. I then place the hook so it's at a 45 degree angle to the bottom weight.

If it's at 90 degrees, I don't get that extra bonus tumble; when moving the Coike then stopping abruptly, it just drops because weight is already facing bottom. But when at a 45, the Coike has to right itself first before dropping. And I like that little extra move. Fish seem to like it too.

Gamakatsu is coming out with Ball Rig hooks. I believe they're introducing them at ICAST. I happen to have some. They come in weedless and non-weedless versions. They use Jika rig weights you can swap out for any size you want.

Saw a really smart rigging method today for them. Open a regular paperclip, find the midpoint then slide one way .5". Form a U with it. Put the shank of a treble in the U up from the curves. Grab the 2 arms below the belly of the hook with pliers. Twist the hook 2-3 times so the wraps are on the shank. Hold the 2 tag ends and center where the hook should be on the bait. Push the tags trough the bait til it's against the belly of the hooks. Fold the tag ends (opposite eachother) up and clip extra. If needed you can do a nail weight.

23 hours ago, Glenn said:

Gamakatsu is coming out with Ball Rig hooks. I believe they're introducing them at ICAST. I happen to have some. They come in weedless and non-weedless versions. They use Jika rig weights you can swap out for any size you want.