Picking a Bait Junkie

By Mark Gercovich

Daiwa’s Bait Junkie lures have been around for a while now, but knowing where to start when confronted with an imposing wall of them at your local tackle store can be daunting. Here is a brief rundown of a couple of applications that I’ve been using just a couple of the styles in the massive range for. 

Matching the Hatch

The common galaxias is a prolific bait fish in the south west of Victoria occurring in a wide variety of environments from freshwater rivers and lakes as well as coastal estuaries. It goes without saying that it forms a big part of the diet of popular lure angling targets such as trout, estuary perch, bream and mulloway.

One of the great things about the new Bait Junkie range is the glittering array of colors to choose from, and there are a number of them that replicate the galaxias colorations well. Pearl gudgeon, ayu and copper flash are all colors that mimic a baitfish well in both clear and dirty water. I prefer to use a minnow pattern when trying to match the hatch, while a curl tail pattern I opt to use when fished on the bottom or on a heavier jighead. 

Bait Junkies match the hatch perfectly when it comes to baitfish imitation, and are highly durable, yet still retain a soft natural feel that fish love to eat. 

Surface Slam

One the bluewater side of things the 7inch Bait Junkie Jerk Shad in white pearl has quickly become a favorite. Most of our kingfish luring involves quickly skipping surface lures to entice a bite. There are times though, like when a school is under the boat, that a weighted soft plastic does the trick.

The seductive shimmy that the design of the Bait Junkie Jerk Shad emits, often sees it get walloped as it falls through the water column.  Not only do they look the goods, they are fairly resilient. I used the same plastic on the same jig head over multiple days and fish. Quite often one day or one king, equals only one lure. Yet the rod with the bait junkie on it could remain rigged in the rack, ready to go at a moments notice, without having to fumble around finding then putting on a fresh plastic.