Product Review- Bait Junkie 5" and 7" Jerk Shad

By Chris Dixon

Since I’ve got my hands on the new Bait Junkie plastics I’ve been excited to try them out. But as with all new things I like to get out and use them before I make my mind up on them. Soft plastics are one of those items that have seen just about every possible type and combination released and tried, so I guess you could say I'm a little sceptical when a new plastic is released. A couple of months in now and with a fair few hours of use and I think I’m at a point where I can make a decent evaluation of the Bait Junkies.

Most of my fishing is being landbased for larger species and jerk shad profile plastics are my go-to as they tend not to tangle, cast well and can be worked a lot of different ways with various weight jigheads. The Bait Junkies are no different in that aspect with them ticking all the boxes I’m looking for. What sets them apart for me is how easily they do it.

With everything from 1/2oz heads through to 2oz they are so easy to impart action and it's proved itself with some great fish falling victim to them. They are easy to rig which is a bonus, especially when you’re in a hurry.

The soft Elastomax material makes them easy to rig straight on a jighead but are also very durable. I’ve used them for sessions on tailor and even after 10 or more fish they are still holding up with no ill effect to the swimming action. Being so soft the tail has a huge amount of action for very little effort from the angler. With my style of fishing I generally aggressively twitch the lure which I have noticed can rip the lure off the jig head (if not using super glue), but this doesn't happen with the Bait Junkies.

For the 5” size I've found 1/2-1oz with a 3/0 hook to be a good combination and for the 7” size 1-2oz with a 7/0 hook suited best. I generally run the 5” on a 10-30lb setup depending on my target species and the 7” is usually on 30-50lb combos.

With 15 colours in each size to choose from I’m yet to even try them all but personal favourites so far are Creaming Soda UV, Pink Glow UV, Baby Bass and BP Iwashi Glow. As I’m mostly fishing clear water these are some great choices to start with. One cool feature of the website that helped me choose some colours to try is the UV option to see what each looks like under a UV light. The difference is amazing and you can see why the fish love them. 

The Bait Junkies have definitely impressed me are something that I always have in my tackle bag these days. I’m excited what my next catch is going to be on them and trying more colours to find a new favourite or go to option.