View More Reviews
video homepage buy online
Castaic Baby Bass

Author: Rob Belloni

History/Overview: The Baby Bass debuted around Christmas time 1995. This is an injected polystyrene blank with a floating agent added. Most of the Baby Bass that I have seen float, although the one that I own actually is more of a slow sinking suspending bait. The bait is so close to neutral in general that you can modify the sink rate by going up or down in hook size.

Pros: This is a super realistic bait and the paint jobs are really stunning. There are even a few smallmouth versions of these baits out there which are probably sitting mostly on collector's shelves and not in tackle boxes. The real question is, does this bait catch fish? And the answer is yes.

The Castaic Baby Bass dives down 5-7 feet and has a medium kick about like a broken back Rebel minnow to offer a point of comparison. I've only caught a half dozen or so on the Baby Bass, but I still break it out from time to time and it fishes great every time I tie it on. The paint is excellent and the stock hooks are decent.

Cons: The main problem I had with this bait was that the fins dried out and cracked after several years of sitting in my tackle box. It wouldn't be a problem except that you can't get replacement Castaic Hardbait fins any more, so you have to jerry rig some fins if that happens to you.

The other thing that is interesting about this bait is that if you change out the hooks, the weight of the hooks can really affect the buoyancy and action of the bait. It seems to fish best with smaller lighter hooks vs. heavier hooks that dull the action and make it less buoyant. Other than that, these are really great durable well thought out baits. Resources The Castaic Baby Bass is no longer in production The best place to look for one would be on eBay.

Average Rating out of 1 voters
Richard Lund( Oak View, CA) Oct 01, 2007
Review Castaic hardbait Baby Bass
I really enjoy this lure and have 4 of them but they are all different. The 2 baby bass are slightly different colors and different fin colors, some are darker and some lighter. I have a smallmouth and I had 1 painted rainbow trout. They were $150.00 or more on Ebay and I have fished them all but the smallmouth. I have not caught fish on the customized trout bait but I will, I just got it back and need to spend time on the water with it. The bait rocks a little side to side when reeled and I do not know how realistic that is but the fish hit it. I fish Casitas which is highly pressured, I feel this bait does not get used much do to the availability and price. I think it can be a good lure for this lake because it does not get seen much. I do not think of it as a big fish bait, but think it can be if you add some weight and get it deeper than usual. I catch a lot of 4-7 lb fish on it. I will probably turn 1 of them in to a sinker with a drill and some weight for some more versatility. I agree with everything Rob said about it in his review and I reccomend the bait if you can find and afford it. I know it is a collectors item but I want to catch fish and would not really get much enjoyment from putting it on display. Overall it is a great lure and you can hook a lot of fish on it. The fact that it is hard to come by is a plus to me on a highly pressured lake
Rich
 
Copyright © Robert Belloni 1997-2012. All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without express written consent.
Login /