Small Can Be Very, Very Good…
If you follow Yakima Bait Company’s Facebook page you have seen the many rave reviews for the new FlatFish. It’s the Mag Lip 3.0, a smaller version of the very popular 3.5 and larger versions. But it is different.
I know that Buzz Ramsey and the engineers at Yakima Bait took forever to get the final version in production—at least six months—as I first saw the Mag Lip 3.0 at ICAST last year in Orlando in July. However, the final details and testing weren’t completed until the end of the year. There was a lot of tweaking that went on with little things that ensured this small lure would handle the big things in its future—chinook and native steelhead mostly—but also things like striped bass and walleyes and lake trout.
While it is possible to cast these little baits, they are designed to be trolled.
Here I’m pausing to give a bit of background. For those who aren’t familiar with the Mag Lip FlatFish series, these lures have what Yakima is calling a “skip-beat action”; that is, every once in a while, the plug darts off to one side or the other, returning to the center. It’s this rather unique action, typical of the Mag Lip and Hawg Nose series of lures, which probably does more to trigger a fish to bite than other factors, in my opinion.
I’ve fished the 3.5 a lot, and the 3.0 a little, flatline trolling for whatever would bite in the big reservoirs I frequent. Using 10-pound Berkley Professional Grade fluorocarbon line, I can get the 3.5 down ticking the gravel at 18 feet. To do this, I release 140 feet of line and keep the speed about 1.8 mph.
I’ve not tested the newest iteration of the Mag Lip 3.0 to say definitely how deep it will run, but my best guess is that it will be just shy of 15 feet running depth under the above conditions.
Change line diameter, shift to monofilament or braid, let out more or less line or change speed, and running depths will change as well.
Given the success guides and Yakima Bait pro staff have had with the 3.0 on salmon and steelhead, it’s good to know that the 3.0 can be rigged with single Siwash hooks (#2 on the belly hook and #1 on the tail) or a single #1 Siwash on the tail using a double split-ring method or a split ring and swivel.
Having said that, the hooks that are on both the 3.0 and 3.5 will hold up to most fish you’re likely to hook as long as you’re not trying to keep a big fish in the pool or out of a snag. I caught a couple of lake trout in the upper teens last year with no worries about the hooks.
Currently, both the 3.0 and 3.5 come in 48 finishes, and what is better for those who want to chase things like trout in lakes and walleyes and even landlocked coho, there are a number of finishes that are perfect for them.
For more information, go to: www.yakimabait.com.