BaitJunkie Tackle Testers | Minnow | Matt Wilson

Over the past couple of months, I’ve had the pleasure of testing the new Daiwa Baitjunkie minnows in the 4.2 and 6.2-inch sizes. Having already fished some of the other Baitjunkie range with success, I was really excited to test out these new Minnows because I already loved the colours.

Action
Firstly I’d like to mention the action these baits put out. The large paddle tail really gets them moving, with the whole lure wobbling side to side. I had no doubt this would get the fish fired up. Also, the fact that they are very buoyant means they can be fished in a number of different ways in a number of different situations. It can take a little bit of getting used to when figuring out what weight jig head to use in the style you’re aiming to fish them, but once you find the right weight they can be deadly. 

On The Water
I’ve caught a variety of fish on them from snapper right up in the shallows on muddy/shelly bottoms and in the wash kelpy areas. Both from the shore and from the boat, to trevally over the sand, kahawai and even kingfish on the surface.  There’s no doubt these lures entice the bite and quite often when the fish hit them they hit them hard.  

Durability
This then leads me to talk about their durability. Baitjunkies are extremely durable and stay on the hook well too. I’ve never had a tail bitten off or small chunks taken out by pesky leather jackets or squid, this means that the baits can be used over and over again and can catch fish all day, and even the next.  The only time I’ve lost a bait is when I’ve got snagged and ended up losing all my gear.  Sure every now and then the lure might slip back a little bit after some use and need readjusting but I’m yet to completely lose a bait just from pulling off the hook.

Aesthetics & Features
My favourite style of fishing them has been with a very light jig head (1/4 oz for the 4.2 inch and 3/8 oz for the 6.2 inch) around the rocks. I’ve found this works quite well giving them a good amount of time in the water column to grab a fishes attention and if you don’t get hit on the drop then a slow retrieve with a few small twitches works quite well too. I’ve had snapper follow it all the way to the rocks and hit the bait right at my feet in a meter of water.  Recently I was lucky enough to get amongst some hectic topwater kingfish action and found that the 6.2 inch minnows with a fast retrieve on the surface were catching kingfish one after another which is awesome fun on light tackle.

When it comes to soft baiting I’ve always preferred to fish the more natural colours, especially when targeting the larger snapper off the rocks.  So it came as quite a nice surprise to me that my best results came from, what I consider to be a more brighter colour, the BP Iwashi Glow and also the Banana Split. In both 4.2 and 6.2 inch. Catching some healthy snapper around the rocks and also some very aggressive kingfish on the surface.  In saying that, my go-to colours are still the Baby Bass and the Grey Nomad Glow and if they’re not getting bit then I’ll move to the brighter colours.

Wrap-Up
Overall I'm extremely happy with the Baitjunkie minnows, I feel very privileged to have been selected to test these baits and I look forward to continuing to put them through their paces.