The makings of a "Hype bait"

[Eric Peterson]

What do you guys think makes a bait become a hype bait? Pizz, pats, ilude etc. Obviously not being able to get them, but how/why does a bait get to that point? Is it marketing, quality, fish catches etc, what do you think?

Conversation starter here, this has been on my mind for awhile.

[Loudsplashbassn_]

Glad you posted this cause the same thing's been on my mind lol i genuinely wonder too especially when i haven't seen a double digit on a few of those . not saying thats what makes are breaks the bait but at 200 plus dollars retail figured it'd be a fish magnet ....preparing for the dragging now lmfaoooo

[SVT THUNDER]

As far as custom builders baits, it’s been my experience that they start out selling their baits cheap or giving them away to guys who will grind with them and put them to work. If they’re catching consistently and holding up, after months or a year of testing, they will open the baits to the public and charge what they feel is fair. 

People like myself who love something different will buy those. If they’re great baits, I’ll buy more in different sink rates and/or colors. I tell people. Others tell people. Eventually, over a period of time the maker is making them as fast as possible while also working their day job and living life like the rest of us. 

At that point, it’s obviously become pretty successful. But when people can’t get what they want, they’ll offer someone else who has them more money than it cost them to buy retail. That catches on over time and it becomes the new standard aftermarket price. So when lists open or baits drop, those line up to buy more to sell and the rest of us just try and buy them to fish. 

And then some can actually stop their day job and make baits full time. All of this happens over years usually. But I know a couple of builders. One made the best big Shad glides I own. But the stress of making baits after many years took its toll on him and he quit doing it. And I get it. I paint full time and it’s hard to please everyone. The more successful you become, the more customers want what you can give them. But wait times get to be ridiculous and some (understandably) don’t understand that you’re one person with 300+ baits ahead of them and you can only do so much. 

I can’t imagine having to make the baits AND lay down a solid paint job. So the same logic applies to bait makers also. The other bait maker I know is now moving ahead and growing like crazy. He loves it and he’s a solid guy. Not quite hype status. But he has potential. And by hype, I mean hard to obtain and instantly selling out on every single drop. Only time will tell. 

And then you have hype baits that fall into the category of "I can’t believe I paid x amount for this. It’s nothing special." Generally those are mass produced baits by larger companies with their own manufacturing plant or just outsourcing to China. Some people love them and have success on them. Others don’t. 

So some hype baits are straight bass magnets. Others aren’t. And some are, but not everyone likes to or doesn’t understand how to work a certain bait and they give up on it and think it’s a waste of money. Just my take on what I’ve seen and experienced personally. Please forgive any grammatical mistakes. I’m sure I made some. 

[tHeINFamoUS]

Some elements of the hype train equation…..
 

Bait = swims; has unique qualities or some characteristic that differentiates it from others; low numbers available based on build capacity or ability to rapidly reproduce.

Hype= demand amongst the general population that is intrigued by a bait that not everyone has access to; bait gets pub on social media or print; big names in the big fish game catch bigs on them and publish to social media.

Builder= has skin in the game and/or some other recognition and experience that legitimizes their position in the industry; builds a solid product that catches fish and holds up; delivers said baits when they say they will and/or communicates when there is a hiccup in production times.  This one is optional cause I don’t think it applies across the board = doesn’t steal your money or otherwise behave like an absolute d-bag. 

Buyers= ultra fanboys, otherwise known as the army of teenagers ready blow their wad of birthday cash on a single bait……then post the envy photo of a brand new bait attached to an unused rod all over their gram….then put the bait safely back in its package like a comic book or baseball card; kooks using bots to buy up drops in hopes of flipping them to average dudes; average dudes that only get in on a drop occasionally cause they have a job and can’t spend hours on end refreshing sites hoping for a  score……but when they do score them they’re generally the most productive with said bait cause they actually use them.  

Hate= Internet complainers that cry about the army of teens, flippers and lack of baits; internet complainers that bash builders with accusations of artificially pumping the supply/demand curve.  

[chefchris]

A few good fish from a few well respected members of the swimbait world helps a lot. 

social media presence. IG, FB, FB groups, waffle pages, etc 

low supply, hi demand 

you also have hype baits that have like zero testing/zero catches that guys fall over backwards for. 

any bait can be a hype bait. Like for me I hoard real prey pond shiners cause I believe it’s a must have bait and if for whatever reason I can’t get them I’d be lost. The cl8 baby possum is another bait for me is a must have. 

for some guys it’s not about even fishing it’s the collecting. Look at the swimbait collections pages, like 99% of the baits have no rash:no fish and that’s all well and good for those guys if that’s what you’re into, but sucks for the guys that actually want to throw an illude, pats, ufo, 316, etc etc 

I make baits (been making baits since 2008/09, I want guys to fish em and slay on em. I’d rather see every bait I ever made destroyed by hook rash, fish and catches and helping people create memories than sitting on a shelf. I few guys in fresh and salt have their pbs on baits I’ve made and there’s no better than feeling as a builder than getting a message like that. 

I think Cesar said it best when he said his baits were hammers, another tool to get the job done. I want hammers in the boat and tied on. 

[swimbaitrookie]

@SVT THUNDER, well stated.  Thanks.

[swimbaitrookie]

@Eric Peterson,bait makers you referenced, such as Pizz and Pats shouldn't be considered "hype" baits because they are proven producers over a long period of time.  They are hard to get for the reasons stated by SVT, they are limited production and proven, but that doesn't make them a hype bait.  Over the 11+ years I've fished swimbaits I've bought "hype" baits lots of times, sometimes they produce for me, sometimes not.  Case in point, I bought a UFO wake last fall, fished it several times and never got a sniff but caught fish on my BGC wakes and other baits.  So I sold fhe UFO and got offered twice what I paid.  

I also joined in the DRT K9 and TK craze and bought several of them, paid more than retail for a few of them but they catch fish for me and seem to be almost limitless in the variation they can be effectively fished.  But to me they are a hype bait in the sense that they're overpriced for a mass produced bait, yet they aren't hype because they produce.  The question is will they last as long as my hph, toxics, jsj, KRR, and other handmade baits have, and will.  I doubt that they will so I'll catch fish on them as long as they do last.

If a bait legitimately catches fish, isn't hyped up tirelessly by some YouTuber who's sponsored by the maker, and is reasonably accessible, even if "overpriced " then it's not hype.  The only true hype baits I can think of are the banjo minnow and helicopter lure.  

[DirtySouthGlide]

They look cool lol. 

[bassbass]

I think now a days even proven baits are hype baits. I an not going to mention the names but just go in the BM and you will see.

Recently people just want the hype baits even though they never fished them or will never fish them.

All baits are different and you need to learn how to fish each of these baits to actually catch fish. Most of you think if you get a hype bait you can cast it out there and catch pigs, just like everyone thinks if you live in FL, TX, or CA...cast out and get a DD...very easy. Not true at all. Actually most of you that get a hype bait will just go right to the BS and flip it.

Out of all the bait drops only 20% will get fished and a small percentage will get trophy fish.

If we could only find that magic bait where we ALL take it out of the box and cast it out there and get a DD. There are many factors to this and the largest factor is the person working this bait.

WE create the hype, no question about it and the more we do it the worst it is going to get. Look at all the hype on social media, people doing reviews that never fished swimbaits, wear this ish and these side bags, etc...people watching other people catch fish and think I need that sticker on my boat and can do the same....you need to move on from that, turn off your phone, and get out on the water and learn for your self. This will make you a better swimbait bottom line.

The hype will change so if you really want to swimbait then find other baits and actually fish them, you may be surprised that you can catch fish on a less expensive and or less hype bait.

I have fished and currently own 1,000s on baits, some hype and some no longer hype baits. Some I like and some I did not. Fish dont only hit hype baits and fish will not keep hitting that hype or not hype bait so your tackle bag really need different choices.

You may need to step back and look at why you get into swimbaiting. I have been fishing for 47 since I has 6. Started off saltwater with my dad then mostly all bass as I got older. I goal was to catch bigger fish and used all the experience from regular tackle and uaed it with the swimbaits. Back in RI I would catch 1 to 3 bass over 5lbs a year with an average of 1400 total bass a year, went to swimbaits and first year had 15 over 5lbs and only 400 total bass, but I could live with that. Now in FL I do over 60 5lb bass a year with a couple of trophys mixed in. When I wake up in the morning I am only thinking about catching fish, not what hype bait or do my shoes match my shirt and rod.

Worry about what you can do when fishing that will make you catch a fish that day, each day is different. Fish move and will change what they hit.

As I said before a good swimbaits will catch fish on almost any bait they try hype or not.

[NEbucketmouth19]

A few good catches from respected dudes, add a killer paint job, release small batches that instantly sell out and boom. Hype bait. 

The real driver is supply is way less than demand. Guys like Bucca make insane baits but pump out so many you can actually get them.

[Eric Peterson]

AMEN @bassbass. A few years ago I spent alot of money on a hype bait and I got it and said "this is it? I spent hundreds for just another bait?" I don't get caught up in hype baits anymore because I've realized it's just another bait. That's what leads to this question, why don't people just spend 100 on a similar bait that isn't a hype bait and catch the same fish? I don't understand why people will spend so much more for hype when they can spend a fraction on practically the same thing. 

[tblando]

I think cosmetics and the rarity of a bait drive the initial hype— followed by some big fish posted on social media. I don’t know exactly what else but I think it’s ruined the market.  Swimbait fishing has become more mainstream over the last couple years creating way more demand which is great in a sense— but not if you blindly follow the hyped baits. I own a ton of different baits I’ve bought over the years (probably too many) and all of them serve a purpose. I treat them just the same as when I fished cranks, plastics & jigs all day. Different colors, sink rates, etc for different conditions. But it sucks now because if I lose my Bacca or Battles Shad in a brush pile I probably won’t be able to replace it. And is that because people are buying up the baits to turn them for a profit or just because it’s currently hyped? 

Why aren’t there more test swim videos of hype baits? Because no one seems to care about that? 
 

Regardless, the hype eventually fades— it’s one thing I’m sure of. 
 

Off topic: 

I’ve posted plenty of times in the swimbait collections thread and just because those baits aren’t rashed up doesn’t mean I don’t/won’t fish them. I share new baits I’ve acquired with others because why not? Assuming they are all just going to sit and accumulate dust is silly. 

[tHeINFamoUS]

Yeah….I don’t think it really has anything to do with magic baits or baits that work.  There’s an entire thread dedicated to “baits everyone loves but I can’t get bit on” and literally every bait is on the list with some saying best bait ever and others saying it doesn’t work for them.  I generally believe in the “it’s the Indian not the arrow” philosophy but I too have baits I couldn’t buy a bite on lol, some have been absolute garbage.  

The hype isn’t about baits, it’s about human psychology.  I want,  I need, I wanna try…….it’s why we like hot baits, hot chicks, hot cars/trucks/boats etc….especially when we’re young and stupid.  I do believe it wears off with a little maturity…..most of the time.  
 

PS…. I’m have nothing against hype baits or the peeps that chase em.  I have a few I got pre-hype, I got some I overpaid for at max hype and some I got after hype.  

[DrewManFishing]

honestly, i think it’s all about the branding. if you got a cool website and a overpriced bait that no one can get, that’s a recipe for success. 

[Shaddaddy1979]

Getting lost in the sauce is easy . Find what works for your style of fishing . capitalism Is hyped !!!