Sac Pig 2 pc and 1 pc Rats

[jkarol24]

Swimbait Review: Sac Pig Rats

The 2 piece and 1 piece resin rats from Sac Pig are on today's agenda, a newer builder and bait on the market. Michael put together this pair of rats for The Gathering event, and was kind enough to send em over to me first to shoot some swim vids. I hope whoever ends up with these baits enjoys them! 

The 2 piece version (featured first in video) is a full sized resin rat, coming in at just over 4 ounces and approximately 10.5 inches including the tail. The 1 pc version comes in just over 3 ounces, and is 9.5 inches with tail. Both tails are affixed with a free swinging screw lock keeper, and are also adorned with extremely heavy duty components (410 lb Swivels, 200 lb Kevlar PE assist style hangers, and hefty joint hardware on the 2 pc).

The 2 pc on straight moderate retrieve is a true wake, staying upright and on the surface. The head of the bait stays slightly under the surface, with a back and forth hunt, while the rear section rolls and kicks, encouraging the tail to swim behind. There is a bulge caused by the head, and also an audible click from the two halves. 

Slowing down causes the action of the bait to become wider, as the head stays closer to the surface and swings wider back and forth. The rear section roll and kick follows suite, leaving a subtle yet noticeable wake all the way down to a crawl. 

Conversely, the 2 pc will flat out burn, with the action becoming much tighter, with a higher cadence and tight body shimmy. The bait will crank down, but no more than about a foot on a medium cast. For a bait of its size, it also burns without causing a ton of torque on the reel. 

Last is the walk: I found that easier and longer pulls worked best, allowing the bait to walk back and forth without much practice. Sharper hits causes the bill to dig and not alow the full turn, so again keep in mind how hard you are providing input. With some practice you will also be able to pick up the cadence and fast walk the bait, causing significant commotion, splash, and knock. 

Moving on to the 1 pc version, the straight moderate retrieve causes the body to thump and turn back and forth approximately 45 degrees off center on each side, with the head of the bait slightly lower than the rear. The rear section stays up and kicks side to side, throwing the tail along as well. I also noticed that the 1 pc created a more defined and present V wake on the surface of the water. 

Slowing down a bit, the action remains similar but the bait picks up some secondary action as the rear seems to almost bob up and down as it turns, creating some additional action along with a subtle waking action. It will not work down to a very slow crawl, but at slow to moderate slow, the baits action remains true and consistent. 

Speeding up to about moderate fast, the cadence of the bait increases, and a larger and splashy wake is created. The bait will stay relatively on the surface, and really thump back to the rod. The 1 pc does not love a fast or burn retrieve, but will function as intended at about medium fast. 

The walk on the 1 pc rat is very easy to pick up, and will turn back and forth with ease on the typical short and firm rod twitches. A slower cadence will allow the bait to turn nice and easy, with a slight amount of glide on a pause as well. Conversely, fast and short twitches gets the vait turning fast and hard, throwing a large splash, along with a tail whip on the surface. 

I threw the bigger 2 pc version on a Leviathan Heavy, paired witha Tranx 400 and 25 lb copoly. The 1 pc version was better suited for my 7 ft 9 custom Heavy, and i pair it with a Curado 300 and 20 lb copoly. I'd suggest sticking with either copoly, mono, or braid, as the baits are almost exclusively topwater presentations. 

I hope you have enjoyed Today's Review, and maybe one of you will take one home with you at The Gathering. See you next Sunday for another review!

 

[BayAreaAngler]

Great baits, Mike is a great dude as well. Top quality materials on his baits and has the best customer service. Always wants to make sure his customers are 100% happy and taken care of.

[Jim137a]

I’m def a fan of Michael’s baits - caught my NJ Swimbait PB on it a one piece along with plenty of other fish. 
 

Also as @BayAreaAngler stated @SacPig916provides top notch customer service. 

[SacPig916]

The only thing I'de like to add is, the 2pc no longer will come with wanky assist hooks!  

ty for all the kind words guys and great review as always, even though its personal, I still think you did a good job not injecting your own opinion and just explain what the bait does.