This tough urchin-style lure won’t warp or wilt
Black Label Tackle entered the urchin-style soft plastic craze with a big splash at the right time with arguably one of the most advanced models, the Outstanding Fishing Object (OFO).
Cliff Pace, an accomplished Bassmaster Elite angler who won the 2013 Bassmaster Classic at Oklahoma’s Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees, had ideas how to make it better and ran with it after working with different factories.
The Black Label Tackle/Wood Bait Country owner started the company’s urchin project last year, then six months later introduced the OFO in late spring 2026. That the OFO hit the market riding the rapidly building wave of urchin popularity was coincidental. Pace said he never had a clue it’d become so popular this year.
“We kind of timed it just right, got lucky,” he said from his home in Petal, Miss.
Durability
That Japanese artificial lure manufacturers introduced the first urchin-style baits remains indisputable. However, Pace noted, those urchins often didn’t shake real well after they got hot or compressed from storage and sometimes would spiral rather than open up and flutter on a retrieve. Plus, he said, they “were really hard to get for a period of time.”
Pace said he searched for a different version of thermoplastic elastomers (TPE), which is at the core of his new OFO’s success. The Reflex TPE material is more user-friendly, he said, because it holds its shape better, particularly when urchin-style baits are kept in the boat or left on deck. Weekend anglers, especially, appreciate OFOs.
“A lot of guys like the idea that ‘I fished with it last weekend and got it out and it’s not damaged,’” he said, noting Reflex TPE is ultra-resistant to warping or wilting. “It’s been really well received. I’ve got a lot of really good feedback from people who have purchased it … a lot of fish catch pictures.”
As for popular OFO colors, blue craw tops the chart, closely followed by scuppernong.
“It’s a color from the ‘80s,” Pace said about the red-hued OFO.
What’s his favorite hue while fishing the waters around his house?
“The lakes I fish at home, a lot of them are clean, and I throw watermelon seed a lot in the clear water,” Pace said. “Every color we make works really, really good. Like any soft plastic, it really depends on the water clarity when it comes to color choices for any baits.”
For rigging, he recommends the newer Primal Tackle OFO Head and the BKK Hyperlatch Quad Urchin Hook.
With or without forward-facing sonar
Pace, 46, who is still fishing with the Elites and was getting ready for the 2027 schedule to begin in February, said the use of forward facing sonar is a key to the urchin-style baits success.
“One thing that makes this style of bait so effective, so well received, is it pairs real well with LiveScope,” he said, wondering aloud if the spiny soft plastics would have taken off like they did if introduced pre-forward facing sonar days. “I’m not saying you have to have LiveScope, but it pairs well with that style of electronics to go along with it.”
In other words, it can be and has been ultra-productive around docks and traditional cover. To wit: Canadian Chris Johnston won a Santee Cooper Lakes derby skipping and pitching an urchin-style bait in a “no live sonar” event designated as such by B.A.S.S. And Alabama bass pro Alex Davis won a National Professional Fishing League (which bans forward facing sonar) event with one at Lay Lake.
Pace believes there’s a future for the OFO with and without LiveScope.
“I think the bait’s here to stay, under the right conditions,” he said, pointing out anglers will figure out ways to fish it effectively. “I definitely don’t see it going away. It’s too effective for it not to be effective for years.”
Pace, as always, just wanted to make his right.
“If you’re going to make something, you always try to improve on it if you can,” he said. “It’s been a good project for us. Again, we got fortunate with timing. That one came together at the right time. It’s been a good product for us this year.”
Get more information on the Black Label OFO at woodbaitcountry.com.
