This soft plastic creature bait triggers bites from bass with its lifelike movement
While much of the attention this year has been on soft plastic urchins dominating the bass fishing scene, many bass anglers are quietly doing just fine, thank you, getting bit consistently on the American Baitworks Co. NetBait BaitFuel HexTek Bull Bream Creature Bait.
Walter Roberts of Gautier, Miss., sales manager for American Baitworks Co., excitedly talked about the artificial lure manufacturer’s new entry to the bass fishing world. Bass anglers everywhere are loving what it brings to the table.
“It’s just the shape of it and its versatility,” Roberts said. “It’s shaped like a bluegill, of course. You can either fish it with the tail intact or pulled apart.
“You know, it’s an excellent bait for when bass are feeding on bluegill (or on bedding bream), such as underneath mats.”
Popular with anglers
How popular is the new soft plastic? Roberts said sales have gone “very well.”
“We actually sold out of it at the Bassmaster Classic when it was introduced” March 12-15 in Knoxville, Tenn., he said.
Tackle Warehouse also ran out of Bull Breams following Justin Hamner’s Facebook post on May 18, the day after he finished sixth on Championship Sunday of the Bassmaster Elite at Santee Cooper Lakes. The Alabama pro bass angler who won the Bassmaster Classic in 2024 said he caught four “hawgs” on it during the tournament in South Carolina.
Hamner’s four-day total was 85 pounds, 10 ounces, worth $11,000. He felt for what he was doing it was the best bait in his boat to catch big ones.
“All right. Here we are. Santee Cooper Lake. Pretty sure nine of the Top 10 anglers caught their bass on this this week,” Hamner said at the beginning of the 54-second Facebook video as he held up a Coike. Then he tossed it on the front deck of his boat, picked up a Bull Bream and showed it to the camera. “But one didn’t. I guess this is the only thing that could compete, the new NetBait HexTek, it’s the Bull Bream. If you watched anything live this week, you saw the Bull Bream. I caught like four fish over 7 pounds this week using this bait right here. Mainly Texas-rigged. I did catch big ones free rigging it fishin’ bream beds, fishin’ beddin’ fish. It didn’t matter. I could get around ’em, I caught some bass on that Bull Bream right there. NetBait Bull Bream, HexTek, Bait Fuel, it’s got it all. You ain’t gotta spend $100 on this (uses his left hand to pick up, then drop the Coike). Throw Bull Bream.”
Designing the bait
Walters said the 4-inch-long Bull Bream was designed by Brenton Godwin, who was a standout collegiate bass angler at the University of Montevallo in Montevallo, Ala. After receiving his bachelor’s degree, Godwin hooked up with American Baitworks and moved to Ocean Spring, Miss., where the artificial lure manufacturer’s plant is located.
The Bull Bream took less than a year to make from start to finish to get it on the market, Walters said. It features a bluegill profile, broad fan tail and side-kicking fin appendages to create lifelike movement in the water, according to American Baitworks.
The soft plastic creature bait also features a slim body and raised hook ridge to conceal a hook point, which makes it ideal for skipping under docks and other cover while improving hook penetration compared to other thick-bodied flippin’ and skippin’ baits.
American Baitworks emphasizes a key feature to the new soft plastic is that it’s enhanced with NetBait’s HexTek scent emission technology that oozes from a unique dimpled hexagonal exterior that slowly releases a BaitFuel gel capable of triggering bites.
Walters pointed out it can be used Texas-, Carolina-, Neko- and free-rigged. But that’s not all, he said, noting many bass anglers also are enjoying success with it rigged sideways on bladed jigs and Wobbleheads.
For more information on the American Baitworks Co. NetBait BaitFuel HexTek Bull Bream Creature Bait and other American Baitwork products, go to americanbaitworks.com/collections/netbait-hextek or call (844) 466-5738.
