This versatile soft plastic features thin “fuzzy” appendages and can be rigged numerous ways
Big Bite Baits is playing the soft plastic creepy, crawly appendages game to the max with its recent introduction of the Scentsation Fuzzy Stick, and one of its biggest advocates hails from Louisiana.
“Yep. Yep. I like it. It’s a new bait, actually, and those smallmouth really like it. I caught a lot of fish on it on Lake St. Clair,” Tyler Rivet of Raceland, La., said about the lure, emphasizing the versatile soft plastic catches largemouth bass as much or more as it does smallies.
The forerunner for the Scentsation Fuzzy Stick was handcrafted on the spot by Big Bite Baits pro staffer Michael Neal during a Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour tournament in August 2024 on the St. Lawrence River. The Dayton, Tenn., veteran cut down a Big Bite Baits Scentsation Quarantine Craw, then used a sewing needle to insert eight skirt strands to mimic photos of “fuzzy” baits he viewed online.
Neal caught on his homemade creation with16 appendages (eight on each side) while prefishing. He liked its fresh appeal on a dropshot rig and relied on it to win the tournament. His catch of 28 bass for 88 pounds, 14 ounces on the last day sealed the deal by 15 pounds over Kentucky’s John Hunter.
Thus the Scentsation Fuzzy Stick was born and introduced about a year later.
A unique profile
Rivet has his share of Scentsation Fuzzy Sticks loaded in his Phoenix bass boat. The 31-year-old Rivet fished Bassmaster Opens for two seasons and qualified for the Bassmaster Elite Series after his second year. He grew up extracting bass from the bayous and marsh around Lake Boeuf. He also started the Nicholls State Fishing Team, then became the country’s first bass angler to qualify for all five national championship college tournaments.
He’s pleased Big Bite Baits, which he represents, got into fuzziness.
“You’ve got to stay on top of it just like any company or business or you’ll just get left behind,” Rivet said about the company’s entry into the world of “fuzzy” appendage soft plastics.
“Instead of a little ‘cube’ deal, it’s got a different profile,” he said. “It’s a little longer, like a mini wacky worm. Another cool thing about it, you can rig it multiple ways. You can put it on a Ned rig. You can Texas rig it if you want on a 2/0 hook.”
Big Bite Baits agrees it can be rigged numerous ways but claims the Scentsation Fuzzy Stick “truly shines on a drop shot.”
“My dad loves the weird baits like that,” Rivet said. “Honestly, down here I think it works really well. It can resemble so many things (crawfish, hellgrammites, etc.) now. I think it imitates a crab, too. It’s crazy. Bass fishing is evolving and so are the fish.”
He noted bass are reacting to more and more fishing pressure.
“You’ve just got to find something they’ve never seen before,” he said.
Six color options
The 4-inch long Scentsation Fuzzy Sticks are offered in six colors: albino, black, green pumpkin, green pumpkin/chartreuse, green pumpkin/orange and tilapia. Rivet said he is partial to the green pumpkin model “just because it is so versatile” and pointed out he doesn’t have to dip it or otherwise add scent.
“Fuzzy Sticks are actually part of the Big Bite Scentsation (patented) lineup so they’re already scented and everything,” he said.
Rivet also said he believes it’s a bait you can fish everywhere.
“I really think you can use it down here for saltwater,” he said. “People can use it for flippin’ as a redfish bait or use it for speckled trout. I really think it will work.”
Rivet, who finished the 2025 Bassmaster Elite Series season in 53rd place in the AOY standings, said he uses a spinning rod and reel combination loaded with 8-pound test P-Line Tactical Fluorocarbon Line.
Rivet got his hands on the new Scentsation Fuzzy Sticks before he left the Sportsman’s Paradise to fish the Elites’ eighth tournament of the year Aug. 7-10 at Lake St. Clair, where he finished 72nd. He stuck mostly to his tried and proven artificials during the tournament, he said, but after the tournament took clients out and everyone in the boat caught smallies fairly deep and largemouth bass in much shallower water, all on the Scentsation Fuzzy Sticks.
“Those largemouths didn’t know what to think about it so they ate it,” Rivet said with a chuckle.
