The Coike Is Having Its Moment. Let's Hope Bass Fishing Doesn't Try to Ban It.

Three major tournament wins in a row. Based on tournament coverage photos and video, every pro boat is stacked with them. But still I wonder, is the urchin bait always the best option, or just the most popular one?

Jason Christie holds up his arsenal on the morning of his latest Bassmaster Elite victory. Every one of them rigged with an urchin-style bait. When the tournament winner's entire rod deck looks like this, the conversation about the Coike stops being about hype. | B.A.S.S.

I’ve said it many times before: I don’t believe in magic lures.


After several decades on the water, in conjunction with deep, logical analysis and an insatiable need for rationale, I’ve come to the conclusion that the exact bait is rarely the most important element contributing to a successful day of fishing.

Is This a Magic Lure?

Chris Johnston confirmed two months before his win that this bait was for real. | B.A.S.S.

And having just said that, over the past four weeks I’ve watched Chris Johnston grab a Century Belt and the trophy using a Coike at Santee Cooper, Alex Davis used one to take home 100-grand from the Lay Lake NPFL, and now Jason Christie seals an urchin victory at the latest Bassmaster Elite event. Yes, I’m always a little skeptical by nature, but this bait has my attention.

Again, I guess it’s because I tend to look at things a little differently, but I can’t help wondering if the Coike was genuinely the best bait in all of those situations, or was it the most popular? And because everyone was throwing it, is its success a self-fulfilling prophecy?

Unfortunately, that’s probably impossible to prove either way. There are no closed-course, scientifically controlled comparisons happening during a tournament. Nobody is throwing a Coike down one side of a dock and a jerkbait down the other at the exact same moment, then logging the results. But what we can say for sure is that the sport’s best anglers, performing under extreme pressure, with their family’s income on the line, keep reaching for this bait. That’s significant. It’s not irrefutable proof, but it’s a data point that shouldn’t be ignored.

The Clock Is Already Ticking

Alex Davis lands another bass on the Coike during his NPFL victory. Davis spent months figuring out the bait before the tournament started — throwing it without forward-facing sonar, "just like a good old bass lure." | N.P.F.L.

In the case of Alex Davis, he didn’t win with this bait because it was trending. "I got my first Coikes last fall," he told me. "I tried them a couple times but didn't really have any success. Then this spring, once I had some big schools of bass located, I thought I'd take the opportunity to see if I could figure out how to fish it to trigger bites." He spent months refining his technique before the NPFL event started. And worth noting, he was throwing it without forward-facing sonar most of the time. "Just throwing it like a good old bass lure," he said. By the time the tournament started, his confidence was high because of his personal experience, not because of hype.

That's a meaningful distinction. Davis’ urchin victory was not the result of FOMO. But my guess is not everyone throwing a Coike right now can say the same.

Trey McKinney gave me an insightful and honest early assessment before this year’s Bassmaster Classic. He leaned in and kind of half-whispered, like a guy who had figured out a secret he was going to try to guard a little longer, that the Coike would eventually settle into everyone's arsenal as something that works great for about a month a year. Davis told me something very similar, but framed it better than anyone I've talked to: “I think it will still have a place in my bait lineup for the next 20 years. I picture it like a wacky worm. There will still be a time and place every year where the Coike will be a great choice, it just won't be the only choice all the time, like it is at the moment.”

That wacky worm comparison feels spot on, and should reassure anglers who aren't trying it because they think it’s just a fad. Then Davis explained why this new “magic” bait’s spotlight is likely to dim. “With so much focus on social media clicks, anything that shines for a tournament or two gets elevated and beat to death pretty quickly.” He reminded me of the Sakamata Shad, the jig-and-minnow combination that dominated just a couple years ago. “You can already see the decline in its effectiveness. It still has its moments, it's just not being thrown all the time anymore”

Here We Go Again?

Jason Christie reaches for a giant on Championship Sunday. Christie's performance added another major tournament win to highlight 2026 as the year of the Coike. | B.A.S.S.

That brings me to another thought I kind of wish I wouldn’t have to think, but I’ve seen this all before. Our sport seems to have a well-documented reflex to regulate new things that seem to be working better than average.

The Alabama Rig controversy of the early 2010s comes to mind. The competitive fairness argument was made although it was available to everyone. Fish safety was cited, although fish are routinely foul hooked with lots of different lures. Whether or not the points were valid is difficult to prove either way. But the restriction passed, and what seems like a genuinely innovative and effective technique was out. And of course it’s not the same thing, but forward-facing sonar is the current version of the same kind of debate, still unsettled and actively dividing the sport.

Alex Davis about to hit the stage with a bag full of Coike-caught bass and collect his $100,000 check. | N.P.F.L.

I asked Davis if he thought all this new success and attention could doom the Coike to a similar fate. "Honestly, I still don't understand why the Alabama Rig was banned,” he said. “I suppose like everything these days, there will be someone who got beat by someone using a Coike and they'll start a campaign to get them banned. So I won't be surprised, but I don't think it makes any sense.”

Well said. Plus, the Coike has none of the obvious restriction triggers like: no multiple hooks, no mortality concerns (although they do seem to eat it pretty deep a lot of the time), no expensive technology barrier (yes, expensive for a lure, but not cutting-edge electronics pricing). This crazy cat toy-looking bait, costs twenty dollars when you can find one in stock, and will likely regulate itself naturally as pressured fish learn to recognize it. As you can already see, the rush is on to flood the market with knockoff versions. Weekend anglers, and honestly a lot of pros, are panic buying right now. The fish will wise up just like they always do.

My hope is that nobody bans it. I’m excited to see all the ways the world’s best bass anglers use it to learn new things about bass behavior. I have a feeling Davis is exactly right that in twenty years it’s just another wacky worm. Just like every other tool in our tackle boxes, this bait will have its time and place to shine each season and the angler will get more of the credit than the bait.

That's not a story of failure for the Coike. That's exactly how this is supposed to work.