Is this the Year of the Coike? The Strange Japanese Bait is Silencing Its Doubters

Two months ago at the Bassmaster Classic, a lot of pros were calling it overhyped. One of the few with a difference of opinion just won the Santee Cooper Elite with over 113 pounds.

Chris Johnston worked a dock pattern at Santee Cooper, skipping a Coike for four straight days, and took home his second Elite Series title. | B.A.S.S. | Shane Durrance

Two months ago, during my Media Day interviews at the Bassmaster Classic, I asked the anglers if there was a trend in bass fishing they thought was overhyped. The crazy, spiky, Hideup Coike, urchin-style baits came up a lot. But Chris Johnston offered a realistic, level-headed take on the hottest bait in bass fishing. In hindsight, we all should have known what was coming.

Johnston said, “There’s hype for it, but there’s a reason for it. So, I think it’s justified.”

I followed up my question with, “Do you think that trend will stick around?”

“No, I think it's going to be good for about two years," he said of the Coike. “Right now, most fish have never seen that bait, which is why they’re so curious. But once they see it I think they’re going to catch on pretty quick.”

In this interview filmed at the Bassmaster Classic two months ago, Johnston shares his thoughts on the Coike trend—before going out and winning Santee Cooper on one.

He wasn't wrong on the first part of his answer. In fact, he just won Santee Cooper Elite Event on one.

Johnston closed out the 2026 Bassmaster Elite at Santee Cooper Lakes with a four-day total of 113 pounds, 12 ounces—nearly 20 pounds more than second place—skipping a Coike Fullcast under main lake docks all four days.

The Hideup Coike—the bait that won Santee Cooper—remains nearly impossible to find in stock. | B.A.S.S.

Apparently word that the Coike was hot got around during this event because five of the top 10 finishers were throwing some version of the urchin-style bait, as well as lots of other sightings throughout the field. Even B.A.S.S. titled their official press release "Johnston Coikes his way to Bassmaster Elite Series victory." The unusual bait had officially become a verb.

He Wasn't the Only Skeptic

The urchin-style bait dominated front decks throughout the Santee Cooper field all week. | B.A.S.S.

While Johnston was a fan of the Coike at the Classic he did think the trend would be over fairly quickly. His skepticism was far from isolated in my interviews. Bryan Schmidt, Tyler Williams, Cooper Galant, and even Kyoya Fujita, the Japanese pro widely credited with introducing the bait to the Elite Series, all called it overhyped. Fujita downplaying the Coike while fellow competitors were still scrambling to get their hands on one was a detail that didn't get much attention at the time.

Interestingly, Trey McKinney’s response to my question offered the most nuanced read. “It’s not overhyped…because I’ve caught ‘em on it.” He said the last part of that in kind of a half-whisper, like a guy who knows he’s found something but doesn’t want everyone else to know. “And, it will stick around. Not everybody will be throwing it like they are now (foreshadowing the Santee Cooper event?), but it will have its time and place. Eventually anglers will figure out that there will be a month out of the year where they’re floating around during pre-spawn where you’re gonna crush ‘em on it.” Again, he half-whispered that last part.

McKinney’s assessment may prove to be right. But Santee Cooper may have just shortened the timeline for figuring it out.

Santee Cooper Changed the FFS Conversation

Five of the top 10 finishers at Santee Cooper were throwing some version of the urchin-style bait. The Coike craze has officially moved beyond a trend. | B.A.S.S.

On the topic of figuring out this new bait, another big thing this past week's event did was sever the connection between this bait and forward-facing sonar (FFS). Overall, the Coike was seen as a bait by scopers, for scopers. So, shallow, swampy, Santee Cooper, with no FFS allowed, was an event that seemed pretty unlikely to be the big Coike coming out party. But Johnston's win, built on skipping to dock targets without sonar, has quickly changed that belief. Five of Top 10 finishers using it, along with lots of other guys in the field, in a no-FFS event is a meaningful data point.

The Scarcity Problem Just Got Worse

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

The bait's scarcity remains a subplot to this story. When Tackle Warehouse restocks the Coike, they’re sold out very quickly. Other brands have started to hit the scene with their own versions of the spiky ball bait. I received a press release yesterday from industry giant, Berkley, announcing the PowerBait MaxScent ‘Moeba (short for amoeba—alien-looking single cell organisms). They don’t appear to be on Tackle Warehouse yet, but the ‘Moeba is already sold out on Berkley’s website.

As he predicted on Day 2, Chris Johnston went swimming in an effort to retrieve a snagged Coike on Day 3. | B.A.S.S.

In another example of the bait’s short supply, and an example of Johnston’s power of prognostication, on Day 2 at Santee, Johnston was down to his last Coike. Bassmaster photographer Shane Durrance reported from the water that on Friday Johnston told him he only had one bait left. Durrance asked him what he would do if it got hung. He said he’d go swimming. On Day 3, Johnston ended up going headfirst into the lake—leaning a bit too far while retrieving his snagged bait from a dock piling.

The smart money listens closely to whatever Johnston says. Is he right that the effective window for the Coike is two years? Probably, but for now, that window is wide open.

For rigging tips and a full breakdown, see: The Strange Spiny Lure Taking Over Bass Fishing in 2026.