Live Target Sunfish test 2025
Heron reply :
Tossed my Live Target Sunfish into the test pond today. Wanted to give it a thorough look over.
The bad....Not really all that bad but I find the overall look of the bait as it sits in the water, to actually be kind of underwhelming. When it sits in the water it almost looks even less like a fish. I don't see this bait catching fish any better or less, than your favorite frog baits. But that's just my subjective perceptions.
The Good...This is THE easiest bait to walk the dog with, and one of the easiest baits to impart any kind of action onto, in any way. Which seems obvious, with its body shape, and lack of skirt legs. And, it seems to be weighted perfectly to keep it in the water, and not skimming the surface. But seriously, you barely need any kind of rod twitch to make this thing dance. Also, it casts good, and always landed upright.
Bassman37 reply :
Thanks...I was wondering how it works.
Hog Basser reply :
Thanks, I just got one too and I'm planning on putting it to the real test this weekend. Hopefully I can report some monster bass on it.
gardnerjigman reply :
The only difference I see between it and a frog is that it will probably skip under a dock or other cover easier than a frog with skirts. I trim my skirts down to about an inch, so my frogs skip just fine too. Lol
FrogFreak reply :
I bought one in each size because where I fish, gills are a main forage for the bass. I'm looking forward to trying them in the spring! Looking forward to hearing more reports on them.
Shane J reply :
Live Target is doin' it right. They are offering quality stuff, from cranks, to topwaters, at a reasonable price. If there were an award for most improved tackle company, my nominee would be Live Target. I keep finding more and more of the stuff in my boxes.
burrows reply :
I'm not a fan of live target to be honest I bought into some of there stuff early on and was disappointed, I especially hate the bait ball series but I like their frogs and I'm sure buying into this sunfish deal, see what happens?
MDBowHunter reply :
I was out with a buddy while he was trying his out, I wasn't overly impressed. It kind of reminds me of a boogie board. I feel there's a lot of others lures that way up higher on the gotta have list then these
Ridi620 reply :
Good to know. You've saved me $15 haha
JGillyFishing reply :
I have a couple of them. I threw one when I bought it in February just to try it out and ended up getting a fish the first cast. Air temps were in the 40's so I can't imagine the water temps were too warm. I am extremely impressed with them. I'm gonna try them out later this spring and if they work as well as I think they will I will probably end up filling up most of my frog box with these. The fish see hollow body frogs all the time but these are something different and they look EXACTLY like bluegill so I have high expectations for them. Side note, I love the Trokar hooks on these things. They are very sharp and seem pretty sturdy. No way to really test them yet. I'm kind of mad they released them in November cause we won't be able to really test them until the spring but we will see. I would say if you are on the fence about it, go pick one up. I don't think you'll be disappointed
AQUA VELVA reply :
My lake is full of 'gills and I'm wondering if that LTS might not be a bad lure to try come spring. They look good in the catalogs and on line but I would like to see one in my local tackle shop. I love top water fishing so I find this lure very interesting.
Heron reply :
On 3/3/2016 at 11:13 PM, JGillyFishing said:I have a couple of them. I threw one when I bought it in February just to try it out and ended up getting a fish the first cast. Air temps were in the 40's so I can't imagine the water temps were too warm. I am extremely impressed with them. I'm gonna try them out later this spring and if they work as well as I think they will I will probably end up filling up most of my frog box with these. The fish see hollow body frogs all the time but these are something different and they look EXACTLY like bluegill so I have high expectations for them. Side note, I love the Trokar hooks on these things. They are very sharp and seem pretty sturdy. No way to really test them yet. I'm kind of mad they released them in November cause we won't be able to really test them until the spring but we will see. I would say if you are on the fence about it, go pick one up. I don't think you'll be disappointed
Nice, and how many fish have you caught with it so far?
Comfortably Numb reply :
I bought a 3" and it is tiny. Is the 3.5 that much bigger?
primetime reply :
I threw it tonight while walking my dog in a pond that is pretty good, and you are right, the action is really good, I was only hitting shorelines with light grass which it handled well, easy to cast, and it took on some water buy I squeeze em every few casts as I look around out of habit I guess....It does have an erratic Jump which comes if you walk it like a normal hollow belly as this glides as mentioned...It received attention but both Fish were really shallow and both seemed to just be swiping at it so I never took a swing...I plan on using it again...I like the action, you can do some different things with it, I am still wondering about how they hold it and how the shape is with hook sets..I don't see it a problem....
I was throwing the smaller model, it landed well and I think it will be a fun lure to fish and a new tool. I like the colors and the profile is a dead match for many panfish in the lakes and ponds in my area...I am curious to find out if the fish were only swiping because they were protecting a nest, small, or maybe I was working it too fast as It walks amazing with the arch and does the death kick that dying baitfish give off...I wonder if that is built in? Anyone else notice it will do almost a 360 kick out in mid stride? Not sure I will buy more unless I notice a big difference from a frog, but then again, only 2 bucks more at Dicks...
lou304 reply :
On 3/4/2016 at 11:06 AM, Comfortably Numb said:I bought a 3" and it is tiny. Is the 3.5 that much bigger?
Probably about .5 inches bigger! 
Jaderose reply :
My local DGS has them in stock. I was underwhelmed when I saw them. Not really sure what I was expecting. I'll probably wind up with a couple but if not, I think I'll live.
Scarborough817 reply :
On 3/4/2016 at 9:46 PM, Jaderose said:My local DGS has them in stock. I was underwhelmed when I saw them. Not really sure what I was expecting. I'll probably wind up with a couple but if not, I think I'll live.
this why my thought at well. i expected them to be a little bigger or maybe a little wider
Preytorien reply :
I bought one and received it some time ago. I can't really say I'm blown away, and I haven't actually used it but my observation is this....
I think when you step back and assess the concept of a topwater lure it's designed to make commotion on the surface, and hopefully entice a bass who may or may not be looking up, to thinking "oh that's food, time to eat"
While each bait may have functional reasons to use it (ex: frogs are very weedless), I think the concept is the same - convincing the bass that it's food. While finish and body is important to us, the tiny little brain in a bass probably doesn't differentiate and say "oh a frog, I want that, but not that sunfish over there" - bass will pretty much eat anything, and if it's making a surface disturbance, even more likely. I've gotten bites on every single topwater lure I've ever used, and many on lakes I fish frequently. I'm sure some are the same fish. So it may be that body style or color isn't quite as important as we think for a topwater. Important? Yes, but probably not worth fretting over.
For me, the sunfish isn't going to be a game changer, I wish it was, but it'll probably be another "frog". But what it will do, if other reviews are correct, is offer me an insanely good skipping lure. My skipping skills are lacking, so this fills the void for an easy-to-use skipping topwater.
Maybe my points aren't totally scientific, but that's the characteristic of this bait that hooked me the most 
We'll see later if it was worth my $13
sbeetz reply :
Yeah, they work well. This was December in Cincinnati.
Jaderose reply :
On 3/5/2016 at 4:59 AM, Preytorien said:I bought one and received it some time ago. I can't really say I'm blown away, and I haven't actually used it but my observation is this....
I think when you step back and assess the concept of a topwater lure it's designed to make commotion on the surface, and hopefully entice a bass who may or may not be looking up, to thinking "oh that's food, time to eat"
While each bait may have functional reasons to use it (ex: frogs are very weedless), I think the concept is the same - convincing the bass that it's food. While finish and body is important to us, the tiny little brain in a bass probably doesn't differentiate and say "oh a frog, I want that, but not that sunfish over there" - bass will pretty much eat anything, and if it's making a surface disturbance, even more likely. I've gotten bites on every single topwater lure I've ever used, and many on lakes I fish frequently. I'm sure some are the same fish. So it may be that body style or color isn't quite as important as we think for a topwater. Important? Yes, but probably not worth fretting over.
For me, the sunfish isn't going to be a game changer, I wish it was, but it'll probably be another "frog". But what it will do, if other reviews are correct, is offer me an insanely good skipping lure. My skipping skills are lacking, so this fills the void for an easy-to-use skipping topwater.
Maybe my points aren't totally scientific, but that's the characteristic of this bait that hooked me the most
We'll see later if it was worth my $13
I WILL buy one and I suspect I will do very well with it and I agree with you completely about it looking like it would be great to skip with. I just got caught up in the hype on this one. I had it built up in my mind as something I HAAAD to have because it was AMAAAAAAAZING. and then I saw it and I thought..."Oh...yeah..ok. That looks ok but not really like the end all be all. I have NO DOUBT it will cause some fun blow ups .
primetime reply :
It skips really well and lands nicely, I agree that it may not generate more strikes than a frog but if the color and size is right and bluegills are bedding, it can't hurt, plus I find skirts can get in the way at times, so that is a plus, and I feel they made it smaller than you would think for hook ups and quiet landing. If it becomes to long it is like the Boze ZZ walker where it is truly a miracle if you can hook 1/4 fish since it has 3" of plastic behind the hooks and in front of it...Fish spit it out before placing it in their mouth right, I find with the big Spro Frog you have to give them a few extra seconds for them to spin it or take it in, but I remove Skirts and put in rattles on frogs and it helps....
We all are guilty of overthinking lures, but that is what makes Bass Fishing Fun. I feel for $12 I like what I saw, Trokar hooks, nice colors that matter in clear water,and it does have a unique action different than any frog, still curious to see how it works today since bass are on the prowl and I am sure they are feeding near the bank where that will skip nicely...Just not sure I want to use it at this time of year to find out hook ups are bad. Live Target frogs are great so I am sure they tested them out, the mouse is also great, but it needs modifications for sure, if you don't bend those hooks you stick the skin more than the fish, but once fixed you stick most fish.
I don't want to bend these trokars...They are sturdy and look like they will be ok as far as not working against each other like older frogs. I noticed Booyah fixed the hooks and made the bodies firmer this year..at least the new colors...Not that that frog really needed fixing, but I like the harder body anyhow so glad they have a smoke color...
I still want a Molix Beetle after losing mine on my first cast...I love how that looks...Dicks has them for same price, and for night fishing a weedless jitterbug sounds good and the mouth cant fall off this one..
Heron reply :
Well, I bought it because I've watched fish at my lake take down injured bait fish at the surface. Sooo...seemed like a good idea
AQUA VELVA reply :
I checked out the 3'' at GM and it did look pretty tiny but on the other hand the 3'' or 3.5'' are probably a good, easy snack size for a hungry bass. I love top water so I'll most likely get one to try out. Like some of the posts above suggest, the bass will see it as just one more thing to eat.
Ringonu reply :
It's 25% off at field & stream. Not sure about Dicks. Might have to pick one up.
Hog Basser reply :
Tried mine out briefly on Saturday. Throws good, has a satisfying plop when it hits the water, action is good. I did not fish it very long because they weren't hitting topwater well that day (did not get a hit with it, but to be fair, I only fished it briefly). I will be giving it a more thorough test in the coming months. I used a hollow body frog on Sunday and caught a few with it, I imaging the same would've happened if I had this one tied on then. It's a nice bait to have in the arsenal, but I don't think I'll be running out and stocking up on them.
massrob reply :
I didn't expect the bigger one to be so much bigger I got the smaller one because that's all they had then saw the bigger one at dicks yesterday and I was surprised how much bigger it was. Still going to get some thought they look so good.
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