I test pitching and flipping baits a lot, which has led to me becoming quite picky about my selection. It takes a lot for me to suggest this type of bait to our readers because, quite honestly, many of them are nearly identical. Something needs to make a heavy impression on me in order for me to suggest it.
The V&M Flat Wild has done just that—it has boosted my heavy-cover confidence since I started tinkering with it. It’s a legitimate fish-catcher for several reasons.
Here’s what you should know about it.
Outstanding hookup ratio
This has, by far, been the feature that has impressed me the most. I have had very few swing-and-miss hooksets while testing the V&M Flat Wild. When you’re pitching and flipping heavy cover, things can go wrong in a hurry, so this is a big consideration for me when I’m making a purchase.
This bait is much thinner than most beaver-type plastics I’ve fished. Both the head and the body of the Flat Wild are slender, which means one very important thing: There’s not much plastic that stands between the hook point and the bass. Even on post-frontal days with cold, muddy water (click here to watch a video of me catching ‘em on a Flat Wild) I have missed very few fish on this bait.
This may or may not be helped by the pork fat and added scent—I haven’t interviewed the bass about it and I’m still a little undecided on scents—but I’m sure that it doesn’t hurt. I will say that these baits don’t reek of plastic. They have a very natural smell to them and the bass haven’t been short striking it in my three months of testing.
No shaking or jiggling
The bait does have a fairly pronounced action underwater (it even leaves a slight bubble trail on the fall, thanks to the ribbed body), but it’s done without adding a bunch of unnecessary bulk to the overall profile. It has two long appendages that are no wider than the body and the two claws are designed to stay close to the body throughout the entry and retrieve.
What does this mean? Simply put, you don’t have to shake and jiggle your rod tip to make it fall through limbs, grass stalks or any other type of cover. I’ve had some bites by simply running down the bank and dragging it in clean water, but it seems to shine brightest in thick cover.
Just peg a sinker on top of it and get to pitching. You can cover water quite efficiently with it instead of fighting and disturbing the area to make it fall to the bottom.
Colors
I like the fact that V&M didn’t go nuts with the color selection. At the risk of sounding painfully cliché, I’m a meat-and-potatoes angler. I tend to shy away from the crazy colors that many manufacturers release because quite honestly, bass will always eat one of two colors: Green or blue.
The color selection of the Flat Wild covers all of the situations you’ll encounter. They use blue, black and green as the base colors with a little different-colored flake to cater to regional preferences. I like the simplicity and I sincerely appreciate it.
Durability
Because this bait is a bit thinner than most, the durability hasn’t blown me away thus far. I’ve tried it on a few different hook styles and I seem to be averaging two fish per bait. It’s also important to “check on it” every dozen casts to make sure the hook point is still buried.
Regardless, I’ll likely continue using this bait because it’s just catching them too well to ignore.
Final impressions
If you’re the type of angler who likes to pitch into thick laydowns, small holes in vegetation and flip boat docks, I think you’ll end up becoming a fan of the Flat Wild. It’s a no-frills bait but it has the right qualities that make it a big producer in tough conditions.
The V&M Flat Wild is available at TackleWarehouse.com.
