Bobby Garland Fry Ball Urchin

The Bobby Garland Fry Ball is a 0.75-inch urchin-style soft plastic built for crappie, sunfish and trout when the bite calls for a finesse presentation. Two intersecting jighead openings let you rig the same bait vertically for jigging or horizontally for casting and dock shooting.

Each opening runs straight across the round body through a spot with no appendages, so the hook point goes in one side and out the other before the bait slides up to the jighead. Every appendage ends in a tapered, forked tail designed to give off subtle vibration even when the bait sits still.

How small it is, and why the shape matters

The Fry Ball is a tiny bait, but its round, compact body gives fish a fuller look than a slim plastic of similar size. With no long tail, there is little for a short-striking fish to nip without taking the hook. In early field use with a #6 hook, the hook point was the longest part of the rig, bites were often too light to feel, and fish were hooked in the top lip.

Material and packaging

• Made from stretchy TPE, which held up without tearing in early field use.
• Six baits per pack, sealed in a leak-proof jar filled with distilled water to protect bait shape and freshness.
• Rigs on a 1/64-oz to 1/8-oz jighead with a size 4 to size 8 hook.