The Year of the Bait Finesse System - BFS
One of the fastest-growing segments in fishing over the past several years is the Bait Finesse System, or simply BFS, where anglers are finding ways to utilize ultra-light line on baitcast setups to catch fish with bite-sized lures. Originally developed to combat heavily pressured waters in Japan, it has made its way to America over the past decade and continues to gain steam every year as it crosses into the mainstream.
It’s a unique way to target fish and can be very productive, whether you are targeting bass, panfish, or trout. Those who’ve tried it can’t emphasize enough how much fun it is. Among those who are hooked on BFS are Matt Allen, half of the highly popular Tactical Bassin YouTube channel and Seaguar Assistant Sales Manager, Chris Rosella. Both Allen and Rosella have found themselves reaching for lighter gear more often in recent years, though for very different uses.
A New Way to Target Bass
Allen spent years as a guide on California’s Clear Lake and has been filming videos for his channel alongside Tim Little for well over a decade. In that time, he’s caught bass every way imaginable, but BFS quickly grabbed his attention once he tried it.
“Hands down the reason for BFS is the fun factor,” he began. “Not everybody is blessed to live on a fishery full of 10-pound bass, and with light tackle, you have the ultimate leveler of the field. You show up to a fishery with smaller fish, and you will get your arms pulled more than any other kind of bass fishing. Then, if you do hook a giant on light gear, you will be taken for a ride; it’s incredible.”
Like everything else in fishing, you can find rods and reels for just about any budget, and BFS is no different. Allen says there are plenty of options because of the popularity of this style of fishing, with light or medium-light baitcast rods and specially designed BFS reels with shallow spools that can cast light baits.
“There’s a plethora of options because Bait Finesse has exploded,” he said. “You can spend a fortune, but there are some great budget options as well.”
Three BFS Bass Lures
Just about any finesse technique or lure that anglers would normally fish on spinning gear is fair game for BFS, and there are many downsized versions of popular bass lures that also work great. These are all part of Allen’s arsenal, but he has three favorites: twitch baits like the Megabass Karashi, small soft plastic jerkbaits, and miniature creature baits that he flips and pitches to cover.
“The Karashi is the No. 1 bait that anyone who wants to try BFS should own. It will show you what this way of fishing is capable of faster than anything else,” he said. “The second would be a tiny soft jerkbait like the 3.5-inch X-Zone Whiplash shad. In that smaller size, bass behave and react differently than they would with a standard-sized bait as they chase and eat the bait. The last one is finesse flipping with a little 2.5-inch crawfish soft plastic like the X-Zone Stealth Craw, a size 1 hook, and a 1/16- to 1/8-ounce weight, fished in the same places you would flip with much heavier line. It’s shocking that the fish you hook swim out into open water and you are not pulling on them hard enough to have them bury in the cover to get away.”
For the Megabass Karashi that measures 2.3 inches and weighs 3/16 ounce, Allen prefers 6 to 8-pound fluorocarbon, but the bulk of his BFS fishing is done with a braided line and fluorocarbon. His choice of braid is the ultra-thin Seaguar PEX8.
“The diameter is unbelievably thin, and I’m powering up far above what you would think for BFS and using a lot of 18-pound test because it’s thin enough to cast light baits and it ties beautifully to 6 or 8-pound Seaguar Gold Label fluorocarbon,” he said. “The other great thing about PEX8 and the thin diameter is that you can get a lot more line on reels with shallow spools that normally have terrible line capacity. I go with Gold Label because it’s very strong for the diameter and allows you to maintain that very, very finesse presentation with smaller baits.”
A New Way to Tackle Trout
Rosella is a lifelong fly angler and has found himself gravitating to light baitcast gear much more often in recent years when targeting trout in creeks. These waters in his home state of Pennsylvania are home to native brook and wild brown trout, as well as a host of stocked species, and all of them can be effectively targeted with BFS.
Using pistol grip rods between 4.5 and 5.5 feet long with super-tuned reels, Rosella can cast tiny jerkbaits with ease. “With the shorter rod, you can make one-handed casts under brush and banks,” he said. “These setups are so much more effective for casting and covering water. I’ve been a fly fisherman my whole life, and I used to bring one BFS rod and one fly rod, and I’ve been using BFS so much more because of how well it works, and the drawing power of these hard baits is incredible.”
The jerkbaits he prefers, such as the Megabass Flatside and Humpback, are fast-sinking and roughly 45 to 60mm in size. He goes with barbless treble hooks or single barbless hooks to protect the fish and says these small baits will catch anything swimming in the creeks.
“You will be fishing and catching a number of brook trout less than 10 inches long, with most being 4 to 6 inches long, and then you’ll hook into a 19 or 20-inch brown trout; it’s pretty cool,” he said. “The drawing power of these baits as you work them around cover and into the current is something you really don’t see with other lures.”
His line of choice is Seaguar PEX8 in either the 12- or 16-pound size, and he prefers it for many of the same reasons as Allen but also mentioned the line's weight. “PEX8 is very limp and soft, but it’s also the lightest braid I have found in terms of how much it actually weighs, and with a lighter line, you can cast much further,” he said. “I’ll even spool my reels only halfway to keep the weight down even more and help with casting distance and accuracy. From there I’ll use a short 3- to 4-foot leader of 4, 6, or 8 lb Seaguar Grand Max, which is very thin but also has great abrasion resistance.”
The trend of downsizing to smaller baits for use on a baitcast setup has arrived in America and continues to grow in popularity every year. Once anglers give it a shot, there is often no turning back, as hooking into a fish with light line and a small bait is a thrill that is hard to describe.
Seaguar PEX8 Micro Braid is available in 200-meter spools (219 yards) and comes in 12, 16, 18, 21, 24, and 33 lb tests. (This is a micro-thin braid. Please check line diameter when selecting product.)
Seaguar Gold Label Fluorocarbon leader is available in 25- and 50-yard spools in 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 lb tests for freshwater use, complementing the 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, and 80 lb test leaders available for saltwater.
Seaguar Grand Max Fluorocarbon leader is available in 60-meter (66 yards) spools in 2-40 lb tests.