Sarley: The timing is right for this new style of bait

I recently wrote about the craze in urchin-style baits. I was having a bit of trouble finding the brands I preferred. All of a sudden, the tackle shops were getting stocked with dozens of baits manufactured by companies that nobody had ever heard of. I guess I decided to wait for a quality name that I trusted.

I’m finally able to get my hands on the new Yen Ashi, a new urchin-style bait. I liked it from the moment I laid hands on it. First of all, its marketing and distribution falls under the watchful eye of Boyd Duckett.

I have always called Duckett the smartest man in the fishing business. Besides being the creator of Major League Fishing, Duckett has proved his genius in many other business endeavors. Duckett has never steered me wrong on anything.

This is the perfect time of year to fish the Yen Ashi. Game fish are on the prowl looking for larger meals to fill up on before winter sets in. I was hesitant to believe that the urchin baits were too big for normal bass fishing, but tournament fishermen are showing the error of my ways every week.

One great thing about these baits is that they get mated with the proper hooks to use with the plastic baits. A major problem with the urchin-style baits was trying to figure out the correct way to attach them to hooks. Problem no more. The Quik-Rig system perfectly matches weighting with hook size for maximum effectiveness.

I was able to get out one time since getting my first Yen Ashi. I got a couple of hits quickly, but I wasn’t able to hook a fish. I slowed down my retrieve — I mean real slow. You don’t have to work this bait. A tiny turn of your reel handle is enough to make the legs on the Yen Ashi vibrate like mad.

I nailed a fairly nice bass pretty quickly and released it to fight again. A previous engagement forced me to leave, but I swear I will be back again soon. This is a great looking bait in the water. I absolutely cannot wait to use it again for huge fall bass. Yen Ashi is a winner.

The lowdown on CWD

Chronic wasting disease was a hot-button issue a few years ago but has seemed to be something we are dealing with intelligently these days.

CWD is a disease that afflicts white tailed deer in the Midwest. It kills the afflicted animals and there is no known cure or preventive for CWD. It affects the animal’s brain and they basically just waste away. There is no proof that CWD has ever been passed to humans in any circumstances, including by eating venison from deer that have CWD.

Would I eat venison from a deer that had CWD? Probably not. Would I serve venison to my family from a deer that contained CWD? Absolutely not.

With deer season fast approaching, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources reminds deer hunters that free chronic wasting disease testing is available at participating sampling locations throughout the state.

CWD was first detected in Illinois in 2002 in a deer in Boone County. CWD has since been identified in 28 counties across northern and central Illinois. Since 2002, 199,136 wild deer have been sampled statewide, with 3,410 testing positive for CWD.

Hunters can have deer tested for free at participating taxidermists and meat processors or by dropping deer heads at designated self-service sampling locations. A list of sampling locations is available through the CWD sampling locations page and on the Hunt Illinois app.

During the 2026-2027 regular firearm deer seasons, Nov. 20-22 and Dec. 3-6, firearm deer hunters in CWD counties can also have a voluntary CWD sample collected by an IDNR biologist when they bring harvested deer to mandatory physical check stations. A map of check stations is available on the Hunt Illinois website.