Rabid Baits Goby

Rabid Baits of Poultney, Vermont, has created a unique soft-plastic rendition of a round goby.

We corresponded with Bob Scott Sr., Bob Scott Jr., and Joshua Mossey, who are the owners of Rabid Baits, about this creation, and they sent a sample for us to work with and examine.

Here is what our examinations revealed about their Goby.

From the tip of its head to the tip of its tail, it measures 3 5/8 inches long.

Its head is five-eighths of an inch long and five-eighths of an inch wide at its widest spot with a circumference of about 1 3/4 inches. The tip of its snout has a slight indentation, and this indentation has a diameter of one-quarter of an inch. The eyes are pimple-like bumps, which are three-eighths of an inch from the tip of its snout, and they are about a quarter of an inch apart. The epidermis of the head’s predorsal area is smooth, as is its breast. The sides of the head are embossed with delicate etchings. The sides are about three-eighths of an inch high at their highest point.

At three-quarters of an inch from the tip of its snout, the Goby’s torso is adorned with a dorsal fin. It consists of two segments of a delicate assemblage of rabbit fur. (It is interesting that Bob Scott Sr., who is a dedicated fly fisherman, described it as a rabbit zonker, which is a fly-tying term). Each of the two segments of rabbit fur are securely hand-tied to the Goby’s torso. They are about 1 1/4 inches long.

At the junction of the bait’s head to its torso, each side of the torso is endowed with a pectoral fin. They are also made of rabbit fur, and they are slightly longer than one inch.

The Scotts have discovered that the rabbit-fur fins create what they describe as a “finesse action unlike any other” goby-style bait that has ever been made.

At 1 1/16 inches from the tip of its snout, the Goby’s torso is about five-sixteenths of an inch wide with a circumference of about 1 3/8 inches and height of about seven-sixteenths of an inch.

Two minuscule soft-plastic fins, which are almost invisible to the human eye, adorn the final 1 1/4 inches of the dorsal. The rest of the dorsal area is slightly convex with a smooth epidermis. Its ventral area is relatively flat with a smooth epidermis, and it is devoid of an anal fin. The Goby’s sides are imprinted with faint etchings.

The torso’s caudal peduncle section is considerably smaller than the area around its dorsal fins. For example, at 3 1/2 inches from the tip of its snout, it has a width of three-sixteenths of an inch with a circumference of about one inch and a height of five-sixteenths of an inch.

The final three inches of the bait is thin and possesses somewhat of a rectangular shape. Thus, it is not endowed with a homocercal-style tail of a real round goby. This area is about a quarter of an inch high with a width that ranges from one-eighth to one-sixteenth of an inch wide and a circumference of about five-eighths of an inch.

The Scotts note that the design of their Goby’s tail, its flat breast, and its flat ventral area produces a seductive gliding presentation, which is an attribute that Midwest Finesse anglers relish.

It is manufactured in the following hues: Citron, Erie, Ghost, Green Pumpkin Orange, and St Lawrence.

A package of four costs $7.99.

It was designed to be affixed to a Carolina rig, drop-shot rig, mushroom-style jig and a variety of other jigs. Of course, Midwest Finesse anglers will opt to wield it on a mushroom-style jig and employ it with six different retrieves.

Endnotes:

(1) For more information, visit RabidBaits.com.

(2) Midwest finesse anglers will present the Goby to their black-bass quarries by using all six of the standard Midwest finesse retrieves or slight variations of those retrieves. Here is the link to our Midwest Finesse column that explains how to execute those retrieves.

(3) Check out our previous gear guides regarding Rabid Bait’s Shaker Worm and the Rapid Craw.

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