Riot Baits' Baton

One of Riot Baits’ press releases exclaims that their Baton “is the ‘wackiest worm on the planet.’”

In essence, it is a 4 7/8-inch stick- or Senko-style bait with a configuration that is called tri-module. This design, which is coupled with a heavy concentration of salt, allows the Baton to possess a fast fall rate, and as it falls from the surface of the water to the bottom, it exhibits a series of unique gyrations and undulations. When it is rigged wacky style, it gyrates very dramatically, and the folks at Riot Baits like to say that those actions cannot be paralleled by any other whacky-rigged soft-plastic bait. What’s more, it gyrates without an angler inciting the Baton by shaking his rod and creating a series of S-curves in the line from the tip of the rod to the surface of the water.

The front or the first of the three sections is 1 3/4 inches long. It is seven-sixteenths of an inch wide at its widest spot with a circumference of about 1 15/16 inches. The tip of this section is flat and circular shaped, and it has a diameter of a quarter of an inch with a circumference of about eleven-sixteenths of an inch. This is the head or end of the Baton’s anterior section.

The middle or second section is 1 15/16 inches long. It is seven-sixteenths of an inch wide at its widest spot with a circumference of about 1 5/16 inches. When an angler is employing the Baton with a wacky rigging, this section is where an O-ring or a collar is affixed and a hook is inserted.

The posterior or third section is 1 3/4 inches long. It is seven-sixteenths of an inch wide at its widest spot with a circumference of 1 5/16 inches. The end or tip of this section is pointed; its shape is similar to a sharpened pencil or a bullet.

The epidermis of all three sections is encircled with scores of tiny ribs, which are too small and numerous to count. But there are about 20 of them per inch.

Besides employing the Baton with a wacky rigging, it can be affixed Texas style to an extra-wide-gap hook with or without a bullet-shaped slip sinker. Anglers can also employ the Baton on a shaky-head jig.

Midwest finesse anglers can customize the Baton by cutting it in half and creating two baits. Both of them will be about 2 3/8 inches long. They will affix them to a mushroom-style jig with an exposed hook. The hook of the mushroom-style jig can be inserted into what was the middle section of the Baton. Thus, one of them will have a sharply pointed end as its posterior, and the other one will have a flat posterior end that has a diameter of a quarter of an inch with a circumference of about eleven-sixteenths of an inch.

Across the years, however, Midwest finesse anglers have discovered that there are many times when it is an effective tactic to insert the hook of the mushroom-style jig into the sharply pointed end of the Baton, making the flat or blunt end into the posterior section of this rig. When employing this rigging, most Midwest finesse anglers have found that it is best to use a 1/32-ounce jig.

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Moreover, when one end of the customized Baton becomes too tattered and torn to stay snuggly affixed to the mushroom-style jig, the other end can be attached to the jig.

It is available in the following colors: Baby Bass, Black Sapphire, Green Pumpkin, Kush, Money, Riots, Money Bandit, Tidal Bandit, and Watermelon Red. It is heavily salted.

A package of 10 costs $4.99.

Endnotes

(1) Here is a link to Riot Baits’ website: https://www.riotbaits.com/product/baton/.

(2) Here is a link to our gear guide about Riot Baits’ Relic: http://www.in-fisherman.com/editorial/riot-baits-relic/328290.

(3) Here is the link to the interview with Matt Stark about Riot Baits: http://www.in-fisherman.com/bass/riot-fishing-interview-matt-stark/.

(4) Here is a link to our gear guide about Riot Baits’ Tantrum: http://www.in-fisherman.com/editorial/Riot%20Baits'%20Tantrum/331092.

(5) Here is the link to the Feb. 17, 2015, gear guide about Riot Baits’ Urami Worm: http://www.in-fisherman.com/bass/riot-baits-urami-worm/.

(6) When the Baton is rigged onto a mushroom-style jig, Midwest finesse anglers will use all six of their standard retrieves or slight variations of those retrieves. Here is a link to a Midwest finesse column that explains how to execute those retrieves: http://www.in-fisherman.com/editorial/six-midwest-finesse-retrieves/153946.