FishLab Bio-Rat Top Water Bait | ICAST 2022 Sneak Peek

When I first heard that Bill Siemantel of BBZ Baits was working with FishLab on some new introductions, I was very excited. And now to hear that he was working on a new top water rat, I was ecstatic! This year, Bill and the FishLab team have come up with the new FishLab Bio-Rat top water buzz bait. These baits will certainly create a lot of Buzz!

If you aren’t familiar with Freshwater Hall of Fame angler Bill Siemantel, you should do a little research. This guy can flat out fish! And above that, he has created some of the most popular big bass baits on the market. Baits like the BBZ Rats and Phat Flies to name a few, have been responsible for many a double-digit fish over the year. But to team up with a new manufacturer is phenomenal.

ICAST Introductions

A couple of weeks back I was contacted by FishLab to see if I’d be interested in receiving some of their new baits that they will be introducing at this years ICAST show in Orlando. If you are not familiar with ICAST, it is the largest, industry only show in the US. This is where every major player in the fishing industry rolls out their new introductions for the following year. It is a great show to attend if you happen to get all geeked up the way we do when we see new fishing product. That all said, when FishLab approached and asked if I’d be interested, I said heck yeah! Lets do it! And with that, a nice box of baits arrived at my door.

In this review I will go through the new Bio-Rat top water buzz bait from top to bottom and go point by point on this bait. Not to get ahead of myself, these these are pretty awesome baits.

Specs of Bait Reviewed

FishLab Bio-Rat Review

With most of my reviews, I will generally start with the packaging. This would be what you would first see when you pick a bait right off the shelf. Unfortunately these baits did not come with any retail packaging, but in a simple poly-bag which I am assuming most samples come in. FishLab does offer very nice retail packaging on their baits, so I’m sure it’ll be great. I like their purple and white packaging. Its clean.

The first image is a semi-straight down look at the bait. As you can see it has two sets of hooks below, a mean looking face, contoured body, and cupped feet at the back that give it the “buzz,” as well as a jointed tail.

Getting Ahead of Ourselves

Now lets start at the head and work our way down the bait.

Taking a look at the image below, you can see that they Bio-Rat has an aggressive look to it. Not too cartoonish, but just looks plain mean! You can get a feel for what we will be looking at, just from the nose section of the bait. The indented whisker holes, rounded nose, slanted brow with inset eyes give him that mean look. You can also see the ear cut out on the images below as well.

Speaking of ears, as I pull back a bit, you can get a full feel for the ears, as well as the rest of the length of the body. Below the year you can also see the carved out hands and forward legs tucked in tight against the body. You also get a sense of the fur grooves on this bait as well.

One last image from the front to give you an idea of the front view of the bait. This is looking directly down the nose. You can see how slim, yet substantial this bait really is.

FishLab Bio-Rat Butt and Tail

As I rotate the Bio-Rat around, you get your first full look at the back end of these baits. You can see the tucked in rear legs in the below image, and see how they are carved in tight to the body giving this bait an overall slim profile.

In the image above, you can also get your first look at how the tail is attached to the bait. There is a small toothpick that is right above the butt that holds in the tail for easy change out when needed.

Below is a better look at that toothpick attachment.

FishLab Bio-Rat Underside

At this point, lets go ahead and take a look at the underside of these baits. This would be hook attachments as well as the hooks themselves. From there, we can get into the feet and tail of this bait.

Under the chin of the Bio-Rat, you will find a sold ring with a heavy-duty split ring attached. This will be your only line attachment point. Having it low like that does keep the nose of the bait up and out of the water, or at least up on the surface.

Sliding back from the line attachment point, you come across the first hook. These are very beefy BKK hooks, with nice heavy duty split rings attached. These dudes are SHARP, as evidenced by the blood on my shirt :).

Here is the only shot I have of the rear hook. I thought I had some others, but I guess not. Not a good look, but you can see the hook itself, as well as part of the split ring. They are also both attached to a nice solid underbelly ring.

Below you can see the underneath section of the toothpick tail holder as well.

Lets Talk About Feet

As you know, there are several Plopper style baits out on the market in several different designs with the Whopper Plopper by River2Sea probably being the most popular. In fact, check out the full review I did on the River2Sea Whopper Plopper HERE. The FishLab Bio-Rat happens to be a double plopper style bait that has a pretty unique foot design. A few years back Savage Gear introduced their top water duck which had a similar design called the Suicide Duck. These are a dual-cup design, with some incredible detail. In fact, these have to be the best detail on a plopper style bait that I have seen.

The FishLab Bio-Rat has two clear plopper style feet that as I mentioned, have some incredible detail. On the clear cup are two carved in feet designs that look incredible.

Each of the feet are attached to a small through-wire with ball design. These keep the feet spinning freely.

Here is a quick look at the inside of the foot where the more cupped side is.

FishLab Bio-Rat Tail

The last component we will look at on the FishLab Bio-Rat is the tail. This is always a key component of a rat style bait, and these are pretty nice indeed. Of course Bill Siemantel is known for his Rat baits from BBZ, so it is no surprise that the first introduction is a Rat bait, and of course, his signature tail design.

Each Bio-Rat will also come with an additional tail in the package if you should happen to loose one.

Conclusion

The FishLab Bio-Rat top water plopper style buzz bait will be a great addition to your arsenal. And one really cool thing that I did not mention, is that they will be available in two sizes, a 7 1/2″ and 10″ bait. That small 7 1/2″ bait is perfect for most anglers and has a ton of action, and can be thrown on just about any rod. You don’t need a heavy swimbait stick to make that bait work.

The two samples I received are the Grey in 10″ and the White (more Bone) in 7 1/2″. They will also be offering Brown, Black and Morning Dawn in the color lineup. Another really cool thing about the FishLab Bio-Rat lineup is that they will retail from $21.99 to $24.99 once they are released in the fall. Very affordable!

You can check out the entire lineup of new baits from FishLab HERE.

Thank you all for stopping by to check out the new FishLab Bio-Rat baits. Looking forward to some early morning and late afternoon top water explosions!

See you all on the water!

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