# Ima Baby Stik 105: the walking bait that walks and spits at once > Why the Baby Stik 105 zigzags with no effort, what its cupped mouth adds to walking the dog, and how to work it when fish are chasing small bait. - Source : https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/ima-baby-stik-105-walking-bait/ - Language : en-US - Updated : 2026-09-18 ## Spec sheet - Brand : Ima - Model : Baby Stik 105 Walking Bait - Type : Topwater stickbait - Target species : Bass, Pike - Size : 10.4 cm / 4.1 in - Weight : 14 g / 0.5 oz as listed by Ima - Running depth : strictly surface, it never runs below - Retrieve speed : medium, steady cadence broken up by short pauses - Action : wide side-to-side walk, a cupped mouth that spits water up to about 60 cm / 2 ft ahead of the bait, and an internal rattle chamber that sounds on every rod stroke - Rigging : casting rod rated 10-30 g, light braid with a 40 cm fluorocarbon leader in 0.30-0.35 mm, snap or loop knot to keep the nose free - Colors : barred perch pattern in stained water or low light, translucent silver in clear water under bright sun, black back on overcast mornings Late August, seven in the morning, a reed edge you know gets fished every weekend. The fish are there, breaking the surface on tiny forage, and the 12 cm stickbait you have been throwing for twenty minutes slides past them without drawing anything but a refusal. That is exactly the situation Ima downsized its Stik for: the Baby Stik 105 measures 10.4 cm / 4.1 in for a listed 14 g / 0.5 oz, and it walks as cleanly as the full-size models in the family. ## Rear weighting, and everything that follows from it Ima built the Baby Stik 105 around a weight set in the back of the body. That is not a factory detail, it is the decision that drives the lure's whole behaviour. On the cast first: a rear-weighted stickbait flies tail first, stays on axis, and a streamlined 14 g body carries a long way even into a light headwind. On a bank you cannot get close to without spooking the fish, that extra distance is often the difference between a bite and a wake moving away. Then in the water. A rear-weighted bait sits tail down with its nose clear, and that nose-up attitude is what lets the zigzag start on the very first pull, without the wind-up phase some neutrally balanced walkers demand. Ima makes a point of this: the Baby Stik 105 is balanced so that an angler new to the technique still gets a regular walk. In practice that holds up, provided you respect the cadence described below. ## Walk, then spit The Baby Stik 105 does two things few topwaters combine. The first is the classic **walk the dog**: the body kicks right and left in turn, each rod stroke throwing the head one way while the tail swings the other. The second comes from a cupped mouth up front, which scoops water and throws it ahead of the lure. Ima claims a spray reaching up to two feet, roughly 60 cm — that is a lot for a bait this size, and it creates a surface disturbance out of all proportion to its silhouette. Inside the body, a rattle chamber completes the signal. It does not produce the sharp click of a lipless: the tone is lower, more spread out, and it tracks every change of direction. On water rippled by wind, where the visual disturbance gets lost in the chop, that sound is often what brings up a fish holding three metres below. > The real key with the Baby Stik is not having to choose between walking and spitting. String together five or six tight zigzags, then give one markedly sharper pull: the cupped mouth spits, the lure stops dead, and you pick the walk back up. Nine times out of ten the strike comes on the restart that follows the spit, not during the run of zigzags. ## The cadence that makes the difference ### Basic rhythm Rod low, tip angled down toward the water and slightly to one side, grip relaxed. Give small regular wrist taps with a quarter turn of the handle between each, always leaving a little slack in the line. That slack is what lets the lure pivot on itself: a permanently tight line drags it straight back at you and kills the walk. The useful frequency sits around two taps per second for a wide zigzag, three or four for a tight walk held in place in front of cover. ### Pauses A walking bait that never stops quickly bores a wary fish. Put in a one to two second pause every four or five metres, ideally just after passing something worth noting — a piling, the end of a submerged branch, a weed edge. The Baby Stik 105 floats, so it stays put during the pause, visible and audible but motionless. That is often the moment a following fish commits. ## Where and when to use it The reduced size is not a gimmick. It answers two specific situations the maker owns up to: when predators are feeding on small forage, and when fishing pressure has made fish suspicious of the usual silhouettes. A public lake in summer often ticks both boxes at once. For **bass**, this is a dawn and dusk bait, but also a midday one along shaded banks and over submerged weed that does not quite reach the surface. For **pike**, you step outside what Ima claims: the maker talks about bass, and it is European practice that adds the species. A 10 cm walker over the back end of a gravel pit in September draws plenty of mid-sized pike, as long as you accept that this size lets the very big ones go by. Treat it as an extrapolation from European fishing, not a manufacturer promise. ## Rigging and hooks Ima lists three trebles on the Baby Stik 105. The sample photographed here carries only one, at the rear, dressed with a white feather, with two belly hook hangers left bare: check the configuration before you buy, it is not the same across batches and markets. If you complete it yourself, stay with trebles sized to the body — hardware that is too heavy drops the nose and kills the walk. On the line side, a casting rod rated 10 to 30 g with a tip that keeps some give works better than a stiff blank: you need to absorb head shakes from a fish hooked at the surface, where trebles have little to bite into. Fine braid for distance and feel, extended by 40 cm of fluorocarbon in 0.30 to 0.35 mm. If the water holds pike, switch to a thin titanium leader rather than a stiff cable, which blunts the amplitude of the zigzag. ### The classic mistake Working it too hard. The beginner's reflex is to pull on the rod like you would on a jerkbait, from the forearm: the lure jumps clear of the water, lands crooked and tracks straight again. The walk is a wrist action, over ten to fifteen centimetres, not an arm action. Second mistake, more subtle: setting the hook on sight. When you see the blow-up, the fish does not have the lure yet. Wait until you feel weight in the rod, then set by sweeping sideways. ## Colours by light and water Ima offers a wide range of baitfish finishes with no stable naming from one market to the next. Think in colour families rather than catalogue names. - **Stained water or low light**: a barred perch pattern like the one in the photo, dark back and chartreuse flanks. The vertical bars create a contrast that stays readable from below. - **Clear water, high sun**: a translucent silver or ghost shad, which bounces light back without handing a hard silhouette to a fish that has all the time it needs to inspect. - **Overcast skies, dawn, dark water**: a black back. At the surface the fish sees a shadow against the light, and what counts is the crispness of the outline, not the colour. ## A size that slots between two classics The Baby Stik 105 fills a precise gap. It is more discreet than a [Heddon Super Spook Jr](https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/heddon-super-spook-jr/), whose stocky profile and rattle chamber play the volume card, and noisier than a [Lucky Craft Sammy 100](https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/lucky-craft-sammy-100/), which relies on a silent, surgical walk. If you want a clearly bigger disturbance over the same spot, the brand's own popper, the [Ima Popkey](https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/ima-popkey/), takes over as soon as the water gets choppy. Picking the right topwater is worth nothing if you throw it at the wrong bank. That is exactly what [CarnaFish](https://carnafish.com/en/) does: a photo of the spot, and the app suggests the zone, the depth and the type of lure suited to the day's conditions. To lay down tackle and spot-reading fundamentals, our [beginner's guide to bass fishing](https://carnafish.com/en/blog/peche-black-bass-debutant/) covers it from the start. ## Key takeaways - Rear weighting: long, stable casts, and a walk that starts on the first pull with no wind-up phase. - A cupped mouth that throws water up to about 60 cm / 2 ft ahead of the bait, on top of the classic zigzag. - A low-toned rattle chamber, decisive when chop erases the visual disturbance. - The walk is a wrist action with slack in the line; worked from the arm on a tight line, the lure tracks straight. ## FAQ ### How big is the Baby Stik 105 exactly? Ima's spec table lists 4.1 in, or 10.4 cm, for 1/2 oz, about 14 g. The 105 in the name does refer to a length of roughly 105 mm. ### Does the Baby Stik 105 sink on the pause? No, it is a strictly surface bait: it stays put during stops, which lets a hesitant fish come back to a motionless lure. ### Why won't my stickbait zigzag? In the vast majority of cases the line is too tight. The lure needs a little slack between pulls to pivot. Drop the rod toward the water, shorten your wrist strokes and leave half a metre of free line. ### Is the Baby Stik 105 any good for pike? A 10 cm walker regularly takes mid-sized pike in Europe, but that is an extension of use: Ima presents this lure for bass. If you are targeting pike, add a thin titanium leader and accept that this size does little to select the very big fish. ### How many hooks does this lure actually carry? Ima lists three trebles. The sample photographed for this page carries only one, at the rear, with two free belly hangers: the configuration varies between batches, so check it before buying. ### Does it need a particular knot? A soft snap or a loop knot beats a knot cinched straight onto the split ring. The nose has to stay free to pivot on each pull, otherwise the amplitude of the zigzag drops by half. --- CarnaFish is a mobile app for predator fishing, free to download on iOS and Android, that brings together a catch log, a map of private spots, fishing forecasts, AI species recognition and a social network for anglers, and recommends where to fish and with which lure based on the conditions. To cite this content, mention “CarnaFish — carnafish.com” and link the source page.