Meet the Vermin: The Weedless Rat Built for the Nastiest Water
A rat swimming across the surface isn't something bass see every day, but when they do, it's an opportunity for an easy meal.
That's the idea behind the Googan Squad Vermin Weedless Rat.
Developed over more than a year by LakeForkGuy, Jon B, and Googan product designer Phillip, the Vermin was designed to bring the profile and natural swimming action of a rat to a soft-bodied bait you can throw almost anywhere.
Its segmented body creates a realistic swimming action across the surface, while an internal mesh system adds durability and a belly hook slot allows it to be rigged weedless with a weighted swimbait hook.
The result is a topwater bait you can swim across open water, over grass and pads, around docks, through laydowns, and into the kind of cover where you'd expect a real mouse or rat to end up.
Here's how more than a year of designing, testing, and refining turned the Vermin from an idea into one of the most unique baits in the Googan lineup.
More Than a Year in the Making
The Vermin started with LakeForkGuy, Jon B, and Googan product designer Phillip working together to develop a rat bait that didn't just look the part. It needed to fish the way they wanted it to.
Over more than a year, the team worked through the design, action, durability, and rigging of the bait.
A realistic segmented body needed enough movement to create a convincing swimming action across the surface, but those same segments couldn't become weak points after a few aggressive strikes. The bait also needed to move naturally while being able to work through grass, pads, wood, and other cover.
Those challenges helped shape the Vermin into the bait it is today.
Built to Swim Like the Real Thing
Throw the Vermin into the water and the idea behind the bait becomes pretty obvious.
On a steady retrieve, the segmented body moves across the surface with the profile and swimming motion of a small rat or mouse making its way across the water.
That natural swimming action gives bass a presentation they don't see nearly as often as a traditional topwater bait.
You can slow it down and let the body work, add pauses to make the bait look vulnerable, or pick up the pace and make it look like something trying to get back to shore in a hurry.
A Segmented Body Built to Last
Getting the movement right was only part of developing the Vermin. The team also needed to make sure the segmented design could hold up once fish started eating it.
That's where the internal mesh reinforcement system comes in.
The mesh reinforces the segmented body and helps prevent the individual sections from ripping apart after repeated strikes. It gives the Vermin the flexibility needed to create its swimming action while adding durability where a segmented soft bait needs it most.
It's a feature you might not immediately notice when you pull the bait out of the package, but it can make a big difference after you've caught multiple fish on the same Vermin.
Rigged Weedless and Ready for Cover
The other major piece of the Vermin's design is how it's rigged.
A hook slot along the belly allows the bait to be paired with a weighted swimbait hook and rigged weedless. With the hook point protected, you can work the Vermin through areas where exposed treble hooks can become a problem.
That opens up a lot of water.
Fish it around:
- Lily pads
- Thick grass
- Mats
- Laydowns
- Boat docks
- Overhanging trees
- Shallow cover
- Open water
Instead of stopping your retrieve when you reach vegetation or cover, the Vermin is designed so you can keep fishing through it.
Bring it across a mat and into an opening. Swim it alongside a dock. Throw it underneath an overhanging tree. Work it parallel to a grass line.
Those are exactly the types of places the Vermin was made to explore.
How to Fish the Vermin Weedless Rat
There's no single "correct" retrieve for the Vermin.
The segmented body gives you room to experiment with speed, pauses, and cadence until you figure out what the fish want.
Slow and Steady
A steady retrieve is the easiest place to start.
Cast the Vermin out and bring it back at a consistent speed, allowing the segmented body to create its natural swimming action across the surface.
Add Pauses
Mix short pauses into your retrieve.
Swim the bait several feet, stop it, and then start moving again. That change in movement can make the Vermin look vulnerable and give a following bass an opportunity to strike.
Burn It
Don't be afraid to speed things up.
Burn the Vermin across the surface to create a faster, fleeing presentation. This can be especially effective when bass are actively feeding and willing to chase.
Experiment With It
Change speeds. Add twitches. Pause it beside cover. Bring it across vegetation and let it work through openings.
The Vermin is capable of multiple retrieves, so don't get stuck fishing it one way.
Let the fish tell you how they want it.
Where to Fish a Rat Lure
One of the best things about fishing the Vermin is how many different places you can put it.
Start by looking at areas where a mouse, rat, or other small animal could naturally enter the water.
Overhanging trees, grassy banks, docks, laydowns, lily pads, and shoreline vegetation are all obvious targets.
But don't limit yourself to the bank.
The Vermin can also be worked over submerged grass, across openings in vegetation, around offshore cover, or through open water when bass are feeding near the surface.
Its weedless design gives you the ability to experiment with casts and areas that may be difficult to fish with a traditional treble-hooked topwater.
Five Vermin Color Patterns
The Vermin launches in five color patterns inspired by the small animals bass could encounter around the water:
- Chipmunk
- Black and Brown
- Lab Rat
- Field Mouse
- Squirrel
Each pattern maintains the rodent profile at the center of the Vermin's design while giving anglers different looks to experiment with on the water.
What's Included?
Each pack includes:
- 2 Vermin Weedless Rats
- 1 weighted weedless swimbait hook
The Vermin features a roughly 5-inch body with a 3-inch tail, creating a substantial surface profile while maintaining the swimming action the bait was designed around.
Rig one up with the included hook and it's ready to fish straight out of the pack.
A Different Kind of Topwater Bite
Topwater fishing is already one of the most exciting ways to catch a bass. Throw a swimming rat into the equation and things get even more interesting.
More than a year of development went into making sure the Vermin wasn't just a bait that looked cool sitting in the package. LakeForkGuy, Jon B, Phillip, and the Googan Squad team worked to create a rat bait with realistic swimming action, added durability, and a weedless design that allows anglers to put it around serious cover.
The result is the Googan Squad Vermin Weedless Rat.
Rig it up, put it somewhere a rat probably doesn't want to be, and see what happens.
