B'Freeze 65SP

The B'Freeze 65SP is a compact 65 mm suspending minnow from Lucky Craft and one of the most notable Japanese models in the long-running B'Freeze series.

It uses a dedicated balancing weight to create a low center of gravity, while its fixed-weight construction emphasizes stability and immediate response to retrieve and rod input.

The 65SP weighs 5.0 g and runs at approximately 1.2 meters.

Its action is not limited to one presentation. It can be retrieved steadily, twitched, or jerked, allowing anglers to move between a natural swimming presentation and sharper reaction-oriented movements with the same lure.

A particularly distinctive part of the design is what happens when the lure stops: it quickly reduces forward movement, shows a brief struggling motion, and then suspends.

The B'Freeze 65SP became particularly important in Japanese bass fishing through spring wakasagi patterns.

Lucky Craft describes how, from around 2000, expert anglers began using the 65SP extensively on major fisheries in the Kanto region when bass were feeding on wakasagi.

Its compact 65 mm profile is well suited to small baitfish, while the suspending action allows anglers to stop the lure in the strike zone after an active retrieve.

The combination of a small baitfish profile, sharp response, and controlled pause made the 65SP especially well suited to the precise, bait-matching approach commonly seen on pressured Japanese waters.

It remains an interesting example of how a relatively small hard bait can play an important role in Japanese bass fishing history.

The B'Freeze 65SP can be fished with a steady retrieve, twitches, jerks, or combinations of these presentations.

For a basic wakasagi-oriented approach, anglers can retrieve the lure through areas where small baitfish are present, then use pauses to take advantage of its suspending behavior.

Twitches and jerks make use of the lure's responsive fixed-weight design, while a steady retrieve allows its compact minnow profile and swimming action to work with relatively little angler input.

The pause is an important part of the presentation. The lure quickly reduces its forward movement and settles into a suspended position, creating a clear transition from active movement to an apparently vulnerable baitfish.

• Spring wakasagi patterns
• Bass feeding on small baitfish
• Clear to moderately stained water
• Pressured Japanese reservoirs and lakes
• Steady retrieve presentations
• Twitch-and-pause retrieves
• Jerk-and-pause retrieves
• Situations where a compact suspending minnow matches the available forage
• Fishing around approximately the 1 m depth range

US anglers may recognize the B'Freeze name through Lucky Craft's international history, but the 65SP is particularly interesting from a Japanese bass-fishing perspective.

While the original B'Freeze 78SP became known in the US under the Pointer 78SP name, the smaller B'Freeze 65SP developed a strong following in Japan, particularly for spring wakasagi patterns.

At 65 mm and only 5.0 g, it offers a much smaller presentation than many mainstream jerkbaits used for bass in the US.

Its fixed-weight design sacrifices some casting distance compared with moving-weight designs, but emphasizes stability and immediate action response.

For anglers exploring JDM techniques, the B'Freeze 65SP is a useful example of the compact, bait-matching approach used on pressured Japanese bass fisheries.