New ~OPTIMUM SWIMBAITS~ added to the store

Established in 1996, Optimum Baits is one of the earliest California swimbait companies, and there's something to be said for that.

They're pioneering. Optimums were some of the first soft swimbaits developed to mimic stocked rainbow trout, the meal of choice for California's lunker bass.

They're ground-breaking. Optimum was the first company to release a swimbait with the jig head internally built into the bait.

In 2000, Optimum introduced the first soft swimbait to the Japanese market as well. That was in the year 2000.

In 2003, the Japanese national record bass (19.15 pounds) was landed on an Optimum swimbait.

A plethora of soft swimbait companies have sprouted up in the USA and Japan in recent years. Yet Optimum's swimbaits still hold their own, especially where it counts most, in the mouths of bass.

Original Optimum. With an internal lead head molded inside, use the Original Optimum to fish deeper areas and points, especially slowly and steadily retrieving the weighted swimbait just above bottom. The Original Optimum has the desirable deep-bodied shad shape you don't see much on swimbaits anymore. Most other swimbaits tend to have a trout's long tubular shape nowadays. Yet the Original Optimum's deep body shape is a great shad or sunfish profile. An action or strike trigger is that the deep body can flip or flash up on its side during the retrieve, just like real shad do all the time. The deep body also helps to fish it - or slow roll it - right along the bottom. The deep body elevates the hook several inches above bottom snags. So the deep body acts like a protective barrier that helps keep the hook that much further away from snags. It also has a harness to attach a treble (not included) to the belly for swimming at mid-depths.

Suspending Optimum. In 2000, Optimum introduced the first soft swimbait to the Japanese market. Since this was a completely new lure type to the studious Japanese anglers, they were keen to learn all about how to get the most out of fishing these huge trout-patterned baits from California. The Japanese immediately recognized the swimbait’s potential, but the Japanese anglers wanted a swimbait that would suspend so that it swims on the surface. Because the Original Optimum swimbait was internally-weighted, it could not do that. The majority of Japanese bass anglers fish from shore, not from boats. The Japanese wanted a swimbait that could be swam with a slower retrieve near the surface, but still produce that great paddling tail action. So Optimum designed a new bait (in 2000) called the Suspending Optimum, which became an instant hit among Japanese anglers. It was widely accepted in Japan. Shore anglers were able to fish shallows with a super slow retrieve, and not snag up with the Suspending Optimum. With a slow steady retrieve, the wide profile Suspending Optimum provides a huge surface-waking action ideal for anglers fishing from shore or in super-shallow areas.

It has an internal hook harness but is not weighted. It comes with a premium heavy duty treble to attach to the hook harness. As you retrieve the Suspending Optimum, the body rolls back and forth as the tail produces a nice wake action. The shape of the bait causes the bait to rise to the surface. As with all large swimbait lures, the Suspending Optimum draws out huge bass that follow the lure. The difference is you can easily see the huge bass that follow the Suspending Optimum on the surface. That's great excitement and thrilling fishing.

If you want to keep it subsurface, each Suspending Optimum comes with trimmable nail weights. An angler can optionally insert these nail weights into the body to lightly weight it to get it a bit deeper if desired. It comes with illustrated instructions how to rig it with the nail weights. It can also be fished with a light bullet sinker on the line.

Weedless Optimum. In 2003, Optimum expanded it's product line with the Weedless Optimum. It has the same body shape as the Suspending Optimum, except the Weedless Optimum has an internally-molded jig head and weedless jig hook. It also has a harness to attach a treble (not included) to the belly for swimming at mid-depths.

Most other swimbaits have exposed hooks, and anglers fear losing these expensive swimbaits to snags. Anglers can only throw most other swimbaits in open water next to fish-holding cover, hoping to coax bass out of the cover into open water. Disappointingly, bass often will not come out of cover to chase swimbaits in nearby open water. The Weedless Optimum can be thrown deep into fish-holding cover with little fear of snaggage. Being able to work a Weedless Optimum through trees, brush, docks, grass and other cover greatly advantages that angler over others trying to coax the lunker out of its preferred habitat.

Optimum Bait Company is constantly looking for improved and innovative ways to help an angler’s chances to catch that prize fish with a swimbait. For example, the Black Silver and Chartreuse Shad colors in the chart below are new for 2007.

Speaking of colors, Optimum swimbaits are hand-poured works of art. Like snowflakes, no two are exactly the same. All track close (but no two the same) to the sample color patterns pictured here:

By the way, when you are done using a swimbait, make sure they have dried off first, then store swimbaits back in their original packages. This helps them to stay straight and to preserve their originally-molded shapes.