New ~WAKEBAITS~ added to the store

7" AC Minnow ~ Wakebait ~ Bluegill

This breathtaking bluegill color has only been available in Japan until now. These are from the first limited shipment of this color imported into the USA. As good as it looks on the computer, this color looks even better in the water.

The "AC" stands for "Allen Cole." Cole's often credited with being the first to make a swimbait - the AC Plug - which also operates as a surface-roiling wakebait when cast and retrieved slowly.

Allan Cole is said to have discovered in the late 1980s that giant stripers and trophy largemouth targeted hatchery-raised, stocked trout as a food source. Armed with that knowledge, Cole set about to match the hues and coloration and deadly snake-like swimming movements of small trout with his huge wooden prototype AC Plugs. For four years, Cole secretly perfected his idea on the monster striped bass in California and Nevada. By the early 1990s, Cole was ready to unleash his AC Plugs on California's trophy largemouth bass, catching a 15 pound largemouth on his first trip. It sounds incredible, but most Californians at that time believed that big bass (over 10 pounds) could only be caught with live bait. On that history-making trip, Cole single-handedly began the big swimbait craze in California, and although it wasn't until years later that the term wakebait was coined - that's what AC plugs are - wakebaits.

The AC plugs you see here are manufactured in Japan for Optimum Baits (the California distributor) with Allen Cole's agreement.

Optimum Baits also imports the Deps Buzzjet wakebaits from Japan, which I sell in the store too.

I also sell a new American-made wakebait, whicxh is the latest (dare I say greatest) wakebait to hit the market only a couple months ago.... it's Tattoo Tackle's Surface Swimmer.

7" AC Mag Shad ~ Wakebait ~ Fire Tiger

This is the first time I've added this model in this color to the store. The Fire Tiger color is a hot seller in Europe.

There are two 7" sizes of AC wakebaits being manufactured in Japan nowadays. You see both listed above - the 7" AC Minnow and the 7" AC Mag Shad.

These 7" AC's are currently one of the best kept secrets in Western bass fishing. What these wakebaits have an ability to do, in waters where most other lures tend to attract primarily 1 and 2 pounders... the 7" AC's are used to wake up 3 and 4 pounders. It's considered an "in water cull bait," and it does exactly that. Not many guys have been clued in to this yet, and even seasoned veteran anglers when they first hear about this, they really do not believe it. You'd think it is way too big a bait - that's why most guys will never try it. But it is not too big. Even two pounders explode on it, ferociously! And the way they attack, you'd think they were four pounders.

5" AC Minnow ~ Wakebait ~ Largemouth

This is the first time I've added the largemouth color in the 5" AC Minnow wakebait.

Most anglers are unnerved by the size of the 7" AC wakebaits. The 5" size here is more acceptable - although still bigger than most other lures that most anglers throw.

For an angler who feels the 7" AC's are too much wakebait, this is the absolutely perfect size wakebait especially for trophy smallmouth and spotted bass, which do not get as large (or greedy) as their largemouth cousins.

Also, I have the Deps Buzzjet and Buzzjet Jr wakebaits in the store.

Deps Buzzjet ~ Wakebait ~ Largemouth

Deps Buzzjet Jr. ~ Wakebait ~ Mossback Shiner

As mentioned above, I have the brand new American-made Tattoo Tackle's Surface Swimmers in the store too. Currently, I am the only one who has any of these:

Tattoo's Surface Swimmer

A brand new American-made wakebait ~ shown in Blue Herring (top), Ayu (center) and Chartreuse Shad (bottom).