Sneak Peak at New Prototypes ~ Work in Progress

ITEM #1 ~ SWIMMING SHAKEY JIG

I currently offer a flat football shakey jig (see item #3). These flat football shakey jigs excel for shaking while standing on bottom, targeting fish in 10 to 30 feet of water. Furthermore, the wide, flat face promotes wiggle on the drop, when reeling in, when twitched or jerked and when raised-and-lowered on bottom like a yoyo, the flat face makes the worm wiggle and squirm more than many other shakey jigs on the market. Most shakey jigs out there tend to be round ball shapes, and my new prototype is too - but for dramatically different reasons than all the other round heads.

The new prototype round SWIMMING SHAKEY JIG is more for swimming and coming through shallow grass and brush.

ITEM #5 ~ PROTOTYPE BUZZBAIT

I hope not, but honestly it could be next spring before I am able to get these finished and put into production to sell. Until then, let me say this: "A better or more enjoyable buzzbait I've not used!"

This incredible new 1/2 oz buzzbait impresses me in every way! Casts forever... You can fire out a cast and wolf down half a ham sandwich before this buzzbait hits the water! Instantly planes to the surface. No special moves required! No weird rod angles or whatever to keep it on top. Plows like a rented mule! Extremely stable. Little or no torque. I'll say it again: "A better or more enjoyable buzzbait I've not used!"

ITEM #6 ~ STYLE R FLIPPING JIG

Again, it could be a while before I have these to sell, but this is a new 1/2 oz Style R flipping jig that is finished, just needs a production mold cut. I already have one model of 1/2 oz flip jig for sale (see item #8). This existing item #8 is a "Style T" flip jig. The new prototype yopu see here (item #6) is a 1/2 oz "Style R" flip jig which comes through soft and gloppy grass even better (better = more smoothly) than the one currently available (Style T). The new Style R has a lot of lift to it. It kind of skims over grass rather than grab in it. I'm not saying grabbing grass is bad. I love the way the existing Style T flip jig (item #8) grabs grass and brush but let's go. There's something fish find perfect about that at times. I like to envision the Style T's clutching action as more what an aquatic insect would do - grab onto stuff and then shoot off. The new 1/2 oz Style R is more smooth, more "swim through" effect - and better for soft gloppy grass. I recently approved the final Style R design for production mold-mastering - but it may still take many months to get this new Style R flip jig to sell. There will be a second size of this - a 3/8 oz Style R flip jig - but that size is nowhere near ready. It needs to be chubbed up a little bit on the cheeks, and that's not a quick revision.

ITEMS #7 & #9 ~ SPIN CHIN JIG

I haven't fooled with these enopugh to be quite sure yet, but think the wire under the chin may make it hard for a fish to take this into its mouth? I reckon that's a factor on all spinnerbaits or other wire baits. Anyway, I have been experimenting just a bit with these in 1/4 and 3/8 oz sizes. They get a lot of bites and a lot of attention. There have been a couple days when I got buckets of hits on these (more than other lures) but fish just do not seem to stay pinned on them yet like I would want. A lot of fish come unbuttoned. I got a lot of action on these with the relatively new Yamamoto 3-1/2" Swimbait and the brand new Swimming Senko... but I think fish can get prying leverage on the short wire. I even nipped the 5" Swimming Senko shorter by an inch or 2, which got plenty of bites, but the bite-to-landing ratio was not good enough for me. I am currently looking into collapsible titanium wire... If I get this to keep all the fish that bite it to stay pinned properly, it's going to be a winner. In the meantime, further research is required! :)

ITEM #8 ~ EXISTING STYLE R FLIP JIG

I just included this item #8 in the photo to show the current 1/2 oz Style T flipping jig for size comparison purposes.

This photo shows the underside of Items #5 and #6 is all. They both generate an awful lot of lift.

ITEMS #10 & #11 ~ NEW LARGER SIZE OF ARKEY JIG

New larger size, 3/4 oz (5/0) of Arkey Jig.  I already offer these in 1/4 oz (3/0), 3/8 oz (4/0) and 1/2 oz (5/0) sizes. I call these "Power Jigs" in the store but they are Arkey jigs.

Bigger, heavier jigs like this new 3/4 oz (5/0) size have a presence in the water that appeals to better-than-average size bass. Bigger bass can detect more bulk, more bump, more mass... and that's really what they want. They tend to not be as interested in lighter or smaller jigs. You will tend to appeal to a better grade of bass on this 3/4 oz size jig... even in only inches of water. Bigger bass may not make the effort to whack every little minnow that saunters by, but they will do what it takes when they detect the presence and mass of this bigger (bigger = heavier) jig.

I already have gotten delivery of these. I just have not got them on eBay yet. I have: brown pepper, green pumpkin pepper, and plain black. All painted finish with black nickel hooks. These will be put up on eBay later this week. So watch the store for them. They'll be in the store dressed with skirts (some with rattles) - or you can buy them undressed - just the bare 3/4 oz Arkey heads sold separately. Look for them later this week!

All three of the jigs in this photo (items #10, #11 & #12) are dressed with three different styles of sparse skirts in order to show more of the trailer - the new Yamamoto Flappin' Hog. I do not prefer a "full size" skirt when using the Flappin' Hog as a jig trailer. The skirts shown are all about "half full" skirts. Rather than obscuring them under a full skirt,  the half skirt styles help present more of the Flappin' Hog shape, features and actions to fish. It's not hard to do. Just cut half the skirt off - either cut off the forward-facing half of the skirt (item #10) or cut off the backward-facing half of the skirt (item #11) or use the hubbed skirts I sell which have 70 backward-facing strands and present a sparse peek-a-boo skirt appearance right out of the bag without your needing to trim them (item #12).

ITEMS #14 & #15 ~ SPIN CHIN JIG

These are the same prototype items already shown and described in the section on items #7 and #9 above. These prototypes are the same as my existing Stand Up Jigs (items #13 and #16) except the prototypes have wires, ball bearing swivels and blades under the chin. My Stand Up Jigs are already in the store in 1/4 oz, 3/8 oz and 1/2 oz sizes. The prototypes with the spinners still need more work (see explanation given for items #7 and #9 above).

In this photo, the soft bait dressings shown are:

• Items #13 & #14 ~ Yamamoto's 3-1/2" swimbait (this is a killer soft bait)

• Item #15 ~ the new Swimming Senko

• Item #16 ~ Yamamoto's not-yet-released 5" swimbait is destined for greatness. It's not necessarily a huge bait for largemouth in shallow, dirty water - but I expect it to produce outlandishly-big spotted and smallmouth bass in clear to modestly-stained environments. This is a kicker catcher!