The Day of the Jackall Lures

Jackall lures are highly-respected by bass anglers in Japan and are just beginning to become available in North America for the first time in 2007.

Seiji Kato is the person who started Jackall and the company's chief lure designer.

Kato's legacy in bass lure development begins in 1983 when Kato got a job at Daiwa right after Kato graduated college.

In 1988, he started to design fishing lures for Daiwa where Kato says he developed the whole TD (Team Daiwa) line of lures, best known for the legendary TD Minnow jerkbait.

In 1993, Kato left Daiwa to work for fledgling company Lucky Craft where Kato says he designed the Bevy Shad, Flash Minnow and perhaps the two most famous of all Lucky Craft lures - the Pointer and the Sammy.

In 1999, Kato stated Jackall on his own with Ty Ono who's a top pro tournament angler in Japan.

In 2007, Jackall decided to introduce the "best of the best" of its product line to North America, and Ty Ono has hand-picked Jackall's very best models and colors for his company's North American debut.

Of the Jackall products introduced to North America so far, the Mikey triple-jointed swimbaits (2 sizes), the Muscle Deep crankbaits (2 sizes) and the Squad Minnow jerkbait are doing real well for North American anglers.

North American angler interest in everything else seems to be spread evenly across the different Jackall product models.

There are some real gems in the Jackall line, just waiting to be discovered by North American anglers.

Following are a few comments and tips to help you get familair with the Jackall product line now in North America.

Jackall Mikey Swimbait

The Mikey is a bulky three-piece jointed bait that has an excellent reputation among anglers who fish with big swimbaits for big bass. Many California big bass experts speak highly of the Mikey.

Although it isn't as gigantic as some other big jointed swimbaits, the Mikey is fairly bulky at 5-1/2 inches long and weighs 1-1/8 oz.

Mikey will dive down to 3 feet on a moderate speed retrieve with the rod tip down. It will also create a big wake on the surface water when fished with your rod tip held up. The best retrieve speed is slowly.

1-1/8 oz Jackall Mikey in Aurora Black.

It's sometimes best to intersperse sudden stops that cause the triple-jointed body to react nicely (and trigger strikes) in between slow reeling.

Even deadsticking on the surface, especially when there's a little wind drift, water movement or ripple to bounce the three body parts around, can be effective due to the disjointed nature of the three-piece body.

Jackall Mikey Jr.

Compared to the bigger Mikey, the Mikey Jr. hasn't earned as good a reputation among big swimbait anglers. Probably because it's not really a big swimbait.

On the other hand, the Mikey Jr. is the one favored by anglers who fish for big smallmouth or spotted bass species that don't tend to grow as big - or go for as big a bait - as their largemouth cousins.

5/8 oz Jackall Mikey Jr. in Golden Shiner.

It's tough to call the Mikey Jr a big bait - but it is bulky for its 3-3/4 inch size and weighs 5/8 oz. So if you're not looking to land 10 to 20 pound largemouth, but you would like to bag some hefty 4 or 5 pound spots or smallies, the Mikey Jr. may be for you.

It excels on a slow retrieve. It is at its best when slowly crawled across the surface. At times, experiment with slow steady pulls and pauses. Even deadsticking on the surface, especially when there's a little wind drift, water movement or ripple to bounce the three body parts around, can be effective due to the disjointed nature of the three-piece body.

Jackall Muscle Deep Crankbaits

Jackall's latest crankbait. This new crankbait for 2007 was created using cutting edge computer technology. Prototype baits are designed using a computer to generate a three dimensional image of the lure, which is then made into a crankbait by a machine that can shape the bait and reproduce it from the computer image within minutes. This allows Jackall to create and test different design features and allows their pro staff to field test more bait variations rapidly.

The secret to the Muscle Deep's success lies in its moving weight system that allows longer casts, deeper retrieves and most importantly, better action than ever before.

3/4 oz Muscle Deep 15+ in Chartreuse Shad (left). 1/2 oz Muscle Deep 10+ in Tennessee Shad (right).

All the tech talk aside, the 3/4 oz Muscle Deep 15+ and the 1/2 oz Muscle Deep 10+ (there are two models) have both been embraced by North American crankbaiters. As their names imply, these crankbaits get down over 15 feet and over ten feet deep respectively.

There are many good shallow-running crankbaits out there. Once you start getting down to 10 and 15 feet deep, the crankbait options become few. The Muscle Deep 15+ and 10+ are not wasting any time finding their way into the strike zone and tackle boxes of North American bass anglers. They are among the best-selling of the new baits introduced here by Jackall. If you fish deep cranks, the Muscle Deeps are something to try.

Jackall Squad Minnow Jerkbait

Jackall's latest jerkbait. A new jerkbait for 2007, the Squad Minnow includes darting and stop and go action. The weight system is the reason why the minnow is able to create a great darting action. Also, once you stop your rod, the action quickly stops as well.

1/2 oz Jackall Squad Minnow in Black Aurora and Tennessee Shad finishes. 

The Squad Minnow has become very popular in North America. It weighs 1/2 oz and acts beefy on baitcasting gear. The Squad Minnow dives up to 3 feet deep.

Other Jackall Jerkbaits

Other Jackall jerkbaits include: Smash Minnow (left), Squirrel (center) and DD Squirrel (right).

Overall, Jackall produces four suspending plastic-lipped minnow jerkbaits. Used together, all 4 models of the Jackall jerkbaits represent a complete set of suspending jerkbaits to fish from shallow to deep in the water column:

1. Smash Minnow - Shallow - 1/2 oz
2. Squad Minnow - to 3 feet - 5/8 oz
3. Squirrel - to 4 feet - 3/10 oz
4. DD Squirrel (Deep Diver) - to 8 feet - 3/8 oz

There are a number of other hard plastic lures and some real hidden gems in the Jackall line, just waiting to be discovered by North American anglers. For instance, both sizes of the Bonnie topwater stickbait, the Aragon and Cherry series of surface-waking crankbaits and the TN70 lipless crankbait (to name a few) are excellent also. In the fullnes of time, more and more North American anglers may discover them also.
 

Until then, the Jackall baits above are the ones that have found biggest favor among North American anglers so far.