(Editor's note: BassFan's Jon Storm recently spent a week in Japan and writes of the experience in this continuing series.)
So often in fishing we focus on the wild and erratic. Wakebaits, topwaters, jerkbaits, cranks, rattlebaits, spoons, shakey-heads – for the most part they imitate a prey item in its final throes of death. The idea is to convince a fish, whether it's hungry or not, that here's a meal it can't pass up.
The pros call it a reaction bite, because the bass won't necessarily strike out of hunger. The death throes of another living organism triggers a primary instinct to strike.
After all, when a bass does go on the feed, how often will it happen upon a dying baitfish? If the bass are schooling and busting on shad, the answer is quite often. But through the normal course of a day, a bass hunting a meal will probably see a baitfish swimming normally through the water.
And in Japan, where fishing pressure is intense and anglers constantly search for the next innovation that'll coax an extra bite, a new wave of bait design takes finesse to a whole new level. The idea is to design all possible action out of a bait, so it swims with little perceivable motion.
Japanese tackle manufacturer Jackall has a suite of such baits and calls the technique iMotion.
iMotion, in some ways, represents an advancement of a presentation born in the United States many years ago. Just think of the French fry and do-nothing-worm craze, or the deadstick Senko.
The iMotion difference, however, is appearance – the baits closely resemble natural forage.
Jackall president Ty Ono told me: "It's a very unusual technique. All baits have action – crankbaits, paddletail worms, even the Flick Shake moves a lot. But in iMotion, the bait never swims. It comes straight through the water. Many fisherman have had the experience of watching baitfish in the water – how the bait actually swims. Normally you cannot see the tail move – it just swims in a straight line.
"We tried to duplicate that action. When you cast out an iMotion bait, you just reel slowly and steady at the same speed and it comes straight to you. That's all you have to do and the fish will bite if it's looking for bait."
Ono told me also that the best way to fish iMotion baits is near or just under the surface in clear to slightly stained water, although the soft version can be fished down to 20 feet. And since the baits have had success in Japanese tournaments, he believes they'll be an answer for heavily pressured fish in the U.S. too, so he's rolling out the Seira Minnow for the U.S. market this summer at the ICAST industry tradeshow. The iShad might follow.
Note the nose design and hair tail on the Seira Minnow (top) as well as the odd tail on the iShad (bottom).
A few facts and observations:
Notable
> Jackall has two different sites – one for Japan and one for the U.S.. The iShad and Seira Minnows can be seen on the Japan site.
> The iShad can also be used quite effectively as a dropshot bait.
