By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor
It's not often the sight of a new bait stops me in my tracks. In my position, I see enough of the new products coming down the pike that very few are able to stand out in the crowd.
The Jackall Gantarel is different, though. When I first saw it in person a couple weeks ago at an event in Texas, I was blown away by the authentic real-life look of the bait, especially the RT bluegill color pattern. It was if Jackall took a close-up image of a living bluegill and seamlessly glued it to the body of the bait.
I know much more went into it than that, but there are a few other unique characteristics about the bait that will appeal to the big swimbait crowd.
For starters, Jackall included two separate line tie options on the nose of the 2.45-ounce bait – the top line tie is a swivel connector that eliminates line twist while the bottom tie allows anglers to add weight for a slow sinking presentation.
The 6-inch bait also features two feathered treble hooks and there's an option to add a third hook to the tail section.
The Gantarel’s jointed body creates an ‘S’ swimming pattern while being retrieved, and makes 180-degree turns when twitched. It's available in eight stunning life-like color patterns and it was designed with a pectoral fin that allows it to dive down to three feet. During the product introduction event in Texas, multiple 8-pound largemouth were caught on it.
“When you can bring a bluegill color pattern – or a golden shiner or gizzard shad color bait down into the water column, a hungry bass just can’t resist," said Dan Thorburn, product manager for Shimano's Jackall efforts in the North America. "With these new Gantarel swimbaits, we’ll just warn you to hold on. The bait has already proven itself – oh yes, it works – with bass anglers in Japan, and now we can see it hooking into big kicker bass at lakes like Guntersville, Falcon and Kentucky.”
The Gantarel will retail for $39.99.
