Bass Candy! (Bugs and Stuff)

Anyone who know me knows I have a predeliction for soft plastics. I have my favorites, like Filthy Fishermen Baits, Gary Yamamoto and others, but I'm always looking for cool new baits in different shapes, colors and sizes. And, since I've been off work due to foot surgery for 2 weeks now, I've had plenty of time to surf the net to find interesting new ones. Here's a couple I've found that are very interesting, and that you might not have seen before.

Imakatsu has some amazingly cool baits, not only soft plastics, but hard baits too. But, as we're focussing on soft plastics right now, here's a couple of their coolest. The first one is the Hairy Hawg. It is the most intricate soft plastic I've ever seen. I've looked to buy a few, but only found them on ebay for 12$ each. I think I'll try to find them a bit cheaper, as I haven't found a review for them yet stating how durable they are.

Another Imakatsu bait that is amazing is the Javallon. It's a jointed soft plastic jerkbait that has an amazing action. They're hard to find also. Amazingly, a few years back I ordered a clearance grab bag from Mr.Twister and got a few lures that look exactly like this. Now of course they're not listed as a product, and they must be discontinued. Supposedly Lake Fork Tackle here in the US makes them too. Heres a link to a video of the Javallon in action. http://www.imakatsu.co.jp/movie/050621_1152193839.asx Sexy slinky moves!!!!!
Stop motion shots of the Javallon in action below. Did I say Sexy?!! Another cool bait is the Bait Breath Dekamix. In the same vein as the Hairy Hawg, it screams both 'buy me!' to the fisherman (me) and 'bite me!' to the fish.
So far, all the baits have been Japanese luremaker creations, but heres a couple of stateside soft plastics that arent slouches either. Case Plastics has been around for a while, and makes some really sexy baits, like the Jack's Worm that I use for catching smallmouth bass with great success. But he has some really cool and really lifelike bugs too. The top one is a Hellgramite, which in nature is a highly sought after entree for the discerning smallie, and the second is a Magic Cricket, which is also very tasty to smallies.

And finally, one more American luremaker's ultra cool creation, Lunker City's Ozmo. How cool is this bait? Buggy, froggy, flappy, creepy and crawly wrapped up into one awesome package. I'm definitely picking up a few!