Japanese jigs add dimension to the category

The jig is a lure category that has come a long way since an inventive dude first decided to take his sinker off his line and squeeze it directly to his hook! Anglers and lure makers have tinkered with head shape for the last few decades. But don’t be fooled by the relative simplicity of the jig. The pace of modification and improvement has accelerated dramatically in recent years.

And leave it to the Japanese to adopt the finest components, add features, and find new ways to improve jig performance!

By reshaping heads, altering hook style and size, adjusting hook eye angle, and adding superior paint jobs and skirts, the jig has gone from a generic piece of terminal tackle to a sophisticated, finely engineered artificial lure.

Here’s what came in with the latest Lee’s Global Tackle Connection shipment!

Deps Head Lock Jig – The Deps Head Lock Jig had been the guarded secret of a handful of successful Midwest tournament anglers until Jason Knapp won last season’s Bassmaster Northern Open on Lake Champlain with it! The supply of this deadly jig remains limited, but they are available NOW at Lee’s Global Tackle! The latest addition to this premium jig line is the chartreuse skirt on a chartreuse jig head!

Deps Hyper Football Jig – The Deps Hyper Football sports a shorter, squatter football head than its sister jig from Deps, the Head Lock. (Compare the former, if you will, to the football of the leather helmet era prior to the advent of the forward pass, which led to the football’s subtly more elongated design.) On the bass end of the bait is a longer hook, which accommodates a larger bodied trailer. (No need to bite off the end of that craw bait!) [NOTE: While you are at it, check out the Deps Flat Back Jig, a swimming jig designed to move through heavy cover and vegetation. It is available in ½- and ¾-ounce varieties…if they are still in stock!]

Megabass Flamingo Stand-Up Mushroom Head Jig – Yes, Megabass makes a jig in addition to its blowaway hardbaits, magic wand rods and $1200 reels! This stand-up jig will walk over rock and wood. It keeps the tail-end of any attractive trailer up high so it can wave seductively and catch the eye of a bass on the prowl. The tough but flexible weed guard is molded into the jig ahead of a stout hook that will allow you to strong-arm even giant bass out of thick cover.

Noike Wild Kem Kem Jig – These small jigs (2.0-, 2.5- and 3.0 gram) are sparsely skirted, trim-neck finesse jigs that are perfect for tough, clear-water conditions when nothing else seems to work. Add a super-fine finesse plastic to maintain the slim profile of these baits.

Handsome hand-pour finesse plastics from Jackall!

On the shores of Lake Biwa, home of the recently confirmed 22-pound, five-ounce world record bass of Manabu Kurita, sits the headquarters of Jackall Bros. The company was founded by Seiji Kato designer of the Sammy and Pointer for Lucky Craft before he set out on his own entrepreneurial track.

Seiji brought the Flick Shake technique along with his Flick Shake worm and jighead to the United States to revolutionize wacky worm fishing here. Success with the Flick Shake prompted anglers to test the effectiveness of the Jackall hardbaits. Well, if you are a fan of Japanese tackle, you know much of the rest of the Jackall story.

But we’re about to add another chapter to the bait’s success!

Lee’s Global Tackle Connection has located two of Jackall’s finest finesse plastics – baits currently unavailable in the United States.

Jackall Lake Police Super Crosstail Shad – If you have tried the standard Crosstail Shad sold by Jackall in the U.S., you already know it as one of the best dropshot baits on the market. Now brace yourself for the Super Crosstail Shad, a realistic multi-layered, partially transparent hand-pour. The very subtle rudder on the back underside of this bait stabilizes it, projecting the profile of a live baitfish.

Jackall Lake Police Superpin-Tail — This four-inch bait will have Great Lakes smallmouth believing they are biting a native emerald shiner or related baitfish. This hand-poured finesse plastic requires little or no action on the part of the angler. The incidental movement of hand and boat will send a lifelike shiver through this supple bait. Examine the realistic eyes and awesome appearance of this bait! These baits are tough to find, but Lee’s has a limited supply available now.