Are JDM whipping lures worth the $$ ?

The product testing crew here has been buying Japanese Domestic Model (JDM) whipping lures from Japan for a few years now, and some JDMs are beginning to show up in the local tackle shops. Because of the higher quality and international shipping, they cost quite a bit more than US Domestic lures. But are they worth it?

Scott:

I had been trying to fish shallow reef flats (1ft to 3ft) and sinking lures like Kastmasters kept snagging the bottom or picking up limu. The floating plugs found in the shops at the time were bigger than our inshore baits (nehu, iao, baby mullet) and didn’t swim that well. The popular bubble and grub setup required a long leader and therefore a long rod to be fished effectively.

I was given a Shimano Waxwing in 2015, a couple years after it made its successful debut in Hawaii. The Waxwing immediately caught fish on the flats because the rear double hook faces up and is relatively snag free, and it has a very aggressive zig zag swimming action. The Waxwing worked in the surf too, and I even caught an oio on it! Read about that here.

The Waxwing was so ingenious, yet only sold in the US market, not in Japan. That got me curious. Did that mean there were other Japanese lures even better than the Waxwing that we don’t see in the US? I tried some popular JDM lures purchased online overseas, and most worked, to some extent. Then I met Thad through this website and he took my JDM knowledge to a whole ‘nother level.

Thad had been tracking JDM lures for a number of years and started me on a few “guarantee catch” ones. Those lures cast well due to rear weights, swam perfect every time, and drew some incredible strikes.

Thad:

Why do I prefer to use JDM lures over the ones available here in the US? It mainly comes down to variety and quality.  While we in the US are limited to a few domestic brands and a small handful of Japanese makers that have branched out to the US, the sheer number of brands and models available in the overseas market is staggering.  All those lure choices leads to increased competition between lure makers to produce higher quality and better performing lures.  Even when a Japanese company branches out and makes a lure available in the US, the JDM version will often be available with more color options as well as a saltwater version that comes with stronger hooks and increased weights.  

Testing new lures to see how they perform here in our local waters is something I and many of my fishing friends enjoy doing.  With Japanese brands collectively releasing numerous new lures each month, we never run out of models to try.  I’ve come across a few JDM duds that didn’t perform as hoped, but more often than not they turn out to be winners.  It’s an expensive addiction that we all enthusiastically share.

Features I look for when reviewing new lure specs are size, weight, floating vs sinking, diving range, and swim action.  My ideal specs are around 80-125mm, 10-25g, floating, and if it dives, I prefer a range of 0-30cm.  These requirements alone will rule out most lures available here.  Another “must have” for subsurface lures is an internal weight transfer system to provide optimal casting distances and swim action.  I believe Daiwa was one of the first companies in Japan to use an internal weight transfer system back in the early 80’s.  It’s pretty much become a standard feature of subsurface lures marketed in Japan but it’s not as widely available in US lures.

Scott: We’ve been exclusively whipping the JDMs for so long, we’ve decided to do a JDM vs Non-JDM challenge to see if the JDMs really are that much better. Stay tuned as Robert uses grubs, kastmasters and domestic plugs while I fish the JDMs! And if you have had experience, good or bad, with JDM lures, we’d love to hear about it, via a comment on this post. Chee!