The windy Summer conditions have kept me from kayaking, so my attention has turned to the coming papio season. I took a small, informal survey with some shoreline whippers I recently met.
The guys hadn’t heard that oama had come in, so they weren’t really fishing much.
All 3 wished they could fish more often but because of work and family obligations, they mainly fished for an hour or two when they could get away for a quick session. They didn’t have much of a budget for fishing gear, so they throw the bubble and grub, an inexpensive lead head feather jig, or kastmaster and often don’t catch as much as they’d like to. None had tried Japanese Domestic Model (JDM) lures and hadn’t even considered using them. At most, they tried Rapala or Yozuri plugs with moderate success.
In 2017 I was fully caught up in the JDM lure craze and was buying used lures from eBay Japan just to try as many as I could, at 50% of the new price. The lures I received looked almost brand new and swam pretty well but some didn’t have the internal weight transfer system that allowed them to cast extremely well for light lures, and then swim enticingly. I later discovered a couple exceptional JDM lures so I sold a few of the used lures, and the rest have been sitting in a dark bin.
One of the guys I surveyed works in a grocery store I frequent, and said his arthritic right hand eventually hurts when he twiches his lead head jig, so I gave him the two circled swimming plugs. Cranking and pausing the smaller of the two lipped plugs was much easier and he caught 2 kaku the first time out. He hasn’t used the larger bone colored plug yet because his target fish have been small. He was sold on JDM lures after that but paying $20 or more for a JDM swimming plug was cost prohibitive for him.
(After writing this post I found a box of JDM lures tucked away that weren’t being fished. You can read why they were acquired and how they’re supposed to be fished, here.)
So that got me thinking, the lipped swimming plugs don’t require specialized gear, and can be quickly fished, cleaned up and put away. What if I could sell the US domestic version of Japanese swimming plugs that cast and swim well, at an affordable price, comparable with the Rapalas and Yozuris in our local shops? Would the whippers on a budget and with a short window to fish be interested?
I’m in the process of inquiring if I could become a dealer of those lures. I had been able to get some IMA Sasuke 120Fs a few years back, and sell them at a fair price but the distributor no longer sells them.
I’d be interested in lures that cast and swim well. I was just in my local fishing store the other day trying to find a lure that would cast a good distance despite the winds I’ve experienced during my one hour after work sessions. There are so many choices and I was having a difficult time knowing which weight to choose, sinking or floating, what size, lip or no lip, etc. How would I know unless I try them all, right? But that isn’t cost effective for people on a budget.
Thanks for the feeback Krystal! Really, there’s so many lure choices in the tackle stores but how would you know what’s best for your conditions? A lot of the lures are too big and wide so they don’t cast that well, and don’t look like our narrow bait fish (iao, oama).
The JDM lures are slimmer and made to cast into wind better. I just did a quick online search and it looks like there are Yozuri lures sold in the US that have a magnetic transfer weight system also, that are pretty affordable.
I’m still gonna contact the other JDM companies that sell internationally, and see if they’d let me sell through my website.
Have you tried the smallest Waxwing? It casts fairly well into a bit of wind, swims shallow since the hooks are facing upright, and the erratic zig-zag action gets bit.
I’ll see if I have any more slightly used swimming lures I could send you to test!
-scott
That sounds great! Thanks Scott. I’ll be happy to report back how they work out.
I haven’t seen any Waxwings, but I’ll be sure to check my fishing store out to see. All the features you listed sound like just what I’m looking for.
OK, I’ll send you an email after I sort through my stash of lures. 🙂
Did you say the Obama are already in this year? That would be at least several weeks early in my experience. May be a great sign!
Hey Mark,
Former President Obama hasn’t been spotted on Oahu yet but there have been reports of small piles of oama making their way into Oahu. 😉
Yup, normally they are catchable by mid August, so this may be an early year. Are you already on Kauai Mark?
-scott
Following the comments on this post!
Thad,
As this website’s JDM Expert, we need your comments and opinions!
-scott