®
what’s new from
Spring 2025
OPTIMUM BAITS
Optimum Baits and AA’s produce some great baits under their own name, but the company is also responsible for bringing some of the best lures from Japan to our tackle stores here in America. Included in its family of brands are Deps, Ima Lures, Swimbait Republic, Madness, Kahara, and Zappu.
These brands make unique items that catch bass everywhere in the world, and they continue to add new products, some of which have just recently hit our shores. Here’s a rundown of some new items that may interest bass anglers.
NEW DEPS RODS
The Deps name is well-known for everything from the incredibly popular Sakamata Shad and Cover Scat plastics to big baits like the Slide Swimmer, but they also make rods. New to America is a series of technical rods called Gain Element. These highly technical rods include the Power Versatile, Flipping Element, Moving Element, and Cover Game Element baitcast rods designed for versatility of specific techniques. There are also specialized rods like the Soft Jerking Element for fishing the Cover Scat and Sakamata Shad and two spinning rods designed for mid-strolling.
The 6-foot, 6-inch Shaking Element is a medium- light rod with a slow taper for shaking minnows to perfection. This rod is meant for smaller jigheads from 1/8 to 1/4-ounce, and the 6-foot, 5-inch light action is for lighter jigheads and smaller baits. The slow rod tapers are purposely part of the design for shaking the rod and make it easier to control your slack to get the bait to roll more.
NEW DEPS SOFT PLASTICS
In addition to the rods, several new soft plastics from Deps are also now available here. Many of these baits are already popular and proven in Japan.
One of these is the Bumbleshad, a soft swimbait with a great wobbling and rolling action. It comes in 4—and 6-inch sizes and can be fished several ways, including on a jighead, football head, weightless, or with a bullet weight on a Texas rig. The plastic is also unique,
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and it has a part with softer material and a section with more rigid plastic, which helps the bait’s action and better rigging.
The Beckon Craw is a crawfish imitator with oversized claws that create
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