Favorite JDM soft plastics

Posted by: @goldrod

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I used the zoom speed craw for your size comparison 

My hats off to you for the great comparison pics and having an outstanding array of craw/creature baits, Jorrick. A couple I’ve never even considered trying out….that Lop Hog…diggin it. 

@goldrod which ones are your top 3 favorite out the ones you shared?

Posted by: @pkn8

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DRT VTS7. I will swear by this bait until I die. Has a "swing" to it as it falls down, a little bit like a Senko. Burn it, twitch it, jerk it, swim it, dead stick it, bottom hop it, versatility is the name of the game. Glad they released a Salt-in version this last year too so I don't have to throw nail weights in all the time

 A bait that hasn’t gotten the attention it probably deserves from me…

Nate, has it produced well for you and which way do you like to fish it most? 

Posted by: @rise

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 A bait that hasn’t gotten the attention it probably deserves from me…

Nate, has it produced well for you and which way do you like to fish it most? 

It has done me well on almost every trip. The official DRT video on it does a good job showing what the bait is capable of doing. A lot of this might be repeating the original blog post coming from the creator so take a peak at that as well.

RIGGING

My preferred rigging is a 4/0 non-weighted owner beast hook (I have yet to try an EWG hook on it) with the thinner side of the bait pointing down. I asked their pro staff member Kazuki on instagram about the hook size and he was the one that pointed me in the direction of that option or a 5/0 EWG style hook. At first I thought a 6/0 or bigger would do better due to the size of the bait and wanting a larger gap for the hook to penetrate through the soft plastic but 4/0 is perfect. [Side note: Hook penetration with this thing really is a non-issue. I thought I would have issues hooking into fish such as Wipers and Smallies due to them having smaller mouths but nope...little 14 incher wiper got hooked just fine. I did visually see a few short strikes of the bait on a trip from some Smallies that were chasing it but being that it's texas rigged and not trebled I think that's understandable. If the fish commit and want it, they'll get it.] His reasoning (which I think he says on his Cast & Crank Podcast episode) is because if you go too large with the hook it impedes the action of the tail preventing the swimming motion from happening. Make complete sense when you swim it in the water and see it in action. When the lure only has the hook in it then it has this really nice swing to it as it sinks and it doesn't just rocket to the bottom or spiral.

I do add nail weights to it as well. I throw in one 3/32 (near the middle of the bait) to allow the bait to sink a little faster. With the added weight the lure still swings as it did without weight. There was a time where I threw in two nail weights and sure as can be it swung as it should. I've also found that the nail weights also help the bait stay level in the water when burning it to give it that intense swimming action.

Like I mentioned before, the bait is thinner on one said and thicker on the other. When fishing the thin side down it will mainly stay under the water while swimming it, but with the thicker side down it will try to "rise to the surface" while it swims. While you swim it and burn it the lure does flip over onto the other side every so often kind of giving you a mix of the actions. I prefer the lure to stay under the surface though and having the nail weights in the lure really help to prevent it from flip-flopping while I work it.

ACTION

IMHO, the best way to fish the lure is to burn and pause. Get a high speed reel and just work that sucker in as fast as you can and then kill it. The way the lure moves and just glides off on it's own after pausing is sweet. I've found with other flukes when I pause with them they usually just dive down due to the weight of the hook. But the VTS will glide in the water and if you really let it sit there it will start swing down.

If I feel like the fish aren't responding to well to an aggressive fishing style then I just don't burn it as long. I burn maybe two or three handle turns then just pause and wait. Add a twitch or two in there and then just wait again. All of my success has come on the pause from this bait from using the two techniques above.

I did try dead sticking it and hopping it off the bottom for one trip last year but didn't produce a bite.

Honestly though, just get a pack and start doing whatever with it. It responds to almost everything. Twitch, hop, pull, jerk, stroke, deadstick, burn, pause, whatever.

GEAR

Get a high speed reel and a rod that can handle 1oz and you'll be fine.

Gear I threw it on...

Reels: Tranx 200 (high gear ratio), Morethan 1000HL (planning to get an XHL JUST for the VTS7)

Tulala Monstruo 75, Designo Leben Torque Tune 71H+, Designo Leben Torque Tune 611MH+ (haven't used it yet but I bought it specifically with the VTS7 in mind)

Hopefully that covers it all. If it ain't clear already, this is my favorite lure.

@pkn8 I own several packs, just haven’t tossed one yet…when you hoard tackle, this seems to be a common problem. To much stuff and not enough time.

Appreciate the detailed response, brother. Easy to see it’s “The One” for you…🤙🏼