Damiki's Spoon Tail Miki

January 23, 2015 By Ned Kehde

A green-pumpkin-black Spoon Tail Miki by Damiki Fishing Tackle.

A Midwest finesse angler has periodically chastised us for failing to publish a gear guide about Damiki Fishing Tackle USA's Spoon Tail Miki. He correctly noted that it should have been included in our short discourse about Reaper-style baits on May 20, 2012. We hope to remedy that failure right now.

The Spoon Tail Miki is not a brand-spanking-new bait. It has been in their catalog since Damiki arrived in California from South Korea in October of 2008, which was four years before this Midwest finesse column began, and that is the primary reason it has not been featured in a Midwest finesse gear guide. Across the 29 months that we have been writing this column, we have been focusing only on new finesse baits, but as 2015 unfolds, we hope to write many more words about finesse baits that were created before 2011.

The Spoon Tail Miki is not exactly a traditional Reaper-style soft-plastic bait. Instead, it is what old-timers call a new-generation Reaper. Therefore, it exhibits some of the features of Reaction Innovations' four-inch Sweet Beaver, Trigger X's four-inch Flappin' Grub, and YUM's two- and three-inch Wooly Beavertail.

Initially Spoon Tail Miki was manufactured in two sizes: 2 1/2 and three inches. The 2 1/2-incher has been discontinued, but Midwest finesse anglers, who regularly exhibit a preference for short baits and execute a lot of customizing routines on various soft-plastic baits, should be able to trim a quarter of an inch or a tad more off of the head of the three-incher, and then they can affix it to either a small mushroom-style jig with an exposed hook, such as Gopher Tackle's 1/16-ounce Mushroom Head jig or Z-Man's Fishing Products' 1/15-ounce Finesse ShroomZ jig.

Since YUM stopped manufacturing its two- and three-inch Wooly Beavertail, which used to be Midwest finesse anglers' primary creature bait, it is seems as if they slightly customized or shortened Spoon Tail Miki might become a staple in the Midwest finesse anglers' repertoire.

The bottom or chin portion of its head is flat. The top potion of its head is shaped like a curvilinear triangle, but the triangle becomes rounded or blunt at the tip of its nose, and its skin is relatively smooth.

The belly of its torso is flat. Its back is arced, which is also called a circular segment. Eight jagged ribs, which create water movement, adorn its back. From the eighth rib to the junction of the tail, the torso narrows, its skin is relatively smooth, but there is a short ridge that lies along the center of its back. The bottom or belly portion of this part of the torso is also flat.

The spoon-shaped tail has a ridge that lines two of its outside edges. The tail is wider than its torso, and it can be split in half, which creates the demeanor of crayfish claws. When it is unsplit, it can be presented like a traditional Reaper. But the spoon-shaped feature of the tail allows it to move in a unique fashion, which is not possible to achieve with a Flappin' Grub, Reaper, Sweet Beaver, and Wooly Beavertail.

The folks at Damiki say it can be rigged on a drop-shot rig, Carolina rig, split-shot rig, slip-sinker rig, or as a trailer on a skirted jig. But as noted above, Midwest finesse anglers will wield it on a small mushroom-style jig, and they will present it to largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, and spotted bass with all six of the standard Midwest finesse retrieves.

It is available in six colors: Black Red, Coffee Black, Green Pumpkin Black, June Bug, Watermelon Black, and Watermelon Red Black. It is impregnated with salt.

A package of eight can be purchased for $3.99.