10,000 Fish's Sukoshi Bug

Eli Rosenberg is the Director of Media Partnerships for Catch Co., and he recently introduced us to 10,000 Fish’s Sukoshi Bug and Shimmer Shad. These are two soft-plastic baits that will readily fit into the repertoire of many Midwest finesse anglers.

According to Rosenberg, 10,000 Fish was recently spawned by the Catch Co. And the motivation for its creation is attributed to the Catch Co.’s idea to emulate the tackle that is crafted in the Japanese domestic market.

Rosenberg sent us several Sukoshi Bugs to use and thoroughly examine.

By the way, it is interesting to note that we caught a largemouth bass on our first cast with a coffee-craw-hue Sukoshi Big affixed to a black 1/15-ounce mushroom-style jig at a heavily fished flatland reservoir in northeastern Kansas.

It is a multifaceted Midwest finesse bait. It subtly and abstractly exhibits some of the features of a stick-style bait, a creature bait, a crayfish, and an array of aquatic nymphs. It epitomizes what Rosenberg described as the artisanship and creativity of the lure designers and manufacturers in Japan.

It is 2 11/16 inches long.

Its anterior section is oval shaped and three-quarters of an inch long. It is encircled with six ribs. At ribs number three and four, it is a half of an inch wide with a circumference of 1 9/16 inches. Its dorsal and ventral areas are identical.

Three willow-leaf-shaped appendages radiated off each side of the anterior section. These appendages are seven-sixteenths of an inch long. They are flat, about one-sixteenth of an inch thick, and three-sixteenths of an inch wide at the widest spot. They have a smooth epidermis.

The tip of the anterior is graced with a small dome-shaped head. Two flat appendages radiate from the sides and tip of the head. They are an abstract rendition of a crayfish’s front walking legs and chelipeds. Between these two appendages is a miniature antenna that is about one-sixteenths of an inch long. The epidermis of these features is smooth.

The Sukoshi Bug’s posterior section is 1 5/8 inches long. It possesses a cylinder shape. Each side is endowed with 21 significant ribs. A portion of the dorsal and ventral sections are devoid of those 21 ribs, which creates a smooth epidermis and somewhat of a hook slot that is one-quarter of an inch wide and 1 5/8 inches long.

Near the junction of the posterior and anterior sections and around ribs number one and two, it has a width of a half of an inch and a circumference of 1 1/2 inches. At the tip of the posterior and at rib number 21, the width is seven-sixteenths of an inch with a circumference of 1 5/16 inches.

The tip or anus of the posterior is flat and round with a diameter of seven-sixteenths of an inch. This is where a Midwest finesse angler will insert the hook, bait keeper, and collar of the mushroom-style jig.

The Sukoshi Bug is made from a product called Stretch-X Plastic. It is comprised of thermoplastic elastomers, which is a mixture of plastic and rubber. It is heralded as being buoyant and ultra-durable. But it needs to be noted that this mixture of thermoplastic elastomers will damage other soft plastic baits. Therefore, it is best to store the Sukoshi Bug in its original package, which is a state-of-the-art package.

It is manufactured in the following hues: Black & Blue Flake, Blue Craw, Coffee Craw, Green Pumpkin, Green Pumpkin Orange Craw, PB&J, The Bed Bug, and Twilight.

A package of six costs $5.29.

Besides rigging it on a mushroom-style jig, 10,000 Fish’s field-testers found that it was effective when they rigged it on a split-shot or micro-Carolina rig. It can also be used as a trailer on a finesse-size skirted jig.

Endnotes

(1) Here is a link to Karl’s Bait & Tackle’s website. Karl’s is part of Catch Co.: https://shopkarls.com/10000-fish-sukoshi-bug.

(2) Here is a link to Catch Co.’s website: https://catchco.com/.

(3) When the Sukoshi Bug is affixed to a mushroom-style jig, anglers can present it to their black bass quarries by employing all six of the standard Midwest finesse retrieves. Here is a link to our Midwest finesse column that explains how to employ those six retrieves: https://www.in-fisherman.com/editorial/six-midwest-finesse-retrieves/153946.

(4) In the near future, we will publish a gear guide about 10,000 Fish’s Shimmer Shad. 

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