September 22, 2014
By Ned Kehde
There is a small coterie of Midwest finesse anglers who constantly keep an eye on all of the finesse goings on in Japan, and these anglers recently said they are intrigued by Imakatsu's Dread Hog. It caught their eyes when it was displayed at the recent International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades show in Orlando, Florida.
Katsutaka Imae of Osaka, Japan, who is often heralded to be the most famous bass angler in Japan, is proprietor of the Imakatsu bait company. Imae also possesses several esteemed angling titles in Japan, such as the JB World Classic Championship and JB Bass Angler of the Year. Across the years, his company has been creating unending numbers of soft-plastic finesse baits. Here are names of just a half of a dozen of them: Action Dream, Ankle Goby, Ankle Minnow, Dyna Gone, Elite Craw, and Rainbow Shad.
The Dread Hog is manufactured in two sizes: a three-inch rendition and four-inch one. Its torso is similar to the torso of a standard bass grub, such as the torso of Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits' Single Tail Grub, and it is encircled with a plethora of minuscule rings or ribs. Two appendages radiate off each side of the top half of its torso. Each of these appendages is adorned with three tiny minnow-shaped grubs, and each minnow-shaped grub has a boot on its tail, which some folks call a paddle tail, and others call it a disk tail. There are two appendages that are attached to the end of the torso, and each of one of these has a minnow-shaped grub with a boot tail. Thus, its torso is embellished with 14 tiny minnow-shaped grubs. In the eyes of some Midwest finesse anglers, it is a diminutive Alabama rig that they can affix to a mushroom-style jig with an exposed hook.
It is available in 19 colors and several of the colors have rather exotic names: Blue Pearl, Blue Smoke Pepper Flakes, Cinnamon Blue Flakes, Dark Watermelon, Green Pumpkin Mac Thread Flakes, Green Pumpkin Max Blue Flakes, Green Pumpkin Pepper, Imae Green Pumpkin Blue Flakes, Imae Green Pumpkin Pepper, Imae Smelt, Imae Watermelon, Light Green Pumpkin Pepper, Liver, Mint, Moebi, Numaebi Blue Flakes, Watermelon Pepper, Watermelon Pepper Red Flakes, and Whitebait.
They are impregnated with a shad scent.
A package of five three-inchers can be purchased at times on eBay.com for $12.00. A package of four four-inchers can also be purchased for $12.00 on eBay.com. But that price doesn't include an $8.00 shipping fee.
Endnotes:
For more information about Imakatsu's soft-plastic finesse baits, please examine its website at http://www.imakatsu.co.jp/products/lure/index.html.
