April 20, 2015
By Ned Kehde
At times during the long, cold winter of 2014-15, some Midwest finesse anglers sought some relief from the drudgery by wandering about on the Internet in search of a variety of piscatorial delights. On several of these transcendental journeys, one of these anglers continually crossed paths with the Optimum Bait Company's website, where he found scores of soft-plastic finesse baits to reflect upon.
The Optimum Bait Company is located in Temecula, California, which lies between Los Angeles and San Diego. This geographic area is often thought of as the epicenter of West Coast finesse fishing.
Optimum manufacturers and sells a lot of soft-plastic finesse baits, and some of the finesse baits that they sell are imported from Japan, which many Southern California finesse anglers wield. But they have not played a significant roll with anglers who employ Midwest finesse tactics.
Back in the 1980s and 1990s, some of the early practitioners of Midwest finesse fishing used to affix a plastic-bodied grub that was adorned with a marabou tail onto a jig. One of them was made by Lindy Fishing Tackle, and it was the Fuzz-E-Grub. Berkley also made one, and it was called the Power Teaser. The Fuzz-E-Grub is still available, but the Power Teaser has disappeared.
Nowadays, Optimum has five soft-plastic baits that easily one-up the Power Teaser and Fuzz-E-Grub, and these baits ought to catch the eyes of some Midwest finesse anglers and their quarries. It is called the Rabbit Fur Series. Within this series, there is a one-inch Hair Grub, two-inch Hair Grub, Twin Teaser, Furry Fry, Straight Tail, Tiny Banzai Hog, two-inch Banzai Hog, three-inch Banzai Hog, and Big Bansai Hog. Each of these baits are adorned with a rabbit fur tail.
The Twin Teaser is a wacky worm. A 1 1/2-inch strip of rabbit fur is attached to each end of the worm's torso. Its torso consists of three-inches of soft-plastic, which is cylinder-shaped. A clitellum or egg sack is positioned near the middle of the torso. The surface of the clitellum is smooth. The clitellum is also the area where the hook of the whacky jig is inserted. Between the clitllum and the rabbit fur tales, the torso is encircled with a series of minor rings or ribs.
Some anglers proclaim that a wacky-rigged Twin Teaser squirms and swaggers like no other wacky-rigged bait in the world.
The Twin Teaser is available in 12 colors: Black Purple/Purple Fur, Black Red/Red Fur, Blue Gill/Blue Fur, Cinnamon Blue/Blue Fur, Crawfish/Crawfish Fur, Green Pumpkin/Black Fur, Green Pumpkin/Crawfish Fur, Green Pumpkin/Purple Fur, Green Pumpkin Red/Crawfish Fur, Pearl White/White Fur, Watermelon Seed/Chartreuse Fur, and Watermelon Seed/Green Fur. Some smallmouth bass anglers who ply the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania have found the Green Pumpkin/Black Fur, Green Pumpkin/Purple Fur, and Watermelon Seed/Green Fur Twin Teaser to be alluring baits.
A package of four Twin Teasers can be purchased for $4.75.
Endnotes:
In the weeks to come, we will feature gear guides about more baits in the Optimum Bait Company's Rabbit Fur Series: Banzai Hog, Furry Fry, Hair Grub, and Straight Tail.
