Fat Ika . Rigged weightless and in reverse , with the skirt at the head of the presentation , it would sink backward slowly . But while the Fat Ika was more dense than most soft plastics on the market , it still didn ’ t cast well without a weight and couldn ’ t be fished very deep .
So , a few Japanese manufacturers created new , superdense soft plastics to address those deficiencies . Among them was Deps , which in 2018 produced the Cover Scat : a 3.5-inch “ worm ” that weighed 3 / 4 ounce on its own , allowing it to be thrown on casting gear and bring a weightless presentation to new depths . The only potential pitfall : It looked less like a traditional worm and more like , well , scat .
Matt Paino , the owner of Optimum Baits — which distributes Deps products in the U . S . — remembers being skeptical when he first saw the Cover Scat ( and heard its name ). But his doubts were quickly assuaged by its sales . Japanese anglers fought to get their hands on the bait throughout 2019 , when new shipments would sell out almost immediately . By 2020 , the Cover Scat had become the best-selling plastic worm in Japan .
“ You can always sell something once , but in order for it to get super popular , it ’ s gotta work ,” Paino said . “ And when I saw that — like , okay , the Japanese , they fish hard , and if it ’ s selling that good , it ’ s because it ’ s working everywhere throughout the country . And I was like , okay , get ready . I better get this thing over here .”
In 2020 , the Cover Scat became the first product in its category ( sometimes called “ shapeless ” or “ gravity ” baits ) to be widely available in the U . S . While its popularity hasn ’ t exploded quite as quickly as it did in Japan , it ’ s been close .
Just three years later , at least seven other similar baits have hit the American market . In 2023 alone , four new ones have been introduced — the Yamatanuki , the Missile Baits Bomba , the Reins Tank Worm and the Spro Craw Nugget .
Fukae , who designed the Craw Nugget , believes the category has caught on in the U . S . for the same reason it boomed in Japan : These baits get bit , especially by pressured bass .
“ Everybody wants to use the baits nobody ’ s using , and they ’ re trying to find something different to use ,” he said . “ And then the bait , it works good .”
why they work
The emergence of these shapeless baits flies in the face of the oft-repeated fishing axiom that most lures are made to catch fishermen , not fish . There ’ s nothing sexy about these hunks of plastic — no tails , no appendages , no hyper-realistic profile . Even a Senko , which might not look like much out of the water , has that tantalizing shimmy as it sinks . Not so much with these baits , which fall horizontally but do so quickly , without much ancillary movement .
Yet reigning Bass Pro Tour Angler of the Year Matt Becker compares baits like the Yamatanuki to their stickworm cousins in the sense that their natural fall and unobtrusive presence is the secret to their allure .
“ I feel like it ’ s kind of like the deal with the Senko — sometimes simple is better than everything that ’ s extravagant ,” the Yamamoto pro said . “ And then just the weightless nature of it . You ’ re able to fish it weightless , and it just has a different finesse action , but it ’ s still a big , bulky bait .”
Bass Pro Tour angler Shin Fukae says that baits like the Spro Craw Nugget are no joke !
PHOTO BY PHOENIX MOORE
48 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | DECEMBER-JANUARY 2024