Bass fishermen are fishing tackle junkies, collectors, and hoarders. However you spin it, or whatever you call it, it comes down to one thing: Bass fisherman not only love catching bass, but they also love fishing tackle. 

One trend that is growing in popularity with bass fisherman is the Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) fishing tackle craze. 

JDM is rare fishing tackle, highly sought after by fishermen for years, and in some cases, only available in Japan. This may mean that a manufacturer only distributes a certain bait in Japan, or that a bait is only offered in certain sizes and colors in Japan, compared to its full offering of colors and sizes in the United States.

One of the first examples of JDM fishing tackle is Mega Bass and its widely popular Vision 110 Jerkbaits. Once introduced to and having fished the 110, bass fishermen wanted them badly and would search the internet high and low to purchase as many 110s as they could and search out exclusive colors that were only available in Japan. Now, some anglers in the US have enough Vision 110s to fund their kid’s college education, with boxes of 110s in their boats, and pegboard lined with these collectible fishing lures.

Behind that, Deps has been offering JDM tackle collectors a wide range of soft plastic and hard baits. Two of the very popular and highly sought-after Deps baits include the Bull Flat, a bluegill-imitating bait that comes in multiple sizes, and can be fished weightless, or on a Carolina, or Texas rig. And the Cover Scat, another popular offering from Deps, that is part of the growing trend of heavyweight soft plastics that are fished weightless yet still have a fast, horizontal fall. This is a prime example of how JDM tackle innovations have influenced and changed the way that bass fisherman in the U.S. are able to target bass.

With the success of Japanese anglers on the BASS Elite Series, there has been more interest and focus as to what these anglers are using to catch bass. Along with increased access to JDM baits, anglers in the United States are showing more and more interest in filling their tackle boxes with JDM fishing tackle.

A great example of this is Elite Series angler Taku Ito, who has over $780,000 in BASS winnings, most of which has come on JDM baits, and who is responsible for the Bite Powder craze. Anglers across the U.S. were desperate to find and get their hands on this powder that Taku was keeping his baits in.

Bass fisherman used to need to have some kind of “in,” or source, to know where and how to purchase these JDM baits. But now, fishing tackle retailers in the United States are doing the legwork for them and bringing JDM baits stateside. I spoke to Ross Kellermeier, owner of Waypoint Angler Supply, located in Mound, Minn., about the JDM fishing tackle craze, and he put it very simply, “There is no stopping it; anglers are always after the next big thing.”

One of the main reasons that Ross feels that anglers want to use JDM fishing tackle now more than ever is that it gives them the feeling that they have a bait that their competitors don’t have. This is no different than our predecessors in bass fishing, making their own jigs, and tying their own skirts. It gave them confidence that the lure they were putting in front of bass was something unique and would help them get more bites.

With the emergence of Forward Facing Sonar (FFS), and the popularity of fishing a minnow for these bass, the demand for new and different jig and minnow combinations to use when looking at your FFS may have sped up the JDM fishing tackle craze. Popular baits that online fishing tackle retailers worked frantically to keep in stock included the Deps Sakamata Shad and the RAID 5-inch Fish Roller. To go with these JDM soft plastic baits, new styles of jigheads have been designed and making their way on to the end of anglers in the United States, like the Owner Range Roller and Gamakatsu Horizon Head.

Fish haven’t seen many of these baits, so on bodies of water that are highly pressured, using JDM baits allows you to put a bait in front of the bass that they may have never seen before.

Fishing these new-style baits has also brought new and specialized rods, reels and line to the United States, like Seaguar PEX8. It is 22 percent thinner than a typical braided line, making it an optimal choice for FFS techniques, and other light-line, finesse fishing applications. Rods that manufacturers in the United States never had available, like a 6’0” light-action spinning rod, are now becoming available.

Along with new baits and gear, the JDM tackle craze has also introduced bass fisherman to new rigging methods for not only JDM soft plastics, but domestic soft plastics as well. The Jika Rig uses a tungsten weight connected to the eye of the hook to present a soft plastic in a very different manner than other rigging methods and is especially effective when bass are feeding on the bottom.

What’s unique when you look at JDM baits is that you don’t see the staple black and blue colors that are readily available in pretty much every soft plastic bait in the United States. JDM baits are heavily dominated by very natural crawfish and shad patterns, along with the popular Scuppernong color.

“The trick is to try and predict who is going to win an Elite Series event, and on what bait,” said Ross. “Then we want to make sure we have those baits in stock and ready to go out the door.”

Retailers are trying to keep up with the demand, and this isn’t always easy, as sometimes the minimum turnaround time to get baits over from Japan is three to four weeks. So, if you are in search of some JDM fishing tackle, don’t sleep on making that purchase when you see something you like. In the blink of an eye, it could be gone, and gone for some time.

Like everything in bass fishing, it is about confidence and being comfortable with that you are fishing with. So, if you want to change up your bait offerings, be sure to give some JDM fishing tackle a try. You never know what may become your next go-to fishing lure.