A treat no suspended bass can pass up
What looks like a topwater prop bait but isn’t because it does its work underwater to entice suspending bass?
The answer is Storm’s Arashi Spinbait, which made its grand appearance at this year’s ICAST show.
One of the proudest people to show it off was Brandon Palaniuk, an accomplished Bassmaster Elite Series pro who helped design the lure and said even the biggest, wariest bass find difficult to resist,
It’s a suspending finesse bait but a different animal, so to speak, that gives an angler the opportunity to use “almost a power-finesse presentation” to cover a lot of water and draw bass from deeper, clear water in heavily fished areas, Palaniuk said.
The Spinbait can drive oft-finicky schooling bass crazy, and it is extremely effective on suspending bass.
As many anglers know, suspending bass often are the most difficult to catch. But, using marine electronics, you can count this artificial lure down to the desired depth to catch bass that otherwise won’t bite, Palaniuk explained.
His favorite way to fish it is to target isolated rock piles and grass patches, he said. Most often, he’ll use a run-and-gun approach, he said, stopping to cast the artificial lure and count it down to just above the grass or rocks before retrieving.
From start to finish, the Arashi Spinbait was two years in the making. Palaniuk said he and the designers went through six prototypes.
“Actually, it was one of the easier ones,” the pro bass fisherman said.
Palaniuk, a five-time qualifier for the Bassmaster Classic who finished 17th in this year’s Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings, said he fishes with the Arashi Spinbait whenever he can during tournaments, prefishing for tournaments and just for fun.
On the 2016 Bassmaster Elite circuit, Palaniuk relied on it while fishing at Lake Norfolk and at the AOY championship in Minnesota.
The Arashi Spinbait’s 3-2 propeller design (three-bladed prop up front, two-bladed prop on the back) makes all the difference in the world — a difference an angler can feel while retrieving it at a slow speed and, coupled with the weighting system, one that ensures it will stay in the strike zone as long as possible with maximum action.
“The biggest change added to the bait was the three-bladed prop,” he said. “It adds a slightly different vibration for when a fish is following it. It just helps trigger the bigger fish into biting because it gives the bait a bigger presence.”
Palaniuk explained that the key to the artificial lure’s success is in the hydrodynamics and water vortices, the way the water moves off the body.
There are other key features included in the Arashi Spinbait.
“When the bait falls on a slightly slack light line, it shimmies and shakes on the way down, kind of similar to what a soft bait does,” Palaniuk said. “It kind of rolls on the way down.”
Making it a deadly suspending artificial lure was the intention. And, because it has a clear body, there’s no secret about the weighting system.
“I went back and forth with them on the body, from the rate of fall to the shape,” Palaniuk said. “You can see through the bait for the most part and where it’s weighted.
“We wanted to get the weight placement right so it would run true and horizontal and stay in the strike zone longer.”
Palaniuk strongly recommended using light line, preferably on a medium-light spinning rig.
“I really like 6- to 8-pound (fluorocarbon) line — 8-pound around heavy cover and 6-pound if I’m in more open water,” he said. “That’s going to allow that bait the most action possible.”
Does it have to be used with a spinning combo?
“That’s how I prefer to throw it,” Palaniuk said. “There are lighter rods and (baitcasting) reels you can throw it on. But for maximum action, the best bet is on a spinning rod.”
The Arashi Spinbait can be effective in shallow-water conditions, he said, even though that’s not the primary purpose.
“It really shines in clear, deeper lakes,” Palaniuk said. “It’s really designed for fish that use sight to feed in heavily pressured water.”
Toledo Bend is a prime body of water for the new artificial lure, he said, as anglers could target edges of timber stands where bass are suspended. Ditto for other popular lakes across the South and into the Northeast, he said.
The Arashi Spinbait measures 31/8 inches, weighs 1/3 ounce and is available in 10 color patterns.
Rotated hook hangars are featured for the two No. 6 Premium VMC Black Nickel Treble Hooks, a combination that increases hookups.
Palaniuk said it’s a durable artificial lure made with high-density plastic.
“And it has one difference,” he said. “The eyes of the bait actually are welded (not screwed) into the bait, so you don’t have to worry about that loosening up over time.”
For more information on the Arashi Spinbait and other Storm products go to stormlures.com.
