The All NEW Shibo Swimmer!!

Every year at the Bassmaster Classic, companies drop lots of new products. Everything from boats to electronics to apparel to baits. With the Classic just days away, The Inside Line caught up with GSM Product Development Manager, Jack Dice, to get all the juice on the launch of the much anticipated Yamamoto Shibo Swimmer. The Shibo Swimmer Swimbait is a new addition to Yamamoto's line of swimbaits. It is a wide body bait designed to move lots of water and to produce a distinct tail thump. It is offered in three sizes: 2.7”, 3.2” and 3.7” and in 12 classic Yamamoto colors.

“Every bait has its little nuances and differences,” said Dice. “The Shibo has been in the works for along time. We played with a lot of different tail configurations. We originally tried a heart tail, like the old heart tail style swimbait, we tried some wider tails, but that round tail is just hard to beat. There is something about that uniform shape that kicks, it really hits back when you are reeling it. We went back and forth with tail thickness forever trying to get it be as consistent a performer as possible. Like Yamamoto always does, we played and played with the formula (plastic) until we got it where we wanted it to be. With the the formulas we have and the manufacturing processes that we have, we can get the most subtle actions out of our baits.”

“To me, Yamamoto at its core with its West Coast roots has always been finesse first,” said Dice. “The Shad Shaped Swimmer is the perfect example, I think of it as a flat sided crankbait of a swimbait. It has a really tight finesse shimmy. I love it in clear super cold water. With that said, our thought process on the Shibo is that you can't have one tool to do everything, you've got to have multiple tools in the toolbox. There's a time and a place for a bait that moves more water, that really thumps, especially for guys who are fishing southern reservoirs, more dirty water so that is where the Shibo came from. Shibo meaning fat, a little fat body bait that is actually based around the Scope Shad. It's a bait that when you are reeling, it really hits back at you. When rigged on the right size jig head in proportion to the bait, you will get a secondary action. You will see the head wobble as the tail translates up the body of the bait.”

“Yamamoto really prides itself on its quality control and that includes color,” said Dice. “As far as picking out colors, it was just back and forth with anglers to make sure we had options to fill all situations. “The range in my mind, you're looking for some solid colors like Pearl or Sight Flash, more white based for dirty water, you're looking for more solid body but laminated shad colors that are natural like Pro Blue or Rainbow Shad where the belly is more solid. You also need something transparent, like Sexy Shad or Electric Shad for those clear water sunnier days where they're getting a good look at it. And to round it out, it's hard not to add Green Pumpkin for your bladed jig trailer or Natural Shad which is just one of Yamamoto's favorite shad colors.”

There are many ways to fish the Shibo Swimmer. Perhaps the most fun according to Dice is to rig it on a straight ball head jig with a 2/0 or 3/0 hook depending on the size of Shibo and anywhere from a 1/8 oz to ½ oz jig head weight depending on the depth range you are targeting. Another way to utilize the Shibo is on an A Rig where the multiple swimbaits will put off a huge amount of vibration. And of course, the Shibo Swimmer makes a great bladed jig or swim jig trailer as well.