2008 ICAST Damiki

Event Article: 2008 ICAST Show - Las Vegas, NV

Enthusiasts Beware There's a New Player In Town: Introducing Damiki (continued)

Baits & Terminal Tackle: As if the tour of their surprising rod lineup was not enough, Damiki also offers a full line of hard and soft plastic baits, jigs, wire baits, and terminal tackle. Their soft plastic baits range from creature baits, to jig trailers, to finesse worms, to stick baits.

Damiki's rendition of a creature bait...

What caught our attention in their soft plastic display was a 6" monstrosity named, appropriately enough, the Monster Miki. This bait is made of salt impregnated soft plastic and features 12 moving parts. Rumor has it, their pro-staff has already been bagging some limits of good sized bass with this bait on the California Delta. The Monster Miki is available in three sizes, 2.5", 4.5", and 6.5" and retails for $4.59 to $5.99 a pack.

Six or six and a half inches of flapping, twisting, vibrating appendages (12 in all)

Too big? The Monster Miki also comes in two smaller sizes.

Next up was a soft plastic trailer featuring Damiki's unique, spoon tail technology. The name of this bait? Why of course, it's the Spoon Tail Miki. Available in two sizes, 2.5" and 3", the spooned tail of this bait can be fished out of the box whole, or split down the middle to provide some unique flip flopping action. This tail is also available on their finesse worm, the Finesse Miki.

The Spoon Tail Miki retails for $3.59 (2") or $3.99 (3") per pack of 6

Damiki's line of crankbaits is sure to dredge up interest

Crankbait fanatics should like the look of Damiki's DC-50, DC-100 and DC-200 crankbaits. These shallow and middle depth running cranks are built with an exclusive weight slip system to improve casting distance and help drive the baits down and keep them down during the retrieve. They are available in 7 colors and retail for $11.99.

Made with peacock bass in mind, these Piranha baits have realistic heads...

... complete with teeth and glaring red eyes!

But once again, we were drawn to what Damiki offers for the peacock bass fishermen. One of these hardbaits, the Piranha, at first glance looks like just any other sunfish type bait, but on closer inspection, one can see the open mouth and realistic teeth on the bait.

The Arowana is Damiki's rendition of the topwater cigar bait

If that bit of realism isn't enough, Damiki makes a topwater spook or Sammy type bait titled "Arowana". Any angler who raised freshwater tropical fish is likely to know what an Arowana is (a surface feeding fish that can be purchased in 6" sizes at tropical fish stores, but is capable of growing to lengths exceeding 3' in the right conditions) and Damiki's rendition in a topwater cigar bait is, once again stunning. The scale patterns is what make this bait.

Bottom bouncing jigs have been a staple in Asia's saltwater rockfishing industry. Here, Damiki plans to bring their interpretation to North America.

Of course, not to forget the saltwater anglers, Damiki also offers a full line of saltwater baits. Zander is in the middle of reviewing the Shimano Lucan us jigs and was immediately drawn to Damiki's version of this same concept bait. Only Damiki's rendition comes at a cost of just $10.

Young takes Cal through Damiki's selection Terminal Tackle

All of Damiki's hooks feature a tip that points out ever so slightly. To demonstrate their effective bite, Young pressed the hook against his finger parallel to the hook point softly and just like that, he was "hooked".

Young demonstrates the Damiki tackle waist pack

Daimiki also offers a full line of terminal tackle producing everything from custom pressed and hardened split rings to their own line of jigheads, weights, and hooks. Interested in a Damiki tackle storage solution? They have something to address that market as well with a shoulder strapped waist back that doesn't flop around, yet has enough freedom of movement to swing around to your front side when you want to grab something out of the pack.

The crew at Damiki is ready to take on the North American Bass Fishing market by force... can you resist the temptation?

Conclusion: The team at Damiki was just as thrilled to see us as we were to see them. The depth of their product offering is nothing short of awe-inspiring especially when mindful of the fact this is a first time introduction for this company to North America. Usually a company making such a foray will do so with a few select, premium products so they can slowly build a brand name and following, but Damiki's approach of taking no prisoners and throwing caution to the wind is a refreshing change and we applaud their none too subtle explosion into the North American tackle market. We expect to be able and bring to you some in depth looks into their entire line of products as we gather our shopping lists and pull out the TT credit card for our very first on the water exposure to Damiki.