Owner plastics for 2010

Event Article: 2009 ICAST Show - Orlando, FL

Owner Puts a New Twist on Their Product Offering and Introduces Plastics

Date:	07/23/09
Location:	Orlando Florida
Admission:	Buyers & Press Only
Manufacturer:	Owner
Reviewer:	Team TackleTour

Introduction: When discussing terminal tackle, and more specifically hooks, it's difficult to go very far without mentioning Owner. Arguably one of the top two hook manufacturers in the world, their popularity, especially amongst big bait throwers is tremendous. Imagine our surprise then, when we entered the Owner booth and after asking Tony Shitanishi what the company had new for this year, were shown a series of soft plastic baits!

The Yuki Bug is among a handful of new soft plastic baits from Owner.

In this new lineup will be a two plastic worms (the Shaky Worm & Shiver Tail Worm), and a five and a half inch paddletail swimbait, the Ribeye. But the one that caught our attention first was their entry into the creature bait market, the Yuki Bug, a four point three inch bait with a floating paddle like tail.

It features a floating tail.

Inside this paddle-like tail is an air chamber that causes the tail to float up off the bottom and gives the bait a defensive posture. When the bait is hopped off the bottom or twitched, the tail falls in line with the body, but when left to rest, it rises again. Like other creature baits, it can be fished as a jig trailer or on its own either weightless or weighted. The Yuki Bug will be available in five (5) different colors and come in packs of seven (7) for seven dollars ($7) a pack.

The Ribeye Swimbait is Owner's take on the paddletail craze.

Owner's new Ribeye Swimbait is a variation of the popular paddletail bait featuring a jointed body enhanced with ring/zipper worm style ribs along the bait. When rigged with Owner's own Beast Hook, the bait can swim through the water column on a steady retrieve and with an unweighted hook especially, it can even be fished along the surface as a wake bait. The bait is scented and will be available in three colors (Baby Bass, Ayu, Trout) and sold in packs of four (4) for seven dollars ($7) a bag.

The bait features a jointed body and external ribs.

The tear dropped tail of Owner's Ribeye Swimbait.

Perhaps developed with the Ribeye Swimbait in mind, Owner's Flashy Swimmer weighted hook/blade combo is intended to extend the utility of just about any soft plastic bait but especially soft bodied swimbaits like the Ribeye.

The Flashy Swimmer is Owner's version of a fish head spin jig head.

It comes equipped with Owner's Centering-Pin Spring system and a Willow Leaf blade extending out from the bottom of the weighted head. The Flashy Swimmer can be used as a search bait in lieu of a crank or spinnerbait giving you better weed protection than either and an overall different look for the fish.

The primary difference here being the use of their center-pin spring bait keeper and a wire arm to extend the willow leaf blade away from the jighead.

It will be available in three different sizes(1/8 oz with a 1/0 hook; 3/16 oz with a 3/0 hook; 1/4 oz with a 5/0 hook) and sold in packs of two (2) for the suggested retail price of six dollars ($6) a pack.

The Twist Lock hooks were designed with input from Gary Yamamoto and targeted for the Yamamoto Swimming Senko.

The product that most excited Dennis Yamamoto, president of Owner USA, was the new TwistLOCK weighted and unweighted hooks developed with the help of Gary Yamamoto (no relation). This new hook was specifically designed with the Swimming Senko in mind. The weight on the weighted versions is positioned low on the hook shank enhancing the keel effect and providing a much more natural swimming motion for swimming plastics through the water column. The weighted versions will come in three different sizes (4/0, 5/0, 6/0) but only one weight, 3/32nds of an ounce while the unweighted versions will be available in 1/0 through 6/0. Prices and quantities will vary a little ranging from five twenty five ($5.25) to six twenty five ($6.25) for packs of three (3) to five (5) hooks.

From left to right, Tony Shitanishi, Dennis Yamamoto, and Masato Soyama share with us what's new and exciting with Owner.

Conclusion: It will be interesting to see how well received the Owner's line of soft plastic baits are received. We already know their hooks are regarded as among the finest in the industry - an opinion we share. Nevertheless the baits we saw at ICAST 2009 were interesting enough to warrant further investigation and of course, when it comes down to a question of how to rig them, Owner is in a position to answer that question with a long list of hook options.