Midwest finesse anglers have been slow to joining the swimbait phenomenon that was conceived in California in the 1970s and 1980s.
Instead, we have been hooked on either the three- or four-inch curly-tail grub, and it has been part of some Midwest finesse anglers’ repertoire for four decades.
Part of our tardiness revolves around the size of most of the swimbaits. From our perspectives, the traditional swimbaits have been too big for our tactics and tastes. But in recent years tackle manufacturers — especially those in Japan — have been designing and manufacturing smaller ones that are suitable for our Midwest finesse methods. And Northland Fishing Tackle of Bemidji, Minnesota, recently announced that they are manufacturing a 2 1/2- and 3 1/2-inch swimbait that has caught the attention of some Midwest finesse anglers. It is called the IMPULSE Core Swimbait, which the folks at Northland heralded as a multispecies bait that “mimics baitfish in all conditions.”
Its head is cone shaped, and the tip of its head is flat, which allows it to fit snuggly and flush to the back of a Northland’s Slurp! Jig.
From the back of its head to the junction at its tail, its oval-shaped torso is encompassed with a series of pronounced ribs. The 2 1/2-inch IMPULSE Core Swimbait has 18 ribs, and the 3 1/2-incher has 26 ribs. The diameter of its torso gradually diminishes as it approaches the junction of its tail.
The end of its tail is adorned with a prominent boot, which the folks at Northland call an “aqua-dynamic boot.” And when an angler is casting it and employing a swimming retrieve, the boot undulates dramatically, which provokes the “extra-soft ribbed body” to intensely quiver and gyrate. All of this movement allows Northland’s IMPULSE Instinctual Attractant, which is a “baked-in MicroPlankton formula,” to radiate from the torso.
We exchanged a couple of emails about the IMPULSE Core Swimbait with Jeff Gustafson of Kenora, Ontario, Canada. He says it will prove to be a very versatile bait that will catch largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, and spotted bass at many waterways across the United States and Canada. He says it can be employed on a jig with an exposed hook, affixed to a hook Texas-style on a slip-sinker rig, or attached to a drop-shot rig. His preference, however, is to use it on a jig, such as a 1/4- ounce jig with a minnow-style head.
He will work it into his repertoire at the FLW Tour…
