IF you haven’t heard of a soft vibe by now, you’ve probably been hiding under the proverbial fishing rock for several years. We all know what they are and we all know that they work. I recently had the opportunity to try out a few of Samaki versions, the Vibelicious. I’d used soft vibes before and so wasn’t terribly excited because after all, same lure different name right?
The Samaki Vibelicious however, did surprise me. It may have some similarities to existing products that have proven very successful in the past but it seems that Samaki has put some serious thought into eliminating the imperfections of previous versions.
We all know soft plastics work. We also know that treble hooks have a vastly superior hook up rate to singles and most products that have been able to tick both these boxes have been successful in the past. There are drawbacks to this system though and tangling those treble hooks in the tail of the lure just seemed to be part of life in the treble-wearing soft plastic world.
However, Samaki decided they were not only going to eliminate this problem but they were going to improve the design by adding their unique rear treble holding system which stops the trebles fouling on the lure. It works an absolute treat eliminating wasted casts and Samaki can be really proud of this design.
In the field it didn’t take long before I was ticking off species, and that was only with the smallest 70mm size. Flathead loved them, bass and estuary perch loved them and, even though I initially suspected they might be a little big, bream smashed them too.
At the time of writing I have yet to try out the larger sizes but as I think about it now – in particular how they look and work sinking with slack line – I’m already thinking about jewies and winter snapper. That’s just down in the south of the country too; no doubt they will be dynamite on northern species like barra, threadfin, jacks and everything else.
The kicker for me with any lure comes when you get to the cash register. In my eyes lures obviously need to catch fish and I like to see change from a twenty. Call me tight if you like but I catch less fish on expensive lures because I’m not prepared to throw them where I might not get them out of. The Samaki catches fish and at the right price and that’s why it’s earned a permanent spot in my tackle box.
