Shimano’s latest range of what were JDM (Japanese domestic market) jigs is the Clinch Shallow series which will be available in September. There are six colours in the range, they only come in size 3.5 and we managed to get our hands on some early samples and all 6 colours.
There are three UV Keimura bodies that all feature a loose yet very durable cloth to let that UV shine through, a silver foil, gold foil and one red foil. While it’s a small range they have you covered for sunny days, early morning, dirty water and night. I really love the patterns and paint jobs, with the gold foil (008) being an exceptional looking jig.
They’re weighted lighter for a slow sink at 5.8sec/1m which allows you to fish in shallow waters with a larger presentation, which is great for landbased anglers, however it comes at the cost of diminished casting distance. They’re also effective in the boat at times when squid are a little finicky in slower tides where the lighter weight allows them to spend more time in the water column and not look odd by sinking so quickly. The last week of testing was challenging with slow neap tides leading up to the Super Blood Moon and the shallow series really came into its own. Colour 010 a UV body with a green cloth and purple bands with a yellow stripe was very effective, it was the one jig that dominated through hours of an almost non-existent tide.
When the tides were moving a little faster we used them as a drifter where they excelled as they were too shallow to hit the bottom and foul up yet offered a large presentation that the squid could see from a distance, form here on these will be all I’m using as a drift jig.
This new Clinch Shallow series is beautifully built with top shelf materials, vibrant and detailed patterns with high contrasting paint. While they have their use on the boat, these will be very effective for landbased anglers that are willing to put the 2.5 and 3.0 sizes aside and use a larger presentation in the shallows.
Distributed By: Shimano Fishing
Web: shimanofish.com.au
