Welcome to the IMA Emailer – February 2011 Issue

The IMA EMAILER brings you news from IMA pro staff members across the USA & worldwide.

Depending on where in the country you live, February may be the start
of something big, or it may be the cruelest month of the year. In
Florida and Texas, the spawn may be full swing, but in the wintry
northern climes there’s still time left to organize tackle and do your
long-avoided chores around the house. At least the people in Green Bay
and Pittsburgh have the Super Bowl to cheer them up for a while, but if
you live in Maine, Minnesota or Montana and you live for bass fishing,
there’s still time to kill.

But don’t give up hope! Good things come to those who wait. We’re
here to get you excited about the upcoming season regardless of whether
you’ve already flung a few 8-lbrs over the rail or whether your boat
is still winterized. IMA stands for imagination and we want you to
start imagining just how good the 2011 season is going to be for all of
us.

Ima Pro Staffer Rich Lindgren proves that the ima Square Bill is a year round producer. 24 degree air temp with water temp in low 40’s. – Full Review	Nicholas Bodsford from basseast.com tried his luck with the square bill & was pleased with his results as well.

February may be the shortest month on the calendar, but for Bill
Lowen it’s going to be jam-packed with excitement, most of it in the
latter half of the 28 days. He’s already picked up his new boat,
purchased new jerseys and hats and gotten his tackle orders in, but when
the fishing world turns its focus on New Orleans on February 18th,
there will be a double-beam super-bright spotlight on the young and
talented Ohio pro.

What’s New Orleans, you ask? Where have you been? It’s the Bassmaster
Classic, and it’s being held for the fourth time in the greatest party
city on earth. As they say down there, let the good times roll! Along
with a little ol’ fishing tournament, there will be a tackle expo that
rivals anything this side of ICAST. Of course IMA will be there and
we’ll be debuting the Square Bill, a shallow-diving crankbait that is
the joint brainchild of Lowen and IMA’s engineers in Japan.

The Square Bill combines the “hunting” action of the handmade baits
Bill fished growing up on the Ohio River with the durability of plastic.
It goes shallower than most of our competitors’ baits, the better to
fulfill Lowen’s ultra-shallow style.

Many pundits say that this Classic will be won flipping or with a
spinnerbait and Bill loves both techniques. Last year at Clear Lake
Lowen showed that he’s deadly with a vibrating jig, too, finishing
second overall after literally wearing out his arms (and several baits)
over the course of four days. That presentation could come into play in
New Orleans as well, but he said that anyone who discounts the role of
hard baits in New Orleans may be in for a rude awakening.

“Without a doubt they’re going to be in my gameplan,” he said. “It
just depends on where in the spawn we are. That’ll determine whether the
Square Bill plays a role. It could also involve a rattlebait like the
IMA Rock N Vibe over the grass flats or even the Roumba if they’re
further along.”

ima’ Line of baits will be found on the deck of Classic Qualifier Bill Lowen

The nice thing about the shallow-diving Square Bill is that it does
better in grassy environs than most of the competition. If it’s getting
down a little too deep, Bill will just upsize his line to 15 or even 20
pound test. The crankbait will maintain its hunting action, but it won’t
grind down as deep into the greenery.

Here’s hoping for a big performance from Bill in New Orleans. If
you’re there, cheer him on from the stands and be sure to stop by our
booth to check out the Square Bill. If you can’t make it to the Big
Easy, be sure to ask your favorite online or bricks and mortar retailer
when they will have the Square Bill in stock. Don’t delay – once they’re
in, the pegs will empty as quickly as they can fill them.

IMA Pro Fred Roumbanis can’t decide whether he wants to be a
professional bass fisherman or a long-haul truck driver – or both. A few
years back he moved from California to Oklahoma to build a family and
cut down on his driving time, but this year the odometer on his tow
vehicle is going to get a serious workout.

In addition to the eight regular season Bassmaster Elite Series
tournaments (plus the possibility of two post-season events, should he
qualify), Fred is fishing all four FLW Tour Opens, the three BASS
Northern Opens and the PAA Tournament Series. In the understatement of
the year, he said “it’s a pretty full schedule.”

We caught up with him as he drove to Florida’s Lake Okeechobee for
the first FLW Tour Open and he could barely contain his enthusiasm. “I
haven’t been this excited to go fishing in a long time,” he said. “It’s
been a long break and I’ve done a lot of fun fishing, but I’m ready to
get back and do what I love, and that’s compete in tournaments.”

He did have a chance to experiment with the Square Bill and the
results were auspicious right from the start. “The first day I got it, I
walked down to the pond in my backyard,” he recalled. “It’s a pretty
well-stocked pond, so take this for what it is, but I cast it out,
pulled it up to a little grass limb, let it hover at the edge and the
first time it floated up there was a huge swirl. She missed it, but I
cast right back and the second time she nailed it, a solid 4-pounder.”

“It’s really an awesome crankbait,” he continued. “It’s super-buoyant
and is surprisingly good in grass. That’s what I look for in a square
bill crankbait, the buoyancy factor, how well it deflects and how easily
it comes through cover like laydowns and stumps.”

(Fred spent his off season fine tuning his skills with the Flit 120 , suspending jerkbait)

Looking down the eight-event Elite Series schedule in particular,
Fred was excited to report that it “sets up for a shallow bite” almost
beginning to end. “Pickwick and Wheeler will be excellent for the Square
Bill. It’ll be deadly at Toledo Bend and it works year-round on the
Arkansas River.”

He’s also extremely excited to head back to Lake Murray in May. The
last time the Elites went there he shocked the fishing world by ignoring
the downlake blueback herring bite and fishing a frog way up the river.
The result was a $100,000 victory. No matter where they go, though, if
you look at his boat deck you’ll likely see an iRod 7′ Rip Rap Special
paired with an Ardent 5:1 XS1000 baitcasting reel. It’ll be spooled with
15 to 20 pound test P-Line copoplymer and at the end will be an IMA
Square Bill, ready for the dominant shallow water bite.

We also caught up with legendary Northern California guide and
fishing instructor Randy Pringle, who is prepared for a busy season on
Clear Lake and the Delta. He said the weather patterns the region has
experienced thus far in late 2010 and early 2011 set up perfectly for an
unbelievable early crankbait bite.

“These fish haven’t been able to eat,” he said. “They’re wanting to
eat, and when the water temperatures get right they’re all going to go
nuts and a shallow-running crankbait like the IMA Shaker or the Square
Bill. Once those temperatures get into the mid 50s, it’ll be dynamite.”

In between seminars and preparation to run a tournament circuit,
Pringle has had plenty of time to experiment with the new Square Bill.
He called it “the next evolution of the crankbait, with a perfect action
and high-end components. No matter where you fish it, it’s best any
time you need a deflection-style bait. That could mean weeds, trees or
stumps, but if you’re not bumping things or ticking things, you’re not
letting the bait do its job.”

Pringle added that it’s an ideal bait for his guide service. It’s not
quite as easy as “cast, wind, unhook,” but that’s not far from the
truth. “If you’ve done your homework and put the pieces together, it’s a
great bait for guide clients who are beginners,” he said. “Once you get
that down, you hand them the right rod, with the right line, tell them
how fast to retrieve and it’s quite easy.”

While the Square Bill comes in 9 dynamic color patterns, Pringle
encourages his guide clients to think simply about color. “What you
really need are something that imitates a crawdad, something that
imitates a shad and something that imitates a perch,” he explained.
“After that is when water clarity enters the equation. If the water is a
little bit dirtier, use something with chartreuse. If it’s clearer,
stick with red and something in a shad pattern.”

Come see us at the Classic, where you can pick up the Square Bills

In addition to using IMA products at the end of your line, you can
now wear the company logo proudly. After numerous requests from educated
anglers, we’re bringing IMA apparel to a tackle dealer near you. We`ve
just added the ima hoodies to the lineup so pick yours up online. http://store.optimumbaits.com/products/category/1573.0.1.1.76184.0.0.0.0

We have short and long sleeve shirts available in both white and navy
blue, boat towels and beanies, along with baseball hats. As with IMA hard baits , they’re only the finest quality and will make a splash at
your next bass tournament or out on the town.

As always, we’d love to hear about the bass that IMA lures produce
for you, whether on your home body of water or on the trip of a
lifetime. Please send pictures of your fish, preferably with an IMA bait
in its mouth, and a short description of what made the catch memorable.
(We know that December was cold and that there were a few Holidays
mixed in but we have a hard time believing that nobody caught a fish on
ima)

Each month we’ll pick one winner who will get to choose the apparel
item of his or her choice as a thank you for supporting and using IMA
products. Send to [email protected]