Kamiwaza Deco Pen II 160F Stickbaits

The Deco Pen II is several generations into a long line of effective floating stickbait, handmade in Japan of natural wood. It's 160mm and about 45 grams with no hardware, hooks and split rings will add another 8-10g, making it great for casting on anywhere from 30-60lb line for yellowfin, bluefin, yellowtail and dorado. I've caught lots of yellowfin on the last generation of lures and with the updated brighter finish these will be sure to do the same. You'll want a softer tip rod to work floating stickbaits properly, ideally a spinning setup for the best performance.

Floating stickbaits have been a staple of the pelagic offshore fishing in Japan for many decades now, as ubiquitous as surface iron fishing is in Southern California. While they are limited to near surface fishing they have a tendency to attract and bring up deeper fish within the same range as our live bait.

The nice part about floating stickbaits over other types of lures is the amount of different actions you and impart into the bait just by changing how you sweep the rod or your retrieve. If you do a long sweep with continuous retrieve you can get the lure to dive beneath the surface and continue to swim in an S pattern until you stop and let the lure surface again mimicking a stunned bait. With short sweeps and less retrieve you can get the lure to dart under the surface, swim for a bit before surfacing more closely resembling a wounded bait. With a constant retrieve it will stay on the surface and dart side to side.