Daiwa Steez Custom HMKL Suspending Minnow Lures

The HMKL began with the universal minnow profile and then got pushed well past it. Daiwa designer Kazuma Izumi rebuilt the bait around one conviction — that a leaner lure does more work when the bite is tough — and matched the material, coating, lip design, figure and size to that idea. What came out is a genuinely slim 5.4" suspending jerkbait that reads as the small minnows and juvenile baitfish nearly everything is keyed on.

The lip is the headline. It is cut from circuit-board carbon fiber — a first on a jerkbait — which is hard enough to shrug off rock and dock contact without chipping the way molded lips do. It is also very sharp, so it cuts water cleanly and tracks the bait exactly where you put it. Like a boat’s rudder, it keeps the action accurate and repeatable cast after cast rather than drifting off as the bait takes abuse.

Casting distance comes from a weight-transfer system running small tungsten slugs. Tungsten lets Daiwa move the same mass in a smaller package, which shifts hard on the cast and then sits better underwater than bulkier steel would — and an internal counter-buoyancy weight holds the bait level on the pause without the extra chamber noise a rattle system adds.

SaqSas swivels — the part that keeps fish pinned

The front and rear hook hangers carry their split rings on SaqSas swivels. Free-spinning hooks stop acting like small rudders that fight the bait’s balance in the water, and once a fish is hooked the swivel rotates with the pull instead of levering the hook against the hole. Wherever the treble ends up in a fish’s mouth, that rotation is what keeps it from tearing out. It ships with three stainless SaqSas trebles in #4.

Daiwa builds it as a Steez freshwater jerkbait, and in cold water it is exactly that. It crosses over cleanly on this coast, though — a 5.4" suspending bait working down to about six feet covers calico and sand bass along structure, bay and harbor fish, and shallow flats where a slim profile beats a bulky one.

Key Features

• Circuit-board carbon fiber lip — first on a jerkbait; durable, chip-resistant, and sharp enough to cut water precisely
• Lean body profile designed by Kazuma Izumi for tough, pressured conditions
• Tungsten weight-transfer system for long casts and better underwater balance
• Internal counter-buoyancy weight stabilizes the bait with no unnecessary noise
• SaqSas swivels front and rear let the hooks turn freely and resist tearing out
• Three stainless SaqSas #4 treble hooks
• Six patterns spanning natural forage tones through bright, high-visibility finishes

Specifications: Suspending action. Circuit-board carbon fiber lip, tungsten weight-transfer system, internal counter-buoyancy weight, SaqSas swivels at both hook hangers, three stainless SaqSas #4 trebles. Model series HM137SPK.

Note: Daiwa photographs the color lineup with the hooks removed so the finish is easier to see. The last gallery image shows the bait as it ships — rigged with its SaqSas swivels and trebles.