Since the introduction of his original soft plastic shrimp, Mark Nichols’ D.O.A. Lures has been innovating soft plastic baits that are as unique as they are deadly. Their newest creation, the Airhead, is a soft bait that looks like nothing else on the market and has proved highly effective on a variety of fresh and saltwater predators in its first few months on the market.
The Airhead is as versatile as it is unique, and it can be rigged and fished in a wide variety of styles, meaning anglers can fish one lure throughout the entire water column from surface to seabed.
At 5-inches, the Airheads are a wide-profile bait with a thick “beaver” tail that offers maximum flash and vibration with minimum movement. A larger-than-normal belly cavity is designed to accept a weedless worm-style hook which offers excellent hookup percentages, something that can be an issue with some plastics rigged weedless. In addition to improving anglers’ connection rates, the large cavity traps air, increasing the lures’ buoyancy and allowing the Airheads to be fished as a topwater bait.
Giving the wide tail a slice with a knife or scissors creates something of an exaggerated curly tail on the Airhead and allows it to be fished quickly on the surface as a buzzbait. Not only does the lure create big noise and wake, it’s totally weedless and can be fished through the densest shoreline cover.
The sliced tail is also effective in slower, subsurface retrieves and offers anglers an alternative to the beaver tail to tailor their presentations to what fish are looking for. A weighted worm hook (or D.O.A. Pinch Weight) in a variety of sizes can be added to tweak the lure’s sink rate.
Also effective on a jighead, the Airhead will “wake the dead” with extreme tail pulse when bounced slowly along the bottom.
A formidable weapon on slow and fast retrieves from the top to the bottom of the water column, the Airhead is as close to an all-purpose soft plastic as exists on the market. Anglers pursuing speckled trout, red drum, striped bass, and flounder owe it to themselves to take a look at the new lure.
Check it out at local D.O.A. dealers or visit www.doalures.com for more information.