Lucy

Lucy is a 3.2-inch slim curly-tail soft plastic developed by EVERGREEN pro staff and Lake Biwa guide Kenta Onishi.

Its concept is straightforward: create a lure that can help anglers catch a bass without requiring complicated rod work.

Rather than making the entire body move aggressively, Lucy is designed so that the curly tail produces subtle movement while the body remains relatively stable.

The body uses an inverted triangular cross section and stabilizing fins to reduce unwanted rolling and rotation during swimming and falling. A soft, high-salt material helps the relatively thick tail respond to small amounts of movement.

The result is a compact finesse bait that combines a subtle profile with enough tail movement to help bass locate it.

Lucy was developed around a very practical idea from Lake Biwa guide Kenta Onishi: a lure that could produce bites for different anglers without requiring difficult techniques.

Its slim profile provides a subtle, easy-to-eat appearance, while the curly tail creates enough water movement to help bass notice the bait even across expansive areas such as Lake Biwa weed flats.

That balance between attraction and subtlety makes Lucy useful when anglers are not sure exactly where the fish are or simply want to generate a bite regardless of bass size.

Although closely associated with Lake Biwa, testing has also produced fish in reservoirs and rivers, from both boats and the bank.

The down shot rig is Kenta Onishi's primary recommendation for Lucy.

The basic presentation is extremely simple: drag the rig slowly along the bottom with the rod and retrieve the slack line.

Small rod movements and pauses can be added, but aggressive shaking is not necessary. The curly tail is designed to catch water and continue moving with very little input from the angler.

Onishi recommends a leader of approximately 20 cm as a basic starting point, with sinker weight adjusted according to depth.

A #2 nose hook is the standard setup, while a #3 offset hook can be used around heavier vegetation.

• Tough bite conditions
• High fishing pressure
• Down shot rigs
• Lake Biwa weed areas
• Reservoirs and rivers
• Bank fishing
• Deep-water finesse fishing
• When the location of bass is difficult to narrow down
• When simply getting a bite is more important than targeting a specific size
• Post-spawn bass

Lucy is a good example of a Japanese finesse bait designed around ease of use rather than complicated technique.

Its defining characteristic is the balance between attraction and subtlety. The slim body presents an easy target, while the relatively substantial curly tail produces enough water movement to help fish locate the bait.

Instead of requiring constant shaking, Lucy is designed to produce tail movement from very small inputs, allowing anglers to simply drag a down shot rig along the bottom and let the lure work.

For US anglers exploring JDM finesse fishing, Lucy demonstrates that Japanese finesse does not necessarily mean complicated rod work. Sometimes the design of the lure is intended to make a very simple presentation more effective.