Fred Roumbanis is ready to kick off the 2008 Elite Series now with his new Triton 20X HP wrapped up in the ima colors. Photos in full article!! »

Welcome! To the ima EMAILER ~ January 2008 Issue

Happy New Year! Everyone at ima wishes you a most happy new year. We’ve been waiting for 2008 to arrive because this is the year that ima will roll out our brand new lures designed for North American bass fishing. Already, the first new ima Flit jerkbaits to arrive in North America are astonishing anglers who’ve used them for coldwater spotted bass. These veteran anglers live and die by the jerkbait for coldwater fishing, and they say they’ve seen nothing like the Flit before. But that’s not all! Ima will roll out a number of new lures in 2008. We’ll tell you about them here first, straight from the pros who designed the baits. We hope 2008 will be a good year for you.

The monthly IMA EMAILER brings you news from IMA pro staff members Bill Smith, Michael Murphy, Fred Roumbanis and other Ima pro staff members across the USA and worldwide.

Bill, Michael and Fred have all three been key to help ima design new hardbaits for the US market.

In this month’s issue, we are pleased to introduce you to Bill Smith.

Bill Smith is designer of the soon to be released ima Shaker crankbait.

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Introducing ima Pro Staffer Bill Smith

Let me first share a little background how I got started fishing. Don’t worry, it won’t be very lengthy.

When I was little, my grandparents and Dad introduced me to fishing for bluegill and crappie.

During my teenage years, I got involved with school team sports, other hobbies and interests of my own, and I didn’t fish much again until I entered college. Then I purchased a Coleman Crawdad cartopper, a trolling motor and hit the local lakes at college on the weekends, still fishing for panfish using live bait.

I met a college buddy who started me bass fishing with lures and I loved it. I spent much spare time during college fishing that way.

Upon graduating, I started a job as a plant manager for a manufacturing company, and I stopped fishing temporarily for about two years until I had earned enough money to buy a nice bass boat

The second summer I had that boat, a buddy talked me into fishing the local FLW Red Man tournament trail. In my first year fishing tournaments, I qualified for the Everstarts and the next year, I qualified to fish the FLW Tour.

In a bold move, I left my manufacturing job, and decided to fish full time. My grandfather and parents had always told me to do something I enjoyed with my life. They’d always say that if you start a job and you are not happy with it, you’ll be that way rest of your life.

So I decided to fish tournaments because I enjoyed that, and I also decided to start a tackle business to support my family.

My tackle business is called Backwaters, “The Fishing Authority,” located in Somerset, Kentucky.

Backwatersonline.com is the Internet extension of the store that has been online about five years now.

I’ve worked hard with the store, and it’s been successful.

I find that being on the BASS Elite and FLW Tour really helps me stay abreast of what’s going on with tackle, and that helps me run the store So the two go together. I’ve truly found a way to keep fishing tournaments and run the business both.

I’ve traveled across the country on tour, met a lot of people, I’ve learned what people buy and need for different lakes and different areas. So it’s been a learning experience for me, it’s been of key importance to running my tackle business, and it’s helped me to teach others what I’ve learned from fishing across America.

That’s the one thing I’ve found I enjoy most of all – helping customers to become better anglers.

I get so much enjoyment from helping anglers that I spend most of my time at work talking with customers. Even after work, there’ve been times my wife has yelled down to me, “It’s late and it’s time to go to bed now,” because I’m still talking with customers late into the night.

I get lots of emails and photos too, from customers that have caught a lot of fish, they say thanks to the advice and tips that I’ve given to them.

As you now know, I started bass fishing in college, and I have learned so much about it from so many others in such a short period of time. Because of everyone who helped me learn and succeed at bass fishing, I feel it’s only fair (and fun) for me to help other anglers, the same way that people taught me.

What tickles me most is that even adults can be kids when it comes to fishing.

For example, when a new guy gets his first five-pounder, he just keeps talking and talking about it.  You can see it in their face, you see the kid in them come through.

That’s probably what I like most, teaching the guys who are just getting started, who are just trying to enjoy a day on the water.

Which brings up a couple of points I’d like to get across:

1. You are never too old to start, and
2. My arms are open to help you.

When it comes to the new ima lures, if have any questions, just call. That’s what I am there for. That’s why I’m on the ima pro staff.

If you’d like to reach me by phone, try this number – 800-316-1410.

If I’m not there, leave a message and I will call you back if I am out fishing a tournament or something.

I’m here to help you learn to enjoy the ima baits. So please call.

Thank you.

Visit Bill Smith’s website at:

www.BackwatersOnline.com

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Good News! There have been several shipments of ima lures coming in from Japan and you can now find them in your favorite dealers. If you cant find them at your favorite dealer, please ask the tackle manager to bring them in for you. They are available now!

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Bill’s Tips for Fishing the Roumba and Flit

Fred Roumbanis, Michael Murphy and I, we are here to help you, our customers, to use the new products we’ve designed for ima.

A lot of sweat and tears has gone into the new ima lures, and we’ve taken the time to make sure we give you top notch lures.

The Flit jerkbait designed by Michael Murphy and the Roumba wakebait designed by Fred Roumbanis are the first new lures to be approved by ima. More will follow, such as the ima Shaker crankbait, designed by me (Bill Smith) that’s still under development.

Here are a few tips for using the ima Flit jerkbait and ima Roumba wakebait, which are in stores now.

The ima Roumba

The Roumba has a unique, pudgy look. Once you get over its odd shape and throw it, you’ll find it is very versatile.

While practicing for the BASS Elite event on Lake Champlain, my father fished with me. He tied on a Roumba and was doing okay with it waked on the surface. But when Dad cranked it a little faster in order to get it to go under about 1/2 foot or a foot deep, then he really started to do some damage.

Holding the tip down gets it to dip under the surface. If you want to wake it, hold the rod tip up.

The ima Flit

With the ima Flit jerkbait, you are going to be impressed at how easy it is to use.

People are going to find that the way it walks the dog underwater, it is easier to work than any jerkbait I have ever tied on my line.

Another thing you will notice right away is how easily it gets down deep, even without a big bill. Depending on different line diameters, the ima Flit sits 6, 8 to 10 feet deep. When I first started testing the prototypes, I found myself looking to make sure they weren’t somehow taking on water. It doesn’t have the big bill you’d expect to keep it down so deep.

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Thank You! For Reading the ima Emailer

Ima’s a big name in Japan where Ima is known for its hardbaits. Ima is now making it’s debut in the U.S. market.

U.S. bass pros Bill Smith, Michael Murphy and Fred Roumbanis have helped IMA design new hardbaits for the USA.

We’ll send you stories and tips from Bill, Michael and Fred every month.

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And please visit our company web site to see our products at: http://www.imalures.com

Fred Roumbanis displays a healthy 4lb fish taken on the ima Shaker this week. The ima Shaker will be hitting the store shelves the middle of February as they are on a boat making their way over from Japan right now.