The Tomahawk
The Tomahawk is produced by André Koehoorn en Marco Dol, two of 'The Netherlands' most wellknown lurebuilders. A little while ago André sent me this jerkbait and he asked me to test it for him. Of course I am happy to do so and the fact that you read about this bait on our website, means that the results were positive. I want to stress the fact that we don't review baits that do not meet our demands (i.e. you won't read about lures that don't work).
These gentlemen have turned a corner when it comes to building jerkbaits and, just like the Booner (we have reviewed this bait before), the Tomahawk has been made from epoxy. Even though you might expect the opposite to be true, epoxy jerkbaits are actually lighter than its wooden counterparts. Much of this has to do with the density of the materials that are being used but we won't go into this in our review. The fact is that by using epoxy, you can make baits more consistently. I still have to see the first bait that was made by these two gentlemen that wasn't weighted properly and this is the way it should be.
The Tomahawk has a special shape that doesn't really remind you of anything natural when you first set eyes on it. But if you look at it a little longer, you will recognize a fish-shape. The profile confirms this suspicion. This is actually one of the things that I admire in this jerkbait. The tomahawk's high sides make it stand out a little better in the water as opposed to a slim glider like a Tekneek. I won't argue that both styles of gliders work (and work well) because it is still the angler who has to impart the proper action on the baits.
The Tomahawk sinks a little faster than the Booner but it doesn't run extremely deep when you fish it at a steady pace. Of course, you can allow it to sink a little while longer to get it deeper and then it's amazingly easy to maintain a depth of about 1-2m. Just like the Booner, the Tomahawk sinks slightly tail down and that's probably the reason that it doesn't glide side to side perfectly horizontally. It rather dives slightly while gliding when it changes direction from left to right. The result looks most promising!
The Tomahawk was originally intended to be a "Seeker" jerkbait, meaning that it should be fished faster to find active pike. A glider is still considered as a bait that must be fished slowly, not so actually! Because the Tomahawk sinks faster than the average glider, you are now able to use gliders during a faster drift. Probably you can keep it at approximately the same depth as you would achieve using a slow sinking glider fished slowly, yet you are able to fish larger area's fast and thoroughly. This is exactly why this glider is so special.
I can most certainly advise you to try this bait, especially if you have your heart set on using gliders that run a bit deeper than most commercially produced jerkbaits. The Tomahawk is yet another piece of art made by these two Dutch anglers and I am curious to see what results I will be able to get using this bait. Who knows what they will come up with next??