Posted by Jason Sealock on Sun, Jul 31, 2011 @ 08:26 PM
Zipper came up with a new take on the big worm when they announced the "Goliath." We wrote about it in a blog a while back. One piece of feedback we gave was that the bait might not work for a lot of fisheries that didn't have a good population of big bass.
Now Zipper has released a new 10-inch offering called the Perfect 10 that should give anglers another offering offshore and in big fish situations. The bait is listed as 10-inches but it doesn't seem that big. It will fish well on big fluorocarbon with a Texas rig. The bait seems wide profile, but there is no more plastic for the hook to go through than any big worm.
Also new from Zipper is a handful of new scents that apply much like a paste to your favorite plastics called Bass Pookee. The scents range from Salt to Coffee to Crawfish. We've been testing the scents with average results.
We noticed in our testing the scents separated in the jars in really hot weather. But we've been informed that is just the color extracts separating. We've found if you keep the jars cool it's no problem but even the uncolored parts smell like their intended scent so it's really no big deal. Just makes it easier for anglers to tell which scent they are grabbing.
We like that the scents seem to make the worms slick and make a film on them. Which is a great idea as it makes the baits pull through cover easily.
To find more information on Zipper worms, visit ZipperWormCompany.com.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Fri, Jul 29, 2011 @ 09:24 AM
Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Jul 28, 2011 @ 01:45 PM
Well we've wrapped up most of our coverage from ICAST, and we've had time to go back and review our notes and our photos from the show in Vegas. It was a whirlwind three days, and while I'd love to say we saw every booth at the show, the reality is there are 1,221 booths at ICAST and 26 hours to see as much as you can. Even if we spent only 5 minutes in a booth, we'd only see 25% of the show.
So we try to blow through as fast as possible to see everything. The new product showcase helps get an idea of what there is to see and then we make the rounds. And unfortunately we don't get to nearly all the booths. But we did get a ton of blogs done and a bunch of the top products covered from the show for you.
The Best of Show to us has become a very watered down popularity contest at ICAST. The winners are sometimes spot on and sometimes ridiculous compared to the competition. So we take the voting with a grain of salt and do our best to vote on the products we think are original, but also the ones we think are the best products for you guys, the anglers.
In all our coverage and visits, we came up with the products we think will be the true BEST OF SHOW from ICAST in the categories that apply to all fishermen on the bank, in a boat, in a kayak or wading a stream. We came up with who we think will be the real winners with anglers in terms of originality, productivity, quality construction and eventually sales.
Those categories that matter to all freshwater anglers are Rod, Reel, Hard Lure, Soft Lure, Terminal Tackle, Line and Storage.
So without further ado, here is our take on the true Best of Show.
Best Reel
Actual Winner: Abu Garcia Revo MGX Baitcaster
Wired2Fish Winners: Quantum EXO Baitcaster and Spinning, Abu Garcia Revo MGX baitcaster
Reasoning: These are higher dollar reels, but made with the best components available. The Quantum EXO reels were a very original idea, feel light as a feather but also feel incredibly strong and tough. They were smooth and featured amazing control. Likewise with the Abu Garcia Revo MGX although we feel that $350 price tag will be a hard pill to swallow for 90% of anglers. But if you demand the very best, there are some new options to consider.
Best Rod
Actual Winner: G.Loomis GL2
Wired2Fish Winners: Quantum EXO rods, Abu Garcia Villain rods, Phenix Recon Series, St. Croix Rage Rods, Okuma Helios
Reasoning: All of the rods mentioned made affordable to somewhat affordable, lightweight, powerful new rod lines for anglers. Part of the trends we saw in rods this year was reduced weight, better reel seats, exposed blanks, handles that merged with the blanks, better guides, etc. We expect all of these new rod lines to do well this coming season.
Best Hard Lure
Actual Winner: Sebile D&S Crank
Wired2Fish Winners: Rapala Rippin Rap, Rapala X-Rap Pop, ABT 5-inch Banshee, Vagabond Swim Hustler Inject
Reasoning: The new Rapala Baits just keep getting better. We've got some serious man-crushes on the new Rippin Rap and X-Rap Pop. The finishes are great but the shape and engineering of the baits really makes them unique from other offerings. The swimbaits are going to be winners too. The mid-sized affordable swimbaits are really getting a foothold with anglers and we think these two displayed some unique, detailed high-end features at good prices.
Best Soft Lure
Actual Winner: Kopper's Live Target Mouse
Wired2Fish Winners: MightEE Power Finesse Worm, Optimum Top of the Line Swimbait, Koppers Mouse, Evergreen Kicker Frog, Jackall Clone Gill
Reasoning: We were looking for soft baits that did something different and gave us some new options. The MightEE is a big thick straight tail worm made specifically for use on heavier shaky heads for power shaky presentations, something we've employed a lot in recent years. The Optimum Top of the Line took the line-thru design in swimbaits and made it where we can fish these baits over heavy cover without snagging. The Koppers Mouse puts an interesting spin on frog fishing, but a bass will probably still think its a frog. The Evergreen Kicker Frog employs a single hook design that we like for better hookups. Look at a jig and worm, you get rock solid hooksets with the single hook baits. And the Jackall Clone Gill gives us a drop shot, and bed fishing option that we haven't had in such a lifelike profile and look.
Best Terminal Tackle
Actual Winner: VMC Spin Shot hook
Wired2Fish Winners: VMC Spin Shot hook, Eco Pro Diamond Peg, Eco Pro Wacky Rig Weight, Trokar Treble Hooks
Reasoning. The Spin Shot from VMC is the real deal. Jason has been wrecking the fish on this hook for weeks. Both of the Eco Pro tackle pieces are very well designed and simple solutions to common fishing problems. We really like their simple but very well made answers to our angling needs. And those Trokar trebles should really add a new dimesion to hardbait fishing, with penetrating hooksets on short striking fish.
Best Line
Actual Winner: Berkley NanoFil (Best Of Show Overall Winner)
Wired2Fish Winners: NanoFil, Seaguar Senshi and Seaguar Kanzen
Reasoning: We've used all three, and it's nice that lines are being designed for anglers that have demanded that certain hassling aspects of fishing line be corrected in higher end lines. We love NanoFil. We're still learning what its limitations are, but at this point, we've had a lot more success than shortcoming with the line on our spinning reels. The new Senshi monofilament is very cool. It's supple, smooth and really fishes well. Same with the Kanzen braid. All three of these lines will do well for their brands.
Best Storage
Actual Winner: Plano Hydro-Flow Tackle Management System
Wired2Fish Winner: Plano everything
Reasoning: Has Plano made a storage solution that wasn't good? They make so much good stuff in so many shapes, sizes and configurations that there is something for everyone, no matter how you like to fish. We're very intrigued by this new Hydro-Flow system. Rain, water spray, etc. can get in your boxes and damage your tackle with rust. However, this system might alleviate that for anglers. We're interested to see how it performs in a damp boat compartment.
We'll be following up with our take on the ICAST Show as a whole. What was great about it and what we think would make the show even better in 2012. What are your thoughts on the new stuff you saw from the show? What other options would you put in place of ours?
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Wed, Jul 27, 2011 @ 02:15 PM
A crash course in swim jigs for bass
A lot of the best techniques are born by accident or maybe by necessity. It's not in our nature to accept accidents as better ways of doing things. We're quick to write things off as flukes because of our skeptical nature.
If we were back in college psychology class with a group of anglers, we might do a show of hands to get a representation for how many folks have caught a bass on a jig just reeling it in to make another cast. Then analyze why we think it's a fluke individually if so many of us have done it.
Happened to you? I bet a bunch of folks answered yes. The fact is a bass is an opportunist and more than that he's impulsive. Sometimes he's not hungry, but he'll bite anyway, and neither the angler nor the bass always know why. That's the crux of swim jig fishing -- a bass reacting to something moving so quickly that he interprets it as something that fears being eaten, and chases it down and grabs it because it must be something worth eating.
We'll dispense with the bass psychology for now.
I learned to swim a jig back in the late 80s, and for whatever reason, I bucked the normal tendency to write a happenstance occurrence off as a fluke. We were fishing on Lake Dardanelle, a lake off the Arkansas River in Russellville, Ark., and I was pitching a jig into bank grass, pencil reeds or water willows as many folks call them.
I saw a hole up ahead in the grass, so I reeled a jig quickly through the willows, banging stalks as the jig came through to make that next cast. A 4-pounder violently struck the jig and hooked itself before I could even lean into it. It was one of the most violent strikes I'd ever had up to that point in my fishing.
The next cast, I pitched my jig into the hole. Let it sit. Shook it. Then reeled the jig up quickly through the reeds again and another fish swirled and missed the jig this time. That's because I saw the boil and jerked like a mad man. Yeah I was keyed up. But more importantly I was keyed into the swimming effectiveness of a jig.
Back then I was using a 6 foot rod, 10-pound mono and an Arkie jig. Yep I was out matched and didn't know any better. Yes I caught a lot of fish swimming a jig. I also lost a lot more.
The History
Fast forward 25 years, and swimming a jig is a prominent pattern in fishing from coast to coast, from Wisconsin to Louisiana. Several folks have laid claim to creating the swim jig or the swim jig technique. I think simultaneously several guys were figuring it out and making jigs specifically designed for this technique to get better hook ups. There were guys in Alabama, Wisconsin, Arkansas and more using this technique 20 years ago and the fact that nothing was written about it back then, makes me believe several guys discovered it by not writing it off as a fluke.
There are a lot of great swim jig anglers that fish at the top level and probably every pro knows how to do it well. But a few names like Randy Howell, Tom Monsoor and Mitch Looper stand out on the topic. While I’ve listened to a very exhaustive class with Randy Howell at Bass University on swimming a jig and saw what he did on Lake Dardanelle in some Elite 50 events, I've had the fortune of learning to swim a jig from Looper on the water.
Mitch Looper, is a prostaff angler for PRADCO. Many are familiar with his big bass prowess from the many articles and videos he's been in over the years. When PRADCO needs a big fish for a photo shoot or a magazine article or a catalog shot, they call Mitch to go get the bass for them. Not to mention he caught a 14-pound bass, one of the largest Northern Strain bass ever recorded on a city lake in Arkansas – on a jig.
Looper started making an arrowhead shaped jig that had a flat surface specifically for swim jig fishing back in the 1980s. He made up a bunch and they were sold along the Arkansas River as word of the swim jig technique was spreading. It remained a regional bait for many years until his design was picked up by Booyah.
The Basic Setup
Like any other technique, you can chuck and wind a jig and catch bass, but there are several little nuances about swimming a jig that will make you a lot more successful, lead to more hookups and help you use your time more wisely.
The first consideration is your equipment. Swim jig fishing is fast and furious and the fish are full of spunk when you hook and fight them to the boat. It’s not a light line, light rod technique. A lot of guys swim a jig with braid. I prefer 17- to 25-pound monofilament for several reasons.
Heavier fluorocarbons can be cumbersome to manage and fish with. They can be rigid, coilly and not perform as well as the same pound test monofilament. And at those higher pound tests, stretch isn’t as big a factor. I will go up to braid though if the cover is overly thick or I think I’m not getting a direct enough pull on the fish with my hookset.
I use a medium-heavy to heavy action 6-foot, 9-inch to 7-foot rod. I really like being able to make roll casts to just beyond specific targets like cuts and corners in the grass, stumps, laydowns, etc. A longer rod can make that a little more cumbersome to do.
A high speed reel is a must. A lot of guys will tell you to use a lighter jig and reel the jig slowly through the grass. That goes against the grain of what we’ve found makes a swim jig so effective.
Speed Kills
The retrieve varies among good swim jig anglers, but one thing that has become apparent over the course of 20 plus years is that speed can be the greatest asset to triggering bites. What separates a swim jig in Looper’s mind is the speed it moves.
“You can reel a spinnerbait slow through the grass with a thumping blade and not get a strike,” Looper said. “The turn around and fire a swim jig through there as fast as you can reel it and catch a giant. It’s a big fish bait if you fish it right.”
Looper has proven that to me over and over again in the boat. But speed doesn’t mean reeling it so fast it’s skiing on the surface or haphazardly just turning the handle as fast as you can without paying attention to the bait. There is an art to each cast.
Like with a spinnerbait, you want to pick those angles that bring your bait right by an ambush point or that maximize its time in the water. When I’m fishing it now around emergent grass, I want the jig to come right by the point that sticks out the furthest in the line of willows. I want it to come through the willows, bumping as many stalks as I can on one retrieve.
Your rod angle can do a lot of the effective work for you. Make your cast then put your rod tip down and in the angle that is going to bring your jig rapidly by the point in the cover you think is the likely ambush spot. Visualize where a bass might setup to attack and then try to hit that spot from multiple angles.
The other nice thing about the speed besides covering a lot of water fast, is that it can also be an alarm to wake the bass up and put them on guard. You make a fast cast, then another, each time getting closer to bass. He’s now on guard because he sees or hears a commotion just down from him in the grass. Now when you race it by him, it’s as if he’s saying, “Ah ha! There it is!”
Mastering the Retrieves
Obviously reeling fast is one way to get them, but it’s more refined. Sure you can bump the cover and get the jig to deflect and change its motion momentarily. The real refinement comes with imparting action but being cautious not to break the surface.
“You want your jig to come by that piece of cover, grass or ambush point as close as possible and swim right against it or through it without breaking the surface,” Looper said. “So many times if you break the surface, you don’t get a bite. If you can keep it just under the surface, waking as it comes up to the cover, it gives the fish a better profile and they seem to take the jig better.”
So it’s speed, it’s contact, it’s bulging but not breaking the water’s surface. But it can also be imparted action.
When I first started swimming a jig, there was something about “pulsing” the jig that really enticed strikes. With a rod up at about 10 o’clock, you can reel fast and just pump the rod tip an inch or two rapidly and repeatedly in a cadence to make the jig just flare for a split second and burst. It looks like you’re almost walking the jig the way the rod tip moves, but really your just pausing it for a split second and the skirt flares and the legs on the trailer kick and then it’s off again. Randy Howell used this retrieve with great success on Lake Dardanelle in the Elite 50 he won in 2004.
The final trick I will impart is a kill for a following fish. Probably the best angler I’ve been in the boat with at catching following fish on a jig is Bill Taylor, FLW Tour director. He’s not a jig swimmer per se, but on numerous occasions he’s caught big bass that followed his casting jig back to the boat as he reeled it quickly to make another cast. Bill quickly reacts to a following bass by dropping his rod, killing the reel, even punching the bail and watching his line. Then when he sees the line jump or change directions he sets and catches them.
I often will pass the prime target in the cover and kill the jig and then rapidly start in again on my retrieve with a rod pop if I don’t see a strike on the line. This has accounted for numerous bass. Also if I deflect nicely off a hard piece of cover, I will kill the jig, give it a few pops and back to reeling. The key is not to just chunk and wind your baits. For a bass it’s often about the directional change that triggers a reaction.
Salad Dressings
Looper keeps his dressings simple. He likes a double banded rattle ahead of the skirt, then the skirt threaded on after. He’ll often use a shad colored for cleaner water and a black and chartreuse for muddy waters.
There are several good swim jigs on the market from Booyah, Buckeye, V&M, Strike King, Taylor Man’s and more if you want some ready to go swim jigs. I often make my own, using heads from BOSS, and I make my own skirts just because I like to have something a little different than the norm. I can do some things like add specific accents, add tails, and other dressings. And I like to wire tie my skirts.
I’ve recently fished the Taylor Man’s swim jigs and had some incredible success on one outing when the lake was 2-foot over summer pool levels and the bank grass had a nice buffer of water on top of it, perfect for swimming a jig. I had some of the prettiest strikes I’ve had all year with this combination.
After head and skirt selection, there is the matter of trailers. Ask five swim jig guys, and they’ll probably give you five different answers on swim jig trailers. The answer is go with your gut. Sometimes a dual tail trailer is good. Sometimes a single tail is better. Some guys like a craw trailer; some guys like a swimbait. This is the part where you can have some fun with a swim jig.
I’ve caught a ton of bass swimming a jig with a single tail grub, a fork tail spinnerbait trailer and a craw trailer. Some of my favorites right now are the Get Five Lures Dinero, Zoom Ultravibe Speed Craw, and I also really like the new twin tails from Trigger X.
On my last swim jig outing in June, I was using a chartreuse and white skirt on a Taylor Man’s swim jig and about the last three inches of a Dinero. That big scythe tail of a Dinero I used like a rudder. It made just a subtle little tail kick as I pulled it over the flooded bank grass.
Sometimes that subtle shad profile is the ticket while other days a darker or more bluegill type color with thumping claws or legs on a trailer work a lot better. Time on the water will be your guide there to find the colors and combinations that work for you on your waters. Keep the speed up, vary the retrieve, pick your targets and angles and experiment with your make up to really dial in the swim jig bite on your fishery. You can fish from pre-spawn all the way to late fall with a swim jig if the cover and grass is right for it.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Tue, Jul 26, 2011 @ 09:15 AM
Pinnacle totally revamped it's baitcaster, spinning reel and rod lines last year when it released it's new Tournament Class tackle. This year it added a bunch of new reels in both spinning and baitcasting as well as two new lines of rods. More than 25 new products in all.
The new Optimus XiHS is a Hand Tuned reel that features high-end technologically advanced components and materials. Each reel is tuned by technician before it leaves the plant to make sure the reel is performing optimally before you ever pick it up.
With Duraluminum gears and worm shafts, carbon fiber drag systems that reduce heat and wear, 7.3:1 gear ratios, and 10 double-shielded ball bearings this reel is smooth, solid and good looking to boot. It's very comfortable to palm which is a plus for fishing all day with a setup not to mention it only weighs 7.1 ounces. It's their top of the line reel and will retail for $249.99.
They also released a hand-tuned spinning reel. The Optimus Hand Tuned Spinning reel is a 5:1 machine with quality components and material that is tuned to work extremely well out of the factory. It comes in 30 and 40 sizes, and the frame, sideplate, rotor, spool and handle are crafted from advanced reinforced carbon fiber that's stronger than aircraft aluminum. Their waterproof multi-stack drag will keep water and debris out and keep the drag operating smoothly.
Seven double-shielded stainless steel bearings and one for unlimited anti-reverse keep the reel smooth and solid while fishing. These reels will retail for $149.99.
They also added a microguide rod line and a walleye rod line to their product offerings for 2012. The new DHC5 blanks feature no fiberglass scrim. The Double Helical construction yields a sensitive, light blank. Then with the new addition of microguides. The Fuji microguides feature Alconite inserts that make for a light rod with great cast control. The rod line will contain 10 models that will retail for $189.99.
Not to be left out, the new DHC5 Walleye Rods will give toothy-critter chasers a high quality rod for a variety of techniques and fisheries. They will have the same featured components of the DHC5 bass rods but will be in 10-technique-specific actions geared toward walleye pursuits, from vertical jigging to slip bobber fishing. These rods will retail from $189.99 to $199.99 depending on length.
Pinnacle is definitely growing a following of loyal folks who've seen the great performance of their rods and reels over the last year. We talked to several media guys at the show who have fished their stuff and really love them and we've just started fishing the reels in the last couple of months. We'll keep you updated as we use more.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Mon, Jul 25, 2011 @ 10:45 AM
Sebile has had a lot of unique offerings over the course of its young history at ICAST, and this year they had a couple more unique new offerings. The new Soft Weight Swimbait Rig and D&S Crank are new to the industry and the latter is the latest award winner for Sebile as it picked up the best new Hard Lure Best of Show award at ICAST.
The D&S Crank features a hard plastic body with a deep diving lip, but the real draw is the single hook in the tail section that is on a hinge. The hook is down level with the crankbait. As a fish bites the hook forces up to be more hook prone as it comes in contact with the fish's mouth. This design keeps the hook down and out of the way as it comes through cover and then forces upward on the strike to get a good hook. It's made to dive to 20 feet and troll to 28 feet. The bait is made of ultrasonic-welded ABS material and will come in 8 original colors. The D&S Crank will retail for $14.50.
The Soft Weight Swimbait Rig Features an offset wide-gap hook that has lead formed on the belly of the hook. Several features however set it apart from other swimbait hooks. The weight has a hook hanger with a treble hook on it. There are also tungsten filled rubber weights that allow the angler to make the swimbait rig heavier or lighter depending on the situation they are fishing.
The hooks come in 5/0, 7/0 and 9/0 sizes. The 5/0 will have two hook rigs per package and the others just one. The swimbait rig hooks will retail starting at $9.45. Read More
Posted by Jason Sealock on Mon, Jul 25, 2011 @ 09:29 AM
Terminator has been relatively quiet since being bought by Normark a few years ago. This year they are really focusing on releasing some jigs and spinnerbaits for which their prostaff has been asking and from which you as anglers will benefit.
The first thing we liked from their new offerings were the all new T-1 Titanium Spinnerbaits. The metallic heads coupled with very detailed pro skirts with trailer tails coupled with high quality blades and titanium wire. These are premium spinnerbaits with premium components including VMC hooks. The spinnerbaits will retail for $7.99 and come in 3/8 and 1/2 ounce sizes.
Terminator released several new jigs. The first jig we found interesting was the finesse jig. It features a small head, spider cut skirt and a single wire guard to keep it relatively weedless. What we like is the jig comes in 1/8 ounce size. With a small trailer, this could be a very slow falling jig and profile that could be dynamite for pressured fish. It will retail for $2.99.
The other jig we found interesting was their new football jig. It features a finesse cut skirt for a smaller profile and it has no weedguard. Some folks will skoff at that, but we regularly cut the weedguard off our football jigs to fish offshore for easier hook ups, especially when we're hopping jigs or straight reeling them slowly along the bottom. These jigs will come in 1/2, 3/4 and 1 ounce sizes. It will retail for $3.49.
The final jig was the new Pro Series jig. This jig was made to be equally effective flipping and straight casting. It's got a unique sloped nose on the jig that helps it come through cover, cracks, crevices, and those little nooks on which your jigs often get hung. It features a strong VMC hook, rattle, and multi-colored stranded skirt. It will retail for $3.49. Read More
Posted by Jason Sealock on Mon, Jul 25, 2011 @ 08:15 AM
At ICAST, Berkley announced a lot of line extensions, added a bunch to their panfish arsenal, incorporated a few new additions on the bass and walleye side for powerbait, and added some tools. However, the most important release they had was their new NanoFiL line, which won the Overall Best of Show.
Specifically formulated for finesse fishing on spinning gear, the NanoFiL line has lived up to the hype. We've been fishing it more than a month and love it on spinning gear. We've been using 3 to 6-foot fluoro leaders with it because of it's white color, but love how it casts, it's lack of memory and how the Dyneema fiber has performed with various applications. Its Dyneema fibers fuse into one strand at a molecular level. We're not sure how true that is, but we know the line performs like magic on a spinning reel.
The main PowerBait addition we saw was the 4-inch Rib Worm. It's a ring worm made with PowerBait and comes in a bunch of great looking colors like oyster, firecracker and perch.
On the line extension side, they had a bunch of additions. New sizes to the Flicker shad in 4 and 6 cm, a Jumbo Chigger Craw that is 5-inches, a 5-inch and 2-inch version of their Ripple Shad finesse swimbait, a 12-inch Power Worm, and they re-released their Berkley Gripper jigs in Flipping, Finesse and Football varieties.
We really liked the multitool they came out with as well as the mini line winder and the Erase Odor lotion to remove fish smell from your hands and unwanted smells on your lures from your hands. They also released a nice pair of Superline Shears. The Multitool will retail for $19.99 and the Shears will sell for $4.99. The Mini Line Spooler attaches to any rod and will hold pony spools up to 1/4-pound spools with variable tension, handy for spooling on the fly.
And Lightning Rod fans will like that their $39.95 Lightning Rod is lighter, tougher and redesigned for next year. It features better guides with SS304 guides that are lighter and more durable than aluminum guides. The Skeleton Reel Seat gives you direct contact with the blank. So for a budget rod it has a lot of nice features.
While Nanofil took a lot of the thunder in their line offerings, there was another line we were intrigued by which was Trilene XL Armor Coated. It's said to have all the properties we like by the original XL line but it's 40% more abrasion resistant while being 30% more flexible. So it's smoother, casts better but is tougher. They are selling it as a premium mono line with Bi-Component Technology. A 220-yard spool will be $8.95 or $9.95 depending on pound test.
As per usual Berkley released a lot and extended a bunch of existing product lines. Every angler uses or has used their stuff at one time or another. The Chigger Craw has been a staple and the 5-inch size will fill a void for bigger flipping / Texas-rig offering. The Nanofil is going to do wonders for guys wanting better performance from a superline on spinning gear and their tools will make the prepping around fishing easier.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Mon, Jul 25, 2011 @ 08:00 AM
This morning I wrapped up planning details for a trip to southwest Louisiana in early September for a combination teal hunting / redfish fishing trip. I’ll stay at the Grosse Savane lodge south of Lake Charles and share good times with the Beaullieu family of nearby Lafayette. Later on, I will write a feature about this trip for a future issue of Ducks Unlimited Magazine.
The Gulf coastal marsh of Louisiana is one of my favorite places in all the outdoor world. The marsh is one of the most ecologically diverse places on the planet. It teems with fish, animals, birds, shellfish and other critters. South Louisiana is the most important waterfowl wintering ground in the U. S. Each year it over-winters several million ducks, geese and other water birds. The marsh is the nursery for shrimp, several types of fish, oysters, alligators -- let’s hear it for “Swamp People!” The marsh is an important coastal barrier against hurricanes. It serves as nature’s filter to maintain local water quality.
In a word, this large ecosystem is the very definition of “critical habitat.”
Yet the marsh is disappearing at a fast rate – about as much as a football field every 30 minutes. Losses have been large and devastating in recent years. Quite simply, the marsh is going away.
If it goes, so, also, will go the culture of the wonderful Cajun people whose lives are closely intertwined with the marsh. They fish. They hunt. They cook their fish and game into some of the best-tasting dishes in the world. They party hearty. They welcome outsiders. They live by a philosophy of “laissez les bon temps rouler” – translated as let the good times roll!
But the good times will cease to roll if the marsh continues to disappear. And the loss won’t just affect the Cajuns or the sportsmen fortunate enough to visit here. It will affect people throughout the country who buy seafood, who love waterfowl and shorebirds, who recognize the importance of preserving this important natural treasure.
The marsh is disappearing because of man’s manipulation of the natural system of its replenishment. The Mississippi River is levied and channeled to keep its sediment-laden waters within its banks, shooting the mud straight into the Gulf instead of allowing it to overflow and building new marsh as old marsh disappears. Boat channels cut through the marsh allow saltwater to invade freshwater areas, and the salt kills the plants. Then wind and wave erosion carves the marsh away, leaving open saltwater ponds.
I could go on and on. Suffice to say, it’s vital that we save Lousiana’s coastal marsh. And it can be saved. We know how to do it. But do we have the finances and the willpower to do it?
New legislation has just been introduced in the U. S. Congress to fund a large preservation/restoration project of the Louisiana marsh. It’s not a good time to be asking for new federal money, but this project won’t wait. When the call goes out, contact your elected representative and express your support for this measure. Florida’s Everglades were important enough to save. So is Louisiana’s marsh country. Sportsmen must band together to get this job done, and done soon!
- Wade Bourne
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Fri, Jul 22, 2011 @ 11:45 AM
Minn Kota as it is known to do spent the offseason refining and improving their existing product lines to meet demanding anglers requests. Three products of note that we saw at the ICAST show will definitely score bonus points with anglers.
The first is the newly redesigned Edge trolling motors. These entry-level trolling motors now have aluminum construction, tougher head units and smoother operation for many years of use. Similar to the very popular Fortrex build, the new Edge features a marine-grade anodized aluminum arm that makes the motor more stable, easier to deploy and it looks pretty tough as well. The head unit was constructed of hybrid composite material to make it much more durable and the Latch and Door mounting makes the motor easy to attach and remove for storage and safe keeping.
The second item we noticed was the new iPilot design. A lot of big water anglers fell in love with the iPilot last year and provided a bunch of feedback to make the units even better. Minn Kota listened and added and extended several features. The most significant is the remote was totally redesigned. It's more durable, user friendly, and cosmetically improved. Anglers can now store six Spot-Lock and six Record-A-Track locations as opposed to three on the original.
The final thing we saw was what appeared to be quick release brackets on the Minn Kota Talon. Now anglers can alter the position of the Talon with quick release brackets that allow the anlger to change the position of the anchoring unit on the boat to drive under things like docks, bridges and culverts to get to backwater areas.
Sometimes, coming out with new products isn't as important as improving your best products. We like that companies take feedback and make changes to improve existing product lines.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Fri, Jul 22, 2011 @ 08:00 AM
Here's a quick look at a couple of the Molix Baits that were debuted from Italian lure makers at the ICAST show.
Molix Vorax
The new Molix Vorax is a hard plastic bait built on a blade-bait profile. The bait is quite a bit larger than a blade bait but has the same general action but also rattles. The bait will have a lot of vertical applications as well as fishing down steep breaks, ledges, points, bluffs and more.
Molix Lover
This is a bait that Bassmaster Elite Series pro Michael Iaconelli has been working with Molix to perfect for the last year. He's been using the bait on tour and tweaking it to get it just right. The bait features a uniquely shapped upward plastic lip on a hard bait with a skirt and hook. It shimmies, shakes and thumps a rod tip. We're looking forward to trying this around bank grass and other places where we might want another options besides a spinnerbait or chatterbait.
We're going to be testing a bunch of these Molix baits very soon so look for more about the products very soon on Wired2Fish.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Jul 21, 2011 @ 12:45 PM
We really like what we saw at the Phenix Custom Quality Rods both at ICAST. The first thing we noticed was their new line of Recon rods. These rods feature sleek styling, smaller diameter blanks, custom Fuji rod seats, SIC guides, EVA grips and uniformally balanced Toray T-36 ton composite carbon-fiber woven material in the blanks.
The rods felt light and balanced in our hands. They were reasonably priced starting at $159. They had a whopping 16 models from 6-foot, 8-inch 682L to a 7-foot, 9-inch 796H.
Phenix also gave us a look at a new custom rod blank they have in the works that will be available to rod manufacturers soon that looked and felt amazingly light. We're excited to see what comes of these blanks in the future. But for now we were impressed with the Phenix rods for their looks, actions and how they felt.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Jul 21, 2011 @ 09:45 AM
The new Hart Swing Arm Swim Jig features a unique double arm that pivots through the head of a swim jig and holds two Colorado blades on the side of the swim jig. As the jig follows the arms pivot up and push the blades up above the jig, making it work like a good drop bait. Then as it swims on a retrieve, the arm rotates back to level and the blades spin on either side of the bait.
It is an interesting concept for a cross between a swim jig and a spinnerbait. We think it could have some offshore and muddy water applications.Read More
Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Jul 21, 2011 @ 08:45 AM
The Jewel Football jig has been a mainstay for us at Wired2Fish. We've fished it on a lot of lakes and had a lot of success. This year Jewel introduced a new football jig called the Flop Top Football Jig. You can get an o'shaughnessy Trokar jig hook on this new jig. Anglers like Mike McClelland think that O'shaughnessy hook is what keeps the fish buttoned up on his Jewel Jigs. But the name for the jig comes from the rubber and silicone combination skirt that has extra long strands as well as extra short strands. Any good fisherman will tell you it's the uneven lengths in a jig skirt that make a jig appear like it's always alive and moving, even when it's sitting still. The longer skirt gives it an undulating action but it also opens up when you stop it to reveal the trailer.
The jigs will come in 1/2, 5/8 and 3/4 ounce in the football jigs. But they are also going to offer the J-Lock Flipping jigs in the Flop Top skirt. The Trokar jigs will have a flat black head, and the others standard hook jigs will have the custom paint on the head that you're accustomed to on Jewel Bait Company jigs.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Jul 21, 2011 @ 07:45 AM
We stopped in to see what was new at Z-Man. If you like the Elaztech line of soft baits and material you're going to really like the new shapes they came out with for bass fishing. The nice thing was we got to take a look at their baits in a test tank and because the material is so soft and buoyant just barely ticking the line gives the bait a lot of fluttering action.
The first bait we looked at was the new Flappin CrawZ, the bait Luke Clausen used to take the title on the Potomac River a month or so ago. This bait is a crawfish bodied bait with oversized wide but thin claws that give it a lot of action as a trailer or a punch bait.
The next bait we looked at was the new Punch CrawZ. This bait was designed to snake through dense cover without worry of appendages hanging on the cover while trying to penetrate. It also works great on a finesse jig in clear water when you don't want a bulky profile on your jig.
Two other soft baits we liked for finesse fishing were the Z-Man Finesse 4-inch WormZ and Finesse ShadZ. These two smaller profile baits looked good on a shaky head and weighted worm hook respectively in the tank. Also wacky rigged on a drop shot both looked good. The Z-Man baits don't work well on screw lock shaky heads so be sure you use one with a peg or collar type head.
The final bait we checked out was the PaddlerZ swimbait. This more of a finesse swimbait for fishing around grass and shallow cover in and around the spawn. The tail had a good thump and the body had a nice shimmy in our tests in the tank.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Wed, Jul 20, 2011 @ 11:15 AM
Gamakatsu hooks are favorites among anglers for many species, and they added several new hooks and jigheads to their bass selection at the 2011 ICAST show. The four new styles are the Alien Stand-up Head, the Super Heavy Cover and Finesse Heavy Cover, Weedless Split Shot Drop Shot Hook, and the Jig Head Wacky.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Wed, Jul 20, 2011 @ 09:45 AM
Big Bite Baits released several new soft baits in the finesse realm and some that can crossover as power baits. The new 8-inch Finesse Worm will be a great shaky head lure and a great Carolina-rigged soft plastic in clear water. It's got a larger tail and a long slender profile. It will come in a bunch of proven colors and some new colors.
The Shaking Squirrel is a long slender worm with tri-color pours that make the worm look good and behave a lot like a hand pour worm.
The new Wacky Stick features a soft stickbait profile with an o-ring melded into the bait for wacky rigging and keeping the lure on the hook.
The other bait we saw that we really liked was the Stick Tail. Also a soft stickbait offering, this one features a stinger tail that really quivers in the water. The quivering action of tail will be an added draw for bass in clear water.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Wed, Jul 20, 2011 @ 08:30 AM
Plano always has a lot of new tackle storage options each year at ICAST. So it's always fun to go through and check out all the new stuff. We waited until Friday because their booth was slammed with new product.
Their new Hydro-Flow tackle system features bags and boxes that will allow water to leech through them and out of the storage. That way the water that does get into the tackle bag and boxes doesn't stay in there and cause mildew and mold and even worse, ruin your tackle. We check out both the hard Stowaway boxes and the soft side bags for the system and like what we saw. The soft side bags had hard bottoms with drain channels. That made the bags tough but practical.
We also liked the Tackle Logic Worm Binder and the new Speed Bag stylings. We often store lots of packages of plastics in our speed bags and these new bags look to offer a bunch of new sizes, even big enough to hold Stowaway boxes. So it's cool to have a lot of options to find the right bag for your needs. The Worm Binder has 8 zippable storage pouches to hold plastics or bags of plastics. We're always needing good ways to store and transport our favorite plastics and softbaits to and from the lake whether it's in our boats, in someone else's boat or from the bank.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Tue, Jul 19, 2011 @ 11:20 AM
Humminbird took home some hardware for their hardware at the 2011 ICAST show in Las Vegas. Their new 1158c DI combo took the Best of Show honors in the Electronics Division. The new unit features Down Imaging, Sonar and GPS all in one 10-inch unit. They debuted 5 new models. The 1158c DI, 958c DI, 858c DI, 385c DI, 345c DI
These units will give you the ability to have down imaging when you're moving and sonar when you're sitting still. Down imaging and side imaging technologies work much better when you're moving 4-6mph. So you'll get more accurate readings while moving but still have sonar for sitting on top of structure and fishing.
These new units will range in price from $2,199.99 for the 1158c DI 10-inch screen to $379.99 for the 3.5-inch 345c DI model.Read More
Posted by Jason Sealock on Tue, Jul 19, 2011 @ 10:46 AM
New from Daiwa is a unique, levelwind mechanism called the T-Wing System, promising improved casting performance. Heart of the T-Wing system is a unique, T-shaped line guide aperture, designed to reduce casting friction, yet provide precise, level winding of line.
We picked the reels up and basically, as you push down on the thumb bar, the hood raises up to expose the T-Wing line feeding guide. The concept is that the line is forced down into the middle channel on the guide but casting is free to spool out without friction from tight angles against an awkward line guide angle.
It's a neat concept and the reels look pretty sleak. The T-Wing System will be available on new T3 (MSRP $429.95) and T3 Ballistic baitcasting reels (MSRP $249.95) beginning in August 2011.
The New Ballistic Bass Rods feature an X-Torque Bias construction. This type of graphite rod contstruction cross weaves layers so that during the stress of a fight the rod guides won't roll and the blank twist. Twisting in rod blanks causes stress that leads to breaks. With cross weave construction you can elminate it. The rods use a highly resilient and flexible Glatech blanks. They will retail for $99 to $129. The rods will be available in late August.
For the enthusiasts out there that want to pay ridiculous amounts for the best components, Daiwa debuts the incredibly light 5.3-ounce PX Type R baitcasting reel. It offers the finesse angler ultralight reel for ultralight lines. It has 10 ball bearings, carbon swept handle with soft touch grips and holds 110 yards of 8 pound line. It retails for $499.95. So that was the first and probably the last time we'll touch that reel.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Mon, Jul 18, 2011 @ 11:00 AM
The new Death Shimmer Spinnerbait has a very unique arm that gives the spinnerbait a great vibration and thump on the rod tip as you retrieve it. We played with it in the test tank and it had a great thump and we really liked the way it fell on a drop. We think it will make a great nighttime spinnerbait as well.
The spinnerbait is going to be available in a multitude of colors with either a single colorado or single willow leaf blade. They also spoke of plans to offer tandem baits in the future.
We actually plan to test this spinnerbait on some nighttime fish on Kentucky Lake very soon.Read More
Posted by Jason Sealock on Mon, Jul 18, 2011 @ 09:30 AM
Mann's has been relatively quiet the last couple of years but they are hoping a new deep jointed bait and this new product, the Mann's 12-inch Jelly Waggler will help boost angler following.
The Jelly Waggler is a large profile worm with an enlarged curl tail that features several holes in the tail. The holes appear they will give the worm some lift and also possibly trap bubbles. The plastic is extremely soft, the colors looked good and we liked the overall size of the worm for big offshore bass.
The worm also features their Hard Nose plastic in the nose section to keep the worm locked on your hook while you fish it.
The worms will be offered in 9 colors. No word on pricing or availability yet.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Mon, Jul 18, 2011 @ 08:45 AM
The new Koppers Live Target Hollow Bodied Mouse looks pretty cool and it picked up some hardware while at the ICAST show, winning the Soft Lure Best of Show award. We thought the mouse was pretty good looking topwater bait. It has a lifelike profile, features a soft textured hollow body and one soft whippy tail to lure bass in for a closer inspection. The bait isn't very heavy but seems like it would cast pretty well.
We'll have more information on this lure and several other new products from Koppers coming soon. Their booth was slammed, their products were hard to shoot in glass cases and they didn't have press materials available at the show.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Mon, Jul 18, 2011 @ 07:39 AM
Deps is a company out of Japan known for high quality, detailed finishes and exotic shapes that catch fish. Their baits are in demand because there is a limited supply that seem to make it state side but they have a very loyal following.
Folks that have fished the Deps Buzzjet will be glad to know there is a new lure along those same lines called the Spiral Minnow. The Spiral Minnow is a longer slender version of the Buzz Jet. Like the Buzz Jet, it features a shallow diving lip and tail spinner. But this bait can be retrieved much faster without the side roll you can get with the Buzz Jet. The Buzz Jet will push more water but has to be retreived slower. So now anglers can cover both profiles, speeds and amount of water pushed.
The other cool new offering from Deps is the Slither K frog. This frog is smaller in profile than most frogs but because of uniquely cupped sides, the bait pushes and moves a lot of water for a small profile. It features a feather tail that snakes side to side on a walk-the-dog retrieve.
No word on pricing yet on the baits. They will hopefully be available this fall.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Fri, Jul 15, 2011 @ 06:41 PM
The Duckett White Ice rods had some buzz at the ICAST fishing tackle show. The new blueish-crystal colored rods were easy to spot not just because of color but because of open smooth handles, custom reel seats and the number of them. The new rods were all designed by top pros. Every one of the 17 rods in the line was designed specifically by that pro. They didn't make a medium-heavy 7 footer and then ask a pro to pick what technique to make it. Each pro scripted the power, tip action, length, number of guides and more.
They are using a higher quality graphite, a higher quality micro guide system. Their previous rods were around a 5.3 on the power scale and these rods will be a full 6 on the power scale. Because of the properties of the new material, they could add a lot of power and durability without adding any weight. But that will also price the rods from $229 to $249 depending on the length. The rods should be available late fall just before the true buying season in 2012.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Fri, Jul 15, 2011 @ 06:26 PM
Snagproof introduced two new frog baits we found pretty interesting. The first was the Bobby's Perfect Buzz designed by Delta big bass angler Bobby Barrack. This inline buzzbait soft bodied frog is a hybrid of three baits in one. It's a buzzbait; it's a hollow-bodied frog; and it's a topwater toad. You can buzz it, pause it and let it sit there a second, pop it, and take off again and really agitate bass into biting.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Fri, Jul 15, 2011 @ 05:46 PM
We like the stuff ECO Pro has been releasing over the course of the last 12 months. At the ICAST show they introduced their new Wacky Rig weight and the new Diamond Peg.
The Diamond Peg is a truly great soft bait keeper. Now you can use your favorite plastic bait, your favorite hook and not have to worry with re-rigging and straightening your bait after every bite, or every time you bump it into something. The unique peg locks it in place and never comes in contact with your fishing line. Throw away your other bait keepers and tooth picks. This will do it all.
The Wacky Rig Weight gives you the ability to add a little weight to your wacky rigged soft stick bait presentations. We have several applications where we like to vertically fish a wacky rig like floating docks, concrete walls, standing timber and deep suspended fish. Just a straight wacky rig can make covering the water a very slow and painful process. This adds weight in the middle and keeps that natural wobble on the fall. It also helps lock the plastic on your hook. And there is no worry with the weight getting flung off. If your plastic splits just replace and start again.
The Wacky weights come 3 to a pack and the diamond pegs come in a large pack of four different sizes to fit all sorts of applications and hooks and plastics.
Look for more on these two products very soon. We're taking them testing soon.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Fri, Jul 15, 2011 @ 04:53 PM
Spro added a few new extensions to their existing lines as well as one brand new crankbait at this year's ICAST show.
The Spro Big Daddy crank was designed by Elite Series pro, Russ Lane. Russ is an avid post-spawn and summer cranker. He does most of his damage in that 8 to 12-foot depth range. But he wanted a wide bodied, wide-wobbling crank in that range to really get the fish reacting in the places he likes to ifsh.
The Bronzeye Frog family has a little brother, the Bronzeye Baby Pop is a 50mm 1/4 ounce hollow bodied frog. Dean has been working on the smaller profile popping frog for when the forage is a lot smaller earlier in the season.
The Little John Baby DD is the diminutive cousin of the original DD crankbait. This bait weighs 5/8 ounce and will dive to 12 feet on 10-pound line. The smalller profile is great for when bass are keyed in on a lot smaller bait. It will come in 7 popular Spro patterns. We love the original and can't wait to fish with the new one.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Fri, Jul 15, 2011 @ 04:31 PM
We always like to go to the Jackall booth and talk shop with our friend David Swendseid. He studies tackle to the nth degree, and can talk about why a bait is different from another better than just about anyone in the business. So we saw several of the Jackall products in the new Product Showcase so we wanted to get the run through on the new technologies in tackle from Jackall.
The first bait he showed us was the Aska 60SR. It's a high quality squarebill crankbait. The lip is made of a fiberglass material and it has no rattles in it whatsoever. It's also built along the same science as the MC/60 SR so it tracks true as it deflects off cover and doesn't roll up on its side. It comes in 8 proven colors. The bait is 2 1/2 inches and weighs 3/8 ounce.
The next lure we studied was their new hollow body frog, the Iobee. The Iobee was designed by polling several accomplished anglers and having them list all the modifications they make to frogs. They came up with 17 modifications they do to improve their stock frogs and those adjustments were included in this frog. Things like a beveled edge on their rear weigh to keep the hook where it's supposed to be. A drain hole for water, a dual weighting system, round rubber legs that float, angled upward hooks, soft body for easy hookup, deeper keel so it immediately starts walking on the first twitch. All of these things turn this into a must have frog overnight.
The Super Cross Tail Shad is an evolution of the their popular Cross Tail Shad. This bait comes in nine new lifelike finishes. The translucent colors actual act a bit differently than the solid colors in that one will sink a little and one floats more so you can give your baits subtle different actions just by changing colors in the baits.
The new Clone Fry and Clone Gill are good dropshot baits. They are lifelike plastics that closely mimic long slender narrow minnow profiles and short, round panfish profiles. They are also dynamite bed baits just hopped and inched through a bed. Bass can't stand them.
They also added new colors to one of our favorite baits, the Squirrel DD deep jerkbait. The new Super Shad and Secret Shad are going to be killers on lakes we fish.
We'll have more information on these baits once we've had time to test them.Read More
Posted by Jason Sealock on Fri, Jul 15, 2011 @ 11:38 AM
Ima introduced two new baits, the Beast Hunter deep diving crankbait and the Foxy Fry, more finesse but deep crankbait or jerkbait hybrid. Both baits look very well made with highest quality components but the thought process behind the designs was really impressive.
The Beast Hunter was designed by legendary Japanese pro Jun Shoji. He guides on Lake Biwa and has a great test ground there to get baits exactly right. There are a lot of unique aspects that went into the bait. First the plastic is 2mm thick which is extremely thick for a plastic bait. The reason for this is they wanted the weight in the bait to have a narrower channel so the crankbait wouldn't roll and helicopter on long casts because the weight was moving around in such a wide cavity.
The angle of the lip was studied for a long time to make it dive at the right angle that would allow it to get down but not get bogged up in grass. If you make the dive angle to steep on a crankbait, it will get down and under the grass and the bait will hang a lot more. But with the Beast Hunter the bait comes in at a more gradual angle and Shoji told us that if you just slight raise the rod up quickly, the bait will free itself easily from grass when you feel it which triggers a lot of strikes for him.
The Beast Hunter will come in 6 colors, 2.64 inches and weighs 3/4 ounce.
The Foxy Fry is a finesse crankbait with more of a shad or minnow profile. The bait is designed to be twiched or burned at high speeds and still offer great action in both techniques. It's a deep diving crankbait that can be thrown on light line or it can be fished like a deep jerkbait.
The Foxy Fry comes in 5 colors, 2.36 inches long, and weighs 3/16 ounce.Read More
Posted by Jason Sealock on Fri, Jul 15, 2011 @ 11:00 AM
Trigger X came to the market and had the scent technology nailed down but was still perfecting the shape and colors that bass anglers needed for different situations. This year they've really made giant strides in getting shapes that are not only unique but sized correctly, soft, good looking new colors and more packed into single baits. They came out with two new drop shot worms that we've already proven work in our own fishing. They released a unique new tube, a twin-tail grub and then they sized their Fat Moe bait down to the perfect proportion size that a lot of anglers are going to love on a carolina rig and flipping on a Texas rig.
We also love some of the new colors they came up with like Muck and others will be dynamite as well.
The Hodad is a 4-inch solid head tube with unique slow moving appendages coming off. It makes the bait perfect for flipping but we also think it could be deadly as a bed fishing bait. It will come in 13 colors and sell for $5.99 for a six pack.
The Probe Worm is an ideal worm for drop shot, split shot and even shaky head fishing. The worm comes in some really sick looking colors and comes 14 to a bag for the same $5.99 price.
The Paddle Tail Worm is 5-inches long and we've already caught some fish dropshotting it. But we think it will be a great presentation on a texas rig and on a shaky head. It comes 12 to a bag for $5.99 and we really like some of the dual colors on this worm.
The Twin Tail Grub is a must have for any softbait line and this one looks great and has a great action for a scented material like Trigger X. They come 10 to a bag for $5.99.Read More
Posted by Jason Sealock on Fri, Jul 15, 2011 @ 10:12 AM
Check out this sweet little 1/4 ounce frog from Japanese maker Kahara. It's small but feels like it would cast really well on a small setup, like possibly braid on a spinning reel. It's got a small profile but is said to walk and slap pretty good with quick short finesse snaps on the rod. We thought the size was pretty cool and the color and detail looked great.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Fri, Jul 15, 2011 @ 09:54 AM
We stopped by the Power Team Lures booth yesterday to talk with Katie and Bob Bernotsky. PTL is a small company, but they do things the right way. They're not trying to make something someone else already has. They make very interesting shapes that don't already exist. We like them for that.
Their die-hard followers have been clamoring for a soft stick bait. That's one product that is hard to do differently because it's such a simple design to begin with. The new Power Team Lures Sick Stick does things a little different. The bait features a defined eggsack and noticeable but subtle ridges along a tapering body.
They do a great job on making colors for their plastics, and they are soft and have a great scent that must appeal to the fish because we've caught a lot of bass on their other shapes.
We look forward to getting to wacky rig these new 5-inch plastics.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Fri, Jul 15, 2011 @ 01:23 AM
Optimum has made some great introductions on swimbaits over the years from the Double Diamond to the BLT and now they are extending and modifying the idea behind the BLT and making it more friendly to guys who want to drag those swimbaits around on the ledges.
The Top of the Line swimbait features a line through design that takes the line out the top of the bait and attaches it to a treble hook. The bait will be available in 4-inch, 5-inch and 6-inch sizes and weigh 1.3, 1.7, and 2.2 ounces respectively.
We're excited to test these baits in the places we fish when they come out this fall.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Jul 14, 2011 @ 07:44 PM
Buckeye Lures introduced a few new jigs at ICAST this week. The first was their new 2-Part Jig that features a football head that actually comes loose from the jig after a fish bites and you set the hook. Built on the same principal as line-thru lures like the old pro-trap Rat-L-Traps and swimbaits that use line through technology, these jigs seperate the heavy weight of a football head from the hook to reduce the fish's leverage to be able to throw the jig from its mouth.
The second jig was the Mini-Mop Jig. It's a smaller profile jig but still features the silicone and rubber combo skirts that made the original Mop Jig so effective. This will be a good offering for clearer water and places that have spotted bass and smallmouths.
The final jig offering from Buckey this year is the J-Will Flipping Jig that features a Trokar jig hook. The jig also features a narrow head for sliding in and out of heavy cover.
They didn't have retail pricing for the jigs at the time of the show but we'll let you know as soon as we find out.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Jul 14, 2011 @ 07:28 PM
Vagabond is a Japanese Lure manufacturer that is known for making very high quality tackle and reel and rod accessories. Today we met with the owner and Matt Paino who helps distribute their lures in the US.
Their high detail baits are hand carved in foam, and intricately detailed and then custom painted before hardened for sale and use. They have some of the pretiest designs you've seen on baits. Their baits retail for $60, $70 on up to more than $100.
But now they've released two new injected plastic baits. They feature intricate detailing and custom paint jobs and they will retail around $24-$29. Which makes them very attractive to swimbait anglers in the US. The new baits are the Swim Hustler 6-Inch Inject swimbait and the Simson-5 Swimbait. The Swim Hustler is a long, slender profile bait with two joints while the Simson-5 is more of panfish profile bait that features four hinged sections and a rubber tail.
The baits can be worked fast or slow and have very lifelike actions in the water. The Simson-5's unique soft tail makes the bait swim very naturally as well.
The Vagabond series of baits are works of art and have been highly sought after lures in Japan. More and more anglers have been clamoring for them state side but shyed somewhat on the prices so these new "entry level" plastic baits will likely attract more folks to their high end products.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Jul 14, 2011 @ 04:25 PM
St. Croix’s all-new Rage series of casting and spinning rods combine advanced blank design and the latest, high-tech components to deliver incredible balance and sensitivity without sacrificing strength and durability.
St. Croix took a slightly different strategy with a micro-guided rod by downsizing the stripper guide, but not reducing it to the micro size, thereby allowing for dramatically improved line flow. Rage also features an innovative new handle that is manufactured by St. Croix.The Rage series consists of 12 casting and 5 spinning models with prices ranging from $150-$170.
“We wanted Rage to be more than just a micro-guided rod and focused on significant handle innovation,” explained Jeff Schluter, St. Croix’s vice president of marketing and sales.
Built on premium, high-modulus SCIII graphite blanks with Integrated Poly Curve® (IPC®) tooling technology, the new Rage rods feature Pac Bay Minima stainless-steel ring micro guides that provide a 20-30% weight savings over ceramic guides and will not crack, break or groove even with braided line.The Pac Bay Minima reel seats deliver maximum blank exposure with a weight savings of 10-20% on the spinning models and 30% on the casting rods.
The high-tech contoured handle features a precision-machined core wrapped with a neoprene skin for maximum comfort and sensitivity.The neoprene cover provides for a positive grip that actually improves when wet. EVA trim pieces provide additional refinement.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Jul 14, 2011 @ 03:25 PM
Ardent Reels announced their new line of reels called the Edge Series. The series features five reels -- the Edge Elite, Edge Tour, Edge Inshore, Edge Pro and the Edge Tournament Reel. All five reels feature the new Drag Tracking Technology.
Basically with this technology Ardent has given the line guide freedom to move when fish are pulling line back out of the reel and the drag is engaged. What this does is eliminate varying drag pressure and pinch points where the line comes off the reel at sharp angles to the guide roller. Because the guide follows the line on the spool the guide is even and smooth throughout a fight with fish.
The Edge Elite features 12 ball bearings, Carbon Fiber handle, 6.5 or 7.2 to 1 gear ratios, a triple-bearing spool and an aluminum frame and handle cover. The reel weighs 8.7 ounces. The Tour model has 10 ball bearings, double bearing spool and all the same features as the Elite. The Inshore and Pro both feature 8 ball bearings, steel and aluminum handles respectively and double bearing aluminum spools. The Edge Tournament reel features 6 ball bearings, aluminum frame and handle cover, double bearing spool and weighs 8.4 ounces.
The price points will vary from depending on which model you choose.
Tournament- $149.99
Pro- $199.99
Inshore Pro-$229.99
Tour-$269.99
Elite-$329.99
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Jul 14, 2011 @ 03:10 PM
Vicious Fishing already has an extensive line of fishing lures, fishing line, apparel and more but their now adding angler friendly sunglasses, tackle bags, suncare hats, lightweight raingear and more. We stopped by the booth this morning and took a look at the new stuff.
The new shades are slick. We saw three different models in several different colors. These are not just cheap beater sunglasses. These have all the features of a high end pair of shades like nose grips, molded grips on the arms, high quality lenses and nice cosmetic features but they will retail for around $60. We liked several of the shades we saw there.
The next thing they are releasing is a line of hats for the angler that will be launched through Walmart at very attractive price points. These hats aim to keep an anglers head cool and the sun off their face, back, neck and more. There are several styles, colors and options and from the looks of them they look to be pretty good quality at a great price.
Through a licensing agreement with Gecko Gear, Vicious will offer lightweight rain jackets, pants bibs and now shorts. We thought the shorts concept was interesting for guys that fish in the summer and don't care about their sandles and feet getting weight and don't want to wear bulky pants. These rainwear options will also be at an attractive price point for when it's hot but you want to stay mostly dry.
The final thing we looked at was the new Vicious tackle bags. This soft-sided zipper bags have a lot of pockets straps and compartments to store a bunch of tackle in a fairly small form factor. Look for them to be on the market the end of this year.Read More
Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Jul 14, 2011 @ 02:38 PM
Damiki introduced a lot of new product at ICAST in 2010 and they are building on their strong base with several new introductions. We talked with Bryan Thrift and the following is what he had to say about each of the new baits for 2012:
The Hydra Evolution is a new twin tail that is built off Hydra skirt. It's a new spider grub that has tentacles that stand up. The nice thing about this bait is you can take one tentacle and put it over the hook on a jighead and make the bait weedless. Thrift will fish this lure in prespawn conditions on rocky lakes like Table Rock.
The new 3-inch and 4-inch Air Craws feature air pockets in the claws of the craw bait that makes the claws stand up in the defense posture. You can also put a rattle in the claw pockets. Thrift will fish the 4-inch bait for a lot of flipping, bed fishing and texas rigging applications. He took the 3-inch up to Michigan recently and caught a bunch of smallmouth on it.
The new D-Hold Hook eliminates the problem with screw lock weighted hooks where an angler struggles to rig the bait straight. With the D-Hold hook, the keeper threads on like a texas rig and then back into the bait and there are two holding points to keep it rigged perfectly straight and locked on the hook. He fishes it with swimbaits, weightless stickbaits, swimming worms over grass, soft jerkbaits and even topwater toads. The hooks are available in weightless, 1/8 and 1/6 ounce sizes and 5/0 and 3/0 hooks.
The new D-Pop 70 is a smooth looking new topwater popper with a long tail feather and narrow profile. It comes in 6 awesome looking colors.
The DC400 is a new wide-wobbling deep diver. It is said to dive 15-18 feet but he thought it would run true at 12-16 feet. He likes this deep diver around grass because it has a good hard thump you can feel and when it hits the grass you can stop and it will back out of it because their DC crankbaits are so buoyant.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Jul 14, 2011 @ 12:57 PM
Lucky Craft is back at ICAST this season and brought a bunch of fun new baits and colors with them.
The first bait we saw that caught our eye is The Fat Smasher. This is a Skeet Reese Signature Series bait that comes in 4 sizes from 2 1/4 inches to 3 1/2 inches. The bait is 3 segmented but it's shaped more between a cross of a fat bodied crankbait and lipless bait than a swimbait. It's a neat looking profiled slow sinker. We're really looking forward to throwing this one.
The next bait was the new LV RTO lipless bait was designed by Takahiro Omori. It features a wider cupped face at the nose of the bait to force the bait to pull and rattle a little harder and stay down on a fast retrieve. The other great thing about the bait is that TO designed some special colors as well. His TO Shad and TO Gill are beautiful. The bait will come in 4 sizes and 8 colors to start.
The other new line will be the LC Series Crankbait. It will replace a lot of the old RC line of baits and offer some new sizes and lip shapes and will be more widely available than just Bass Pro Shops. All good things for us that love those Lucky Craft RC originals.
The Kelly J now has a little brother, the Kelly J Jr. This popular double prop bait will be deadly around post spawn bass especially the ones that like to raid bluegill beds.
The Pointer 125 now has a DD and XD model with deep diving lips on the jointed swimmer.
We're glad to see Lucky Craft back at the show and look forward to their new baits being on the market at the end of the year.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Jul 14, 2011 @ 10:15 AM
We stopped by and visited our friends at PRADCO to see what their brands Rebel, YUM and Booyah had to offer for the upcoming fishing seasons.
The first bait we liked was the Rebel Frog R. The hard bait is a topwater walking bait that has a very unique shape and much shorter and stockier build than we've seen on walking baits. It has a very unique sway when worked with short twitches. The finishes look amazing on the baits and the price point is very attractive at $3.99. It will be available in 4 patterns and it weighs 5/16 ounce.
The next bait was sort of a theme for this year's ICAST and it's the Booyah Pad Crasher hollow-bodied frog. This frog has a slightly narrower profile than it's predecessors and has more of a bassboat keel on it to help it walk better in open water. It's very soft and features a good strong hook. It also has a hole in the back that is strategically placed to remove water that the frog takes on with each twitch. Again it's priced right at $5.99.
The next two baits we looked at actually together were the YUM MightEE Power Finesse worm and the Pumpkin Ed head. This worm is a 10-inch long, thick-bodied, straight-tail worm that was designed to be fished on a larger than average Pumpkin Ed shaky head for the Power Shaky technique that has been adopted by anglers all across the south.
The worm will come in 12 colors at a price of $4.99 a pack and is infused with F2 scent.
The jigheads come in 3/16 to 5/8 ounce sizes and will retail for $3.99 for a pack of either black or brown heads.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Jul 14, 2011 @ 09:00 AM
Hot of the heels of VMC's award for Best of Show in the terminal tackle category for their new Spin Shot drop shot hooks, we stopped by to check out the cool terminal tackle they had on tap for 2012.
The Spin Shot overcomes one of the most frustrating problems with fishing a drop shot in deep water -- line twist. Anyone who has fished a drop shot much knows that as you quickly reel up your plastic from the depths to make your next cast or pitch, your bait spins like a propeller in the water and coils your line. Do this for a couple of hours, and your dropshot line has been reduced to a twisted slinky.
The new Spin Shot hook allows you to tie to the top of the hook and then tie a dropper line to your weight on the bottom of the hook and and the hook itself is free to spin on the arm that you've attached your line to. The result is no more line twist. We took and tested the drop shot and caught several fish and never had an issue with fighting fish, line twist, rigging and in fact we though our baits had a much more natural presentation.
The hooks come in sizes ranging from No. 8 to 1/0 and will sell for $3.99 a pack.
The other cool VMC product is tungsten. They have entered the foray of tungsten worm weights with their own line of sleeveless painted and unpainted tungesten bullet weights and flipping weights.
We're excited to fish these weights as we've long preached the benefits of using tungsten in fishing. The weights will retail from $4.49 to 8.99 depending on size.Read More
Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Jul 14, 2011 @ 08:01 AM
White and light seems to be a theme at Shimano this year. The new Chronarch E, Citica G and Stratic FJ reels sport white cosmetic changes among other functional changes. The new rods are lighter and sport sleeker new looks as well. Shimano has long been known for smooth casting and retrieving reels and they are stepping up their game with new X-Ship technologies in the spinning reels and Lo-Mass Spools and High Efficency Gearing in baitcasters.
The Chronarch is a 6 bearing reel with 1 AR-B bearing and 5 shielded SUS bearings, sizes 200 and 50 for right hand models and 201 and 51 for left handed models and gear ratios of 7.1. 6.5 and 5.5 to 1. The reels feature a lot of the same technologies on previous Shimano reels, like quick side plate access, roughly 7 ounce weights and Super Stopper. The reels are priced at $199.
The Citica G reels are 7.5 ounces, come in 7.1, 6.6 and 5.5 to 1 ratios, offer both left and right hand models and feature SUS and AR-B bearings again. However these reels are slightly less at $129.
The Stradic FJ spinning reels come in 7 different model sizes and 6:1 gear ratios however the big draw is in the X-Ship double bearing supported pinion gear with two S A-RB shielded bearings that eliminate pinion gear twist and rotor flex when fighting fish. The reels range in price from $179.99 to $379.99 depending on the size you choose.
The new Curado G reels are 4 bearing reels with the standard Curado craftsmanship that fans of Curados have come to love. They still feature the green styling but it's the HEG, VBS and quality bearings that make this reel perform well. The new G line of reels will come in three sizes in left and right hand options with 7.1, 6.5 and 5.5 to 1 gear ratio options. The reels will retail for $159.99.
They extended their Clarus, Compre and Crucial rod series to cover a ton of bass techniques and increased the quality of the blanks in their lineups. These rods are priced based on rod blank quality mostly with the Clarus having IM-8 blanks and starting at $79.99. The Compre rods feature IM-9 blanks and start at around $109.99 and the Crucial rods feature IM-10 blanks and start at around $149.99.
Shimano extended several of their existing lines, created some new branches to those lines and put better components and technologies into those new extensions for a good mix of new product.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Jul 14, 2011 @ 12:07 AM
The ASA hosted its Chairman Awards Ceremony Wednesday evening and annouced the Best of Show awards for the 2011 ICAST show. The overall winner wasn't a suprise to us. And several of the categories winners were ones for which we voted. It's always interesting to talk with folks after the win to get their take so we'll try to do some more of that on thursday. For now here is the complete list of winners.
Overall Best of Show Winner
Berkley NanoFil Line
Best Freshwater Reel
Abu Garcia Revo MGX
Best Freshwater Rod
G-Loomis GL2
Best Saltwater Reel
Daiwa Saltiga
Best Saltwater Rod
Shimano Terez Rail Rod
Best Hard Lure
Sebile D&S Crank
Best Soft Lure
Koppers Live Target Hollow Body Mouse
Best Tackle Management
Plano Hydro Flo Tackle Bag
Best Line
Berkley NanoFil
Best Terminal Tackle
VMC Spinshot
Best Eyewear
Costa Women's Collection
Best Combo
Daiwa D-Shock
Best Apparel
Frabill Suit
Best Electronics
Humminbird 1158c DI Combo
Best Boating Accessory
JL Marine Systems 10-foot Power Pole
Best Boat
Hobie Cat Hobie Mirage Revolution
Best Fly Reel
TFO BVK Fly Reel
Best Fly Rod
G.Loomis Pro4X
Best Fly Fishing Accessory
VestPac DriftPac
Best Kids Tackle
Pure Fishing Casting Game Sound Fishing
Best Giftware
3D Picture Store
Best Fishing Accessory
G Pucci & Sons Sparrowhawk
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Wed, Jul 13, 2011 @ 07:26 PM
This new line of rods from Fenwick was geared just for smallmouth anglers in mind but we feel they will be great crossover rods for a variety of applications.
The main feature of these rods is probably the TAC reel seat that features cork handles with a tacky grip, even when wet. The grips are comfortable and great looking with the glossy light green blanks.
The Elite Tech Smallmouth rods are going to come in 10 models, 5 spinning and 5 casting. The rods will range from 6-foot, 3-inch to 7-foot, 4-inch models all based on productive smallmouth techniques from drop shot, to tube to jerkbait and more. We really liked the jerkbait rod with a the smaller grip so you're not working against your forearm on small downward jerks.
The rods will retail for $129.95
They also extended the Eagle GT line of rods with two new spinning rods and three new baitcasting rods. These rods will appeal to Steelhead, salmon and trout anglers for sure.
The rods are priced around $69.95.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Wed, Jul 13, 2011 @ 06:34 PM
We spent a good bit of time going through the Pure Fishing family of products this afternoon. Probably the most impressive new products are in the Abu Garcia, Pflueger and Fenwick lines of rods and reels.
The flagship for all the lines would have to be the Abu Garcia MGX. This is an enthusiast reel for anglers that demand the highest quality of components and maximum performance and have a very large budget for a reel. The reel weighs a mere 5.4 ounces. Jason's favorite part was the 28-point adjustable centrifugal braking system the reel uses. You can really dial the casting in perfectly with this reel.
The reel features 9 HPCR bearings and comes in 7.9:1 and 7.1:1 gear ratios. However the spool is quite a bit smaller than other spools which means you have to turn it faster to take up the same amount of line as other spools. So it's probably really equivalent to 7.1 and 6.4 to 1 gear ratios. The drag can handle up to 15 pounds of pressure.
Now for the gotcha. The reel will retail for $349.99. Obviously this is a "dreamer" reel for a lot of us, something to drool over until we can save up the money for one. But we can tell you it is one amazing reel.
Next from Abu Garcia we had to check out the new Orra SX Spinning Reel. It's a $99 price point reel that features five sizes from 10 to 60 class reels, weights from 8.1 to 13.6 ounces, and gear ratios from 4.8:1 to 5.8:1. The reels have 8 HPCR bearings and X-Craftic Body frames. In a nut shell it's a sweet $99 spinning reel that looks good.
Below that is the Orra S which is a $69.99 version of the Orra SX. The main differences being only 6 ball bearings, four sizes, 7.9 to 10.2 ounce weights and 5.2 and 5.8 to 1 gear ratios.
On the rod side they are re-releasing the Vengence line of entry point rods. They have cosmetic and functional changes and will make the rods more inline with their top of the line rods.
The Veritas line of rods added Micro Guides, Winch rods for cranking and a few specialty rods like 7-foot, 11-inch Extra Heavy Flipping rods.
But the real show stopper for Abu Garcia is going to be the Villain line of rods. These rods are light and with a Revo MGX they're unimaginably light. The actions seemed right to us as the Abu rods have seemed to lean a bit to the heavy side on the actions in the past. These rods will come in 14 models with 9 casting and 5 spinning.
They feature a 40 ton low resin content graphite. You can Google 40-ton Graphite and actually get the exact make up of the material. This gives a more acurate representation of the quality of the graphite in the rods than the old industry standard IM6 IM8 million modulous according to Abu Garcia.
The C6 Total Exposure Carbon Reel Seat adds sensitivity and reduce weight along with the Titanium alloy guides with Titanium inserts. These rods weigh between 3.7 and 4.5 ounces. The rods will retail for $179.95 and should start showing up on shelves in December.
Can you say Christmas WishList?
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Wed, Jul 13, 2011 @ 02:49 PM
Lew's really made a big impact in the fishing industry when it made the first Speed Spool decades ago. Then it did it again when it rereleased the brand and a new line of reels last year under the direction of Lynn Reeves. Now it's again pushing the envelop with extensions of their great lineup of reels and focusing on affordable price points.
The new Tourament MG reels feature large spools and strong handles for cranking power that anglers were demanding.
They also released a new Laser baitcaster and Laser Spinning reel that feature price points of $79.99 and $39.99 respectively. These reals employ composite side plates on aluminum frames and 6+1 bearings in the baitcaster. The reels are light, smooth and at a great price.
They also released a whole line of Wally Marshall Mr. Crappie rods and reels. They have everything from jigging rods, spider rigging rods, trolling rods as well as some very affordable combos for anglers. Some of the rods on display were 16 feet long. But the line of rods was extensive to say the least.
Lew's also released a new line of Laser rods that have great feel at a great price points. The Laser LG rods are IM6 graphite, come in 13 models and will feature 6 to 10 guides depending on size and length. They will retail for $59.99. The Laser SL line will feature 45 million modulous blanks, semi-micro aluminum oxide guides, 13 rod models and a price point under $100.
They are releasing a ton of new sku's this coming year and already talking about doing some of their own tooling to improve the already great performance of their reels. We like when companies are constantly trying to make stuff better, not just different.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Wed, Jul 13, 2011 @ 02:09 PM
Talking to Ken Whiting is always fun for us. He's a straight shooter but he has a little used car salesman in him too. But one thing for sure, he's built some of the coolest rods, having taken the rod Best of Show award several times at ICAST.
This year he's back with Airrus and debuting the new KIII Nano Fusion rod. This rod features a new material in rod building called bucky paper. Bucky paper is basically carbon fibers that are put together similar to how paper is mulched together and formed. Then those bucky paper wraps are added to the tip and butt sections of the rod to make them more durable and sensitive.
The rod can take amazing load but has incredible sensitivity thanks to a custom designed real seat. With the vibration test we could feel the faintest vibrations in the palm of our hand and not just on the fore finger.
Another innovation on the rods are custom guides that Whiting developed to match the angle the line comes off the reel with micro guides. The guides start further off the rod to lessen the angle change and improve casting and smoothness in performance. Then each guide gets closer to the blank. The custom guides are also much stronger than a lot of microguides while also reducing the amount of cracking at the attachment point on the rod.
The rods will come in 4 models in the casting and 2 models in spinning. The rods will retail for $259 and should be available to the public sometime around December.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Wed, Jul 13, 2011 @ 01:44 PM
As has been the case the last several years, Strike King came out with some line extensions, colors and new baits that guys will definitely have to have.
The first bait we wanted to see up close was the new KVD Frog. It's got a very soft body, several good proven colors and looks like a quality hook. You know if KVD put his name on it, then it's probably been through a bunch of iterations to get it just right.
The next bait that piqued our interest was the new Hack Attack Heavy Cover Swim Jig. The jig features a strong hook, good weedguard and really good looking skirt colors.
The Tour Grade Night Spinnerbait features unique heads, good colors like Tequila Moonshine and options for both single blade and dual blade with colored or standard blades.
The Rage Tail Grub is new to the Rage Tail Line and will make an awesome swim jig or spinnerbait trailer as well as a great option on a just a plain leadhead.
The final two baits we really liked were the new 3XD crankbait and the new 1.0 Squarebill. The 3XD is the smaller deep diving cousin of the 5XD and 6XD. And the new 1.0 Square Bill is the little brother to the 1.5 and 2.5 square bills. The smaller offerings are now going to give anglers some smaller options for smaller bodies of water, clearer conditions and when the bass are just feedin on smaller profile shad.
The best part is as always that these baits will have great prices to go with the quality. It's hard not to have a box full of Strike King baits with their prices and improvements from year to year.Read More
Posted by Jason Sealock on Wed, Jul 13, 2011 @ 12:24 PM
Quantum Fishing has been keeping their new reels and rods so secret that the didn't even have them in the New Product Showcase preview last night. So my curosity was peaked and that's where I headed first.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Wed, Jul 13, 2011 @ 08:01 AM
One of our favorite places to go when ICAST opens is the Normark booth. Like Pure Fishing, Pradco and a few other large conglomerates, you can get lost in a sea of new products from several different brands. We'll start with Rapala in the Normark brands of fishing tackle. Largely because we know a lot of Wired2Fish anglers and readers are die-hard Rapala guys and gals and it always seems like a good jumping off point for us.
New from Rapala this year that really caught our eye were three baits in particular. Their new lipless rattle bait is called the Rapala Rippin' Rap. It will come in three sizes from 5/16, 1/2 and 7/8 ounce models. Even the 7/8 ounce model was very easy to fish and the profile isn't as large as a lot of 3/4 and 1 ounce lipless baits we've seen. The baits come in some beautiful finishes and the narrower width but taller height will make it another great addition to a lipless crankbait arsenal.
The next bait we already love is the Rapala X-Rap Pop. Jason has been testing this bait for about a week and has been so impressed with its fish attracting qualities. The finishes are those same great X-Rap finishes that have proven to be fish catchers. This new popper features a unique triangular mouth that forces water up and outward on hard pops.
We're convinced it mimics attack bass and this in turn draws the attention of nearby bass. It really makes bass become competitive. We've already had a double on this popper. Something we've never done on a topwater bait. This 3/8 ounce 2 3/4-inch bait really packs a punch. We're excited about getting a few more.
The other new topwater is the X-Rap Prop. This bait is a dual prop bait that makes a big commotion without moving the bait very far on the twitch. It's going to be a great bait to fish around isolated targets and also on bedding bass. The bait features an internal weight system that will make it very castable in all situations. It's 4 3/4 inch long bait and weighs 3/8 ounce even though it casts like a much heavier bait. The blades counter rotate which gives the bait added stability.
The Rippin' Rap will retail for $6.99. The X Rap Pop comes in at $11.49 and the X-Rap Prop comes in at $12.49. The latter two baits are a bit pricey but considering you only need one or two of these topwater baits, you won't break the bank to cover your bases.
Of their existing lines of baits, Rapala added several new sizes to lines like the Clackin' Crank now in a 55 size, the X-Rap Magnum in 05 size, and the Clackin Minnow in the 07 size. They also added a Jointed Deep Husky Jerk and a couple of new finesse baits in the Ultralight Minnow and the Ultralight Shad. These finesse baits weigh 1/8 ounce and are less than 2 inches in size. Their going to be pond, stream and small fishery killers for sure.
One final lure we really got drawn in by was a new deep diver Shad Rap. These shad raps are said to get down as deep as 11 feet. Which could open a new element to cold cranking. We're very excited to try these finesse crankers when the water cools off again.
As always the Rapala new product releases continue to impress. The fact that such an already successful product line continues to release new productive baits every year really says something about the company as a whole.
We'll try to get more details on availability this morning.
On to the next booth!
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Wed, Jul 13, 2011 @ 12:42 AM
Well we got our first glance at the new products at ICAST tonight at the New Product Showcase. We spent two hours going through hundreds of lures, rods, reels, accessories, terminal tackle and more to get a feel for what's new this year and where we need to direct our efforts as we make the rounds through the show floor the next three days.
Here are some initial thoughts on a few of the most popular categories of fishing tackle based on just a couple hours moving through all the new stuff.
Rods
This is probably our favorite category of new products this year. Several companies came with it this year on new designs, lightweight and afordable options. Just a quick list of new rods we found to be pretty cool that we'll be bringing you more information on are the new Duckett Micro Ice, the new St. Croix Rage, the new Abu Garcia Villain, the new Phenix Bass Assassin, the new Daiwa Aird, the new Okuma Helios, the new Airrus and some others we'll get to as well.
Reels
Another good category of new concepts and improved technologies came in the reel department. From lightweight Abu Garcia MGX Revo reels to interesting technology developments like Drag Tracking Technology on the Ardent Edge and the T Wing line guide on the Daiwa T Wing reel. There were several new reels we liked including those as well as the new Shimano Chronarch at $199, and some sweet new models of Lew's reels including the MG wide spool editions in three classes of reels and an inshore reel. We're excited to see what the XO hype has been around the Quantum new reels. They purposely left their reels out of the New PRoduct Showcase to build more suspense about what they are calling the most exciting release of products in their history. More to come on that and all the new reels starting Wednesday.
Lures
There are a lot of great new baits in the lures category. However as a whole, the new offerings were a little light in comparison to year's past. Still we found a bunch of companies we'll be spending time with over the next several days as our curiosity is peaked on a bunch of stuff. There are new soft bodied frogs from Jackall, Strike King, Evolve, Matzuo, Designer Fishing Lures and probably a few others we missed. There are several swimbaits as has been the trend the last few years at ICAST. Lucky Craft had one the most interesting swimbaits. We're anxious to see more about it.
Other Tackle
Lots of cool little tackle gadgets to help ease some of the pains of fishing. We liked the new Diamond Pegs from Eco Pro, the new Centro FastTach weights, VMC Spinshot hooks, Trokar treble hooks, and lots of other lines, accessories and more that we'll be bringing the next several days.
The lighting is hard to deal with in the new Product Showcase so we'll be able to really get good looks at the products starting Wednesday morning. So tomorrow should go a lot more smoothly with updates and sneak peaks on all the products you want to see from ICAST. Check back often throughout the day and evening Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for lots and lots of tackle talk.
For now I hope these teaser photos will at least quench your thirst for new product until we can get around and see everything and get the skinny on what seperates each product from the next.
But it's going to be another good show with lots of cool stuff to see.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Mon, Jul 11, 2011 @ 09:09 AM
Well it's that time of year again - ICAST 2011! For us, this is our Christmas week. For us, this is what we live for on the media side of our fishing lives. We get the opportunity to bring you guys and gals all the new products that are going to enter the fishing industry.
We proceed with caution, but most of the time, we just want to let you guys know about the new stuff out there for you to consider. We're not really endorsing any product at this point because most of the time it's too hard to tell from just looking at it on a table whether it's going to cut the mustard or not.
But after being the in the industry for decades and looking at a lot of tackle, we've got a pretty good eye for what's good and what won't last much passed the show. So we're going to be bringing you a lot of new stuff starting Tuesday evening.
ICAST opens up its New Product Showcase to the media on Tuesday evening. We're allowed to go in and browse all the products that have been entered in the new product showcase, all hoping to win the Best of Show award for their category, and if they're lucky, the Overall Best of Show.
The show is massive. We figured up last year that in a day's time, going from apppointment to appointment, we will walk upwards of 5 miles -- inside the building. Yes. It's that big. But we're committed to strap on our tennis shoes and try to get to every corner of the show to at least give you what we think is the best each company has to offer to you the anglers.
Here's a quick run down of the show and our coverage this week.
Tuesday - Todd, Terry, Jason, Scott, Matt and Wade travel to ICAST. That evening we'll hit the New Product Showcase, and we'll shoot fast and furious photos so we can begin getting blogs up Tuesday night for you.
Wednesday - From 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Terry, Todd and Matt will make rounds with video camera in hand, talking to pros and product specialists about new techniques, tackle and more. Jason will be on blog duty, shooting photos and getting the scoop on new products. We're going to be putting blogs up all day. In fact I plan to visit several booths, then sit down and get the information out to you, then visit some more and so on. There could be blogs every hour with new product, so keep coming back to Wired2Fish.com!
Wednesday evening - the Best of Show winners will be announced.
Thursday - From 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m., we'll again be shooting video, photos and posting blogs about all the new products.
Friday - From 8:30 - 2:30 we'll again be on the floor covering all the new stuff from the show and posting blogs to the website.
Saturday - we'll all travel home exhausted and on information overload.
Now for our plea. We're going to try to set a record this week and we need your help. All we ask is that if you like a new product or a report we do on a new piece of tackle or something from the show, please share our link with your friends who like fishing. We encourage you to pass the links to our stories on Facebook, Twitter, Stumble Upon, Email, your blogs, fishing forums and more.
We're going to put in 16-20 hour days for you this week so we can try to get to everything that you want to see. We want you to feel like you are there with us. We want you to feel informed and in the know on fishing tackle, because you went to the show with us.
So check back often each day this week as we'll be bringing more Sneak Peeks today and tomorrow, lots and lots of blogs this week. We might be updating hourly or even more often depending on our internet service there at the show. So we'll try to get as much tackle information as we can as quickly as we can to you. Tell your friends to stop by the site and check us out.
We'll get regular updates out on Facebook and Twitter to help you follow along. It's going to be a fun, exciting and tiring week, but we love this and we hope you do too!
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Posted by Terry Brown on Fri, Jul 01, 2011 @ 07:00 AM
Crankbait anglers live for finding rough spots. Gravel bars, shell beds and rocks hold food and are bass magnets. Choosing the proper crankbait to reach the depths where the fish live is crucial.
To find fish you need structure and depth, a food source, and you need timing. Anglers who ledge fish talk about timing all the time. You need to be where the fish are to catch them. An old friend of mine from Tennessee by the name of John Hunt told me "You can't fish for ghosts". Simply put that means if there are no fish in the area it’s a 100% guarantee you won't catch them.
Deep water anglers have to use all the tools. Having the proper crankbait for the depth is essential. I have been throwing the Spro Little John DD a lot and now feel it’s an extension of my hands. This bait casts a mile, is a quiet runner and doesn't rattle. When you find the line the fish are positioned on having the bait in the "zone" longer will mean more bites.
The designer of the Spro Little John DD, John Crews, agrees.
"A crankbait is the best bait to find and trigger bigger fish to bite," Crews said. "It’s quicker and you can cover more water with a big crankbait. You also get bigger size fish too. I like to change angles and vibration when they quit to get the school going again. One other thing that I have found is you move the school with a crankbait. I back up the boat as the school moves off the spot towards the boat."
The Little John will do a 180 when you kill the bait and many strikes occur when you do that. Cranking at high speed followed by a pulling action will also trigger more fish. I particularly like the bill angle of this bait. The line tie moves from side to side which means it wobbles more. The line tie is 18 to 19 millimeters which makes it do that and makes it swim a bit more.
Depth finders are also critical. If you like Lowrance, Structure Scan is the deal. If you are a Humminbird fan Side Imaging is the ticket but rest assured these are not nice-to-have options, they are must-have options for deep water fishing. You are at a major disadvantage without this technology. I rarely look at depth finder view, and for cranking big schools of bass, side finding technology is a must.
Very quickly I can look at a spot, determine where and how the fish are positioned and can tell you if they are catchable, all because of the ability to look to the side. One other advantage this new technology provides is it allows you to expand on an area quickly. Simply by moving the boat you can look ahead, behind and to the right and left. It truly is like your boat is hovering over an empty lake.
One caution, it’s not simple and you won’t be an expert the first time out. It won’t help you catch them either. It will help you find them; then it’s up to your moxie to get them to bite. I only borrow the fish and rarely ever keep one, so it’s my goal to put as many of those green rascals in the boat as possible.
Another piece of technology that going forward I will always have in my boat is a Hydrowave. Many of you reading this probably don’t believe it’s worth it or will question if it really works, but based on my experience, it does have an impact. I have seen things with the Hydrowave in use that I have never seen in my almost 40 years of fishing. Schoolies on a lake where I had never seen them, fish chasing air sandwiches, I’ll relate that later, and some of the biggest stringers of all species I have caught in my life.
I don’t have any reason to sell wolf tickets on this product. It is especially effective on moving baits and it will fire them up. Again it’s not magic, but with a little experience and knowing a little science on the pea-brained adversary we all love, it can make a difference. Being able to know when to let the orchestra play or head bang with heavy metal is the key with the Hydrowave. Bottom line is it works.
One other thing I am finding the more I crankbait is micro-guide cranking rods work better. You can feel the bait better and the rod and line become one. I use a 7-foot Kistler and a 7-foot, 2-inch Duckett Cranking rod for this technique. I am from the school of Rick Clunn on rod selection. I like to hook em’ reel a couple of times and give them a boat ride. I am too old to race around the boat and wear them down. I like getting them in the boat.
Grinding the lips off my deep divers was never one my favorite techniques but with the Spro Little John DD, the right rod and reel and 10 to 12-pound test it is rapidly becoming one of my favorites.
Enjoy the sport for the puzzle part of it. Don’t spot fish and learn your quarry and you will find out fishing is even more fun. As my buddy Jason Sealock always says “you can make a new fisherman out of an old one.”
I love the puzzle.
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