Word continues to trickle in post ICAST regarding companies’ new products and colors for the coming seasons. Shortly after our return from Vegas, we received a message from our friends over at Reaction Innovations regarding their plans for 2011.

First up are two new colors for their popular 6.5″ Flirt Worm or Big Flirt. Road Kill is a sort of dark green pumpkin with no flake. Those who remember the “green weenie” craze back in the late 80’s will like this color. Though not as translucent as the “original green weenie”, this color is very similar.

The second new color for the 6.5″ Flirt is Payback. Payback can be described as a having a brown/cinnamon back and a deep purple belly with green flakes.

Brand new for the coming year will be the Big Dipper. Sibling to the Skinny Dipper and Little Dipper, the Big Dipper is a six inch bait with a much slimmer profile than the other two swimbait bodies. It features the same slit belly and ribbed sides, will be available in ten colors initially, and will retail for $6.25 per 4 pack.

Nothing ground breaking for Reaction Innovations in the coming year, but we welcome extensions to tried and true lineups.

ICAST is the vehicle for participating manufacturers to release news and information regarding planned products for the upcoming year. Many of the representatives of these manufacturers are also affiliated with other companies who have something in the works but weren’t quite ready in time to participate in the big event.

Many of these individuals have befriended us and can’t wait to see us at this or any other show so that they can give us a peak at what’s in the works. 90% of these peaks are off the record so we can’t share them with all of you until it is safe for the manufacturer in question to release said information.

This past year, we got a peak at a couple of items that we are free to share…

Coming soon from Bass Patrol - a swiveling hook jighead

This head will be released in multiple colors

Progress is quick with this new Bass Patrol offering. Just days before ICAST, we received a spy-cam image of the prototype for this jighead – unfinished and with a generic brand hook. At ICAST we were shown these intricate, finished colors and the heads featured what looked to be hooks by Gamakatsu. The last detail is still under negotiations, but that’s how quickly things are progressing. There’s no official release date but at this rate, we expect to see this product very soon on tackle store shelves and pegboards…. stay tuned.

For this next item, all we are allowed to share is the photo… no explanation of what to expect, and no explanation of when. Just look and develop your own conclusions:

what makes this product exciting? we know, but we can't tell you.

Stay tuned as we sift through more photos in an effort to bring you the unofficial word from this year’s ICAST.

We’re buys downloading images and working up the first few articles to go up tonight. In the meantime, here are my impressions from Day 1 at ICAST 2010…

Micros … Just about every rodnmanufacturer is jumping on the Micro guide bandwagon and many of them seem to be doing itnpurely out of peer pressure… When we explain to them our personal experience on the water hope is restored in their eyes.

Daiwa … My biggest personal disappointment… No zaion inspired Zillion, no PX68, and no Z2020 … Instead Daiwa USA concentrated on saltwater again this year and while their new offerings are worthwhile, I think neglecting the hungry freshwater reel market is a mistake especially with the strides made by Quantum and Pinnacle this year.

Shimano … The Scorpion 1000/1001 XT is coming to the US branded as the Curado 50/51 but even more exciting is the new Stella!!

Evergreen International… FINALLY!? Or maybe not …. They have a full blown pro staff team and they had an i impressive booth at the show, but they are still carefully calculating just how to enter the US market….

Quantum… One word, Smoke … Stay t uned for our writeup… It’ll be worth the wait… Quantum is ready for prime time!

Pinaccle … This Korean based rod and reel manufacturer is poised to make so me noise especially with their rods…

G.Loomis … We posted this on Facebook… Anyone who had given up on the G.Loomis brand had better take a second look… Price not withstanding, the NRX rods have a fantastic feel to them.

Kistler Custom Rods… Zbone is taking over the brand and Kistler will be bu ilsing several stock line of rods u under the Zbone monicker all on North Fork Composite Blanks AND with an over the counter warranty!

Skeet Reese … Skeet has made the move to Wright and McGiill for his new line of bait casting and Spinning reels but the real news may be. In his new combo for kids!

That’s all for now… Time to get back to our full articles and photos… Hang onas we’re almost ready to. Post our first article!

TackleTour is in full ICAST mode as we are set to depart in just four short days to Las Vegas where we’ll be be pounding the showroom floor and our keyboards enroute to bringing you the best coverage we possibly can. Even with North America’s biggest tackle show of the year less than a week away, product continues to appear at TT headquarters as manufacturers compete for our time and attention.

Less than a month ago, we brought you our review of Paycheck Bait’s versatile Punch Skirt and just this morning, we received a box of new product from this aggressive young company, but are any of these items as exciting as their debut product?

Repo Man: It’s no secret that PayCheck Baits has garnered the rights to most all of the former Reaction Innovations non-soft bait products. First it was the flipping hook, now it’s the topwater bait. That’s right, the Vixen is back, but it’s undergone a gender change and is now known as the Repo Man. Packed with VMC hooks and available in six different colors, the Repo Man is shipping to retailers now with an MSRP of $16.99.

Baby Blue

Dead Man Walking

Blow Up

Sweaty Betty

Bone Crusher

Drag Stripper

Punch Stop: Finally, the punch stops are ready. These stops are larger than those Bub Tosh showed us during our on the water introduction to his product last July, and they appear significant enough to where you will not need to double stop your tungsten weight. If it ever warms up enough here in Northern California, we’ll be sure to verify, but it looks like the production version of the Punch Stop can handle stopping duties solo. The Punch Stop is shipping to stores immediately and retails for $3.99 per pack of 10 individual stops.

The Punch Stops Are Ready

And will retail for 3.99 per pack

Rubber Skirts: The answer to our first question of whether or not there was anything in the box as exciting as their debut product can be answered with a “yes!”. Although technically this last item is merely an enhancement of the original Punch Skirt, the fact that the Punch Skirt is now available in living rubber is pretty exciting. There are two colors, Nasty Nate (black), and Dirty Money (brown) and right out of the package, these skirts flare much more actively than their silicone counterparts -- a prelude to the same added bulk and pulsing action jigs made out of this same material have over the same silicone skirt counterparts. The new Round Rubber Punch Skirts are also shipping to stores now and will sell for $3.99 per two pack.

Rubber Punch Skirts!

These are a lot livelier than the silicone version

And just a tad larger too

But hang on, there is “One” more bait coming… Bub promises to show us this bait at ICAST. In fact, when we announced our “Search For One” theme this year, Bub must have been paying attention because this new bait is appropriately named “The One”. Any guesses as to what it might be? Well, if you paid attention to last year’s preview, you’ll remember there was one prototype bait Zander was throwing and got mugged with. Do you remember? Well, here’s a reminder:

With ICAST fast approaching, the TT Crew is focused more on catching news than it is on catching fish. It’s a 24×7 job now making appointments, collecting information, readying our gear, and making sure we know where to go, who to see, what questions to ask, etc.. all in an effort to bring you the best coverage of ICAST 2010 that we possibly can.

Of course, with that job comes the duty of speculation. What would we like to see, and what do we think we’ll see at ICAST 2010. I’ve already shared my speculation that the Daiwa Pixy is coming to US shores as the PX68. I think the same can be said of the new Daiwa Z 2020H only I personally won’t pay much attention to that reel until Daiwa produces the left hand version. Get serious. Aside from the Megabass collaborations and the special edition reels, we’re seeing Daiwa homogenize product offerings between the US and Japanese market more and more. These two reels feel very Americanized.

But what about Shimano? In recent years, Shimano America Corp has gotten the jump on Shimano Japan with regards to product announcements and introductions made here before they appear in Japan. The handful of products that were announced early in the year over in Japan never made it to the US Market.. think, Cardiff DC, Metanium MG DC, and the new generation Conquest DC’s introduced last year.

One reel that is by no means a stretch to imagine them bringing over to the US Market is the new Scorpion 1000/1001 XT. The previous incarnation of this reel was responsible for the beginning of many an enthusiast tackle buffs’ journey to the dark side. Can the new “XT” version inspire the same madness and will it show up on US Shores as its predecessor did (the Curado 100b)? To the latter question, I’d say this is even more of a certainty than the Daiwa speculation. Afterall, this is simply an aluminum framed Core 50/51mg. What they eventually call this reel, should it make its way to the US Market is anyone’s guess.

To the former question, that all depends on the price point. The older Scorpion 1000/1001 used to sell for right around $155 before shipping – a very comfortable entry level price point. Naturally the Curado 100b was even less. Nevertheless they were not viewed as the same reel. This current generation Scorpion 1000/1001 “XT” retails for $100 more. Inflation and a poor exchange rate have really taken its toll.

What are the differences you ask? Seeing as how this reel is still a candidate for a full blown review, I’ll just leave you with some comparison photographs so you can develop your own speculation… enjoy

The more exotic, high end reels I handle, the more de-synthesized I become and the harder it is for me to get excited over something new. Add to that the price gap we are now experiencing between the USDM and JDM counterpart reels and it’s just difficult to want to spend the dollars to import a new reel.

Imagine my surprise on the latest visit to my local tackle store, Hi’s Tackle Box where I was quickly shuttled to the back room to be shown a cache of JDM product.

The shining beacon in this collection? A left handed Ryoga 1016HL.

The Pluton is easily one of my favorite reels from Daiwa’s lineup and this new smaller size version may have won my “Search For One” this year. There’s just something about the purity of round reels that I love.

With ICAST fast approaching, one can only speculate whether Daiwa will be bringing this reel to the US. I imagine they will. But for those who cannot wait for ICAST or our eventual review, grab one now before they are too hard to get!

Juggling two themes at once (2009’s Crankbait Rod Wars & 2010’s The Search For One) can get a bit confusing, but what helps to clear the fog are products that excite that enthusiast spirit in us all. Though I’m still fishing some domestic flavored product for the sake of TackleTour, I’ve more or less rededicated myself to what brought me here and that’s the tackle products from other markets. In any other industry, these are referred to simply as grey market items but here on TackleTour, it’s all about enthusiasm and that special niche of tackle that inspires an inexplicable excitement – or – enthusiasm.

Earlier this year, we previewed some items from just across our northern border.. Rapala Canada’s new line of bass rods. I’ve since had a chance to fish some of these sticks and initial impressions are all very good. Of particular note are the R-Type sticks… In our January preview, we were only able to share their musky sticks from this lineup, but I’ve since acquired a couple of their split grip bass rods including a two-piece travel stick and boy, for right around $100 Canadian, these are some fun sticks to fish! And don’t forget, even the top end Shift rods are only $179 Canadian.

These might not have quite the same aura and back story as the sticks from Japan, but when our reviews on these two sticks are done, I predict there will be a fair number of tackle junkies ready to drive across the border to import these value driven, enthusiasm inspiring sticks. Oh Canada!!

Naturally we have a review already in the works on the new Velvick 3D by Rago Baits, but with the buzz surrounding Velvick’s Golden State Shootout Win on Clear Lake yesterday, I thought I’d put up some sneak peak looks at this bait designed especially for Clear Lake by both Jerry Rago and Byron Velvick. They’ve been at this for several years and finally all their hard work paid off. This bait features a line through design with an exposed treble, but when rigged correctly is virtually weedless. Here’s a closer look at the bait together with a closer look of the very bait Velvick was throwing during the tournament.

Looks like the swimbait revolution just received some serious reinforcements as it does every year when a big organization like BASSMASTERS comes out west. Who said swimbaits have to be a trout? Match the hatch with large baitfish in your area and you could very well experience some of the same success as Byron Velvick.

Better yet, want to get your hands on some? Try here:

MonsterFishing Tackle

and here:

TackleWarehouse

At about 4:15pm Pacific Daylight Time, a little over six hours ago, what most people anywhere near Clear Lake already knew became official: Byron Velvick had won the 2010 Golden State Shootout on Clear Lake. The California Native brought the trophy home in exciting wire-to-wire fashion. Of course, what our readers care about most may not necessarily be the fact that Velvick took home the prize, but rather, what new and yet to be released tackle was he using?

Already reported last night on TackleTour.com was the bait Velvick was using to build on his lead, the brand new Rago BV (Byron Velvick) 3D hitch bait designed specifically for Clear Lake by Velvick and Jerry Rago. In fact, we previewed this bait back in October of 2009: http://www.tackletour.com/previewragobassjam.html

Today, we caught up with Velvick after he signed his last autograph and the crowds had cleared for an up close look at his new rods, the Duckett Fishing Micro Magic sticks. Here now is an exclusive first peak at what’s brewing over at Duckett Fishing!

Introducing Duckett Fishing's Micro Magic Sticks

Each stick will feature an exposed blank reel seat, no foregrip, and split rear grip

Speculation was for a split reel seat similar to Duckett's former rod sponsor, e21, but instead, Duckett's new sticks will feature a standard, exposed blank seat

Cork is the material of choice for the split rear grip

Custom accent rings adorn the rod as well

But of course the big news comes in a very small package ...

Micro Guides

Congratulations Byron Velvick on an incredible job swinging for the fences and delivering!

The talk of the weigh-in by all the pros was the swimbait bite, but what will interest our readers the most is what we just showed you, Velvick’s new magic wand built by Boyd Duckett and Ken Whiting, founders of Duckett Fishing. He may not have been using these sticks exclusively, afterall, the new Micro Magic swimbait sticks are still in prototype stages, but Velvick tells us the rods are very close to completion.

Product is flying in faster than we can keep track here at TT HQ. 2010 is going to be a very busy year. Some exciting product we recently received hails from overseas and the prestigious manufacturer, Evergreen International. Here’s a pictorial sneak peak at what we have in our queue for the coming year.

Back in September, upon the announcement that Humminbird will be upgrading all their sidescan units with downscan ability – all units save my two 797c2 SI units that is, I posted a blog admonishing the manufacturer for this oversight.

Today, I received a private message from a forum member that Humminbird has “amazingly” overcome the memory restrictions that prevented them from upgrading the 797c2 SI unit in the first place and that this firmware upgrade is also now available for this unit. I’ve downloaded the upgrade and loaded it to an SD card. It’s going to be another month or two before my boat sees the water again, but I’m happy to have the prospect of some additional functionality from my two 797c2 SI units.

Hopefully the upgrade goes well. Finally.

Well guys, it’s about time to start wrapping up another year, and you know what that means… time to get to work on our Holiday Gift Guide. This was the occasion last year, where we took the opportunity to introduce everyone to our spokesmodel, Ms. Casey. Can you believe it’s only been a year?

To follow our 2009 theme, we decided to crank it up another notch this year and conduct our shoot out on the water right on the California Delta. We loaded up both of our TackleTour bass boats and headed out for several hours worth of shooting. Here are some behind the scenes look at what we have brewing for our upcoming article.

Back to writing and formatting so we can at least get part one of our gift guide out by this weekend. Hope you enjoyed this behind the scenes look and start saving up because I can promise you one thing, Casey delivered some rather compelling arguments for just about everything on our list

Back in January of 2008, I shared both my excitement and extreme disappointment regarding an at that time, new bait from Lucky Craft. It was a full sized big bait, the Real California Supreme 200. I was excited about this bait because finally we had a realistic big bait from a major manufacturer, available in good numbers, at a price that at that time, was way more affordable than anything else of similar quality on the market. Extreme disappointment came when after one cast, only two thirds of the bait made it back to the boat.

Enter ICAST 2009 where we met, for the first time, Lucky Craft USA president Minoru Segaua. Minoru saw me inspecting the Real California Supreme’s hinges and raced across the booth to tell me he had fixed the joints. He was so emphatic about this point, he literally took the display sample used to show buyers and handed it to me insisting I take it home to test. When I tried to put it back down on the table, he picked it up and put it back in my hand. This bait was all clear, with no finish, and it was easy to see the pins that served as half of the joints had been modified so the tail ends were now much longer making it virtually impossible for them to pinch and pull out.

I tried it out on Lake Toho several days later and again at Clear Lake and the California Delta and sure enough, the bait held up. But since there was no finish on the bait, I had little confidence I was going to hook up with something to really test the bait out. I sent an email note to Minoru and to Roy Gray, Western Region Sales Representative for Lucky Craft USA, telling them I agree the bait has been fixed and that I’ll get to work on a follow up review to announce this issue has been addressed. Surprisingly, A few days later, I received baits with actual finishes to them in the mail. Here’s the result.

No, this is not intended as the follow up review, but simply a prelude to that event and an announcement that more is to come. Suffice it to say, for now, Lucky Craft has totally restored my faith in this product and the scales of my love hate relationship with this company are beginning to tip over on the positive side. Now I have another new bait to put to through the paces and I can’t wait to toss this bait for some green backs in 2010.

You may already be aware that the annual Southern California event held by Angler’s Marine, the Bass-A-Thon, is not being held this year. Last year was TackleTour’s first trip to that event and we were all prepped and ready to go again when we were informed in late August that it had been cancelled. Needless to say, we were disappointed.

But where one event is cancelled, the opportunity for another to rise and perhaps take its place arises, and that is exactly what is happening. That’s right, the folks at MonsterFishingTackle.com and Marine Unlimited have gotten together to create the inaugural Northern California equivelant of the Bass-A-Thon and have dubbed it, Bass Jam ‘09!

Following in the tradition of the former Southern California event, Bass Jam ‘09 already has confirmed several big bait manufacturers including Black Dog Baits, JSJ Baits, Rago Baits, Mattlures, AC Plugs, Tylure, and many more yet to be announced. Confirmed seminars will be held by the likes of Brent Ehrler, Ish Monroe, Cody Meyer, Jerry Rago, Bub Tosh, and Aaron Coleman, and this list is also not yet complete.

The event will be held at the future home of Outdoor Pro Shop and Monster Fishing Tackle at 412 Houser Street, Cotati, CA 94931. The dates are November 14-15, 2009. For more information on this event, visit http://www.bassjam09.com/.

In the meantime, you can be sure the TT boys are packing their bags in preparation to cover the event. See you there!

It’s official… one of these “fish” I’m holding up is now available for purchase at a special introductory price. Can you guess which one?

They are available in 4 different colors with three different sink rates. Normally a bait this detailed and this carefully built would retail for at least $80 if not over $100. But not this bait.

Any guesses as to the insane price of this lure? How about half a c-note?!?

With just a couple trips left needed to wrap up our Year of the Crank coverage, soon, it will be time to turn our attention to next year’s theme. 2010 marks the 10th year anniversary for TackleTour. In traditional anniversary terms, the 10th year is a celebration of tin or aluminum. Whomever dreamed up these anniversary gifted themes must have been a fisherman!

So what does TackleTour have in store to celebrate 10 years of bringing you the latest in tackle news and reviews? I can’t quite reveal that yet, but rest assured, those plans are already underway as evidenced by our 2010 Calendar featuring Ms. Casey and her friends. Incidentally, have you bought yours yet?

Speaking of Ms. Casey, what I can do at this point in time is give you a sneak peak at some of the artwork we’ve completed to kick off our 10th year anniversary celebration. Only one thing is missing from this poster, and that’s the declaration of our official theme (replaced by “xxxxx…”).

So what do you think? Are you ready to turn the page on 2009 and find out what TackleTour has in store for 2010? If you’re a follower of TackleTour, new or old, help us kick things off by responding to this blog and sharing how you found your way to our site and maybe a little bit about what keeps you around. The more excitement we feel, the sooner we’re likely to reveal what’s in store for 2010!

Lamiglas enters the value rod wars with an all new, made in the USA value line of rods… that’s right. While other manufacturers are headed overseas to stay competitive, Lamiglas is upping the ante by producing rods at the $100 price point built entirely within the United States.

Want more info? We’ll check them out at ICAST, but for now, all I know is there will be 3 spinning rods and about 7 casting rods all priced between $99 – $109 AND I have is this photo to share:

Lamiglas has always been one of my favorite domestic rod companies so I’m pretty excited about this new line of rods. Stay tuned for more during our ICAST 2009 coverage.

With June almost over, we are past the halfway point for the Year of the Crank. That’s right, we’re on the downhill slope for 2009 and that means 2010 is just around the corner. But what we’re approaching is not just another year. 2010 is a significant milestone for TackleTour – it marks our 10th Year Anniversary!

Rest assured, we’re already in preparation for this event and have our theme for 2010 all planned out, but before we move forward, let’s take a look back:

TackleTour.com made its debut with its very first article on December 8, 2000. Any guesses as to what it might have been? With the popularity of our rod and reel reviews, my first guess was one of those, but nope. It was in fact, the Yamamoto Hula Grub (click on the photo to view the article):

So what the, was the very first reel review? Was it a baitcaster or spinning reel? Can you believe the Daiwa Spinmatic-X (Feb 20, 2001)?

It took almost half a year before a rod review made it to the site and in fact, it was a combo, Quantum’s XLSP1000 UL Rod + XL00S2 reel (May 19, 2001):

The first real mainstream rod to be reviewed? Why of course, the G.Loomis MBR783C IMX (September 7, 2001):

It’s both fun and funny to look back at these early reviews to see #1 how short the articles were and #2 how few pictures there were. TackleTour has come a long way since those early days and we continue to challenge ourselves each year with more content and quantifiable data against which to objectively evaluate every piece of tackle we write about.

In my mind, 2004 marks the real turn for the worst for TackleTour because that’s when yours truly joined the team. How they ever decided to let me in on the party and why, I will never know, but the Enthusiast section of the site was christened by this article on October 7, 2004:

And as I’ve mentioned, we’ve been cranking it up ever since until finally, we’ve declared 2009 the Year of the Crank. So what do we have in store for 2010? We’ll just have to wait and see as the countdown to 2010 has now officially begun!

But before we get there, let us know how you found your way to TackleTour and what you enjoy or don’t enjoy most about the site!

Wood.

I don’t know what it is about wood cranks, but they’ve always held a certain favor with me over their plastic counterparts. Sure you get more consistency from bait to bait and better casting performance with plastic baits – and a lot of times you can save some money with them too, but the idea of fishing something someone has hand carved and painted for you just holds a different appeal. It’s similar to my affinity for the finely detailed and crafted JDM fishing rods I suppose.

In the midst of our Year of the Crank coverage on TackleTour, we have quite a list of baits we hope to write up this year. Among those baits is a custom made wood crank out of North Carolina crafted by a fellow by the name of Kelly Barefoot. Custom Lures Unlimited is the name of his company and among his collection of products is a new crank, the Ikon, something that has been in development for over five years.

The detailing of this crank is extraordinary and those who appreciate this kind of craftsmanship will be drawn in quite easily. Barefoot follows up this intricately carved blank with equally intricate and intriguing finishes – finishes that the customer is afforded the opportunity to custom tweak and specify. Try that with Lucky Craft.

The baits aren’t cheap, but considering the labor involved, they’re not outrageous either. With a list price of $25 for a standard color and just $5 more for a custom finish, the Ikon is a bait worth some serious consideration.

I’ve been waiting to get back on a shallow crank bite out on the Delta or up at Clear Lake so I can put these baits through the wringer, but the weather has been crazily inconsistent this Spring in Northern California, so success has been somewhat difficult to come by not to mention time on the water. And guess what? Summer is just around the corner.

For now, it’s back in the test bait box for my collection of Ikons, but I thought I’d get the word out sooner for a bait that’s showing a lot of promise so far. Wood cranks will continue to hold a special place with me and the Ikon is going to get an extended opportunity to stay on my good side.

Several months back, there was some discussion on the TT Forum regarding big baits with a shad profile. By big, I recall guys asking for seven or eight inch baits. At the time, the only one of which I was aware was the Nate’s Baits product.

I totally forgot about the bait Triton Mike alluded to during our interview back in April of 2008. He chimed in on the discussion thread to bring us up to date on this bait and apparently, it has gone through a couple of different iterations.

Well, a few days after that thread took off, I received in the mail a sample bait from Triton Mike with a note asking me to check it out and provide some private feedback. This was shortly before our trip to El Novillo Lake in Mexico, so I took the bait down there with me to check out.

I was pretty excited about this bait mostly because it had a true, made in the garage feel to it with rough edges, cuts, etc. – like a bait that was already beat up. Honestly, how many of you have noticed that just about any hardbait seems to catch MORE fish after its received some battle scars? Well, this bait had some right out of the package and while Triton Mike was a bit embarrassed by this fact, I really appreciated it!

His Bull Shad was the first big bait I tied on at El Novillo, and it ended up being one of the last. On the retrieve, the bait has a pretty tight swimming motion – not wide like a Triple Trout which is what I expected since it’s a three piece design. About 5 casts later though, my Bull Shad fell victim to the Dragon Bushes of El Novillo. JIP and I tried to free the bait for a good ten minutes – I could see the bait under the water, but not reach it and we did not have anything on board with which to knock the bait free.

One final push with my rod tip and *snap* – not my rod, but the line finally broke from all the abrasion. The bait was lost

Well, recently one of our site advertisers had a sale and while I was browsing through the Hooked Up Tackle e-tail site to see what I could buy for 15% off, I noticed he had some of Triton Mike’s Bull Shads! I immediately ordered one and had it in time for a recent tackle testing trip with Zander out on Lake Pardee. Check out the result!

After I told Triton Mike what happened to his original bait he sent me, he mentioned he was already at work on a new version – typical. After I purchased the bait from Hooked Up Tackle, two days later, they announced they received in stock, the new version of Triton Mike’s Bull Shad – even more typical.

Regardless of which version you end up with, this bait is worth a look. I know I’m going to be throwing it this Fall for some of those Delta Striper if we manage to get out for them this year.

As a tackle reviewer, the amount of gear that shows up and accumulates on my boat over the course of several months can be overwhelming. While I try my best to go through each and every product and give it time on the water, in many cases, stuff gets discarded, sent back, or given away without ever getting wet.

Sometimes, I receive a product I’d like to test and write up but I find it’s either out of production, too difficult to source, or the details of its availability are just too fuzzy. One such product is this paddletail minnow that I found laying in a forgotten compartment within my boat. Its name? The “One’Up Shad”. That’s right, it bears a similar name to the hardbait from 3:16 Lure Company – a tidbit I found somewhat amusing.

This product showed up on my boat, and stayed there, after sharing time on the water with a very good friend of mine. This friend knows my affinity for JDM tackle AND big baits, so he brought these baits along as a “I betcha never seen these before” kind of challenge. Well, he was right, I hadn’t seen them before and my intial thought was, “oh, not another paddletail bait”, but after seeing its name, I knew I had to at least try them.

Well, before my friend departed, he left me several packages of the product, but of course, they got lost into obscurity amongst the pile of “stuff to check out” on my boat. Just recently, on a tackle testing trip to Lake Pardee with Zander, I remembered to pull them out to have a look.

Pardee is a favorite place for us to go to check out new baits for while the fishing can be very difficult due to the ultra clear water, this clarity affords us the unreal opportunity to really see what a bait is doing in the water on a full length cast. In fact, the only thing stopping us from going there more often is a complimentary VIP pass at the gate!

But back to the One’Up Shad. At first inspection, the bait is somewhat unremarkable. The colors are farily opaque and the shape of the bait is reminscent of an oversized Slug-O – remember those? The difference here, of course, is this bait has a paddletail AND a somewhat distinct joint in the middle of its body.

While distinct, this joint is no where near as thin and fragile as that of the Imakatsu Javallon. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized, this probably affords the bait a very unique swimming action.

Onto the end of the line it went aboard a Dobyns Rods 804CB paired with an Abu Revo Elite Aurora series reel. I spooled the Revo with 12lb test Toray HiClass fluorocarbon. Not necessarily an ideal combination, but amidst the Crankbait Rod wars, you have to make due with the rods you’re dealt.

After a few test pulls alongside the boat and remarking of the bait’s sinuous action, I made a cast to shore alongside some semi-submerged brush (Pardee is currently at full pool). I watched the bait and noticed the same swimming action we saw at the side of the boat, was happening on my medium paced retrieve. This bait has some moxy! Then, about two feet behind the bait, a large, dark shadow emerged and just as soon as I noticed it, it slowly sank back down into the depths.

Whoa! Whatever it was, it was BIG! This experience is typical of Lake Pardee, only this fish was darker than anything had seen previously and so dark, I could not make out any markings. Just it’s overall shape – literally as if it were a shadow.

A few casts later, it was on and I was able to pull up this healty, but significantly smaller largemouth bass.

I’m told these baits were made several years ago. I’m not certain if they are still made, or where in Japan you can or cannot find them, but if you are over there, and come across these baits, AND are into the paddletail style products, I suggest you buy as may packs as you can afford. I know I will now be guarding mine very closely

By the end of this year, custom rod builders and customers throughout the world will lose one of the most highly regarded blanks in the industry. In a news release dated April 23, 2009, G.Loomis, long considered the industry benchmark for rods in North America, announced their decision to exit the custom rod blank business so they can focus on expanding their finished rods business globally.

It was just a few short years ago, where I was quite excited over the fact G.Loomis made the decision to re-release a small selection of their GLX blanks and was hoping they’d expand the selection someday to include the BCR blanks as well as the MBR842 (one of my absolute favorite rods in their lineup). But instead, today we find out quite the opposite is true

In the press release, Bruce Holt, executive director at G.Loomis made the following statement:

“This is a very difficult decision for all of us here at G.Loomis, especially since making custom rod blanks for steelhead anglers was how we got our start as a fishing tackle company back in the ‘80’s. While we realize there’s an avid following among custom rod makers for our blanks, the growth we’ve experienced on a worldwide basis for our finished rods – and especially our fly rods with both fly tackle dealers in the U.S. and abroad – makes this the right decision and direction for our business success in the future.”

The company has invested in upgrades to their Woodland, WA facility and in training for current staff in an effort to make improvements in all areas of the company. Holt continued in his statement by adding, “Our production plans include manufacturing custom rod blanks through the end of 2009, and then our complete focus will be on finished rods. Our efforts at the plant over the past few months and this decision to exit the custom blank business prepares us well for when the global economy rebounds.”

So where does that leave the custom rod builder and customer? St. Croix, Phenix Rods, Lamiglas, among a select few others will hopefully continue to offer their blanks to those who prefer to roll their own, but the loss of G.Loomis in this market segment will be significant. Personally, I’m more than just a little disappointed. Considering how conservative G.Loomis has remained with their finished rod designs, the custom wrapping route was the next best alternative to having a very stylish rod built on one of their blanks. Now that they are abandoning this segment, and removing this option, it may be time I abandon their product all together until they update some of their designs – at the very least, remove the foregrips on their bass rods.

Well, if in the past G.Loomis can re-release their GLX blanks, maybe at some point in the future, they’ll find the resources to back up on this decision as well and reopen the doors to the custom market. For now, it’s on to other resources.

About a month ago, I reported my on the water experience with the hollow braid to fluoro topshot technique shown to us by Dean Yoshizumi. Since that time, I’ve received a few inquiries as to other product options for this technique since the hollow braid from Toray is cost prohibitive for many.

With a bit of research, I was able to find that Izorline and Western Filament (makers of Tuf Line) also produce a hollow braid product and when I contacted them, they were more than happy to send in some spools for me to try out. Here’s my experience with these products:

Western Filament makes “Tuf Line Guide’s Choice” hollow braid and it’s available in 40lb test and up. The sizes that will interest freshwater fishermen are the 40lb (0.28mm) and 60lb (0.33mm). Unfortunately, these two sizes are very tough to find online and are probably best sourced through your local tackle shop. 80lb was all I could find online and it sells for roughly $220 a 1200 yard spool.

I was most excited about the 40lb product because of its small diameter and the potential to use it for 5 – 12 pound test as Terry Battisti asked me about after my initial blog. Well, unfortunately, the product is so thin, it’s tough to get the threading needle into it. I went so far as to try something smaller, a sewing needle, and even with that, I was unable to get through more than one inch of line before having difficulties with the needle poking through or the line fraying. I’m just not skilled enough in this technique to make it work.

Fortunately, the 60lb was much easier to work with and after a little practice, I was able to thread this stuff rather easily. For the sake of it, I tried some 0.25mm line in the 60lb hollow and threaded through about 3 feet into the hollow braid, but it pulled out with about 6 pounds of pressure on the line. I then tried 0.30mm line through about the same length into the hollow braid and this pulled out with about 10 pounds of pressure on the line. Next up was a 0.32mm line and this held good and strong, so this seems to be the lower diameter threshold for leader material in the 60lb. For those paying attention, this diameter equates to 14lb Sunline Shooter. The other two lines were 8lb and 10lb Yozuri Hybrid respectively.

For the above tests, I threaded the leader line through the hollow and did not tie a nail knot. I wanted to see how well the line held without the nail not in place. Once it held without the knot, then I knew it we had a good mechanical connection between the leader material and hollow braid.

I repeated the tests with the Izorline product which is called Brutally Strong. Their website states the smallest pound test this product is available in hollow is 80lbs, but I was able to get it in 60lb. Perhaps their website is not up to date. Note that “Brutally Strong” is available down to 12lb test, but this is a solid braid (also available in 20, 30, 50, 65, and 80) – so be sure, if you see this product on the store shelves or are ordering it, to specify you want the hollow. Again, all I could find online was the 80lb product and this was available in 1200 yard spools for $160 on a quick search.

Tests yielded the same results as with the Western Filament Tuf Line Guide’s Choice though it seemed this line was easier to work with initially. However, I’ve heard that Western Filament makes the Izorline hollow braid product – I offer that as an unconfirmed bit of information.

Now a quick note about the nail knot. Someone had recommended to me that you don’t really need the nail knot and you can achieve the same results with a drop of soft bait glue. The key here is to thread the leader into at least two feet of the hollow. After getting the allowable diameters figured out above, I tried this technique and while it seemed hold, what I found was you have to be VERY careful with the soft bait glue as I had a couple of occasions where a drop or two landed on the leader material and the line broke right there on my tests. While it can be a pain to tie, I think the nail knot is the safer method.

Do you really need it? Yes, you do. What happens to the sometimes, when the line is wound back up into your reel is the hollow braid will relax and when this happens, the connection to your leader material is lost. When that’s gone, your leader will pull out with very little effort. The nail knot tied right at the end of the hollow braid prevents the braid from relaxing and sliding down the leader.

At least this is the case when trying to use as low diameter as possible with the hollow braid. Things are probably different with a much thicker leader material hence the popularity of using a 20lb fluorocarbon leader instead.

So, bottom line is there are some alternatives out there though they may be a little difficult to source. According to their website, the Izorline product is available in 50, 100, 300, 500, 750 yard spools and up. Likewise, the Tuf Line Guide’s Choice comes in 150, 300, 1200 and 2500 yard spools, so if you can find a store from which to order either product, there could be some cost savings to be had.

For now, I have each product spooled up on two different Daiwa Steez 103HL reels with that 14lb Sunline Shooter leader and hope to get some on the water time with each before long.

D&M Custom Baits has released their Piranha Swim Jigs, the secret bait of Larry Hemphill, Northern California Bass Fishing Guide. Larry has been slaying fish for the last two years on this bait.

Bama Bug

Black and Blue

Product Spec’s:
3 standard sizes, 3/8 oz, 1/2 oz, 3/4 oz.
A dozen standard colors : custom colors on request.
5/0 Gamakatsu Hook
Big 3-D eyes
Head design has barb and collar.
Comes complete with skirts and matching plastic trailer.

Chartreuse Shad

Available Now at: http://www.outdoorproshop.com/D-M-Custom-Baits-s/615.htm?Click=592

Purple Passion

Rainbow Trout

At TackleTour, we do our best to stay on top of the latest tackle trends, acquire product, fish it, and report back our findings in the form of a review.

The Spro BBZ-1 Shad was introduced to us in May of 2008

Almost a year ago in May, we got our first look at Bill Siementel’s latest bait, the Spro, 4″ BBZ-1 Shad. We were pretty excited about this compact little bait that featured a big bait swagger.

The Spro BBZ-1 Shad is available in three ROF’s – Floating, Slow Sinking, Fast Sinking

Then a couple of months later in July, just before ICAST, we found out about a similarly sized product from TruTungsten that featured their innovative adjustable weight system, the 4″ Tru-Life swimbait.

The Tru-Tungsten Tru-Life 4″ bait features the same adjustable weight system and two hooks per bait.

Can you say shootout?

I was more than prepared for a full blown shootout

In the Fall of 2008, Reaction Strike got in touch with us with their interpretation of this same concept and once again, it was game on in the “swimbait” market.

We were made aware of the Reaction Strike product during the fall of 2008

I’ve gone back and forth in my mind about doing individual reviews versus a full blown shootout between these three manufacturers’ product and had pretty much decided to go full blown shootout.

The profile of these baits has garnered a lot of attention as well.

Then of course, we declared 2008 as “The Year of the Crank” on TackleTour. Normally that would not affect anything but the interesting thing I found is the more I fished cranks, the less I saw the purpose behind these little 4″ big baits.

The joints have good movement.

They all seem to share a similar issue in that unless you are retrieving them painstakingly slow, no matter their rate of fall, they will all rise in the water column. The fast sinks are better about staying down than the slow sinks, but they will all still rise if you’re not careful.

Their gill bait is even more intriguing.

Reaction Strike has a solution for this dilemma with their little big baits by offering a billed version. So then, is it still a “swimbait” or is it a crank?

And now they make one with a bill.. is it a crankbait or swimbait… a hybrid?

The term “hybrid” comes to mind… something that is a mix of two or more things but neither one or the other. You’re usually making compromises when choosing to go with something that is a hybrid.

Of the three baits, these two are most similar.

Long story short? I’m having a hard time wanting to fish these products. I’ve thrown them a few times and each time, I find myself either tying on a billed or lipless crank when wanting to stay small or tying on a traditional big bait when wanting something that “swims”.

But all three are rated at 4″

So, I’m sorry to say while I’m sure these are all worthwhile products that have their time and place, I’m just not in a proper frame of fishing mind to give them a fair shake

.

And while they catch fish, personally, I can’t bring myself to fish them enough to give them each a fair shake.