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

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!

Just a few short weeks ago I vacationed with my wife and kids in Disneyworld. This was our second time there and anyone who’s ever been there, or really, to any of the Disney theme parks knows about the Disney experience. They waste no expense to ensure you feel the magic during your stay and they do a darn good job of it too.

It’s not just about the attractions, the park, the characters, shows, etc.. But everything from the cleanliness of the parks, to the landscaping, to the attention to detail in each of the themed buildings and sections of the park, to the availability of snacks and drinks, to keeping you interested and entertained while you’re waiting in line for a ride.

If you can put aside the cost of getting into the park, and the relative expense of the snacks, food, and drink once you are inside, it’s difficult not to have a good time at a Disney park and it can all be encapsulated by one of their theme songs, “When You Wish Upon A Star”.

Just yesterday, we spent the day at a local theme park to celebrate the 4th of July and having just come back from our immersive experience at Disneyworld a couple of weeks ago, it was difficult not to draw comparisons with what we were experiencing… drab looking buildings, rides that rose out of the landscape with little to no decor built around them, un-motivated employees, very slow moving lines from inefficient workflows loading and unloading patrons, barely audible music from poor quality speakers, half the food vendors were closed… What’s more, there were a couple of attractions at the park that you had to pay EXTRA for in order to ride. What’s up with that? My $50 entry fee was supposed to cover all rides and attractions wasn’t enough? (Yes, I remember the days when even at Disneyland, you had to buy a book of tickets after paying to get into the park that granted you access to the rides. That’s where the whole term “an E-ticket” ride spawned from, but we are well past those days) I mean, don’t get me wrong, the kids still had a good time, but it just wasn’t Disney, you know?

Certainly there are those who could really care less for the Disney experience. “Just give me the rides without the lines and added expense,” they say. And for those people, parks like those we visited yesterday suit just fine. Certainly not I. I prefer the escape from the everyday routine and the immersive experience Disney works so hard at affording us and I really appreciate their efforts.

Is it any wonder then, my affinity for enthusiast tackle? Sure I can fish with a standard, no frills rod and reel combo devoid of the decorative highlights, fancy handles, and high end components, but why?

That’s just not how I dream, and it’s just not Disney.

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

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.

Last year’s dedication to big baits during the Swimbait Rod Wars brought about some serious lack of on the water mojo for the TackleTour crew. Sure we caught our fish, but as anyone hip to the big bait bite will attest, the droughts in between can be monumental.

We started preparing for our Year of the Crank during the fall of 2008, but the bad mojo from the Swimbait Rod Wars seemed to follow us, or at the very least, me around. On countless occasions, when invited to fish “hot” bites, we’d shut those frenzies down the second we touched the launch ramp. We couldn’t even get into the usual good striper bite in the fall.

Needless to say, prospects for the Crankbait Rod Wars were looking bleak, but we were hopeful something would materialize to change our fortunes.

Enter Leo with word of a new Lucky Swimbait Necklace made by Eddie Rodriquez of Ace Jewlery in Las Vegas. Could this charm provide the needed mojo to lift the TackleTour Jinx?

The LSN is available at Monster Tackle

We met up with Leo on Clear Lake, CA to see, but the day was not starting off well as just before Zander and Cal left TT HQ for the long, three hour drive up to Clear Lake, a skunk literally crossed the road in front of us. The bad mojo was strong this morning!

Skeet Reese and Mike Iaconelli sport the new Lucky Swimbait Necklace to finish 1, 2 at the Bassmaster Classic!

Out on the water, all three of us donned our Lucky Swimbait Necklaces, but it seemed the Bad TackleTour Mojo might just win out. Again, recent “hot bite” spots were not panning out and it seemed the TT Crew was about to squash another hopeful day on the water.

Gerald Swindle, Ish Monroe, & Jarrett Edwards are also hip to the LSN Mojo.

Then, finally, it happened … Magic hour, and in the middle of the morning, the Crankbait Rod Wars were back on track. We started hooking into fish on every second or third cast. We were official believers in the Lucky Swimbait Necklace (LSN) Mojo

Zander displays why the LSN has earned Editor’s Choice Status with the TT Crew

Later that same day, while still on the water, we caught word Brett Ehrler and Cody Meyer just finished number one and number three respectively at the FLW Lake Havasu tourney. Guess what they were wearing around their necks?