Earlier this week when I finished the review of the Strike Pro Flex Crawfish this bait started up the common question “is that bait designed to catch fish or fishermen?” The product seemed to ooze the latter and yet I was proven wrong, and after putting in the proper amount of time into the product was able to catch fish using a variety of techniques on local bodies of water with resident crawfish. Will I fish it over a traditional jig? No, but I also can’t deny that in the hands of an angler willing to put in the time into the product it does work.

There are the select few products that may have completely repulsed mainstream anglers only to become popular after the “secret” got out, but for the most part products need enough initial adoption (or the backing of a big time pro) to become popular enough to become hot sellers. Take swimbaits for example. In the early days the pioneers carved these big ungainly lures out of wood and while most anglers rejected them early on they successfully spawned one of the biggest (and most often copied) segments of the bait industry. Nowadays there are countless companies out there saying they have a unique swimbait that hasn’t been seen before. Sure they do.

In an industry now dominated by giants it is getting harder for anglers to sift through all the marketing and get to the real heart of the question…. Will this product really help me catch fish? Is it a big turnoff for a product to be perceived as one that is designed to catch fishermen? Yes. Do anglers buy into fancy new products that spout off wild claims that promise pro-like performance in bag or box? Yes, even the best anglers do. It is really hard not to be skeptical when considering what features or claims are thrown into a product to garner attention from consumers but I think the good product is somewhere in the middle. It definitely must help anglers catch fish but it also should sport features that make it a product that anglers will enjoy fishing. The successful product is one that does a lot of fish catching and a little fishermen catching too, not only will it help you land more fish but it also makes realistic claims and delivers upon them. In this way more anglers will be motivated to try a product and discover just how good it really is, as the real test for any piece of tackle is how well it holds up to claims in the hands of the entire angling community not what is printed on the box or painted onto a lure.

So the next time you think “does it catch fish or fishermen?” The answer might just be “both.”

I just posted an article on TackleTour recounting the experience on the Delta with Kenny Schmitt. I learned three things that day. First that Kenny knows how to find the Stripers, second that Hornets can sting through pants, and finally that the Triton Mike Bull Shad is a tremendous bait.

 

 

Fast forward back to the day with Kenny on the Delta and the very first time I had an opportunity to throw the bait. Cal’s the big bait expert on the staff and the S-pattern swimming action immediately won him over. The minute I saw the bait in the water I knew this was going to be a striper killer and it far exceeded my expectations. So good was the lure that I started getting paranoid about losing the bait, constantly checking my line after each fish. When I hooked into bigger fish Cal would yell “don’t lose the bait!” Needless to say I made sure my drag was dialed in properly.

No B.S., I can’t remember the last time I was that afraid of losing a bait as I did on that day on the Delta. The Largemouth like the Bull Shad just as much as the Stripers do, and Triton Mike has created a masterpiece with the this handmade shad style swimbait. I’ve since purchased many more from Tackle Warehouse. Checking often and finding that the baits are selling out quickly.

TMike I hope you have plenty of resin, I have a feeling a lot of these baits are going to be swimming from coast to coast.

The TMike Bucca Bull Shad is available now at Tackle Warehouse