ICAST 2006:
New Bass Tackle for 2007

By Russ Bassdozer

Among other things, ICAST assists the new product introduction cycle for next spring. Many of the new products you will read about below do not exist yet, not in production. Many are the final development versions, but a few are in the late prototype phases still. It's important for vendors to show these products and prototypes now to large distributors and their biggest buyers especially. Those distributors and wholesalers can then give lucky vendors a feel or commitment for how many units they would need allocated for their 2007 mail-order catalogs or distributor's dealer-only shows late this fall and early next spring, so production can ramp up and the new products can be on local dealers shelves, available online or in mail-order catalogs for you by the time bass fishing season opens next spring.

With traditional media, meaning fishing magazines, you wouldn't normally hear of most new products below until the December issue, which traditionally has been earmarked on magazines' editorial calendars as the "new product" issue.

Then, the top tournament trails start in earnest in January. Top pros, sponsored by tackle vendors, start whacking winning bags on the latest and greatest tackle the industry has to offer (see below). Based on the pros' demonstrated successes, you can then readily buy the new tackle they're winning with at many of your favorite local tackle shops by next spring.

That's an overview of the industry's annual new product introduction, distribution and sales cycle in a nutshell.

The Internet has short-circuited that traditional product and information dissemination cycle. Now, you are going to hear of the new products below even before many big players within the industry do. There are new products I had to pull from this report since the vendors had not yet shown those new products to their biggest customer buyers yet. They didn't want the customers (multi-million dollar accounts) to read this report first before the vendors met and presented their new products to their biggest customers. It's nobody's fault, just the Internet's.

So you're privileged now to be on the inside track, the fast track, to be able to read this... but keep in mind, most all of the new products below are not yet available, and will not be available for many months. Look for them to be at your favorite fishing shop by the time the honeysuckle and lilacs waft over the water next spring, and bass fishing starts anew in 2007.

One other foreword you need to know not every vendor attends ICAST. It's hard to estimate what percentage of bass tackle vendors go there, but I'd say less than half of the major bass tackle vendors attend ICAST. So, we just don't know what that other half are coming out with yet? We'll have to wait for the fishing magazines' traditional new product issues in December for that information.

One final caveat before I let you enjoy reading the report is that ICAST is all about business. Las Vegas, the gambling, betting against the odds, the hopes and dreams, hitting the jackpot or going home with your hat in your hand, wondering how you're going to pay your bills with all the money you dropped attending ICAST, it's all part of the ambiance at ICAST. It fits right in, especially for the little vendors hoping to make it big. ICAST. It's business. Money's at stake. In three intense days, fortunes can be won or lost at the tables at ICAST. It's about vendors who sell tackle and distributors, wholesalers, middlemen and retailers who buy it in bulk, for you to enjoy fishing with it by next spring and beyond. Point I want to say is not every tackle vendor has the time to meet with the media or me at ICAST. This year, more than prior years, big business was being done on the ICAST show floor. More than a few vendors appeared too busy with big buyers in order to speak with me when I stopped by their booth this year. So I haven't any information to pass along to you this year about those busy vendors' new products. Fortunately, I did speak with about sixty or so bass tackle vendors (listed alphabetically below) who gave me a moment of their time to help produce this report for you. Thank you all in the tackle industry who spent time with me at ICAST.

Dear reader, thank you for letting me speak that foreword. Now, on to the report!

Revo, a tough new low profile reel, appears heavy duty. Solid and quite rugged is the way to describe it. It has a low profile for easy palming yet does not compromise on an incredibly powerful main gear system. The main gear housing is underslung, extending (on the side) beneath the reel seat. The no-compromise oversized gear system should put the new Revo among the toughest bass reels you've ever used. Need something to winch log-sized lunkers out of the worst junk? Need to bump-and-grind big-billed deep-diving crankbaits in 15 feet of water day after day? Stuff like that can make mincemeat out of reels. You may want to look at the Revo. There are several models, all about the same size, weight and line capacity, but varying in features and gear ratio, starting from $99 to $199 for the feature-rich STX model.

AiRRUS continues to maintain its leadership role in the rod building industry.

This year, Ken Whiting earned the Best Freshwater Rod award at ICAST again. And again. And again. And again. Whiting's won four of the last five years to be exact. That's quite an accomplishment considering all the stiff competition. In only 4-1/2 years that Ken's company, AiRRUS, has been part of the tackle industry, it has quickly developed a reputation as a leader, not a follower, in innovation and technology. Continuing in that tradition, Airrus introduced its second generation Carbon Nanotube Composites by way of its totally new Pulsar GL series. Typically the weakest areas in carbon fibers are the tiny spaces between the fibers which contain only resin. To radically improve strength and toughness, Airrus has replaced the weakest link in a rod with an innovative enhanced resin system containing nanotubes which are 200 times stronger than titanium and 450 times stronger than steel. So Ken has turned the weakest part of a rod into its strongest part. Lighter, stronger and more sensitive than any rod even Airrus has developed in the past.

Whereas some companies just put rods together, Ken is more of a perfectionist in overall form and function. With Ken, it is a pride and a passion he has, that you can see in his product. Based on all the awards he has won, not just at ICAST, but awards throughout the industry, it's obvious that Ken's passion and perfection has not gone unnoticed and is most appreciated.

The award-winning Pulsar GL rods combine multiple modulus sections of graphite in the tip and midsection plus the butt and grip sections contain a blend of new S2 fiberglass, all effectively unitized from tip to butt with the nanotube resin epoxy.

Ken's the industry leader in radical new handle - or shall we say, handleless (as in less handle) design. There's very little reel seat. It's a split reelseat, with barely nothing but the reel chocks. There's no cork or foam grip, the rod blank itself is the handle. Where cork or foam would otherwise be, the blank flares out in those sections to fit the hand in lieu of a grip. Due to the fact that the rod blank and grip are fused together, with the same epoxy used in their construction, the grip is a part of the blank and affords the same related degree of sensitivity you would expect if you were gripping the blank. (You really need to see this.)

You also need to see the new hook keeper wrapped onto the rod. It's just about the best hook keeper ever. With a Texas-rigged worm with the hook buried in the worm, you can clip it right onto the bend of the hook without pulling the hook point out of the worm to stow your rod. This new hook keeper will handle all set-ups, including dropshot sinker rigs. I've not seen better.

Another feature, new this year, that is incorporated in the PULSAR GL is locking wraps on all of the guides. The wrap goes around the blank and guide foot, then up around the guide stem and then back around the blank, so these guides will never come out. You read that right. The thread wraps the foot of the guide, and then up around the top of the guide too, so it can never loosen and pull out from the top, says Ken. The guides themselves are TiCH frames and inserts which are extremely light and the TiCH inserts will never crack or fall out and are well suited to braided lines of all kinds.

To say these rods (and Ken) are great is an understatement. Thank you, Mr. Whiting.

The new Pulsar GL series will be available in four baitcasting and three or four spinning rod models.

Bassdozer and Ken Whiting heft award-winning Pulsar GL rods

Contact: Ken Whiting, Airrus Rods, Las Vegas, NV 702-395-2173 www.rodsbyairrus.com

Mike Rogan unveiled Bagley's new injection-molded hard plastic bait series.

"Bagley's roots are in the balsa market and tell me what other company has lasted nearly four decades in balsa," says Mike Rogan, "but there's not a lot of growth. There's a limit as to how many top quality balsa lures an angler owns. Good quality balsa is expensive to make, and even top pros, they already have an arsenal of Bagley balsa baits amassed over the years."

"So I needed to get Bagley back into the weekend angler's arsenal," says Mike, adding these new baits will be around the $5.99 to $6.99 range.

Bagley's new injection-molded Top Gun Baitfish Series

"Working with Woo Daves and Tommy Martin, we came up with a distinctly Bagley design. It has a very lifelike baitfish appearance, throws great distance, is 5/8 ounce 3 inches. This is a sinking lipless crankbait. A sink rate of one foot per second is a standard sink rate for other lures. The new Bagley Top Gun Baitfish sinks twice as fast - 2 feet per second. So it saves a lot of time in a tournament. It sinks nose down so as soon as line pressure is applied, the bait is already in position to vibrate," says Mike.

"We've developed our own plastic injection plant, which has been three years in the making. Fifteen years ago, Bagley started to carve balsa baits on CNC machines. So we developed advanced machinery skills internally long ago, and we have been building in-house competencies with the plastic injecting machines for two years now," says Rogan adding that more new injection-molded plastic baits are forthcoming. "The Top Gun Baitfish is just the first of a whole series of injected baits not just for bass, but walleye stickbaits, saltwater lures and more," says Mike.

In terms of paint and finish, it appears to me that Bagley has taken a similar approach to painting the new plastic baits as with their legacy balsa wood. The new plastic baits almost looks like wood, due to the paint finish, and it's hard to tell at first whether they are plastic or wood.

Bagley also introduced their new Shakey Jig Head in 1/16, 1/8, 3/16, 1/4, and 3/8 oz sizes, all with Gamakatsu flat eye Sproat style hooks.

Bagley's new shakey jig head

"The first feature is the flat spot on bottom gives a balance point to support bait, combined with the 60 degree bend hook, the flat spot provides the adept shakey head angler with the best control available to effect their shaking style," says Mike Rogan. "There's more individual style possible than with any other soft plastic. The shaking tactic allows an angler to demonstrate more of his or her personality to the fish since the worm stands up, and the movement can be controlled better, thanks to the flat spot (actually a balance point) on the bottom of the jig," claims Rogan.

"The second new feature is the separate worm stopper cone molded on the hook shank. Simply pierce a worm straight in the bottom and straight out the top about 3 or 4 ribs back from the nose (about 1/4 inch back from the tip). Go in one side and right out the other. (Note: worm in photo is rigged differently.) Since the rubber worm is elastic, and already pierced through, the stopper cone momentarily expands but does not increase the hole size in the worm. Once pushed over the stopper, the pierced hole in the worm slams shut. So there is minimal damage done to the worm, and the stopper is like a one way baffle. The worm goes on easily, not getting torn, but cannot be backed off easily," says Rogan.

"It's also important when you bury the barb in the worm to Texas rig it, leave next to no concave or convex play in the worm as this robs freedom of motion from the back end of the bait," claims Mike. "Mount the bait properly, and you'll get the maximum freedom of movement in the tail."

"Although not new, Bagley's DB3 Mag is enjoying a renaissance in Japan. Last summer, a high profile pro won a prestigious tournament in Japan with the DB3 Mag. By September, two cargo container loads of them were on the way to Japan to fulfill renewed demand for the bait. When it comes to crankbaits, a little known fact is Bagley outsell most all USA lure companies in Japan," says Mike Rogan. "Bagley even outsells seventy-five percent of the Japanese crankbait companies," says he.

"It's a little known story that Jim Bagley helped stock bass and start bass fishing in Japan. There were no bass boats, no fishing from boats for bass in Japan then. The DB3 Mag was developed by Jim Bagley for shore fishing in Japan. That was around the late seventies. For shore fishing in Japan, it was essential to have a crankbait that could cast farther and dive deeper," relates Mike. Even to this day in Japan, many bass tournaments still have a shore fishing contingent, a separate competition and awards for shore fishermen.

"The DB3 Mag is Bagley's finest deep diver. It's bigger and heavier than the standard DB3 with a different action, and you can whack one out of the park like Babe Ruth swinging for the fences. Yet is the USA, no one is buying them. You get increased distance without moving the boat, without starting the trolling motor, you can cover more area with less boat maneuvering, with less alarming the fish, and there's a lot to be said for that."

Husband Robin and wife Teresa Shiver operate Bass Assassin. Teresa says, "Our son was born and raised around the shop, and he's been creating all kinds of baits forever with his Dad." With the creature and frog bait craze lately, their son combined both these bait types into one. His Dad, Robin, said "You may be on to something here, son. This new bait won't roll. It comes in straight as straight can be."

"Our son's nickname is Logger. He got that when he was born because he would stretch his neck and he looked like a turtle, so we called him Loggerhead or Logger for short. So we're going to be call this new creature/frog bait the Logger Toad," says Teresa proudly. The prototype was nice and soft and floppy, and it is designed to be fished across the surface like a soft plastic frog/toad bait, yet with more action legs.

Prototype of Bass Assassin Logger Toad

"Bass Assassin is also the new source for BANG Fish Attractants," says Teresa. There is still (and always has been) a strong contingent of anglers who prefer to use BANG, but it has not been so easy to get it in recent years. So it's good news now that Bass Assassin has become the new source for BANG.

Bass Assassin also has teamed up with Will Thompson to market the new Odor Assassin. "It does not cover up odors but eliminates them," says Will Thompson who is known for his Blue Wonder gun care products. "The product was originally invented to solve a stinky problem with bullet proof vests and body armor being used by our soldiers in Iraq. Problem is that you cannot wash these items, so you could imagine in the heat and all. The product worked so well, our soldiers were using it in their boots, in the military vehicles they drove, everywhere. It's a great product for anglers to use in live wells, rod lockers, and yes, you can apply it on your hands to eliminate odors," says Will.

 
Will Thompson presents new Odor Assassin to eliminate odors.

Tim Rizzi, a representative of Pure Fishing, walked me through the new products of interest to me, starting with new fishing lines such as:

1. Berkley Vanish Transition Crimson Red is 100% fluorocarbon that's hi-vis above water. This enables an angler to control his or her presentation by sight and to see unfeelable strikes via line movement. The company claims its not lo-vis but "no-vis" underwater.
2. Berkley FireLine Crystal is the world's first semi-translucent braided superline, and improves braid with low visibility. Persons who have tried it report the line is not entirely clear but tends to appear a muted white color. Ads show a dark background being visible behind the line, so I presume FireLine Crystal may allow it to blend in somewhat more naturally with any water conditions or background versus more solid opaque braids.
3. Berkley Trilene Maxx has the castability and good spool manners of Trilene XL plus the durability and abrasion resistance of Trilene XT, says the company about its new MAXX copolymer line.
4. The new Spiderwire G-String, although not a Berkley product, is an affiliated brand. So please don't mind if I include it here. This is a new monofilament. The company claims it is specially designed for extreme shock strength (when setting the hook), abrasion resistance and pure strength. That makes it ideal for power fishing such as flipping and pitching in gnarly cover for big bass. Since it is a monofilament, it has the good handling characteristics and spool manners that mono is known for.

Berkley Vanish Transition Crimson Red, Fireline Crystal braid and Trilene MAXX copolymer

G-Man Gerald Swindle strums his new Spiderwire G-String monofilament.

Next, Tim Rizzi showed me Berkley's new marker buoy. If you're not fishing with marker buoys, you're not maximizing your catch. With two fishfinders on my boat, one on the dash, the other up front, I always have marker buoys handy to drop anytime I see points of interest on the graph - or get a hit in the proverbial "middle of nowhere." There's just no way you can recover the exact spot again. No matter how much you think you do, you don't. Boat drift, using the trolling motor puts you off a spot quickly. With a market buoy, you have a better chance to pinpoint a spot, and to dissect the area radiating out from it. There are many spots you can idle over with the big motor, then turn around and just never find again - unless you toss a marker buoy. One small problem is, most marker buoys are too small and lay flat on the water. Being bright orange doesn't seem to help once you let them out of your sight. I recall being in a big bay late last fall. I had dropped a typical flat and orange marker buoy on a nice hump, whacked a lot of fish there, and left the buoy so I could return to the spot later. There were no other shore ranges or landmarks to let me return exactly to the spot. Try as I might, I never could relocate that marker buoy when I came back to try the spot again. Many months later this spring, in a tournament, I ran past the area, saw a flash of orange and sure enough, my marker buoy had stayed on the spot about six months. Unfortunately, I was on plane as I ran past it and did not want to stop to retrieve it at that time. On the way out, I could not relocate it again. So it is probably still there, and hopefully, some lucky anglers have found it and pulled fish off it. Point is, typical marker buoys are hard to see. I'm certain you've lost a few of them same as I. The new Berkley Premium Marker Buoy has a bullet design that is easier to see and floats high above the water line for greater visibility. This seems to be a marker buoy you will be able to return to after a while, and still find it - and find the fish under it!

With an industry-wide movement toward affordable, high quality entry level tackle, I was pleased to see the new Berkley Culling Scale System priced from $29.99 (without culling clips) or $39.99 with clips. The company claims it is accurate to 1/4 of an ounce, thereby the most accurate digital scale on the market, claims the company. It is commendable since it puts a sophisticated culling system within the reach of entry level tournament anglers who are on a budget. So novice tournament anglers can enjoy the advantages of a low-priced culling system with features that would otherwise cost hundreds of dollars.

Pure Fishing representative Tim Rizzi's presentation on Berkley's soft baits - PowerBait and Gulp - was deep and quite insightful. "We talk to our pros and key opinion leaders in the industry. We invite them to partake in lure design and development focus groups at our facilities. Some of the findings from these sessions are fundamental but so important," explains Tim. "When it comes to tackle, bait is always the first consideration an angler makes. What bait you plan to use defines what rod, reel and line you will use. Through these focus group sessions, we've delineated Berkley's two soft bait product lines - PowerBait and Gulp - according to the two styles of bass fishing which are power fishing (PowerBait) and finesse (Gulp)."

"In each product line, there are baits that are 100% power (PowerBait), 100% finesse (Gulp) or some that we call crossover baits that may be used as either power or finesse."

"The reason we designate PowerBait for power fishing is because PowerBait doesn't dry out, it can be used for fishing fast, leaving it on a rod on the deck, in run and gun type fishing."

"PowerBait is all about fast-moving, search baits. PowerBait can be quickly used to find an area or location that's holding fish. Once you accomplish that with Powerbait, then you can pull out the Gulp to slow down, finesse and really maximize your time (with Gulp) in the fish-holding area you found (with PowerBait)."

Berkley PowerBait comes in 13 new shapes and sizes for 2007. PowerBait is favored by anglers worldwide for its potent scent and powerful flavor formula molded right into the plastic. Crack open a fresh bag of PowerBait in a room full of anglers, and they'll know what you've done just by the powerful, permeating PowerBait scent. Anglers often debate endlessly whether scent and attractant matters to fish. Obviously the folks at Berkley feel it does, since both their soft bait product lines are so heavily infused with scent and flavor.

New PowerBaits for 2007 are the Sabertail Bug, Sabertail Grub, Sabertail Worm, two sizes of the gliding, slow-falling Powerbait Beast designed by Mike Iaconelli, plus the Bat Wing and Floating Bat Wing Frogs, two sizes of Power Shakey Worms, the weighted Sinking Minnow stickbait, and Chunky Trailer.

Click here to watch videos of:

1. Scott Martin fishes the new PowerBait Sabertail Bug
    

2. Legend Larry Nixon demonstrates the new PowerBait Shaky Worm
    

3. Mike Iaconelli speaks, designer of the new PowerBait Beast

Also, for the first time ever, Berkley introduced two sizes of triple color-layered PowerBait Hand Pour Finesse Worms in 4" and 6" sizes. The photo below really doesn't capture the rich "triple pour." These baits are supersoft, with all the backbone (or lack thereof) of overcooked linguine. They seem as soft or softer than some other hand pours I use. The softness of hand pours tends to let them gyrate and flex in ways harder soft baits will not flex. So this is a PowerBait, but a finesse one.

Now let's shift the discussion to new Gulp models for 2007. Berkley debuted 8 new sizes and shapes of soft baits made of Gulp. Gulp is 100% biodegradable, made of all natural ingredients with no plastic ingredients. Gulp disperses 400 times more scent than traditional scented plastic baits, leaving its scent like a blood trail in the water, claims the company.

There was a new Gulp Punch Craw which is a stubby, sleek craw for punching through thick grass mats with a heavy sinker. Plus the Gulp Wicked Wing Jig Trailer, two sizes of Gulp Shakey Worms, which Mike Iaconelli uses often. The Gulp Float Worm, Gulp Floating Nigthcrawler, Gulp Jerk Shad and Gulp Shakey Shad round out the 8 new Gulp freshwater models for 2007.

"Once you speed fish or find fish with PowerBait, then you can focus more on finesse, more on the shakey worm tactics, the slow floating worms, the floating crawler, the Gulp products. Slow down once you get in front of the fish and use Gulp," says Tim Rizzi. "Gulp for bass is getting stronger and stronger. Overall, the industry grew 16%. In comparison, PowerBait is up 18%, above industry average, and Freshwater Gulp is up 58% in sales - and getting stronger. Berkley Gulp is the fastest-growing soft bait in both freshwater and in saltwater Gulp sales are up 1,500%. Gulp has a natural attraction, is made of scent and flavor and has 400 times more scent dispersion. Anglers, and most importantly, fish, want Gulp."

Berkley's third bait platform is called "speed and convenience," says Rizzi. Most bass anglers aren't tournament anglers, they may not know who the hottest pros are, but clearly enjoy getting out once in a while as much as anyone. This is where "speed and convenience" is so important, meaning Berkley's prerigged baits, soft baits prerigged on jigs, with packaging designed in order to preserve perfect shape and proper action without any kinks or bends caused in the package, ready to fish. New in the speed and convenience category for 2007 from Berkley is the Weedless Power Rig Worm. This "new but old" 3 weedless hook design has a spiral swimming action that bass can't resist and rarely see," says Tim.

In hardbaits, Berkley has a new 3/4 oz Rattl'r, a lipless crankbait with a very big profile. Ripping large lipless baits in grass has been productive on the pro tour in recent seasons, therefore this new and bigger rattlebait is very timely.

In terms of rods, Berkley's new Tactix series of rods are commendable. They're good examples of a trend in the industry toward high quality, affordable entry level tackle. The Tactix series has tactic-specific rods (wacky rigging, dropshot/finesse, flipping, spinnerbait, etc.) for the entry level angler looking to fit specific techniques into his or her budget. These are good-looking rods, made of IM7 graphite with carbon fiber orientation, according to the company. The rods have many of the features of high-end, high-priced rods, but at an entry level price in the $49 to $59 range. Now, even novice anglers can better afford to have a tactic-specific rod or two!

The new Balsa Model B features the buoyancy and action of balsa, without balsa's shortcomings. The lip and hook hangers are integrated into a one-piece "Tru-Track" Polycarbonate Frame. that runs through the bait from line tie to tail, integrating the belly hanger and lip into the frame too. It's kind of like a solid polycarbonate skeleton with all the vital aspects on it. The lip can never be put in crooked nor loosen. The hook hangers can't get loose or tear out like screw eyes do. The hook eyes can never be put in crooked or out of place. The baits are very consistent in action from one to another. They're not as irregular from one bait to another in terms of action. As any good balsa angler knows you need to go through many balsa baits due to the individual actions of each, in order to find the "good ones." The frame on the new Balsa Model B makes them more consistent and reliable from one to another.

Company spokesman Jeff Samsel says these will not be as expensive as other balsa baits either. "The shape and buoyancy of balsa causes this shallow runner to swing widely with hard tail kicks that let it roll off of cover and deflect off timber," says Samsel.

The Bomber Balsa Model B is 2-1/2 inches long and weighs 1/2 ounce.

New Bomber Balsa Model B

The new BOOYAH Counter Strike Buzz is designed with a triangular head to plane to the surface. It's made with a similar flat-bottomed arrowhead design as BOOYAH's Swim'n Jig so it cuts through the thickest cover. The multi-step painting process results in a booyah-tiful bait, including scale finishes, multi-colored painted-on eyes (will never pop off). Two counter-rotating blades create straight-ahead stability and neutralize blade torque to either side.

Booyah Counter Strike Buzzbait

The BOOYAH Boogee Bait is also new and representative of the new style of hard-vibrating blade jigs that became tremendously popular since earlier this year. A unique feature is it deploys a Leverage flexible hook system, meaning the hook is not fixed or rigid, but connected by a solid yet flexible steel cable. It weighs 3/8 ounce (one size only).

Booyah Boogee Bait

PT-1120 Outdoor Labeler: Brother launched its newest P-Touch labeling system - model PT-1120 - designed for organizing outdoor gear and fishing tackle. It is a compact labeler that's easy to use. I got it right, printed a label the first time I tried it, and nobody explained to me what to do. It's simple. You just type in the text, see what you typed in the digital display area, and press print to get an adhesive label cut to the perfect size every time. It's that easy.

Spokesperson Mike DelVisco says, "It helps to have all your gear organized, especially in tournament fishing where every second counts. But whether I am fishing for fun or competition, time on the water is precious. Having all my tackle neat and organized helps me focus on fishing and saves me time locating the things I need. I can color code all my boxes with labels, allowing me to find exactly what I need in an instant. I have a color label system - different color labels for different lure types - so I can recognize different boxes by color of the label tape.And the labels have an extra strength adhesive, so I don't have to worry about the labels getting wet or falling off. It's a great tool every angler should have to organize their equipment to get the most out of their time on the water. The labeler is under $50 and comes with a starter roll of extra strength tape that's better for outdoors. $16 per additional color or replacement tape."

Bassdozer and Mike DelVisco love Brother's Outdoor Labeling System

Tungsten weights are becoming mainstream now. It wasn't too many years back when tungsten sinkers were new to the industry, and new start-up companies were among the first to introduce them. Today, tungsten sinkers are mainstream. Joe Crumrine of Bullet Weights summed it up best when I asked him why an angler should use his new tungsten sinkers rather than the other brands? "Because of our name, Bullet Weights," answered Joe. "We're simply recognized as the fishing sinker company, and we expect our tungsten sinkers will sell better than others due to our name recognition."

To me, it signals that tungsten is no longer a specialty or innovative sinker material, but mainstream.

The new tungsten sinkers are available in regular "worm weight" models and tungsten screw-in models, unpainted and in lustrous baked-on PermaColors that last a long time and won't chip easily - blood red, black, purple, brown, watermelon pepper, transparent metallic red and transparent metallic purple.

"The Teflon tube inside our Screw-In sinker is important but no one else may use it since Bullet Weights holds the patent for it," says Joe. "Without the tube, the line can get twisted in the wire coil." Plus the tube cushions the line from the hard metal sinker surface, and helps it slide up the line out of the way on a hookset and during the battle. Plus the tube is like a center pin that helps you screw a worm on straight.

"Our Screw-in sinker in Ultra Steel is also new for 2007. Ultra Steel is an inexpensive environmentally-friendly material that sells at the same price as lead," says Crumrine.

Tungsten bullet, tungsten screw-in and Ultra Steel screw-in sinkers

You may not know it but Cast Industries designs, molds and paints many of the best spinnerbait, buzzbait, jig, jigging spoon, specialty sinker and cast metal bass lures in your tackle bag. Cast Industries had not a booth at ICAST but their products appeared down every aisle in dozens of booths. The company's lengthy client list reads like a who's who of many of the most popular fishing lure brands in the USA. Reason why is that everyone at Cast Industries are extremely talented at prototyping and producing premium lures for the industry. The best in the business.

Group hug! Bassdozer with Karen Rummelt and Joe Rummelt, master lure modeler.

Jason Scott proudly showed me the new Platinum Series Real Baits for 2007. Engineered for realistic action to swim like a real baitfish.

Overall, there are three sizes in the series (6", 8", 10") and there are six new 6" lures for 2007 in baitfish-imitating models such as Threadfin Shad, Gizzard Shad, Rainbow Trout, Hitch (a California baitfish), Sunfish and Baby Bass.

6" Threadfin Shad

6" Gizzard Shad

6" Rainbow Trout

6" California Hitch

6" Sunfish

6" Baby Bass

The belly has a magnetic hook holder and a newly-designed Platinum Treble Claw to not tear up the bait.

Jason Scott, Bassdozer and Mark Mendez, owner of SwimbaitNation.com

Jason says, "An important consideration in creating these lures was the action as seen from behind and what the fish will see." Jason showed me a video of the lure actions as seen from behind, the tail view going away from a fish, and the action looked awesome from that angle.

"Every tine on our newly-designed Platinum Treble Claw is on the bottom plane," says Jason. On a normal hook, at least one tine rides up and that's often embedded in or rides up against the bait's body where it can't help hook a fish and it tears the bait up. With our new hook, all barbs are down and we haven't lost any fish yet with it We're finding a high frequency of two barbs sunk in the mouth and a fish is not able to get leverage by playing a barb on one side versus a barb on the other side, as in a normal hook."

Newly-designed Platinum Treble Claw

Castaic also debuted their new Swimbait / Big Bait Rods. This is a new line of swimbait rods in 3 styles. Who would you rather buy a swimbait rod from? Someone who makes rods or makes swimbaits? The three styles correspond to Castaic's three series of Platinum Series Swimbaits in 10", 8" and 6" sizes. There's one rod specific to each size swimbait.

"Okuma did them and did a good job," says Jason. "Most rods that guys use are just too stiff to throw swimbaits. The force of most rods causes swimbaits to tear apart on a cast. These new Castaic rods have the right action for our swimbaits."

Is it live? Or is it Castaic?

"The original 6" Creme Scoundrel worm and the company's Lit'l Fishie type swimbaits are our two top sellers," says Leslie Thompson. The number one color in the Scoundrel is the original earthworm tone, now available in Creme's Whacky Stick. This earthworm color is pretty unique to Creme. With the recent move that many top pros are making toward larger worms, the 8' Creme Scoundrel in earthworm looks to be a natural (pun intended).

8" Creme Scoundrel, 6" Creme Scoundrel and Whacky Stick in original Earthworm color

Daiichi offered several new convenience hook kits. One with multiple sizes and styles of their most popular red worm hooks. Another kit had 40 of Daiichi's top-selling trebles for crankbaits, spoons, topwaters and all bass lures that use treble hooks. In one convenient kit, an angler can get most all the hooks he or she may need to refurbish all their lures - or to replenish all the worm hooks they may need for the season.

Bill Liston had two new reels to talk about at ICAST. First, the new TD Zillion model, including Daiwa's first ever reel with a 7:1 speed ratio that eats up 28 inches of line with each handle revolution. It's priced in the $259 range. Daiwa also introduced accessorizing kits and components to upgrade and stylize the Zillion, including add-on reel handle grips, oversized drag star and more parts upgrade options.

Much of the focus at Daiwa's booth centered around Daiwa's new top-of-the-line Steez reel, rod and line for 2007. Weighing only 5.5 ounces, the Steez baitcasting reel is the lightest in the business. "As far as we know, nothing else comes close in lightness, no other reel," claims Bill Liston proudly. "We also feel the Steez may be the lightest spinning reel on the market in its size range." Both make maximum use of magnesium frames, rotors and spools wherever possible plus titanium parts and other lightweight components. The Steez baitcaster is in the $459 range and $499 for the spinning Steez.

Daiwa's Steez Baitcasting Reel

Daiwa's Steez Spinning Reel

"Steez" is a hip hop term meaning "Style with ease" says Bill Liston. The reels have matching Steez Rods to go with them. They are extremely light weight rods. The blanks have an extremely low resin content. "There's a unique way only we have to dispense maximum adhesion of the graphite fibers with minimum resin and therefore, minimum weight. It's hard to get data on other brands of rods, yet we believe the Steez rods are some of the lightest around," says Bill. "All the rod fittings are lightweight aluminum, and the trigger grip and reel seat are hollowed out except in areas where structural strength is needed. Even the foam used feels very dense to feel it, yet the foam grip is lighter in weight than even Hypalon," reveals Liston. Daiwa plans for about 5-6 Steez rod models for spinning, and as many for baitcasting.

Bryan Yamane showed me Daiwa's matching new Steez fluorocarbon line, which is weed green colored. This tone is the favorite color line of many anglers, myself included. It's just a very natural color, unobtrusive, and belongs there. Noteworthy, as far as I know, is the Steez line may be one of the first of (the only way to describe it) a kind of co-fluorocarbon in that it has a soft outer fluorocarbon layer for ease of casting and spool control, plus it is more abrasion resistant outside, and an inner core of fluorocarbon that gives tensile strength. The Steez fluorocarbon will be available in 5 to 20 lb test sizes.

Bryan also showed me a new style of Daiwa braided line that the company plans to market for saltwater surf fishing first. However, the line will be made available for freshwater bass fishing at some time in 2007 too. This is a new style of braid that is silky soft, super flexible and incredible smooth. The line almost floats in the air. Have you ever seen spiders "flying" by using a piece of spider silk to get across a lake or from one place to another. That is the only way I know to describe the softness and smoothness of this new braid. It's not like any other braided line you have ever seen before. It's radically different, and if it works, will almost be a new kind of superline. Comparing it to "traditional" braids seems to be the proverbial "apples and oranges" comparison, although the abrasion resistance is about the same and knot strength about the same, says Bryan Yamane.

Daiwa has recently lowered it's retail price on its premium TD series of hard baits such as the TD Vibration, TD Minnow and others. The TD line of hard baits are great, but also hard to afford, until now. Recently, prices have been reduced from the $19 range to the $14.99 range, making the fine TD lure series more comparable with price levels of other premium hard baits on the market

New lures that Bryan showed me in the TD series include the TD Double Clutch which was developed 5-6 years ago and a hot-seller in Japan. This suspending jerkbait is called the Double Clutch because if you give it a slight jerk, it will work down to 3 feet. If you give it a harder jerk, it will work down to 6 feet and suspend at either level. This one lure does the work of two - a shallow and a mid-depth jerkbait.

A second new TD jerkbait is called the Stop and Go. It appears fairly similar to a Pointer, but the main difference is the thinner lip and internally, fixed weights that cause a slight wobble to materialize on its own before it stops so it wobbles on its own even after an angler has paused it, claims Bryan.

Another new feature in the TD line-up are new finishes, some of which have internal painting, or the color patterns painted on the inside, not on the outside. So the paint or finish can never weather or get scraped up by hooks, fish teeth, etc.

New TD Double Clutch (top) and new Stop and Go jerkbait.

The Mouthwash Popper is already on the market since earlier this season, says Bryan. The body style is very artistic and in a sense, it is a Japanese art style lure. It has a big lip and makes a big, big sound as it really moves - and churns - water, says Bryan. It has a through-hole in the lower lip, that jets water out its gills. The Mouthwasher is a little bigger and better casting than a standard size popper.

Mouthwasher

As if that wasn't enough, Daiwa has introduced a new series of six affordable hardbaits that will sell in the $4.95 price range. One, the "Peanut" crankbait is already famous in Japan where it has been producing many fish for happy anglers for 15-20 years now. The Peanut rattles and has a tight wobble. There's a shallow-diving Peanut that gets 3 feet deep and a longer-billed Peanut model gets 5 feet deep. The new series includes the Shad Master deep diving crank, the Dr. Minnow floating rip bait, and more. These baits are customized all around, have premium finishes, VMC hooks, and it will be hard for the average angler to really see the difference between these new baits and our TD line, says Bryan Yamane. "What lets us offer these baits at a much lower price level is they are not as heavily optimized with the sophisticated internal weight transfer systems and such that puts the premium TD series in a class by itself. Otherwise, it's hard to look at them and see a difference," explains Bryan.

Dr. Minnow (top), Game Vibe (second), Shad Master (third) and venerable Peanut (bottom)

Last but not least, Daiwa's new Dead or Alive swimbait swims like a dying trout. Inspired by following the hatchery truck. If you watch when they dump fresh stocker trout in, there are always some that do not make it, that appear in bad shape, not very happy, swimming on their sides on the surface. They can't even maintain their equilibrium. These are always the first to go, the easiest pickings, and what the new Dead Or Alive is designed to look like. Will retail in the $34.99 to $39.99 price range.

Dead Or Alive swimbait acts like it just fell off the hatchery truck

Deps, from Japan, presented several of their new products for 2007 in the booth of their US distributor, Optimum Baits.

These are beautiful lure designs with unique actions. Two of the lures, the Basirisky hollow rubber frog and the bigger Buzzjet 96 debuted at ICAST last year. However, all Deps lures have only recently become available in the USA. Brand new product introductions this year at ICAST include the smaller Buzzjet Jr and the multi-talented Radscale which can be fished either as a popper or a walk-the-dog type bait. The Radscale is two baits in one!

First shown at ICAST last year, the Basirisky hollow rubber frog has just entered the USA. It's two curved legs look like flukes on a pirate ship anchor - and they cause the Basirisky to crawl across the surface in a manner remindful of a Heddon Krazy Krawler or an Arbogast Jitterbug.

The Basirisky comes in two sizes. Both have a molded-in belly weight. The larger Basirisky 70 is 3" long and weighs 3/4 ounce. I guess you can consider the 70 to be your standard size grass mat frog.

The smaller Basirisky 60 is 2-1/2" long and weighs 1/2 ounce. This is the size that many anglers are favoring for clear water, open weedless water, and calm water. More of a finesse frog shall we say.

What I appreciate most about the Basirisky is that its design is so fresh and new and different - and solves a serious problem with frogs. Most anglers cannot easily work a frog to make it "walk" but all one needs to do is reel the Basirisky, and it does the walking for you!

A typical frog bait require skilled rod action to make them move in an enticing lifelike manner. On the other hand, the Basirisky will crawl across the surface in an active paddling type motion just by reeling in line slowly. No rod action is required. All the action is built in to the Basirisky. Just reel slowly, and the Basirisky provides all the action.

This is a new style of grass frog bait, and the difference in action has not been seen by bass in the USA before. In the short time that they have been in the hands of anglers here, a growing number of local tournaments have been won on the Basirisky... and won with the Buzzjet.

Click here to see the Basirisky catch fish on video.

Basirisky debuted at ICAST last year, but has only recently become available in USA

Next new Deps lure style is the bigger Buzzjet 96 (first shown at ICAST last year) and the debut this year of the smaller Buzzjet Junior (shown below) both of which have recently become available in the USA. The Buzzjet is a brand new and unique style of topwater lure. It has been voted Japan's number one wake bait by Japan's Lure Magazine readers. The Buzzjet waddles desperately on the surface, like a wounded, exhausted, flopping and gasping baitfish that can't recover and can't swim back under the surface to get away. The Buzzjet mimics a big baitfish pinned helplessly on the surface. It's such an easy meal for big bass.

It has a crankbait type lip... most unusual for a topwater, and the pork chop-shaped body is quite different. Throw in the tail prop, and it becomes a lure in a class by itself. The fact the Buzzjet can be classified a topwater, a big swimbait, a wakebait, a propbait and has a crankbait lip indicates just how unique this bait is. There's no easy way to describe it, except to say it looks like a ham hock with hooks. Fish in the USA have never seen anything quite like it!

Whereas the bigger Buzzjet 96 has been available in the USA for several months now, the smaller Buzzjet Jr. hasn't been available here even that long. The Buzzjet Jr. works equally as well and has the same action as the bigger Buzzjet 96. The Jr. attracts more and smaller fish - not only trophy bass, but average size bass. It is not overly long - about 3 inches - but very thick across, deep-bodied and weighs 1/2 ounce. It is a compact, stubby bait that casts well, has incredible action, and is the perfect size to appeal to good-sized, chunky largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass.

Out of the package, the Buzzjet Jr. arrives with one size smaller hooks than most US anglers like. This is not an issue for Japanese anglers who tend to use lighter tackle than their US counterparts, and the bass in Japan have no objection to securely holding onto the smaller hooks either. However, US anglers have been switching out the hooks for larger ones, with no depreciable effect on the bass-attracting action of the Buzzjet Jr.

Deps Buzzjet Jr is new this year

Next new lure from Deps is the multi-functional Radscale. Like the Basirisky and the Buzzjet, the Radscale also is quite a marvel. It too demonstrates thinking outside the box. Several other brands of  walking baits have cupped or scooped or flattened faces to push water or make a head splash as they walk. Really however, the Radscale appears in a class by itself because it alone (among "walking" baits) can truly be used as a popper or splasher or spitter. Other walking baits used in the USA cannot really act strictly as poppers (although a few do have faces to make splashes). The Radscale seems unique in that it can be used in either a popping retrieve or a walking retrieve, depending on what the angler wants to do with it.

At 4-1/2 inches long, weighing 3/4 oz, the Radscale is a fairly big, heavy, distance-casting topwater lure.

As you'll see if you click on the film clips below, the Radscale walks-the-dog about as good as many other high end Japanese walking baits. It has a more sinuous, snake-like or S-shaped surface walk than most others. It's not a mechanical, stiff, side-to-side metronome.

And that's not all the Radscale does. The Radscale sits tail down in the water with it's broad flat face poised right on the water line. This makes it splash and spit like a popper. This means you can walk it along the surface, and when a fish rises behind it, stop the Radscale and pause it and pop it to finesse the following fish. That's tough to do with most other walking baits.

Or, you can strictly use it like a popper, not walking it at all, just popping it along. The Radscale will splash and spit. That's almost impossible to do with other walking baits.

Click below to see videos of:

1. The Radscale walk the dog
    

2. A second clip of the Radscale walk the dog
    

3. The Radscale worked like a popper
    

4. The Radscale combining walking, popping and a whole cacophony of surface antics

Enter the Radscale! It's two lures in one. You can walk it or pop it. Or you can combine walking and popping. Try that with any other topwater lure! It's a new design, a new twist.

The latest import from Deps - the multi-talented Radscale is two lures in one

Falcon Lures did not get to go to ICAST this year but Bill Sattler sent word of a new size jig added to Falcon's jig line-up for 2007.

It's no less than a 2 oz jig they've added because of requests from fishermen in need of a heavier weighted jig to penetrate heavy cover and hydrilla mats. Nicknamed the “Brick," this heavy jig is designed to penetrate the heaviest matted vegetation or cover and to fish deep grass. It features a weedless head design, heavy duty weed guard and two magnum rattles, armed with a Mustad Ultra Point extra strong 7/0 hook.

Make a wish list of everything you would ever want in a kayak, any feature, accessory, convenience, plus the ability to stand up in it. You've got it. The stern section of the Freedom Hawk Kayak has opening sponsons that stabilize the kayak, and a football field goal-shaped metal tube that you insert upright into the hull on both sides (ahead of the seat) to brace against to stand up to cast. When you're paddling or not standing up, the sponsons can be closed up, effectively like a standard kayak. The sponsons are detachable for cartopping or stowing the kayak in between outings.

But that's not all. It comes with a two-piece joinable push pole (12' when joined) that clips out of the way into a recessed slot in the deck when not needed. Side-mounted paddle clips keep the paddle out of the way when not needed. Two flush-mounted rod holders are within reach behind the seat to troll or prop a rod up while changing lures. Two watertight storage compartments (one in each sponson) for all those things you don't want to get wet. A front anchor boom that allows you to put down or pull up the anchor while seated. The anchor boom folds in when not needed. Heavy-duty adjustable foot braces on both sides you can position exactly where you want them. It's a good 'yak.

Reacting quickly to the growing popularity of shakey jig worms, G. Loomis introduced two new Shakey Head Spinning Rods - the SHR821 (6-10 lb test) and SHR822 (8-12 lb test). As popular as shakey jig fishing has become (it's very popular), there aren't many tactic-specific rods for shakey jigs yet. After reviewing these two new Loomis Shakey Head Spinning Rods at ICAST, I certainly would like to get one of my own!

Ripping lipless crankbaits in grass is also a hot tactic for top pros in recent years. Always on top of the changing trends in fishing, Bruce Holt showed me the new CBR906 medium/heavy crankbait series rod. "This rod is almost an oxymoron (opposite) to the normally soft action graphite we put into our crankbait rods," confessed Bruce. "We were thinking we still had more work to do, but our pro anglers who were ripping Rat-L-Traps and lipless crankbaits in the grass to get a reaction bite told us, 'No, you nailed it. Don't change a thing.' This is the perfect Rat-L-Trap ripping rod," admits Bruce.

Bruce Holt holds new Shakey Head Spinning Rod (top) and new crankbait rod for ripping lipless baits

On other news, Loomis' entire new Mossy Back Series mirrors the higher quality series of 19-20 higher-priced rods, yet at a mid-price range, about a $100 lower price point. "We've identified a new manufacturing process that permits blending of IMX sensitivity and GL3 strength at an economical cost," says Holt. That enables Loomis to offer a more affordable series of rods that mirror the actions and many features of their higher quality, higher-priced rod series at about $100 less per rod.

It's tough enough to skip a soft bait under docks and overhanging trees even if the bait stays in place, even if it never did ball up in a wad on the hook... but that's often what happens when skipping. So it was great to find out about Gamakatsu's new Skip Gap Hook. The company claims you can throw it hard, slam it off the water when skipping, bounce it off stuff on the way under. It's almost impossible for soft baits to come over the offset and down the shank of the hook, boasts the company. It has a unique offset shape, called a V Bend, that holds soft baits firmly in place so they do not come off when skipping them under docks and bouncing them through thick cover. Baits last longer and work better, and the hook even keeps those super soft baits from sliding down, says Gamakatsu.

Gamakatsu's new Skip Gap hook

Another great new concept is Gamakatsu's Ringed Superline EWG. It's the company's famous Superline EWG with a solid one-piece ring attached that gives soft baits a lot more action when rigged on heavy line. Yet it gives the angler a solid connection to the bait. What a great idea!

Gamakatsu's Ringed Superline EWG hook

I caught up with Byron Childers, Gambler's Sales Manager at the new product showcase. "The Swim Blade and Cane Toad have been on sale since earlier in 2006. In fact they are currently our two top sellers," says Byron.

The Swim Blade is a skirted jig coupled with a split ring to a swimming blade. The Brush Blade is the Swim Blade with the addition of a brush guard to let one fish it in very snaggy places.

Cane Toad: "Chris Lane has had fantastic success with the Cane Toad, finishing highly in top events this season. Chris has really helped us propel sales of the Cane Toad. Plus once people try it, they keep on using it. It's that good. The best-selling colors of the Cane Toad are the green pumpkin/pearl swirl, black/white swirl and bullfrog colors," says Byron.

New also is Gambler's Loco Lizard. It's not your typical slender, slinky lizard. The Loco Lizard has a heavily-ridged body and legs remindful of the Cane Toad, except in a compact lizard shape. "Overall it's a smaller package, but still a bulky, very active bait," says Byron. The Loco Lizard comes in some of the same swirl colors as the Cane Toad.

Gambler also introduced a longer 8" size of the company's popular 5" Flapp'n Tail Worm.

"The new, larger 8" Flapp'n Tail Worm is more of a swimming worm when used with say a 3/16 oz Florida Rig sinker. It's an excellent big fish bait" says Childers.

Byron Childers smiles over Gambler's Cane Toad's market success

GYCB's Larry Evans (left). Gary Yamamoto (third). Eliud Garcia (second) and Jose Garcia (fourth) operate Best For Bass, GYCB's distributor in Mexico.

The new Swimming Senko is the Yamamoto bait that everyone wanted to know more about at ICAST. Gary Yamamoto has designed and tested the Swimming Senko with high-scoring results on the FLW Pro Tour in recent months during which Gary has uncovered and refined several hot rigging methods that he finds work best with the new Swimming Senko. He uses it differently than the standard Senko. In-depth information from Gary about how best to rig and fish the Swimming Senko (plus the lure itself) will be made available to customers later this year, says the company.

Sensational Swimming Senko

Although designed for saltwater, Yamamoto's 5 inch Swimbait will be a boon to anglers seeking big bronzeback and oversized spotted bass everywhere. There's a lot of plastic put into this bait. It's one of Yamamoto's largest offerings to date in terms of plastic injected into it. I feel it will hold a special appeal to big smallmouth and large spotted bass everywhere, especially in clear to stained water. Oh yes, largemouth will love it too! If you want some good-sized spots and smallies (largemouth too), toss this baby. It's everything a Yamamoto bait is, but even better because it is bigger.

The section connecting the tail to the body is so thin as to be a hinge, causing tremendous flopping, even corkscrew twisting and untwisting action of the tail. The innovative tail is sharply chiseled into stairsteps. So there's half the plastic chiseled out of the tail yet twice the surface area of traditional swimbait tails. Less tail weight. More surface. A thin hinge. More wobble, even on super-slow falls.

5 inch Swimbait ~ not just for saltwater

The new Shad Shaped Worm is a finesse bait for dropshot, shaking or any form of finesse. It's not big at all, except on results. Shin Fukae used it to win $200,000 first place prize in the FLW Tour event on Beaver Lake, Arkansas in April.

Shad Shaped Worm

Here's an excerpt from an article by Ned Kedhe, a well-respected outdoors freelance writer. It's about Shin Fukae prefishing on Beaver Lake, Arkansas while practicing to win the FLW event there. Kedhe's article appeared in The Topeka Capital-Journal newspaper.

"The most amazing sights were watching him catch bass, including a 3-pound smallmouth bass, inside a labyrinth of flooded cedar and oak trees with light-line methods.

When Fukae probed the flooded timber, he used 3/32-ounce shaky-head jig adorned with a four-inch green pumpkin Yamamoto 68L [Shad Shaped] worm on a ES50MLF St. Croix spinning rod and STL300FB Shimano Stella reel spooled with eight-pound test Duel monofilament. When he worked terrains devoid of timber, he switched to an ES66ML St. Croix rod and six-pound test Duel fluorocarbon line, and the other components were identical to the ones he used in the timber.

Fukae has a unique approach to retrieving his shaky-head jig and worm, which is implemented by not allowing it to touch the bottom. Throughout the retrieve, he attempts to keep it slowly swimming or gliding a foot or two above the bottom. As it swims, he occasionally lifts and drops the rod about a foot, causing the jig and worm to rise and fall. During the entire retrieve, he shakes it about 70 percent of the time by twitching his wrist, and the bulk of the bass are beguiled when the jig and worm is falling."

Shin Fukae propelled the new Shad Shape Worm to the winners circle before the product is even released!

Rich Lillard showed me Hart's new X2 Spinnerbait. It incorporates an additional wire arm instead of the traditional single arm, allowing for multiple blade combinations and presenting the appearance of a school of baitfish. I like the looks of it. It certainly appears to stack up to four blades in a better presentation that stringing them all on a single long arm. Nice concept, Rich!

The photo of the new Wooden Magnum and Super Magnum Zara Spook simply doesn't do it justice. Designed for musky and peacock bass, but I can't envision any other lure I'd rather see a huge bass smash. This is a big bait. You'll need a heavy rod to jerk it all day you'll be tired. Actually, I don't see how you can work it for too long without collapsing in an exhausted heap on the casting deck! There are two enormous sizes, 7" and 8" long. Hand-painted and equipped with multiple loud rattles, heavy hooks and through-wired.

I've admired Kanji's lures the past few years at ICAST yet it seems to me the company has a low key presence in the USA. Of most interest to me this year was to see Kanji's new Accel 70 Jerkbait. It's the first high-end jerkbait I've noticed with a circuit board lip. Internally, it has a weight transfer system for action and casting distance.

Kanji's new Accel 70 Jerkbait has a circuit board lip.

The Kanji Frog also appeared to be a good one, and had an angled-down line tie eye and concave cup type shape underneath its chin to make it walk. Most other frogs are not optimized to walk like that.

Scott Smith was excited over rolling out the company's new carbon steel tube covering that slides right over the top of an existing boat seat pedestal base. It comes with a black insert sleeve for highlighting and inner bushings for a snug fit. It's called the XPC or Xtreme Pedestal Cover.

It has a company name (or can have any name) cut into it, and is layered in lustrous triple chrome. "Originally, we marketed the product to boat companies, to have the boat company name displayed. In the future, we are figuring out how to offer custom lettering cut-out at the customer's request," suggests Scott. "the possibility hit us when we demonstrated the product on TV on Bass Center. Top pro Gerald Swindle, one of the Bass Center hosts, asked if we could make a pair saying "G-Man" (his nickname) that he could put on his boat seats."

Kits were a new theme in the industry at ICAST this year, and Connie and Tommy Kilpatrick kicked off their company's first ICAST appearance with Lake Fork Tackle Repair's Reel Maintenance Kit including all the lubricants, tools and materials to perform anything from between-trip grooming to major overhauls on your reels. Included with every kit is Lake Fork Tackle Repair's industry award-winning video on how to maintain and service your reels like the professionals do.

Bassdozer and Connie Kilpatrick

For over thirty years, Lee Sisson has lead the way in wooden lures. One of his latest creations is the P-20 balsa crankbait which weighs one ounce and dives an honest 20 feet, says Lee.

"I created a way to be certain how deep a crankbait dives under actual fishing conditions," claims Lee. "I strung a metal pole between two ropes, suspended by buoys on the ropes on each end to hold the pole up. The pole suspended horizontally underwater between the two buoys. The ropes were marked so I was able to lower each side into the water foot by foot, lowering the suspended metal pole deeper each time. You may think of it as kind of like a football field goal post, except underwater and the lowering lines were marked off in one foot increments," explains Lee. "I cast the crankbait between the buoys. Each time I felt the crankbait hit the metal pole, I lowered the pole another foot."

"After 17 feet, there was so much bow in the line that you would lose touch with it. After 17 feet I never felt the thump of this big crankbait coming over the iron bar," says Lee "I was about to give up since I just couldn't feel it. Then the crankbait got hung up as it was actually going deeper than 17 feet, deep enough to loop around the bar, wrap around it and get stuck. That gave me the idea to take a monofilament line and string it across above the metal pole, so as to intentionally catch the crankbait with the mono line. That worked. All you feel is a little added pressure, almost none. But what you can see are the buoys on top start to jump and move like a bobber cork when the crankbait grabbed and flipped over the strung mono line," says Lee.

"I couldn't believe the P-20 crankbait! It was hitting an honest, measured 20 feet! I had to make sure it was really true. There are a couple of reasons that allow the P-20to go so deep. First, the lip goes into the body on a pretty straight plane. The straighter you can get it, the deeper it will go. I figured out how to make the lip join the body, make it all work to maximize depth. Second, the bill itself is longer, deeper, thinner, and has less drag so it doesn't pull too hard. It cuts the water."

"Another benefit of the long square lip is it protects the lure, deflects off wood, especially when fishing deep timber. When the lip hits wood, it flexes and bounces the crankbait back off like a springboard."

P-20 Deep Diver

Lee's best tips to get crankbaits deep:

1. A long cast gives more opportunity to get deeper.
2. Use as light a line as you can. The difference between 10 and 14 lb test was 2-1/2 to 3 feet with the P-20. Lee assumes you may get deeper with a thinner diameter line, but line surface and drag also factor into the equation. All tests were done with mono. Lee didn't try any depth tests with braid or fluoro.
3. Hold rod tip just under the surface. Having the rod tip an inch below the surface, you can gain 8 inches to a foot of depth because of the surface drag where the line cuts through the surface tension of the water throughout the entire retrieve.
4. The truer (straighter) you get your crankbait to swim, the deeper it will dive since it is not putting all that force into fighting to go sideways.

Next, Lee's Drop Shot Crankbait was also designed for fishing deep water, by weighting it with a dropshot type sinker affixed to the belly hook. "Thirty years ago, crankbaits only went six feet deep. There was no such thing as a deep-diving crankbait that had been invented yet. So we would take a big bell sinker, loop it on the line up front of a crankbait, so the line ran freely through the sinker eye. That way we let the crankbait float up and then work it back down to the sinker, which was when you would use the crankbait to move the sinker forward a few feet, let it float up again and crank it back down until a fish hit. So that gave me the idea to use a sinker again to sink a crankbait," says Lee.

By the time I got the Drop Shot Crankbait built, the Florida spawning season was done. Fellows up north took some of the first Drop Shot Crankbaits, and went bed fishing in 2 feet of water with them. So that blew my whole idea. My bait that I designed for 30 feet of water may now become better known for catching fish in 2 feet of water," laughs Lee. "On a bed, it just kind of bobs there like a duck hunter's decoy. The way it works is it almost wants to float just up off the bottom, and it will raise up the front of the weight, which almost causes a pivot point for the crankbait to bob in place." 

"Getting back to it's intended use in deep water, I like to sweep the rod, feel it working, scuttling along. Then I like to let it stop which is when it often gets hit." Lee thinks vibration patterns are real important to catch fish. Whereas a jig just kind of hops or a dropshot worm just waves, the Drop Shot Crankbait gives off vibrations that fish haven't felt coming from a lure down that deep.

Sisson's Drop Shot Crankbait

WP2 Weedless Premium Shallow. "This is the old PB2 (old BB2), a crankbait that is already known for coming through grass and brush better than most. Still, weeds would get on the lip and hooks. I've developed light wire weedguards to protect the lip and hooks from collecting weeds," says Lee. Especially the lip just sheds weeds off it by the shovel-load. There have been some wireguard hooks like this on the market in the past, but those were way too stiff (the wire). The light wire I use, it doesn't take much pressure to collapse it. 90% of the time it just comes through weeds with no build-up on the hooks. In wood, there's nothing to get hung up on, except if you get it squeezed into a notch in a V limb or the line gets buried under the peeling bark and splintered end of a stump, it will get stuck. Otherwise, there's no real loss in hook-setting ability due to the very light wire," says Lee.

WP2 Weedless Crankbait

Three more new wood baits by Lee Sisson include:

1. Twitchin' Balsa Stick Bait. "Somebody will win a tournament at the right time, write a great story and this will be the next new thing, although twitching lipped minnows on top is over thirty years old," says Lee. "This is one of my personal favorite ways to fish, twitchin' minnows on top, and I just wanted to share that joy with everyone, hence this new bait," says Lee.
2. Balsa Walking Stick. "Casts like a bullet. Made of balsa. Really good action. It casts so far it is really mushy and hard to work the bait properly from such a far distance at first. It casts so far out there, it's like the rod tip's too soft, just too much bow and drag in the line to work it right until it gets closer at a normal distance" says Lee. "Then it walks great."

3. Turbo Frog. "Everybody has a frog these days. This one kicks up a commotion like a buzzbait but when it gets to holes in the grass and pockets, you can work it more slowly like a regular frog," smiles Lee.

Twitchin' Balsa Stick Bait (top), Balsa Walking Stick (center) and Turbo Frog (bottom)

There are not many who know as much about wood lures as Lee Sisson.

Lucky Craft continues to pile on the premium hard plastics with new signature series hard baits signed off by Gerald Swindle, Skeet Reese and Marty Stone. At this time, Lucky Craft has something like 12 topwater hard baits, 20 hard jerkbaits, 22 lipped and 9 lipless crankbaits, 2 jointed swimbait models for bass, plus a couple of wood models. That's somewhere around 67 premium hard baits for bass fishing from Lucky Craft.

New for 2007 are Skeet Reese's "Skeet Trap" tight-wobbling square-billed crankbait. Marty Stone's new crankbait is remindful of a smaller (1/4 oz) BDS series crankbait. Gerald Swindle's wide-wobbling crankbait comes in a shallow diver and a deep runner. Also, a new Fat CB BDS 0 wakebait style lure is new.

New Skeet Reese Signature Crankbait

New Marty Stone Signature Crankbait

New Gerald Swindle Shallow Runner

New Gerald Swindle Deep Diver

New Fat CB BDS 0 Super Shallow Model

In it's Ultimate Real Bait series of jointed swimbaits, Lucky Craft offers two models for 2007. The very latest, the 1 oz Real 130 has a realistic face, open mouth, makes big use of balancer fins all the way around and a triple-jointed body.

Real 130

Real 128

And you thought those high-end crankbaits cost big bucks? Have you ever seen a million dollar fishing lure? That's just one of the many stunning fishing lure jewelry creations that Macdaddy's had on display at ICAST this year.

MacDaddy's precious metal and stunning gemstone lures are not only magnificent works-of-art jewelry, but are also designed to catch fish - even the million dollar lure can be fished with! How good is your knot? MacDaddy's willput the bling on your string. Precious metal lures (platinum, gold, silver) are inlaid and set with diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds and cubic zirconia (for budget-minded anglers).

Teri Conrad, Beverly and Gary Yamamoto pose with MacDaddy's million dollar lure, over 2 pounds of gold and encrusted with 4,000 diamonds and rubies. This lure will actually be fished with in an offshore tournament in October 2006!

Teri and Beverly sparkle in beautiful gold and gemstone fishing lure necklaces. Mac McBurney of MacDaddy's presented Beverly Yamamoto with the necklace she's wearing as a special tribute to honor the many fine contributions her husband Gary Yamamoto has made to promote sportfishing.

One of my favorite fish attractants (MegaStrike Fish Attractant gel) was Bobby Uhrig's initial foray and success in the bass tackle market, when Bobby launched the product a few years back. A year or two ago, Bobby acquired the Cavitron Buzzbait company from his friend, pro angler Lee Bailey Jr, in order that Lee could leave his company in Bobby's good hands while Lee focused on pro fishing.

However, the new Evolution Jig really is Uhrig's first shot at creating a brand new lure concept, and what a shot it was! The Evolution Jig won the award for the Best New Hard Lure this year.

"It's hard to break into the jig market because it's so easy for almost anyone to get started, there is so much competition and essentially similar jigs from many companies. I knew in order to be successful that I needed to differentiate myself with something new and evolutionary, a quantum leap in form and function" says Bobby.

The award-winning Evolution Jig falls horizontally and when it hits bottom, the "skid plate" underneath acts like a fulcrum. "Every time you lift it or crawl it, the head lifts up, and when you relax the line, the head drops but the tail raises slowly, like a flag going up," says innovator Bobby Uhrig. "All you have to do is move it 1/4 of an inch, and it stands up again. The weedguard, being fluorocarbon, disappears underwater, and the skirt is put on over the front of the jig head, where the skirt sits ahead of the weedguard."

"In testing all my products, MegaStrike attractant, Cavitron buzzbaits, and in developing the new Evolution Jig, I spend an awful lot of time underwater in scuba gear swimming with the fishes, and with underwater fish photographer, Tim Simos, my best friend since boyhood," reminisces Bobby.

"What we witnessed when testing the Evolution Jig is that, in dense cover, when a fish is holed up in there, and you drop a jig on it, the strike is an instant reaction strike. Think of this, someone suddenly tossing a softball to you when you do not expect it. Without thinking, you're going to catch it. It's an instinctive reaction, and that's just what Simos and I see bass do when a jig suddenly is tossed at an unsuspecting bass holed up in heavy cover. The bass instinctively reacts to stop it, catch it in it's big baseball mitt of a mouth. We feel the fish primarily wants to stop it from being able to dart away into a nook or cranny in the thick cover where the bass is too big to follow it. It has not yet had any time to validate whether it is edible prey or not. Remember when the softballs tossed to you out of the blue. There's no time to think. You just catch it. So we feel bass holed up in heavy cover react like that. They just catch the jig," suggests Uhrig.

"In open water however, Tim and I don't always witness that same thing. In open water, a bass can follow a jig for a long time, circle around it to see it from several angles, turn away from it, turn around and come back to it and so on. It's for these jig fishing situations especially that we've refined the profile, fall and action of the Evolution Jig. In studying fish and jigs, I felt the profile is always important, even in thick cover for a reaction strike, and especially in open water. I felt the traditional fiberguard was a negative on most all other jigs. Not part of the profile the bass wanted at all. To eliminate that negative, we came up with the concept of an invisible fluorocarbon fiberguard, moved it underneath the skirt to make it an even more hidden aspect of the profile, yet its still weedless and snagless. Next, we moved the skirt far forward. Most traditional jig heads disrupt the profile also. So we hid most of the jig head under the skirt where the fiberguard is also hidden, and the hook is hidden too. Now, the profile is mainly the skirt and choice of trailer. We eliminated the unnatural, negative aspects of the head, hook and fiberguard from the profile. They effectively don't appear there to the fish."

Uhrig continues, "Now we had the profile perfect, but that only gets you to first base with a fish, maybe second, which is very important. You do have to get the profile accepted first. Once you get that, the clincher with a fish becomes action or movement, ideally enhanced with scent that validates, yes, this is alive, and it commits to eat it at that point. The action we developed to get the fish to validate and commit to the Evolution Jig is that every time you move the jig and let it rest again, it seesaws from head up with line tension to tail up with line looseness. You can do it with rod movement, or you can just drag it, and it will do it on its own. You can say it looks like a craw raising its pincers in a defensive stance, or you can say it mimics a baitfish or critter "tailing" to root something out of the bottom. Bass hate to see anything feeding in front of them. It peeves them. Most other jigs just kind of lay there like logs," winks Bobby.<