As most bass fisherman know, every year at about this time, there is a show named ICAST where manufacturers of bass fishing equipment all get together to show off their new wares for the upcoming season. ICAST 2010 ended a few weeks ago and after having gone through a lot of information on a plethora of new gear I am going to highlight what, in my opinion, are the most promising new baits and tackle.
I also try to take into consideration the cost of adding new lures to the tacklebox. After all, if you find a new lure and want to get two of the color patterns that you think will effective, you can find yourself spending a pretty penny just to see if this lure is going to be something that produces for you and where you fish. I am not sponsored by any company and do not get any free samples to fish so I am in the same boat as the rest of you, trying to exercise some discernment in the selection of any new lures or equipment that will be added to my personal arsenal for the upcoming season. With that in mind, I look at the potential for all the new baits and whittle down my list before I ever start buying.
To begin with, I like to throw spinner-baits in the spring as the water is beginning to warm and the fish are getting more active. A spinner can be used in a myriad of ways by the shore angler and can be worked up down or sideways in the water column. The only drawback to spinner-baits is that most of the safety pin style lures need a trailer hook for short strikes and fish will often hit the blades and never get to the hook when striking this lure from the side. The design of most spinner-baits doesn’t allow for the upper end of the wire to be pushed out of the way while the hook stays in place. Well, Sebile has designed the Pro-Shad Finesse Spinnebait. This new lure features a few innovations in the spinnerbait category. To begin with, the blades are mounted on a swivel that is attached to the wire very close to the bend allowing the blades to rotate 360 degrees when struck. This should resolve the problem of missing fish due to them hitting the blades. The blades are also painted the same as the head of the lure and have a special shape to them that kicks up a lot of water as well as giving you the ability to fish it deeper than you might otherwise be able to with conventional blades. Secondly, this lure uses a wide gap hook as opposed to the typical in line hook. And finally, for those of us who like to use snaps so that we can change lures quickly, this bait comes with a small rubber ring in the bend of the wire so that a snap will not slide down the shaft. These baits are not yet available, but I am sure looking forward to getting a few to try when spring comes.
Next on the list are some new products from Spro. I have used the John Crews “Little John” and have caught a lot of fish with it. New for 2010 is the Spro “Fat John 60”. This crankbait features a wider, fatter body with a different angle on the diving lip. This new design is supposed to make the bait hunt as it is being retrieved as opposed to coming back to you in a straight line. These baits have the same tungsten weight transfer system as the original Little John which allows for very long casts and the color schemes that have been proven to catch fish. I will definitely be adding some of these to my crankbait box and will report on them when I have used them for a while.
Next from Spro is the new BBZ-1 Baby Shad swimbait. Like it’s big brother, this bait is a four-segmented swimbait with one treble on the bottom of the bait and it too was designed by trophy bass hunter Bill Siemantel. The “Baby” is a 2-1/2 inch bait that weighs approximately ¼ of an ounce and will come in one sink rate that should sink about one foot per second on light line. Apparently during testing, this little bait has caught multiple species of fish and can be used with a number of different retrieves. Since I like swimbaits and have been looking for one of somewhat diminutive size, I will be getting some of these for the spring season.
Next on the list are two new shallow crankbaits from Strike King. Designed by Kevin VanDam, who incidentally helped design the sexy shad pattern, these lures are the new KVD 1.5 and 2.5. These shallow cranks will search on the retrieve with an erratic action without the angler having to do anything special. They are also reported to be relatively weedless so that they can be thrown around cover without hanging up. A caveat here, any bait with two treble hooks can get hung up. The difference is that some baits do deflect off of cover better than others allowing for casting into other than pristine water to get where the fish are and minimize your chances of getting hung up.
Next on the list is a relatively new company that has made enormous strides in the very short time they have been involved in the lure business. Koppers makes a variety of products with incredibly life-like finishes. For 2010 they have added a few new baits to their line-up, one of which won the coveted best new soft bait award at ICAST. That lure is the new Koppers frog. It will come in two sizes and like all Koppers lures has incredibly realistic finishes. This lure will have four color patterns that will be the same for both sizes and should retail for about ten dollars.
Another new Koppers lure is the Live Target Bluegill and Pumpkinseed Wakebait. These baits are 3-3/4 inches in length and weigh in at approximately 1-3/8 ounces. You will be able to throw this bait a mile if not a mile and a half. They are two segmented baits with a diving depth of 0-1 foot and they are so realistic looking they should produce anywhere they are found naturally. Koppers also is introducing some new herring styled swimbaits that are smaller than their original lures and will again have the same ultra-realistic finishes that they are known for.
Berkley is adding to their line on swim baits with a new split belly, soft-plastic swimbait to complement the already popular hollow-body swimbait. The new lure will be offered in two sizes, a 4-inch and a 5-inch version with the color patterns being the same for both. The split belly design utilizes an over-sized paddletail to ensure good action and allows for easier rigging of the bait and it is claimed that the hook-up ratio will be better than the hollow-body design.
And finally, the new product that garnered arguable the most attention on the floor of the convention center is not a lure but a new line of reels and rods from Quantum, the new PT Smoke casting reels and rods. The Smoke reels will come in two sizes, a 100 and 150. The buzz on these reels is that they are so light weight. The 100 comes in at 6.2 ounces while the 150 weighs only 6.8 ounces. Both reels have aluminum frames and both side covers are aluminum, not magnesium or graphite. Both reels feature Quantum’s PT bearings, a titanium-nitride coated line guide and a new skeletal handle with EVA knobs and both models will be offered immediately in left hand retrieve. With 8 bearings a piece, 7PTand 1RB, they should be as smooth as other PT products and likely will last just as long.
To complement the new Smoke PT reels, Quantum has come out with the new Smoke Micro Guide Casting rods. This series of rods is being built out of HSX70 high-strain, million modulus graphite blanks and will also feature split, EVA grips with no fore grip and micro guides. All of this means that given you invest in a combo of these Smoke products, your rod and reel will have a weight of between 8-9 ounces. Now I don’t know about anybody else, but for all day or night fishing, this lighter weight sounds like something I have got to try.
In closing, all of the lures and tackle mentioned above are the ones that I believe will have the highest probability of being successful over the coming season out of the myriad choices of new equipment for 2010. I will report on each of these products as time allows me to use them and really experiment with them.
[…] bait was introduced at I-Cast 2010 and received the “Best Soft Lure Winner” award. When I first saw it I knew that this was […]