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Swimbaits
Storm killed it last year with the original pre-rigged “no wrong way to fish it” Searchbait, and now has a this lipped version (“smokin ghost” in the pic). Prediction: No wrong way to fish it….
Also available as just a jighead, and the original non-lipped jighead available too.
Been used by the YUM Elites all season, here ’tis, 1″ shorter than the original. “Gray flake shad” in the pic.
Everyone wants a little swimbait, now Rage Swimmer fans have one too…. “Electric shad” pictured.
4″, jointed “ExoSkeleton for better action and displaces lots of water.” Yep, available in “Feider shad” (pictured).
Now available in PowerBait, which kills in saltwater but for some reason hasn’t done that in freshwater. Colors were always the knock against PowerBait but these are looking pretty good in the pics:
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Other soft plastics
1. Strike King 2.75″ Fat Coffee Tube
Because fat tubes are no longer thought of as obese and you need to have ’em in smaller in smallie country…. Color pictured is the really dang good “goby lishish.”
Also some new colors of the regular 3.5″ tube — diggin’ the gp gold green flake.
2. Strike King Magnum Game Hawg
Would you Bubba-shot with a 5.25″ critter bait? If you’re a red-blooded ‘Merican man you would!
3. Lunkerhunt Descend Series
These things have a heavier, salted core (“salted core technology”) that makes them drop faster and “swim” away from you — click the pic for a short vid:
Cool idea. Not on TW yet, but here’s the page for the Craw. Also comes in Salamander (really a curl-tail worm) and Minnow.
4. YUM Dinger 30s!!
Huge news for Dinger fans. $9.99 for 30, tough to beat yo! Not in all colors…tho there’s some new Dinger colors too, like the always smokin’ “summer gill.”
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Honorable Mentionings
1. Berkley PowerBait Lizard
2. Culprit Water Dragon lizard
3. Strike King — New colors in a lot of soft-plastics. A lot of new “moon juice,” which I think Crispin Powley at Strike King named after “accidentally” licking a toad (hahaha CP!). Here’s the Cut R Worm in that color, also the Rage Bug now comes in that color and more new ones.
4. Bait most likely to be in an alien invasion: Berkley PowerBait Zestail
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Terminal Tackle and Spoons
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“Terminal tackle” needs a sexier name. Maybe somethin’ like: Elle Macpherson. Wait…did I say that out loud?
New version of the HIGHLY valued VMC Neko Hook family. Adjustable fluoro keeper “secures the thinnest and softest baits ” and resin-sealed eye. #2, #1, 1/0, 2/0.
After the great VMC Neko Hooks came out (regular, weedguard and finesse), anything that says “VMC Neko” sounds like a must-have. This ain’t a hook, but it does give your bait a mustache so…. Lol, seriously, it give your presentation a different look. 1/32-1/8 oz.
Where do you wanna fish it? Yep….
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Quick story: Got a bud who’s a rod nerd. Knows stuff about rods, blanks, graphites and stuff that I don’t even know how he knows. But when he talks about it, he reminds me of Alpha Angler’s Jake Boomer so I was like, “You have to try Alpha rods.” H was skeptical but tried ’em, and was blown away. So there you go.
This new rod is 7′ 11″ and Alpha calls it “mag-heavy fast,” recommended line weight is 17-25 lb (50-80 lb braid), and bait weight of 1/2-2 oz:
> Designed for heavy weights and jungle warfare…. The parabolic, heavy-action blank will load evenly during the fight without tearing a big hole at the hook location, but also remain loaded when your fish clears cover and runs towards the boat.
Check you this vid on it.
Top o’ the top of Kistler rods, here’s the deal on this version:
> Huge advancements in technology have helped the new Z Bone Rod Series to become 25% more sensitive, 25% lighter, 25% higher modulus, 25% more powerful, and 25% more durable.
> The brand new, first of its kind North Fork Composite LMX X-Ray Blanks are the structural foundation for the 2019 Z Bone fishing rods. …the highest strain to modulus ever created in a fishing rod, which means there is no other rod blank today that has the strength-to-weight ratio with increased sensitivity.
The Tackle Tour dudes who get to try all the latest and greatest like ’em…. Here’s a vid on the rods.
Daiwa’s ramped up its game big-time, here’s the latest on the rod front. If you’re wondering why I’m listing so many for Daiwa it’s cuz they have so many new ones and, most importantly, they’re designed by the pros:
Casting
7′ 9″ H Ish Monroe Tatula Elite AGS — Ish’s “long-cast frog rod,” plus uses it for swimming-frog baits and swimbaits.
8′ H Ish Monroe Tatula Elite — “Meat hammer” big swimbait (up to 9-oz) rod.
7′ 2″ MH Randy Howell Tatula Elite — Says it’s his all-around rod — cranks, spinnerbaits, Chatterbaits, swimbaits, etc.
7′ 6″ M-MH Cody Meyer Tatula Elite — Cody says it “was designed for Strike King Rage Swimmers, Keitechs, small swimbaits. A rod where you can cast super far, the right action to work the bait and a better hook-up.”
7′ 2″ M Brent Ehrler Tatula Elite light crankin’ rod — Glass, for smaller crankbaits like a 1.5 and smaller, plus smaller jerkbaits and even small topwaters.
Spinning
7′ M-MH Takahiro Omori Tatula Elite — All-around spinning rod.
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No offense to reels, but lately here seems to me that rod-line-hook is THE key combo for gettin’ your thumb in that feesh’s mouth. So here’s some new line to maybe help you do that.
Mono ain’t dead because fluoro sinks. Plus mono’s cheaper than fluoro. Anyhow, this mono’s supposed to be all that — Elitist guys who’ve been using it say it’s amazing.
How ’bout these claims: “virtually eliminates line memory,” 50% less stretch and UV absorption than standard mono, “excellent abrasion resistance” and “unbeatable knot strength.” Does some of that by incorporating a braid-like molecule.
Bottom line for me: I LIKE mono, so can’t wait to try it.
Took Sunline 3 years to figure out how to apply their P-Ion technology to braid, which basically means this: smoother, more distance, captures less water, less line noise, better abrasion resistance. Get it in bright green or dark green. _____
Also notable:
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Ya got me
Jay Kumar’s BassBlaster is a daily-ish roundup
of the best, worst and funniest in bassin’, as curated by me — Jay Kumar. I started BassFan.com, co-hosted Loudmouth Bass with Zona, was a B.A.S.S. senior writer and a bunch more in bassin’. The Blaster is the #2 daily read on any given day in the wide world o’ bass so thanks for readin’!
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