2002 Looks Like a Good Year for New Tackle

Jim Strader tested this item for us in Canada last week. Jim Recieved the TyGer Leader and immediately liked it. It ties any fishing knot and works extremely well on toothy critters. Jim was very impressed with the way the leader allowed him to drop the normal use of swivels and leader and just tie the leader directly to the line and the bait. It also allows better action on surface lures and allows you to present them in a much more natural presentation than has been allowed in the past with regular leaders. Comes in several sizes and styles.
Tyger Leader

New Jigs from Alabama Guide

Some nice hair jigs.. the weed guard is wire and the jigs work good with most trailers.

I tried these with Snoozers Tubes and I really like them.

New rattle on these makes much more sound and rides to the side freely.
Quality rubber skirt with good action makes this a great product.
These jigs are made by my good friend Carl Boaz of Alabama. He guides on the Tennesse River System in Alabama.
You can order tham at www.tourneyjigs.com

Hairy Joe Worm New Bait from the Punisher Jig Folks

The Hairy Joe is a new worm that soem of you Drop Shot and whacky worm
users might want to try. The bait is hand poured with the special craft hair in one end of the worm
The craft hair is exclusive to the Punisher Jig currently but is now being used in the Hairy Joe
worm to give it an extra bit of action when fishing for almost any fish. Ed Harp is using them on the
Ohio River and rigging them whacky style for both Hybrids and Bass.
You can purchase the bait at www.punisherjig.com

Snoozers tubes are an excellent bait. I got a couple of packages of these from the company and really like them. Dave Stewart has used them and uses them exclusively in his guide business. They have a unique Crawfish and Garlic scent made directly from Crawfish and real garlic. I could smell them before I opened the package. The slightly different shape should help the baits to drop a little slowere in the water. You can also get hooks with this bait specifically made for them. Snoozers Baits Web Site Not available currently at Galyan's

This photo shows a 2-color worm glued to a hook. The glue can be used for securing various kinds of plastics to hooks. A small drop will prevent plastics from sliding up, down, or off the hook and will save you time. I also glued a pork chunk to a hook preventing it from moving around and covering the hook or getting on the hook. This will improve your Jig and Pig fishing and also glue seats and rods and eyes on your rods. Pro-Softbait Glue

New Hammerin Hair Products are Unique

Strike-On Lures has produced a new Rabbit Hair Jig that is unique and has a very natural movement in the water. I recently saw a video of their jigs and spinnerbaits and they are fantastic. The baits move more like a real thing than stiffly like jigs and lures with plastic or pork trailers. You can put the scent of your choice right into the rabbit hair of this jig to make it more natural. For more colors and for other products go to Strike-On Lures Web Page

Available in limited Quantities at Smyrna Bait and Tackle in Louisville
and on the Company Web Site Strike-On Lures

Stream Baits from Case Naturals
Case Naturals bills itself as providing the most natural stream baits on the market. According to the company they sent actual critters to a mold maker and told him accuracy was more important that the cost. From the looks of things they did the job.. Below you will see their line of Mad Toms and Helgramites. I really like these baits. They are very lifelike and natural. The Helgramites come with a jig head for rigging. Their web site can be found at http://www.madtoms.com

Pictures are about 70% of normal size.

New Colors and style from Big Bag Baits::::
Big Bag Baits is a company that promises to provide anglers more plastic baits for the money. They make a zipper worm and a jerk minnow that are excellent. This year however they have come out with a new worm below are some pictures of the worm and the new colors they come in.. Big Bag Bait Company is proud to present the Benko. A 5" soft jerkbait virtually the same as the Senko. Available in six (6) fish catching colors and sold in bulk bags of 25 for $7.00. Why pay $4 or $5 bucks for a handful of Senkos when you can get 25 of the same bait for only $7 !!

Black Blue Benko Worm

Green Pumpkin Benko

Pumpkin Seed Benko

Smoke Black Red Benko

Smoke Firecracker Benko

Watermelon Pepper Benko

Not available currently at Galyan's

Tackle Rack New Style Tackle Box for the Deck

New Tackle Box: I just got one of these from the Tackle Rack company. The box is very unique and personally I plan on using mine as a deck organizer. For folks with big boats who have 10 to 15 bvoxes of stuff this box is made to keep the baits you want or are using during the day organized and straight. With the dividers you can store Spinners, Crank Baits, or even Bait Juices like Bang and Berkley in their containers standing up. Worms can be held in their packs in one of the sides of the box. See the pictures below for an idea of what the box looks like.
The lid attaches to the bottom of the box.. see picture 2 and you can purchase a light to go on the handle for night fishing. The sides have indents for hanging baits, like Crankbaits and I guess you could also hang jigs and spoons there as well.

Well another spring is coming on and the tackle companies have started their assault on the fisherman with new fishing tackle. I will try to highlight the ones I know something about from seeing them at Galyan’s at Oxmoor.. where I work part time.

Abu Garcia - has a new reel out that they claim is backlash proof. Unlike other reels that have made this claim and used various methods to hold the line back and keep it from overrunning the spool. The new braking method may actually work. The reel comes with a tape that shows how the reel works. Now showing at Galyan's in the Fishing Department. Ask the sales staff to show you the tape.

Normark:
Always makes an excellent bait. They have made some improvements to their Shad Rap line of baits and did not as rumored get rid of the popular Orange Shad Rap that is so popular on Cumberland River. At least not yet...

3-D Raps holographic finish. A Shad Rap with a holographic finish. Looks neat to me and should catch a fish if only because it is just a plain old shad rap which is always an excellent bait. Comes in all the regular shad rap finishes only with holograms.. makes sense since they call it the Hologram… COULD BE GOOD will reserve judgement.

Jointed Shad Rap…just like the other jointed Normark lures only in the shape of a Shad Rap. Originally we sold out of these baits during the Holidays but they are back and I imagine will not last long. Bait will really wobble which will create a real good vibration in the water. Should at least get the attention of the fish.. have not used one but really do want to. I LIKE THIS BAIT.

Tail Dancers… A Wally Dancer imitator in my opinion.. very similar in shape but in Normark finish’s and colors. Will catch fish. Good trolling lure for Bass, Walleye and Sauger.. May be a good bait to try on the Cumberland as well. POSSIBLY A GOOD BAIT.

Mr. Twister .. The newest line of baits that has not to my knowledge been seen in the Louisville Area lately is the Exude Baits. Mr.T has put them out in most of the popular shapes and also in Corn shapes in white and yellow in corn sized colonels.Galyan's has only the colonels right now. Call before you come in to see the rest of the line to find out if we have them.. 420-6400 WILL DEPEND ON THE EXUDE FORMULA.. again I have not tried this bait but if the formula work as designed it could compete with the Power Baits. Comes in Twister Tails and several other shapes and sizes including a fake corn for trout in white and yellow.

Storm… Has a new jerk bait called the Thunder Stick. Comes in various sizes and the normal colors. Sizes are based it seems on depth of the dive. Bigger baits dive deeper. GOOD LOOKING JERK BAIT

Storm has also come out with some soft baits.
Rat-l Tubes in Crawdad and Lizard and Ribbon Tail worms and a Shad imitator that is just dynamite. It really looks like a shad with very large eyes. Looks better than the Soft Castaic baits in my opinion. Called the Wild Eye these soft baits are very real looking. Have Holographic bodies but soft bodies are not interchangeable molded directly to the hook. The holograms look great and make the fish look alive. Will definitely be very inviting to the striper fishermen and to some River Fishermen. I ACTUALLY THIOUGHT THESE WERE FREEZE DRIED they were so real looking. I WANT SOME. Comes in a perch, shad and in a minnow imitator.. the whole line of tubes also comes in a holographic look. Makes the bait look just like it has scales. Use this with a scent that releases scales ( Like Fish Formula ) or scale imitations and you have darn real looking and acting fish.. The tubes also come in a minnow imitator that is very real looking. I do not expect to see these baits on the shelf for long.. they are going to be expensive like the Castaic Baits...>>>

The craw tubes are mostly like other new tubes coming out but comes with a rattle for extra attraction. The ribbon tail worms have a shorter body and longer tail that appears like it will be more active than regular worms. NEW BAIT, I have not used it.. I will see if I can find a couple of folks to try them and evaluate their catching abilities, but I like the idea. Not sure why someone did not come up with this sooner.

Strike King …. Has a new spinner out called the Quad Shad. It was out before the holidays and you may have seen it. It is almost identical to the one made by a couple of other companies that came out with them last year. I keep hearing good reports on this kind of bait. Strike King makes a good bait .. so if you want to try a Quad Shad they are in...Strike King also came out with some new Tube baits. Crawdad, Lizard and the Wild Thang..(No that is not misspelled it is the THANG) It has a wing and a leg like some of those Dragon fly looking lures that have been out for a couple of years. Like the STORM Lures I will reserve my judgement but again not sure why it took so long to come up with this idea. Now 2 companies have similar products.

Berkley … Has a new worm called the Bungee worm. It is made with a memory in the tail. When you work the bait, the tail tends to bounce sort of, even when not moving. This action may be capable of fooling fish into striking when the bait is sitting still. Comes only in the Power Worm. GIMMICKY but it just MIGHT WORK.. just like many Gimmick baits I can see specific times when this bait will work. KEEP SOME IN YOUR WORM BOX the little extra wiggle may be what it takes some day when the fish are finicky.

Galyan's - Has a line of Crankbaits that is inexpensive and appear to be nice baits. Price of the baits is $2.99 and come in the basic shapes and sizes. (SEE PICTURE BELOW)

If you own a tackle company and would like a lure listed on this article please send information on the lure and a sample. We will evaluate it and post our evaluation of the lure. The lures here are currently available in the fishing department at Galyan's.. I work there part time and will when I find new baits tell you about them, as well as other new tackle.

peter@fishin.com