Las Vegas, Nev. – Tackle Junkies would have been in heaven from July 11 -13 at the Las Vegas Convention Center as tackle manufacturers unveiled their newest products. BASS ZONE brings you some of those products in our final installment of BASS ZONE in the desert.
Pflueger Reels / All Star Rods
Pflueger has gained a reputation of providing a very high quality product at an incredible value to the end user. Reels like the Trion, President, Supreme and Summit have become the go to winches for pros like Timmy Horton, Jason Quinn and Mark Davis. Pflueger introduced new reels for 2008 that continue in that tradition; quality and value.
The Supreme XT is a new spinning reel that is built on the popular Supreme spinning reel from the 2007 model year. The Supreme XT is a magnesium body and rotor that is supported by nine bearings for smoothness. The major difference in the Supreme XT is that the key bearings in the reel are sealed to protect against corrosion, making this reel a suitable choice for brackish water.
The Patriarch is the new godfather of Pflueger Baitcasting reels. Featuring 10 ball bearings on a light aluminum frame, the Patriarch is available in two retrieve speeds; 6.4:1 and 7.1:1 for a wide variety of applications. The Patriarch also features an amazing chrome finish that has the look and feel of high class.
Asaro is a new aluminum baitcasting reel that will give anglers a choice of a high quality, durable reel at an affordable price point. The Asaro is an eight bearing reel that comes in 6.4:1 retrieve speed and a standard and wide spool models, it is finished in a metallic orange color making it a very attractive unit.
Cetina is a graphite framed, nine bearing reel that is perfectly suited for throwing jerkbaits, topwaters and lipless crankbaits. Cetina weighs in at an amazing 7.8-ounces and comes with all of the features one would expect from Pflueger, including a high speed 7.1:1 retrieve.
www.pfluegerfishing.com
All Star Rods introduced a new series of technique specific rods that features 10 different rods tailor made for the hottest fish catching techniques. Each ASR model is built on an IM-10 multimodulus blank, split reel grip, fully exposed reel seats, cork grips and Fuji Alconite guides. ASR features seven baitcasting and three spinning models. www.allstarrods.com
e21
Having been a company that focused on the golf industry, e21 turned to an experienced rod man to help them enter the fishing market. Having been a major influence on the fishing rod industry during his years at Airrus, Ken Whiting left Airrus on May 15th signed 2007 Bassmaster Classic Champion Boyd Duckett to an endorsement contract and began building rods from scratch; the result was another Best of Show award for Whiting.
Carrot Stix is a new series of rods made by a patented process that breaks down carrots to their nanocellulose fibers. The company then blends the organic material with resins and molds it around an ultra-thin carbon tube to form the rod blank. The rod is then built with high quality components designed to allow the blank to work to its designed efficiency. The company says that the result is that the rod blank reduces hot spots in the blank that create breakage.
Two other series of rods, The Boyd Duckett Classic Gold Series and the Boyd Duckett Edge Series were released in Las Vegas. Both series are built on e21’s carbon graphite rod blank and components that make the rods very light and powerful.
www.e21fishing.com
Owner Hooks
Owner American President Kat Shitanishi spent some time with The BASS ZONE and showed us their new Ultrahead Shaky Head and Weedless Wacky Hook.
The Weedless Wacky hook features a “Flex Nylon Weed Guard and a new hook style designed to keep the wacky rigged plastic in the perfect position. The sharp angle at the final bend in the hook keeps plastic baits in the optimum position for action and hook setting.
Owner’s new Ultrahead Shaky Head features their patent pending CPS system, a centering pin spring that allows even the smallest plastic worm to be threaded on the spring in a perfectly centered position. Along with the CPS system, the contoured flat bottom allows a worm to float up in perfect position, providing more lift to the worm. All of these features are molded onto a specially designed 30 degree XX Strong cross eyed round bend Owner Super Needle Point hook.
www.ownerhooks.com
Fish Harder Companies - Tru Tungsten and Picasso
Tru Tungsten continues to work towards being an industry leader in terms of innovation and use of high tech materials. Tru Tungsten introduced a new line of hard bodied
Tru-Life Swimbaits designed by Western Pro and trophy bass expert Matt Newman with input from Ish Monroe. They also introduced a new line of soft plastics that has tungsten powder in the head or tail to make it fall in the direction of the weight. |
|
|
Newman showed off the Tru-Life trout and bluegill swimbaits. The swimbaits feature incredibly lifelike paint jobs and an adjustable weight system that is accessed by removing the head of the bait and adding or removing the tungsten balls in the chamber that runs lengthwise in the middle section of the body.
The Tru Tungsten plastics are made in a way that impregnates tungsten powder in strategically placed areas of the worm. Marshall Brooks said that the worms allow anglers to choose whether they want the worm to fall head down, or glide backwards depending on where the worm is rigged.
Terry Monteleone showed The BASS ZONE around the new products Picasso created with the help of pro staffers Ish Monroe and Jared Lintner.
Monroe has become well known for his use of large tubes around spawning bass. BASS ZONE reported in May of this year (click here) that Ish was working on a big tube specifically designed for bedfishing. Along with the tube, Ish and Picasso have been working on a new hook designed for the giant tubes, The Ish ProX Hook is a wide gap designed 12/0 hook specially fitted to the large tube bait, but can be used with other big soft plastics.
Picasso also introduced a new line of Football shaky Heads designed by Jared Lintner. The Football Shaky head combines the same natural texture of the Ken Cook Fantasy Football Jig and the flexible titanium wire of the Luke Clausen Shakedown head. Lintner’s Football Shaky Head also features Picasso’s lead - alloy composition with a Duraseal finish to enhance the feel.
www.tru-tungsten.com
Wizard Tackle
The Australian company introduced two new products that are a must for anglers everywhere; the Decky Mate and Decky Pro scissors and the Magnifeye will make life easier for anyone.
Nigel Cox took the time to show The BASS ZONE these new products, and we were so impressed that we walked away from the show with a pair of Decky Mates and two Magnifeyes to give to vision impaired anglers.
Decky Mate and Decky Pro are scissors that will cut almost anything, from braided line to fishing wire. The stainless steel blades are designed to withstand the rigors of Australia’s saltwater environment. They come with a storage pouch that can be worn on a belt or fastened to the side of a boat.
 |
|
The true benefit of these scissors is that the blades will cut braided line of any size without applying pressure to the line; they will cut it clean and neat with the tag end blowing in the wind. They also come with a notch at the base of the blades for cutting heavy mono or wire. Cox suggests that anglers keep these areas separate as they lengthen the time that they won’t need sharpening. |
The Magnifeye is an incredible product that will allow anglers who struggle with seeing light line and small hooks well enough to put the line into the eye of the hook to tie a knot. Attach your hook to the magnet molded into the body on the back side of the Magnifeye, then insert the line through the funnel shaped opening on the front, open the hinge, and tie your knot. Magnifeye has three openings to allow for different line and hook sizes, and is a patented product that makes everyone who sees it say, ‘why didn’t I think of that.’
www.wizardtackle.com.au
Gamakatsu
This Japanese manufacturer also introduced some new products at ICAST that will give bass anglers a big boost in their fish catching.
According to Western Regional Manufacturer’s Representative Len Vinci, the new Wacky Hook features a specially designed ‘baffle’ molded onto the bottom of the hook to create additional action to wacky rigged soft plastic baits, Vinci said that the baffle will create wore side to side waddle on the fall.
Gamakatsu introduced new trailer hooks for spinnerbaits and buzzbaits for 2008. The new trailer hooks are based on the popular shape of their Siwash Open eye hooks for salmon and steelhead fishing, but these hooks are made for adding trailers to blade baits. The new trailer hooks care available in chrome, black nickel or red finish and feature a coated eye, eliminating the need for plastic or rubber keepers to hold the hook in place.
The Japanese hook manufacturer also announced the addition of their EWG Monster Superline hooks. A pair of new sizes to go with their popular EWG hooks. The EWG Monster Hook will be available in 6/0 and 7/0 sizes, made form the heavier wire to withstand the brute force of braided lines. Vinci told The BASS ZONE that these hooks will be perfect for big tubes, creature baits and
swimbaits. www.gamakatsu.com
|
