Top Picks From ICAST
Soft baits and more that are worth a look
A few days of walking the floor at ICAST is enough to exhaust a body, but it isn’t enough to know exactly what’s worthwhile. For that, you need some time to reflect and probably a few tournament seasons to fly by to see what rises up. After a weekend of driving and fishing, I can’t claim to know what’s going to be the next Curado or Wiggle Wart, but I can at least tell you what stuck with me.
Click here for complete 2015 ICAST coverage.
Nichols Lures Magnum Swimbait Head
The Magnum Swimbait Head has been out in the wild since early summer, but I hadn’t seen it in action or up close until ICAST. It is built around an 8/0 Mustad hook and the ability to secure a swimbait with broken off toothpicks instead of glue. After seeing it in action, I think it is genius and I’d love to see the concept tried on a smaller scale for some non-giant applications.
You can get the Magnum Swimbait Head in 3/4- and 1-ounce sizes and they sell for $6.49 for a 2-pack. NicholsLures.com
Greenfish Tackle Shin Spin Kami
Greenfish Tackle built the Shin Spin Kami off the already successful Shin Spin head. As you might have guessed from the name, Shin Fukae had a hand in designing it, and word is that he caught a lot of key fish offshore on it en route to his 11th-place FLW Tour AOY finish in 2015. Subtle spinners have been gaining ground very quickly in bass fishing and combining that trend with hair seems like a really good idea.
The Shin Spin Kami comes in five colors and ranges from 3/8 to 1 ounce. It will be available in late August and sells for $10.99. GreenfishTackle.com
SpoolTek Lures Pro Series 4-Inch Fatty
SpoolTek swimbaits have been around for a while now and the 4-inch version introduced at ICAST that might be the ticket for someone curious about the technology, but unsure about tossing a 6-inch bait in their local waters.
The bait is made of a hard plastic head with a replaceable soft plastic tail, and the deployable hook and leader system is built into the head. A medium-strength jerk will pull the hook and cable out to keep the leverage the fish can get during the fight to a minimum. The theory behind the bait is the same as a line-thru, but it should be a little more durable and the connection point on top might help keep the whole system more inline than on some other big swimbaits.
The 4-inch Fatty costs $14.99, comes in 12 colors, is packaged with a replacement tail and should be available in just a few weeks. SpoolTekLures.com
Gene Larew Wheeler’s Punch Out Craw
Sometimes stuff just looks good. Wheeler’s Punch Out Craw isn’t wildly different from a typical craw or punch bait, but it seems like a really sweet size to me and I dig the ability to pick it apart and make a few different baits. If you flipped it all in one without separating the claws you would likely be giving the fish a look they haven’t seen before. The same is probably true if you pull off the claws and turn it into a very subtle Berkley Havoc Devil Spear type bait.
Wheeler’s Punch Out Craw is 3 3/4-inches long, available in 12 colors and $5.49 will get you eight craws. You should be able to get your hands on them the first of November. GeneLarew.com
Z-Man RaZor ShadZ
One of the great pairings in fishing over the last few years has been a ChatterBait and a Lake Fork Live Magic Shad. Now, Z-Man has an in-house answer that could be an all-time great ChatterBait trailer too. The RaZor ShadZ is obviously inspired by the Magic Shad – the big design difference is that the tail on the Razor ShadZ is vertical like a fish and the tail on the Magic Shad is horizontal like a dolphin. You can’t know until you fish it, but the orientation of the tail could turn out to be the difference between a dud and an exceptional producer.
The other difference is the plastic – the RaZor ShadZ is made of the extremely durable ElaZtech. The prospect of gluing your trailer on to start the day and getting multiple limits of bass in the boat without changing is a very appealing one.
The RaZor ShadZ is 4 1/2-inches long and a 4-pack sells for $4.99. They are likely to be available around the beginning of September. ZManFishing.com
Strike King KVD Perfect Plastic Bull Worm
The Bull Worm is pretty hawg. Measuring a solid 10-inches, it is basically a really up-sized trick worm. It isn’t the first big straight-tailed worm on the market, but it sure looks good in person and it has the familiar softness and coffee scent that denote it as a Strike King bait. I’m not sure that Michael Wooley had the Bull Worm in his arsenal when he won on Chickamauga, but I bet it would have really caught them with it there. Regardless, the Bull Worm seems headed for success on big shaky heads and Texas rigs on the Tennessee River ledges.
Bull Worms will cost $5.99 for a 6-pack and come in 10 colors. It is available now. StrikeKing.com
Jackall ChunkCraw
This is another bait that falls in the “it just looks good” category. With plenty of arms and some interestingly fat and then thin curling tails, the ChunkCraw has a little bit of everything going on. Seen in silhouette, it looks remarkably like a crayfish, and it has the right thickness to flip or just throw on a Texas rig. The ChunkCraw also appears to be very customizable, so if you don’t like it you can probably change it.
You can pick up a pack of ChunkCraws for $4.99. The 3 1/2-inch version comes in a 6-pack and the 4-inch version comes in a 5-pack. The Chunk Craw will be available in August. Jackall-Lures.com