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Reaction
Innovation's New One Two Shiver Punch
The Shiver Shot is just over three and a half inches long soft plastic bait made in the general shape of a baitfish. The main body and head of the bait resemble the company's Skinny Dipper only with a flat, dolphin like spit tail rather than a paddletail.
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A Global Design for Enthusiasts, the Shimano G.Loomis
Conquest Rods
A joint collaboration within the same company? This is exactly what it
took to create the Conquest Series, a twelve rod lineup that brought together G.Loomis’s rod design expertise and popular mag
bass actions with Shimano’s core blank technology. |
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What the Enthusiast? Keitech's Easy Shaker Worm
Keitech snuck onto the scene several years ago with their Swing Impact series of paddletail baits. One week, these baits were no where to be seen, and in no time, they became the paddletail of choice - especially at the height of the Bama-rig craze. But the company makes more than just soft bodied swimbaits... |
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From Crawler to Star, Cranking it Up with Spro's RkCrawler 55
Mike McClelland is well known as a jerkbait fisherman as is evidenced by the many variants of his McStick baits by Spro. But like many of us, he grew up throwing an old fashioned mid-depth running crankbait banging it against the bottom in about ten to twelve (10-12) feet of water searching for bass. A few years ago, McClelland convinced the folks at Spro to help him revive this genre of bait... |
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The Dragon ReAwakens : Megabass of America's 2018 Orochi XX
2018 marks five fun filled, brand
re-defining years for the manufacturer that is positioned at the very soul of
the enthusiast market, and a lot of that is thanks to the original Orochi XX: a
series of rods that offered a taste of Megabass for tailored for the US bass
fishing market at a reasonable price point... |
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New Savage Gear 3D Minnow Wobbles
for Walleye
Here at TT we joke about all the horrors that the Savage Gear 3D scanner
has been subjected to as the company continues to crank out bait after bait
based on scans of actual prey. The latest in the never-ending lineup of baits
based on three dimensional scanning is a minnow style diving crankbait that is
created specifically to target Walleye. |
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Living up to the
Hype? The Zero Ball Bearing Concept Z from 13 Fishing
Probably the most talked
about low profile baitcaster to be introduced in the last year, the 13 Fishing
Concept Z has been the subject of much debate since this zero ball bearing reel
was launched this past ICAST... |
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The Original Vision for Yuki Ito's RipBait : The Megabass Ito Shiner
A couple of years ago, the
company unveiled a hard plastic version of a hand carved jerkbait Yuki Ito had in his personal tackle box. This forgotten bait actually served as the inspiration for the OneTen and now Megabass has done their best to replicate that bait as a production lure. Here now is our look at Megabass's Ito Shiner. |
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Built for Big Baits, the Beast that is the Daiwa Lexa
Type-WN 400H
Designed to tackle just about anything that anglers can tie on the new
Daiwa Lexa Type-WN reels feel right at home in inshore and saltwater
applications but is also a great fit for big bait specialists that are looking
for a reel that can cast and crank back the biggest and heaviest swimbaits
available.
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Solid, Smooth, Refined, Quantum's New Smoke S3 Spinning Reel
Quantum's Series Three (S3) Re-imaging and re-engineering of their entire suite of reels as debuted at ICAST 2017 did not end with just their casting reels. No, the revamp includes their spinning reel lineup as well. Today, we take a look at of their Smoke S3 spinning reels to see just how well it performs. |
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A Spin on Affordable Versatility - St. Croix's BassX BXS610MLXF
Back in 2016, St. Croix lowered
the threshold for buy-in to their product philosophy with the introduction of a
$100 series of bass rods. Today, we take our first detailed look at the
BXS610MLXF - a six foot, ten inch (6'-10") spinning rod in their brand new Bass
X series of rods. |
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Conquer the Sun with Aftco's Fish Ninja Shirt
Sun-protective shirts and masks are two of the most crucial items I bring along
on a fishing day. Wearing these pieces of clothing aren't likely to help you get
more bites, but protecting your skin is just as important as catching fish! With
the Fish Ninja shirt from Aftco, they have blended both a mask and hood into the
shirt for the utmost in convenience and protection. |
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A New Specialty Bait from Roboworm : The Ned Worm
Soft plastic stick baits are in the midst of a revival thanks to the popularization of two weighting strategies to fish these baits. The strategies aren't really new per se, but have gained notoriety over the last few years. The most recent of these strategies involves fishing the stick baits on a specialized, mushroom shaped jig head. Yes, we are talking about the Ned Rig...
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Shimano's Fully Machined BFS Masterpiece
The first thing to strike you when lifting the Calcutta Conquest BFS
out of its box is the reel's finish. It does not feature the traditional
gold/bronze anodizing of its Conquest brethren but instead has its own stealthy
pewter finish... |
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G.Rods Makes Graphene Affordable with the Game Changer Series
GRods International has continued to expand their offerings and the Game
Changer Series is designed to make the company’s graphene technology much more
affordable and accessible to everyday anglers. The rods don’t stray too far from
the company’s existing lines when it comes to layout and styling but as you
would expect makes use of a different blank and components to achieve the more
aggressive price point. |
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What the Finesse ?!? : Do You Swivel Shot?
Gamakatsu with the help of pro
staffer Shin Fukae came out with an innovative little design to help drop shot
fishermen minimize line twist problems. It took us some time, but finally, here
is our look at the Swivel Shot Drop Shot Hook. |
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St. Croix's Legend Elite ES70MLF Wins our Ultimate Award
What's great about finding a
rod series we enjoy is sampling different models within the same line. So today,
we get to turn our attention back to St. Croix's new Legend Elite series with a
look at the ES70MLF. |
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Taking Aim at the Ubiquitous Stick Bait, Missile Bait's New The 48 Worm
Inconspicuously missing from the Missle Bait's
arsenal has been that do-nothing soft plastic stick bait so pervasive in other
brands. That changed this past year at ICAST when Missile Jigs introduced their interpretation of this bait, The 48. Let's see how this bait stacks up.
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Savage Gear
Introduces New Fishing Rods for 2018 - Meet the Browser Series
The first thing most anglers think about when they think Savage Gear is
baits, and most likely the company's 3D scanned swimbaits or wild topwater lures
like the Suicide Duck. This season the company is expanding into rods with their
new Browser Series... |
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Crank It Up: Megabass Eccentric X-Dad Crankbait
Several years ago, before their STW initiative took over a good part of the company's focus, Megabass debuted a funky little crankbait designed to mimic a crayfish. It is an eccentric little bait that only a company like Megabass can pull off. Here is our look at Megabass's X-Dad crankbait.
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Spro's Mike McClelland McStick 95 Rip Bait
McClelland is a jerk bait
fanatic so you know any bait with his name on it has to perform. Today, we take
a look at a jerkbait built with a slightly smaller profile than usual and designed to be effective in highly pressured waters. Here's our take on Spro's Mike McClelland McStick 95.
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First Tests and
a Look Inside the 13 Fishing Concept Z - Zero Ball Bearing Baitcaster
The Concept Z is the first high-performance casting reel to be
manufactured without any ball bearings and instead makes use of an advanced
polymer technology to create their Concept Zero Bearings (CZB) to build a reel
that is designed to fish quite unlike any other.
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Shimano’s Curado K
Baitcaster : More than Black and White
The Curado Series
is a critical reel, arguably the most important cornerstone of Shimano’s entire
low profile baitcasting lineup. Delivering a reel that lives up to the Curado name is
no simple task. Simply put, this is the one that Shimano had to get right. |
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The Surprising Fantasista Premier FNPS70-5 from Abu Garcia
What’s better than seeing new and intriguing product each year at ICAST? When that same product shows up at TT HQ with little to no warning. Such was the case with Abu Garcia’s brand new, intermediate tier, flagship series of rods Fantasista
Premier. |
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Ready for Battle : Damiki's Knock Out
Where the Monster Miki was long, thin, and crazy with appendages, Damiki's Knock Out is a much chunkier piece of soft plastic with four arms, claws, antennae and ears? It's body is similar to a beaver style bait, but the rest of it is all creature.
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Saving the Best for Last? Evergreen International's Brett Hite Medium Powered Casting Rod
This stick caught our attention because it carries with it a lure rating of between three eighths of an ounce up to two ounces (3/8oz - 2oz). That's a rating more typically reserved for something in the heavy to extra-heavy range... |
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Simms Challenges the Notion Gore-Tex Is the Only Viable Rain Fabric
Recognizing the need to
offer a more affordable suit with similar, top end styling, they're now offering
a suit they believe is up to that challenge. Here's our look at the new
Challenger rain suit from Simms.
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TackleTour Autopsy: A Brat to the Balsa Core, the new Rapala BX Squarebill
The next product to go under the
blade is an interesting new squarebill from Rapala called the BX Brat, and what
makes this bait so interesting is the hybrid design which incorporates a balsa
wood core and a plastic outer shell. |
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Reaction Innovation's New Pocket Rocket
Reaction Innovations, a company known just as much for their provocative packaging, and bait and color names, as well as their actual product has a new plastic worm made for those who like to get a little wacky with their rigging. Introducing
the Reaction Innovations new Pocket Rocket soft plastic worm. |
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Tackle Your Enthusiasm with Shimano's Metanium MGL
When Shimano USA introduced the 2013 Metanium to
the North American bass fishing market in 2014, we hailed it as a “welcome back”
to the brand that co-defined high performance and refinement in a low profile
baitcasting reel for nearly two decades prior...
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Headed in the Right Direction, Quantum's PT Tour S3 Casting Reel
If Quantum's Smoke series of reels are their workhorse, their PT Tour line of reels are their mainstream flagship casting reels. The Tour Mg costs more, but it's not as widely appreciated as the standard PT Tour and the EXO reels, it seems, have been discontinued. |
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Seaspin USA's Intriguing Little Geko Jig
Seaspin USA's Geko
Jig is available with either a ball head or a bullet head configuration. The
skirts are a mix of living rubber and silicone depending on the color pattern
you choose, but the intriguing aspect of this jig is the hook is not molded
through the weighted head.
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2017 Holiday Gift Guide (Part3): Line, Terminal Tackle, Apparel and Accessories
Welcome back to the final chapter in
this year's Holiday Gift Guide. Looks like we all survived the Black Friday
madness and the next thing you know here comes Cyber Monday, typically the biggest online shopping day
of the year. We rejoin Riley as she highlights our final picks in the line,
terminal tackle, apparel, and accessory categories.
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2017 Holiday Gift Guide
(Part 2): Enthusiast Tackle and Lures
We return in part 2 of this year's Holiday Gift
Guide with some of the most exciting product categories, the flagship products
we drool over in the Enthusiast range as well as the complete spectrum of lures.
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2017 Holiday Gift Guide
(Part1): Reels and Rods
It is that time again, when we are challenged with
thinking of the many creative ways to repurpose leftover turkey and our
attention turns to the winter holidays. The holiday buying season is only
further jumpstarted with the madness that is Black Friday and Cyber Monday and
this year marks the return of our Holiday Gift Guide with picks across the wide
array of product categories for that special angler on your list...
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Quantum's Surprising New Smoke Series Three (S3)
Quantum has been making strides in recent years to up the level of refinement in their reels and this past year at ICAST, they revealed their latest results. Their "Series Three" (S3) reels represent a complete engineering overhaul in both spinning and casting reels. Today, we take a look at the first product from this product refresh, Quantum's S3 Smoke... |
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St. Croix Delivers Value in our Search for One with the BXC71MHF
Manufacturing
rods entirely within the States generally translates to higher costs for
consumers so in order to offer more competitively priced rods, St. Croix opened
their own factory in Mexico. This is where their Mojo rods are built and just recently, the company introduced another set of rods priced even more competitively than Mojo... |
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Better Late Than Never : Lucky Craft's Pointer Minnow
As popular and effective a jerk/rip bait as the Vision OneTen is, one bait suspends shoulder to shoulder with that bait on the rod tips of the TackleTour Editorial Staff. That bait is Lucky Craft's Pointer Minnow. This is the first jerkbait I had ever seen Zander tie on, toss out, and rip back. In fact, he had never handled a Vision OneTen until I gave him one back in 2005...
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TackleTour Autopsy: Consistency is
King, the Megabass I-Jack
One bait that is somewhat of a sleeper lure, in that it is deadly
effective but not as well-known as other Megabass offerings such as the Vision
110 jerkbait or Dog-X walker is the I-Jack, a specially tuned underwater wakebait. |
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Creature Fever : Strike King's Rage Twin Tail Menace Grub
With today's seemingly unlimited choices in specialized plastic baits, one old staple seems to have fallen by the wayside. How many of you still fish the old staple single or double tail grubs? Maybe they've fallen out of popular discussion because there's really not much to them. Well, Strike King introduced a new interpretation a little while back and we're here to take a closer look. |
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Evergreen International Continues to Impress with the Affordable RCSS-71MH
The RCSS-71MH is a seven foot, one inch spinning rod built with the same look as the previously reviewed RCSC-73HG, but this time without the hybrid glass blank. Instead, this stick is built from an unspecified graphite but with the same Fuji Alconite guides with stainless steel frames, the camo, EVA foam grip and a custom reel seat by Fuji. |
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