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Making
the Cut? The Ardent Rigger Tool
Ardent is
widely known for their
domestic lineup of bass
reels, but many people
may be unfamiliar with
the fact that they make
several other types of
rods as well as fishing
accessories like the
Smart Cull system which
we awarded an Editor’s
Choice to a few seasons
ago. Among the accessory
items in their product
lineup is also a tool
called the Ardent
Rigger. |
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See
Things in Black and White with the Generation 3 Abu Garcia Revo S
As the “entry
level” Revo model, the new S offers some interesting features and an eye
catching appearance. This reel has some stiff competition in it's price
segment; after all, it's playing in the same ballpark as a long time fan
favorite, the Shimano Citica. Does this refreshed Revo have what it takes to
score a home run? |
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The Search For One : Guess Who's Back Building Rods?
What do you do if a rod
building legend called with the simple request of a consultation appointment the
topic of which surrounds brainstorming ideas for a new series of bass rods
they're looking to develop from the ground up? What do you do if this same
legend and his team actually listened to your input...
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Not
Just for Chuckin' Blades: The Megabass Orochi XX F5-610XX Spinnerbait Special
By now, it should be pretty apparent that we here at TackleTour are big fans of
the Megabass Orochi XX series of casting and spinning rods. Offered at modest
prices, they are accessible to a wider range of anglers that were previously
unable to afford the high cost of Megabass' more exotic offerings. |
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Performance at a Premium: The G. Loomis NRX 9 Weight
The
ultra-premium NRX fly rods have taken over the top position as the premier
G.Loomis saltwater and freshwater fly rods. These rods are not simply mild
upgrades over GLX models; they feature all new materials and construction
processes. In this review, I take the 9 weight model out to see how it performs
on some of our local saltwater species! |
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Thru and Thru, Savage Gear's New Trout Inspires Confidence
The Savage Gear Line Thru trout is an eight
inch, soft bodied bait with three body sections. It is built in size,
proportion, and detail just like a three piece hard bodied bait. This includes
the tail which is not a paddle or wedge or any other type of swimming tail
design. |
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Back at the Big Rock 2014
Show Seeking Innovations
There are a lot of reasons why Vegas is a popular location for industry
events like ICAST and the Big Rock Show, and the non stop entertainment options
after the official event hours are high up on the list of reasons why. My first
stop after the end of the show... |
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New Lures at the Big Rock 2014 Show in Las Vegas
The New Year is upon us and to kick things off in
4014 we head to Las Vegas, Nevada for the 2014 Big Rock Sports Dealer Show where
tackle manufacturers meet directly with dealers to showcase their newest
products. We attended the show this year to see if we could find out more about
some of the new offerings for the coming season.
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Daiwa Completes Their Suite with the Tatula Casting Rods!
What we're here to look at
today is the original Tatula reel's partner. Who could that partner be you ask?
It's a fishing rod of course! Introducing our first look at the Tatula series of
casting rods, the TAT721HFB (7'2" Heavy). |
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2013 Bait-the-Finesse Finale : Daiwa T3 Air
The T3 Air came
away from our late March 2013 Product Insight article with the early lead in
this shootout. It is a reel based on Daiwa's first generation T-Wing platform,
the T3. Made in Japan, the T3 AIR is a modified version of the flagship variant
in this line and not the Ballistic which is made in Thailand instead of Japan.
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2013 Bait-the-Finesse Finale : Shimano Aldebaran BFS
As its name
would suggest, the Aldebaran BFS is built off of the Aldebaran, Shimano's 2009
compact magnesium baitcaster introduction known stateside as the Core 50Mg. The
interesting note here is that while the BFS shares the overall same dimensions
as the original Aldebaran, there are a few differences. |
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Autopsy: Meshing with Savage Gear's 3D Line Thru
Trout
Mads
Grosell, the lead designer at Savage Gear, took an actual trout and 3D scanned
it to create the new Line Thru Trout’s profile, but like so many of the
company’s baits there is more to this bait than what anglers, and fish, see on
the outside. |
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Silent
but Deadly: The Molix SB Crank 55 Silent
Square bills have
come a long way, and now you'll find many different configurations and colors
available from a variety of manufacturers. Based in Italy, Molix has refined the square bill with their
exciting new SB Crank 55 Silent model. Will this new bait from the land of
exotic sports cars prove to be something special? |
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13 Fishing Gears
up to Launch New Proprietary Low Profile Baitcasting Reels
13 Fishing
has never been a company to shy away from taking chances and breaking the mold and this fast
rising brand is bucking the trend once again with the announcement that they
are gearing up to introduce not one, but a complete line of proprietary low
profile baitcasters.
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A
Weapon For The Water: The Redington Vapen Red 890-4V Fly Rod
At ICAST 2013 in
Las Vegas, we had a tour of new products from several manufacturers, including
fresh rod lines from Redington called the Vapen and Vapen Red series.
Technically the same rods, the Vapen sports traditional cork grips while the
Vapen Red comes equipped with a red polymer non-slip grip. WHAT, a fly rod
without a cork handle?
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Megabass's New Design Engine Additive : STW
The acronym is STW and no, it's not an additive for your fuel tank to make your engine run smoother, but Megabass is hoping their Support To Win program is does add a little pep to their design engine so they can more efficiently add to an already potent product line.
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Sharing a Passion for Fun and Big Bass : BIG BASS DREAMS
Big Bass Dreams is a documentary mostly about one man's journey chasing big bass. The hours of dedication, the meticulous care of his gear, the shear joy of hooking and landing big fish, taking a photo, and letting them go to fight another day. We sit down with the man behind the video, Oliver Ngy, to learn a little bit more about his journey...
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Daiwa Tatula Type R - Worth the Upgrade?
Earlier this year, Daiwa teased
their ICAST 2013 introduction with a series of short tease videos broadcast on
youTube. Simultaneously, they shipped us what we came to find out was a very
late model prototype of that very reel, the Tatula, for a full blown review.
Then, when all the hype was lifted, we find out at ICAST that there are two
versions of this reel, the regular Tatula and the "tuned" Type R |
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Compact and Strong: The Lew's Super Duty SD1H Baitcaster
In my over 20 years
of fishing I have fished countless reel brands, but never a Lew's. That all
changed when I had the opportunity to test the new Super Duty model SD1H casting
reel. There has been a good amount of buzz regarding the refreshed lineup, so I
was excited to see if it was indeed the truth or nothing but a bunch of bologna. |
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2013 Holiday Gift Guide Part 2 -
Fill those Stockings with Lines, Tools and Enthusiast Tackle
In the second part of our 2013 Holiday Gift Guide we
explore some of our favorite tackle categories including fishing lines,
tools, optics and of course a few picks for Enthusiasts. |
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2013 Holiday Gift Guide Part 1 - Tis the Season
for New Reels, Rods and Baits
The weather outside is
frightful, and the bite is less than delightful, so if you're stuck inside, come
enjoy TackleTour's 2014 Holiday Gift Guide!!! Yup, it's that time again. The
holidays are here and we've assembled a list of some of the hottest tackle to
recommend for that fisherman on your list. |
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TackleTour in the JDM - Lake Biwa, Japan
We accompanied professional bass fisherman and
Megabass of America staffers, Luke Clausen, Edwin Evers, Aaron Martens, and
Chris Zaldain as they set out on the water to test several prototype products in
development by Megabass as well as give Japanese media giants, Lure, Basser, and
Bassworld magazines the opportunity to share the water with these famous
American bass pros. |
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Is the
Native Watercraft "Ultimate 12" Fishing Kayak as Good as the Name it Bears?
There are decades
of boat-building knowledge behind Native Watercraft, and a passion for
paddling's history and its future. They have a long standing reputation for
creating some serious kayak fishing platforms. The Ultimate 12 is no exception
and is a best selling model among kayak anglers. |
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STORMR STRYKR Jacket and Bib, Armor from the Elements
There are a lot
of companies that are now designing and manufacturing foul weather gear for
anglers, and now there is a new contender, STORMR, and they are offering something
they believe is truly different versus all the existing manufacturers, rain gear
constructed with Neoprene. |
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Going Savage on Arkansas Stripers at Lake
Ouachita
Not long after
ICAST we were contacted by Brandon Cotton, Marketing Manager at Okuma to see if
we would have interest pitting their newest reels, rods and Savage Gear baits
against some big freshwater Stripers. The destination, Lake Ouachita Arkansas, a
famous lake that is known for its clean water and healthy habitat for a wide
range of fish species including Crappie, Walleye, Catfish, Largemouth and
Striped Bass. |
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Skip, Hop, Drop, Cut and Shake by Evergreen International
Over the last several years, we've combed through just about every stick in Evergreen International's Kaleido lineup. These are among the finest rods we've ever fished. But going through ALMOST every stick means there's still room for a few more. Today, we dive back into the Kaleido-scope and share with you our thoughts on the TKLS-61ULX Cut In Shake.
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Take 3 : Abu Garcia's Revo Winch
Abu Garcia has not forgotten those of us who like
to take things slow. In fact, this manufacturer has a reel they've built
especially for the purpose of slow cranking and today we take a look at their
latest version of this very reel. Here's our look at the Abu Garcia Generation 3
Revo Winch.
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Looking to Recapture the "Lighter Than Air" Magic : Kistler's New Helium 3
Domestically, G.Loomis and St. Croix dominated
the rod market but one small rod manufacturer out of Texas was pushing to the
forefront by making available to the general angling public fishing rods with
designs and aesthetics normally reserved for custom rods... |
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Phenix Adds to their
Heavy Powered Arsenal : The M1 MX72H
Phenix's MBX Classic and Recon
series of rods are now staples in tackle stores nationwide. Today we take a
closer look at a rod in their latest series with our review of the MX72H, a
seven foot two inch, heavy powered stick that's part of the M1 lineup. |
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A Little Voodoo Goes a Long Way when Fishing the Tributaries of the Columbia
River
The last time we visited Edge Rods
the company was just on the verge of introducing their new lineup of bass rods
and we were eager to make the trek back up to Woodland Washington to check out
how the company had grown, but Jon had other plans. |
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The Shimano Flagship Anatares and Metanium Baitcasters now
Available Stateside
How many times
have you looked across the pond and wondered why do the reel manufacturers keep
the best stuff exclusively in Japan? The lines between JDM enthusiast imports
and high end baitcasters has just been crossed as Shimano announced this morning
that it is now making both the Antares and Metanium baitcasters available to the
U.S. |
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Does Daiwa's Exceler Excel or Repel?
Leveraging the success of last
year's popular Lexa introduction Daiwa continues to bolster their product line
for the budget conscious angler. Introducing our look at the sub $100 Daiwa
America Corporation Exceler casting reel. |
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Abu Garcia's Workhorse - the Gen 3 Revo SX
Since the introduction of Abu
Garcia's Revo line of baitcasting reels, the company has been very aggressive in their efforts to dominate market share as is evidenced by the diversity of their lineup. Their entry into this workhorse category of casting reels? Well, that's the reel we're looking at today. Introducing our take on Abu Garcia's 3rd Generation Revo SX.
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The DUO Spinbait 80 and the Art
of Spybaiting
Every once in a while a new fishing technique comes around
that changes the very way people fish, just think about techniques like drop
shotting or shakey head for example. This season a technique known as Spybaiting
has gained attention here in the U.S. and leading the charge is a company from
Japan called DUO Realis.
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