TruTungsten New Product for 2010

Event Article: 2009 ICAST Show - Orlando, FL

TruTungsten Brings Out a Star Studded Lineup For ICAST 2009

Date:	07/20/09
Location:	Orlando Florida
Admission:	Buyers & Press Only
Manufacturer:	TruTungsten
Reviewer:	Team TackleTour

Introduction: There was a party going on at the TruTungsten booth with nearly all their prostaff on hand to show their new products. We caught up with a few and had them walk us through what's cooking with TruTungsten for 2010.

Matt Newman was on hand to show us TruTungsten's new 5" TruLife Shad.

Matt Newman greeted us as we walked into the booth and immediately shuffled us over to the new five inch (5") sized Tru-Life Shad. This bait has a significantly larger profile than their original, 4" shad and almost looks like a different bait. They're still working out all the details with this bait, but they're expected to retail for under thirty dollars ($30).

The 5" Shad will be available in a host of standard colors.

Gerald Swindle caught in the act of a hit and run jab at Matt Newman to help lighten up the proceedings at ICAST 2009.

In addition to the new size, TruTungsten will be introducing some new colors as well including two chrome finishes, a baby bass, golden shiner, and their version of a sexy shad titled, "big sexy".

The new 5" Shad has a much taller profile than the 4" version and as a result, is a much more substantial bait.

Matt Newman recovers from the laughter inspired by Gerald Swindle in time to pose for the traditional booth shot.

Mike Iaconelli had two new things to show us. One was a new wacky head called the Flea Flicker. It features a tungsten head with a concave surface to help slow the fall of the bait because, as Ike professes, 80% of his hits while fishing this style presentation comes on the fall. This style head also helps increase the vibration of the wacky rig to enhance action all the more and has allowed Ike to fish the wacky rig in depths all the way down to fifty feet!

The Flea Flicker is a new wacky rig jighead for TruTungsten designed by Mike Iaconelli.

The Flea Flicker comes equipped with TruTungsten's new Mattatchi hooks and will be available in packs of three or four for right around six dollars ($6) a pack.

Ioconelli teamed up with Marty Stone to design the new TruTungsten Mad Maxx frog.

Another new bait with TruTungsten and co-designed by Mike Ioconelli and Marty Stone is the Mad Maxx frog. It seems everyone had a new frog this year at the show, but what distinguishes the Mad Maxx from the others is the drain port on the back of the frog. It comes predrilled with a hole to drain water on every cast eliminating the need to pull your frog up and squeeze it every fifth or sixth cast because it's full of water.

The Mad Maxx frog in profile view.

This hole is provided to help drain the bait on each back cast eliminating the need to squeeze water out of the bait after every fifth or sixth cast..

The Mad Maxx features a keel design hard bottom to enhance walking action and help increase hooking percentages by remaining rigid during a hit forcing the top of the bait to collapse, which in turn exposes the hooks even more for a proper hookset.

Another feature of this bait is the hard underbelly designed to enhance both hooksets and the walkability of the frog. Instead of both the top and bottom collapsing when a fish strikes, now only the top will collapse exposing the hooks to the fish's mouth and increasing your chance of hooking that fish. In addition, the hard bottom has contours in it similar to the design of a boat hull directing water to flow along its sides. Ike says this new design makes this frog extremely easy to walk.

Ike hams it up for the camera doing his best imitation of a bass hitting the frog.

Lastly this bait features a tungsten rattle in the cavity of the bait giving it that extra bit of attention getting sound. The Mad Maxx will be available in ten (10) different colors and will retail for right around eight dollars ($8) a frog.

TruTungsten's new Mad Maxx frog shows a lot of promise.

Byron Velvick shows us TruTungsten's new saltwater circle hooks.

Finally, our last visit was with our good friend Byron Velvick. He was on hand to debut TruTungsten's new line of saltwater hooks of which Byron was most excited about the circle hooks that come equipped with a rubber bait keeper to help keep your mullets in proper alignment with the hook to ensure a good hookset when a fish strikes.

Made for TruTungsten by Mittatchi, these hooks feature a very special enhancement spec'd by Velvick himself.

These adjustable stoppers help keep live bait in proper orientation to the hook increasing hook up percentages and decreasing your chances for lost fish.

Velvick has been spending a great deal of time fishing saltwater and is leveraging his bass fishing and tackle rigging skills to enhance deficiencies he's encountered in saltwater tackle during his pursuit of big game. He's also been busy tweaking TruTungsten's full sized swimbait for use in saltwater but the baits were not quite ready for display at ICAST 2009.

Mary jumps in with Byron showing her love for big baits too.

Conclusion: With each passing year it seems TruTungsten grows more and more aggressive with their offerings and the extendibility of tungsten as a material replacement for lead. In this era where going green is as important to the practice of catch and release to save the future of our favorite past time, we applaud them for their efforts and look forward to checking out their new products in 2010.