Pelican
Super Pinky Specifications |
Class |
Sinking |
Colors/Patterns |
4
available |
Size |
4 3/8 in |
Weight |
1-1/16 oz |
MSRP |
$15-20 |
About Pelican:
Pelican, an Italian lure
company, has been handcrafting artificial baits for over 20 years catering to
mainly local fisherman using spinning tackle. Their lures are all hand made and
they’ve created an assortment of products that closely resemble bait fish. These
balsa wood lures are used in their local waters to target fish such as pike,
trout, and black bass.

The Pelican Super Pinky minnow
lure crafted out of balsa-wood
Impressions:
The Super Pinky is
handcrafted out of Ecuadorian balsawood and is weighted with a metal core giving
it a total weight of just over an ounce. It very much, has that look and feel of
a handcrafted lure, yet the exterior of the bait highly resembles a baitfish
with very realistic patterns. Additionally, the head of the bait has some nice
detailing with lifelike, sparkling eyes, and the subtle contour of gill plates.
But enough with the admiration, what do the fish think?!

Lure is handcrafted in Italy
Field Tests:
The striped bass in Northern California have made their annual fall run from the
San Francisco Bay to the waterways of the California Delta. We jumped on the
reports of good striper action to see how the Pelican Super Pinky minnow would
hold up against these aggressive fish. Of course, whenever fishing the Delta, we
couldn’t help but test the lure out at some of our favorite spots for black bass
as well.

The minnow contains a realistic finish
Casting:
The major difficulty with wooden minnow lures is their castability. Plastic
baits of similar size can all be built with moving weights that shift at the
time of your cast, to change the bait’s center of gravity, making them easier to
cast. Of course, with the relative small size, but big weight of the Super
Pinky, casting was hardly an issue. Its sleek outer profile together with its
metal core make for an excellent casting lure as it flew through the air with
little resistance on cast after cast thanks, in part, to our AiRRUS Ultra XL and
Shimano Curado 200DHSV combo.

An attractive head section with shiny eyes
I threw this bait under
both calm and windy conditions and have to say, it was a pleasure to throw as
the distance of my casts were hardly affected even in some moderate headwinds of
15mph plus. Thanks to its overall weight, this lure was much easier to cast in
windy conditions than say, a Lucky Craft 100 size Pointer (rated at 5/8ths of an
ounce) or even the Megabass Vision 110 (rated at 1/2 an ounce) – two baits that
are lighter, but also benefit from the afore mentioned shifting weight systems.

A look at Super Pinky's profile
Retrieving:
The Super Pinky has a more subtle action than one of my favorites, the Lucky
Craft Pointer 100SP. Still, it has plenty of action to produce. With its more
subtle movement, though, I found this lure is more effective in clearer water
situations rather than in dirty or stained water, where some additional action
is really helpful in triggering strikes.
The Super Pinky a sinking
minnow. This allowed us to cast the lure and count it down to different depths
before starting our retrieve. The ability to have it sink to a certain depth
gave us the benefit of reaching deeper where we could target the bigger stripers
that usually tail the schoolie fish.

Durable components such as this bronzed color
hook holds up well against aggressive fish
Durability:
At first we really didn’t know how the Super Pinky would hold up against those
aggressive stripers as we’ve seen other lures crack, paint chip off, etc. As we
continued to use the Italian made Pelican lure we were amazed on its quality and
durability. The bronze colored hooks held up fish after fish. The body did
suffer a few scratches from the hooks but because it doesn’t wobble side to side
as hard as say a Lucky Craft Pointer, the paint job doesn’t get nearly as banged
up after a lot of use. The overall lure held up good and no additional damage
was noticed after several outings and a well over two dozen fish.

JIP with a four pound Striped Bass
from the California Delta
Price:
One benefit of mass
produced lures is that they are somewhat cheaper in cost because they require
less human labor to manufacture. With handcrafted lures a skilled craftsman is
need. The Super Pinky is no exception as each lure begins with a raw piece of
balsa wood that is then hand carved into the desired shape – more labor equals a
higher cost. So how does the $15 to $20 price for the Super Pinky compare to
other hand-made balsa wood lures? The price is very competitive and is in the
same ball park with other handcrafted lures. For its uniqueness and quality, the
Pelican lures is definitely worth a cast or two.