Abu Garcia Vendetta!

The latest new rod from Abu Garcia... the Vendetta. I had recently purchased a Revo STX reel and was looking for a rod that would match up well with it. While surfing the Bass Pro Shop website in search of that perfect rod, I ran in to the new Vendetta rods by Abu Garcia. After a few research I come to find out that these rods are factory balanced for the Abu Garcia Revos and the Soron spinning reels. So I ordered it that day and got it the following week.

The new Abu Garcia Vendetta bass rods have the appearance of a $250+ fishing rods. The Vendetta rods are all one piece graphite blanks equipped with Pac Bay DPL and APL frame guides with SiC inserts and Fuji Soft-Touch ACS and VSS reel seats. A split grip design is used incorporating high-density EVA material with a one piece machined, anodized aluminum lockdown. A Texas-rig hook keeper is also used on the Vendetta rods. With these components it’s design to provide the best performance and sensitivity in a lightweight package. 

The EVA split grip handle, anodized red highlights throughout and the butt cap laser etched give the Abu Garcia Vendetta rod the premium appeal. This rod is beautiful and clean looking, an absolute steal for the price.

Buy It Now:  Abu Garcia Vendetta Trigger Rods $79.95 to $89.95

Zoom Swimmin' Super Fluke

Source: Bassmaster.com Product Showcase

For those who thought Zoom could not improve on the Super Fluke, which was considered by many as the best soft plastic jerkbait around were wrong.

Arriving at our local tackle stores soon is the Zoom Swimmin' Super Fluke. The Swimmin' Super Fluke has a paddle tail akin to a hollow-body swimbait, but it swims upright without the aid of a weighted hook and has the action only the original Super Fluke has. This is definitely one of those special lures that you would want to have before your buddies. This lure comes in many fish catching colors.

Strike King's Red Eye Shad

Source: James Niggemeyer
Bassmaster Elite Series Pro

The key to finding and catching these shallow fall bass is to cover lots of water, and a lipless crankbait is a great tool to do just that. This is a great time to tie on a 1/2-ounce Red Eye Shad in chrome Sexy Shad and get cranking. It's a great baitfish imitator in clear water, but if the water's stained or cloudy, use the old standby, Sexy Shad. The 1/2-ounce Red Eye Shad is just right a lot of the time, but if the bait's smaller than that, drop down to the 1/4-ounce model.

Three places the Red Eye Shad is great at this time of year are around boat docks, submerged grass and rocks. When fishing grass, make a long cast and use a lift and drop retrieve that keeps the bait just above the cover. The Red Eye Shad has a terrific shimmying action when it falls, and you can get lots of strikes then. You want the bait to fall to the top of the grass before you lift it up again. Be sure to let it fall on a semi-slack line so the lure has plenty of action. If the bait gets into the grass on the fall, just rip it free. You'll get a lot of strikes just as it pulls loose. If the lift-and-drop retrieve doesn't work, try a straight retrieve. You have to experiment to find out just what the bass want on a particular day.

While grass is great for this pattern, docks and rocks can be good, too. Riprap and retaining walls are excellent targets for your Red Eye Shad. The algae that collects on these rocks and concrete really seems to attract baitfish, and, of course, that draws in the bass.

When you're fishing boat docks, be sure to get your Red Eye Shad as close to the pilings as you can. They'll usually deflect right off when you bump them, and that can also get you a lot of reaction strikes. It's also good if you can get the Red Eye Shad up underneath the dock. Those bass may see some lures, but they're not often lipless crankbaits.

Buy It Now: Strike King Red Eye Shad Crankbaits - 1/2 oz.

Buy It Now: Strike King Red Eye Shad Crankbaits - 3/4 oz.

Mattlures' Baby Bass

First, there was the very successful Mattlures’ Bluegill bait and then comes the Mattlures Baby Bass series.  The Baby Bass is 5 inches long, weighs an 1.5oz. and come in four fish catching colors; Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Striper, and Yellow Bass.  The stock hook is a 3/0 Black Nickel Mustad Ultrapoint.  The body is individually hand poured soft plastic and hand-painted.

Just like the Mattlures Bluegill, the Baby Bass series has an awesome paint job.  The colors look great in & out of the water. The construction of the body on the Baby Bass is solid and should expect to get 20 fish per bait with it, some have reported even more. Mattlures have done a great job blending durability and action on the tail of the Baby Bass. When cast out on slack line the Baby Bass will flutter on the sink and when tossed out with the tight line, the Baby Bass will swim on the way down. The overall action on the Baby Bass is a very fast tail flutter combined with a slight body wobble. 

Just like the Mattlures’ Bluegill, there have been many reports of big catches on the Mattlures’ Baby Bass. My final take on this lure is that it is an excellent swimbait to use especially after the spawn because this bait replicates a baby bass perfectly! At $11 a piece, maybe a little much to spend on a swimbait, but well worth it.

Abu Garcia Revo S

A revolution in low profile reels, Abu Garcia has lowered the profile while increasing performance on their toughest low-profile reel to date! The Abu Garcia Revo S features precision machined Duragear™ brass gears with an oversized main gear housed within an aluminum frame. This gear configuration makes the reel smooth and reliable while increasing its overall strength and durability. The Carbon Matrix Drag™ system is constantly smooth across all drag settings, and the shielded stainless steel bearings and corrosion resistant roller and spool bearings provide ultra smooth casting and retrieve with life-long performance. The six-pin centrifugal brake aids in controlling casts in varying fishing conditions. The Abu Garcia Revo S is an excellent reel.

• Great price at under $120
• High line capacity
• Holds up under heavy use
• Very smooth casting reels
• Good drag system

I purchased an Abu Garcia Revo S reel a couple of years ago. It is an excellent reel that holds up well under heavy use. I have it on 7ft medium-action Fenwick rod and throw topwater baits, spinnerbaits and crankbaits with it. I have put this reel to heavy use for the past couple of years and have caught many fish with it. After all the work that I've put this reel to, the Abu Garcia Revo S still cast well, smooth and as reliable as when I first got it.

Abu Garcia has always been my favorite brand of reels, they have the reputation of building reels that holds up over time, the Abu Garcia Revo S will continue that tradition.

Buy it now: Abu Garcia Revo S - $199.99 

Lucky Craft's Redemption Spinnerbait

Lucky Craft has introduced a new spinnerbait called Redemption designed by Skeet Reese, which helped him win the 2008 Angler of the Year award. The premium-quality Redemption Spinnerbaits with a Colorado and Willow blade combination are extremely well-balanced and feature Lucky Craft's lifelike paint schemes, tungsten components, and thick, durable, pulsating skirts with rattles incorporated into the head of the bait for added noise, vibration and volume. As with all Lucky Craft products, this lure is a little pricier than that of other brands, but when you see the quality and the fish catching effectiveness of this bait, it is well worth the price.

Buy it now: 

Lucky Craft Redemption Spinnerbaits - Colorado/Willow Blades

Gary Yamamoto Fat Ika!

The Fat Ika from Gary Yamamoto is a very effective lure for many bass anglers. Though it’s been used by many of the top tournament anglers for sometime, the Fat Ika is still a bait unknown to many. Because the Fat Ika looks like a tube bait, many anglers start off rigging it as such. However, it is only when rigged backward that the Fat Ika discovers it’s greatest potential - as a penetrating target bait.

When rigged on a Gamakatsu 5/0 EWG hook, the Fat Ika does it’s magic. Rigged without a weight, the bait should be cast out and let to  sink on a slack line. The Fat Ika falls away from the angler when rigged as such, so significant slack should be allowed on the sink. The bait falls at an angle because of the salt in the plastic creating weight to the back end of the bait.

Most strikes occur on the initial fall, but if the bait settles to the bottom, twitch the  bait upwards with a sharp lift of the rod tip. One or two lifts, then let the bait settle back to the bottom on a controlled slack line. Always watch your line for indications of a strike. As you lift the bait, the skirt flares, and then folds back as the bait falls again to the bottom. A very realistic crawfish action is created by the Fat Ika’s lift and drop. Most often used in shallow areas with targets such as docks, brush, weeds, etc., the Fat Ika can really penetrate deep into such areas with it’s backwards decent. This is a technique where you’ll need to use a medium heavy rod with at least 12 lb test line. Much like the Senko worm, this bait should be fish slow.

Gary Yamamoto Senko

A few years ago, I went out fishing at a local lake with a friend who urged me to try out this new lure, it was a soft plastic cigar shaped worm by Gary Yamamoto called a Senko. It immediately became one of my go to lures and it still remains to this day.

There are many ways to fish the Senko: Texas rig, Carolina rig, Wacky, Dropshot, etc. But my favorite way to fish the Senko is on a Texas rig weightless on a 3/0 or 4/0 offset worm hook in red. This worm is heavy enough to fish with a baitcaster, but I usually fish it on spinning outfit with 6 lb. flourocarbon.

Presentation: Cast the bait out and let it fall, keep a loose line but keep contact with the lure because this is when most strikes occur. Once it hits bottom, raise your rod tip slightly to raise the worm then let it drop again, keep doing this and you will get bit. The lure doesn’t just stay in one place, instead of falling straight down the bait will actually back up for you. If you’ll just feed it a little line, the bait will actually float back towards the bass, creating a strike for you. That’s a fish catchin’ action I’ve never seen in a worm before. The Senko has another plus that bears mentioning. This bait has a natural action to it that absolutely anyone can fish effectively. The Senko will walk perfectly with very little rod-tip needed, by just barely twitching it. The best tip that I can give you when fishing the Senko this ways is that you can never fish it too slow, the slower the retrieve, the better. Keep an eye on your line because sometimes the strike will be so subtle, so set the hook when you see that line move.

The Senko comes in many great fish catching colors and I’ve tried most of them, but my favorite would probably be the watermelon w/black flakes. So go out there and give this lure a try, you will not be disappointed.

Buy it now: 

Gary Yamamoto Senko - 5''

Strike King's Rage Tail Toad

I first purchased the Rage Tail Toad earlier this year and used it for the first time at a local lake here in southern California. 

Tied it on a 5/0 EWG hook on braided line. I could not believe what I saw on the first cast, I never thought that a soft plastic could be so much like a buzz bait, this made all kinds of noises and splashes. I could not believe how much water movement and noise this bait produces....blurp! blurp! blurp! blurp! blurp! blurp!

I got a couple of blowups that morning, but was not patient enough, setting the hook too soon. So, I ended up leaving and then returning late that afternoon for a couple of hours and that's when it got crazy. First cast was next to the weeds, a couple of cranks on the reel and bam a 3.5 lbr was all over it. Fished that lake for a couple of hours just before dark and caught about 6 fish all on the Rage Tail Toad. I would love to see what this lure does at night in the dark, but the lake was closing, so I had to leave. 

If the Rage Tail Toad can give this heart stopping surface action, I sure would like to see what the Rage Shad can do. If you are looking to try out a new lure, I highly recommend the Strike King's Rage Tail Toad...I'm sure that you will love it just as I did. 

Buy it now: 

Strike King Rage Tail Toad (5/pk)

RoboWorm

Roboworm has been making the best hand-poured worms for bass on the West Coast for several years. They can be found in the boats and tackle bags of some of the biggest names in bass fishing's pro circuit.

Roboworm's straight tail worms are proven fish catchers and available in fantastics colors. All the colors are clear and well defined in each worm and they are able to achieve almost near-perfect consistency worm after worm. My personal favorite colors are the Margarita Mutilators and the Oxbloods, these colors have worked well for many of us anglers in southern California. But don't get me wrong, these worms come in many colors that would work just as well in lakes elsewhere. Other characteristics that separates the Roboworm from other worms are that Roboworm embeds salt deeply into the head of the worm as it is being poured, which makes the salt dissolve slowly. Most plastic worms have salt on the outside, which makes the salt dissapate quickly.

You've read about these worms in bass fishing magazines and publications. They've been big money winners all over the country, and when you see how perfectly each worm is poured you'll know why. The 4 1/2" straight tail worm is great for dropshotting and along with the 6", is great for any finesse technique you care to try. For a larger presentation and Texas-rigging try the beefy 7" worm. No matter what your favorite worm technique is or where you fish, there's a Roboworm Straight Tail worm that will catch you fish.

Zoom Super Fluke

A new spin on a Zoom classic, the 7-inch soft plastic Magnum Super Fluke is designed to catch bigger fish than the traditional 5-inch model. Whereas the 5-inch Zoom Super Fluke pairs nicely with medium spinning and casting gear with 10- to 14-pound test line and a 4/0 to 5/0 hook, the new, beefier Fluke needs to fished with medium-heavy tackle, 15- to 20-pound line and a 6/0 to 12/0 hook. The bait can be fished weightless, like the 5-inch Fluke is typically fished, or it can be fished down in the water column by using a weighted swimbait hook. The bait is available in nine different colors. 

Buy it now: 

Zoom - Super Fluke (10/pack)

Berkley HollowBelly Pro Tube

Following in the footsteps of the enormously popular Berkley HollowBelly Swimbait, the new 4-inch Berkley HollowBelly Pro Tube gives anglers a large tube bait designed for sight fishing, swimming and flipping that is both durable and soft.

The Berkley HollowBelly Pro Tube has the same feel as the swimbait, with a soft body that allows hooks to easily penetrate the bait and the mouth of the bass. The large profile tube is easy to cast and flip with accuracy, plus bass easily detect the big Pro Tube even in shallow, stained water. With the PowerBait scent and flavoring technology built into each bait, fish hang on a lot longer. Other features of the Berkley HollowBelly Pro Tube include 3-D eyes, clear coat finish and new color introductions (available in 10-fish catching colors).