November Tackle Takeaways

We idled into the rising sun—the great lion behind the wheel, myself behind the camera shutter. On a Monday morning on Kentucky Lake, we gathered to talk tackle.

Denny Brauer needs no introduction in this sport. He’s indisputably one of the greatest bass anglers of all time. And, despite retiring from the Bassmaster Elite Series in 2012, he still fishes FLW and B.A.S.S. events near his Texas home. Old habits, even after multiple career-changing surgeries, die hard.

Together with Seaguar, Brauer launched a line of Flippin’-specific fishing lines in 2015 that, if you’re a freshwater retailer, you’re no doubt familiar with by now. “Everything is technique-based in rods and reels,” he said. “So, we thought, ‘why not do that with line?’ A lot of customers were confused about which line to use and how heavy a line is. We took a lot of the guess work out for them, and since every fisherman was taking a magic marker and coloring their flippin’ line black, we went ahead and made it black.”

More than a year later, Brauer is still pumped about his signature line. “Fluorocarbon has a lot of shock strength. so it holds up to a heavy shock and the line has abrasion resistance for durability.” (That abrasion resistance is no joke—I’ve seen a guy catch a 50-inch muskie on 10-pound Abrazx.)

Seaguar says sales have been strong, and they’ve added to their technique-specific series this year with a new Rippin’ monofilament and Finesse fluorocarbon. (The latter promoted with the greatest photo of Shaw Grigsby ever.)

But I’m not here to talk exclusively with Brauer. Eventually, the great lion and I part ways so I can pick through the boats and minds of a star-studded field at Strike King’s annual writer’s conference.

Throughout the lake there’s plenty of excitement about new products— hold up, I know what you’re thinking: “Yes, but these guys get paid to be excited.” That’s true, but you can tell the difference between products that they’re truly eager about and those that they’re paid to smile in front of.

Here are a few takeaways from products that were generating real smiles from the pros on the water:

Strike King Sexy Dawg– Walking baits are legendary during fall draw downs, so it’s no surprise that bassin’ GOAT Kevin VanDam spent a significant amount of time slinging Strike King Sexy Dawgs with FTR Contributor David Brown. In fact, nearly every angler I saw appeared to spend the majority of his time throwing the now legendary walking bait. Cajun hammer Greg Hackney told me he likes to throw his with a 6:5:1 reel “for the right rhythm.”

St. Croix Legend Glass– James Niggemeyer could barely be contained when talking about the ICAST 2016 Best of Show winner. “I literally got this in the mail a week ago,” he said. “I love this rod. The sensitivity, the way it casts and the way it feels when you’ve got a fish on the line. I can’t tell you how much attention to detail they put into this. They’d send me samples with the smallest little tweaks, and I’m really thrilled with how the final product turned out.”

Garmin GPSMap 7612- Beyond topwater, Hackney also added that he’s been extremely happy with the reliability of his Garmin GPSMap units. “I wasn’t one of the first guys to sign with Garmin,” he says. “But I was on that second flight of guys, and I’ve had these same units on my boat since the start of the year and they’ve never let me down. I love that it’s all touchscreen. It’s simple to use just like your phone.” Hackney runs a 12-inch GPSMap on the console, and a 12-inch and 7-inch on the deck. “But, I’ll probably change that for next year and run two big ones up front, because we’ll be on bigger water.”

Strike King Tour Grade Tungsten Swinging Football Jig- Jamey Caldwell is hyped on the new swinging football jig from the event’s title sponsor. As a veteran and consummate competitor, Caldwell tends to keep it real.

“The bait gets an erratic action by continually reeling it slowly along the bottom. When the head hits anything in its path, the bait will roll side to side giving it a totally different action than a regular football head jig. I love the fact that I can choose my own hook for the presentation that I’m using. It’s made of Tungsten so I will be able to feel everything the football head is crawling through. The range of heads from 1/4- to 1-ounce lets me fish it from shallow to deep, so it’s going to be a bait I’ll fish all year.”

Enhanced StructureScan- Rising Elite Series star Jordan Lee says the new StructureScan 3D from Lowrance has actually improved the overall clarity and reach of StructureScan. “Really, what it’s allowed me to do this year is to look for stuff and find stuff in a lot shallower water than I normally could. Now, it’s nothing for me to go scan stuff in 10 feet or less and be able to see whats out there. Places that were black on the display before are crisp and clear now.”

Andy Montgomery backs Lee’s claim, saying he’s noticed the same uptick in clarity since the introduction of StructureScan 3D at ICAST 2015.

Strike King Popping Perch– Dennis Tietje says he needed a plastic popper that not only looks great, but walks great as well. He thinks the Popping Perch, which made its ICAST debut this year, is going to be a star on the pro tours next year. Here’s a breakdown on its development and performance.

V-T2 Livewell Ventilation System- Two holes and two pieces of plastic. That’s all it took for Mark Menendez to prove to me that the V-T2 Livewell Ventilation System is for real. On a day full of stressful photoshoots, Menendez returned from a stressful day of  work with vibrant, healthy fish. The same fish we shot photos with at 9 a.m. looked alive and well at the end of the day. It sounds simple, but there’s more to it than that. Check the V-T2 website for the science.