2003 Tackle Review

Well another year has come and gone and just when you think they can't possibly come up with another peice of MUST have tackle... GUESS WHAT!
IT'S BAAAACK the 2003 Tackle Review..... All the tackle you gotta have for the upcoming season.

Electronics



Ed Harp of the TheOhioriver.com has created a great new CD that will save you a ton of money. The CD has articles on each pool of the river from Pittsburg to Cairo Illinois. It also has maps of every single inch of the river from Pittsburg to Cairo. The paper maps alone will cost you in the hundreds of dollars.. but this CD is under priced at around $10.00. Get one before Ed realizes what he has and raises the price.

There are a couple of new items in the Electronics arena. One could be called the Electronic Bobber. Its the Smartcast Depth Finder from Humminbird. The transducer for the unit is a small green castable unit which transmits a signal to a portable unit which is run by AA batteries. The unit can be tied on and cast so that you can view areas under the transducer. If you reel it too fast it will not transmit. The cost at Galyans is $164.99 which is NOT too bad considering what the unit does. The transducer is a single unit and runs for 400 hours in the water. Cost for a new transducer is around $15.00 or the unit has a dual screen use.. you can use the A / B screens to switch back and forth between 2 different transducers. The unit can be tied to a line with a leader and used as a bobber. Not sure what the unit will take in the way of weight but the applications with techniques like the float and fly are really exciting.

Crankbaits

Every once in a while there is a bait that shows up that everyone MUST have. Some of you older fishermen will remember the "Fuss" when the Shad Rap was introduced years ago. It got to mythic proportions the length that some anglers would go to to get one, EVEN renting them for a day from tackle stores who had only a few. Well Rapala has a new bait out and from the things I am hearing from Southern Reservoir Anglers this might be another of the baits that folks just HAVE to have.



The Rapala DT 10 says it will dive to 10 feet and do it faster and for a longer period of time than other crankbaits. It has a different shape, and according to anglers down south who are already using it, the bait seems to do just what it says.
It also comes in a DT 16 which dives to 16 feet and stays there.



The Rapala DT 10 says it will dive to 10 feet and do it faster and for a longer period of time than other crankbaits. It has a different shape, and according to anglers down south who are already using it, the bait seems to do just what it says.
It also comes in a DT 16 which dives to 16 feet and stays there.



The Knucklehead is a new 6" bait that comes in several colors. I thas a jointed head that wiggles as you work it. It has a popper head configuration.



The Ambush Pop A Long is made from medical grade titanium and as you can see from the pictures above the head moves back and forth on the titanium wire as you work it. You can walk the dog and if worked right the head will pop back together making a clacking noise.

The Ambush Crank bait has a unique flo-thro hole in the bait. It wobbles much like other blade style baits like the Rat-L-Trap and the Silver Buddy. The hole can be filled with scent which disperses more quickly in the water. The literature on the bait says you can run it through heavy brush and sneak up on the "Big Ones"

The Spitz Bandit is a new topwater lure which when you walk the dog properly with it, it spits water out. It has a unique front end although the bait is shaped much like a Torpedo, or other baits that you walk the dog with. Of course there are still the regular bandit baits, but this is one of the first developed by the company that is designed to work the surface only.