Each year the fishing manufacturers introduce the hottest new products.  I have selected my personal favorites which are” almost” guaranteed to put more fish in the boat.   Most of these items are currently available at many retail stores.  Without further adieu here they are:

Madeye Shad  (Spro)

 Length: 2.75 inches, Dives: 5-11 feet
The Madeye was developed by some of today’s top walleye anglers and comes with Super Sharp Gamakatsu Treble size 6 hooks, which should ensure hook up with the fish.  The crank bait features a paddle tail on the lures backend, giving the lure a distinct swimming style.  Rumor has it that both John Gillman and Pat Neu, developers of the lure, finished in the top 10 of the FLW Winnebago event in 2009 using these lures.   About $7.

 

Off Shore Tackles Tadpoles and Guppies

Tadpoles (OR36)

Off shore has introduced a new resettable diving weight.  The nose of the weight will dive similar to a crank bait, getting your baits down to 30 feet deep at 1.5 mphs and 25 feet at 2.5 mphs..  Once a fish smacks your lure the tadpole will trip and the diving sinker becomes an in line weight (eliminating the diving action of the weight) allowing you to just fight the fish.   These come in two sizes.  About $7

Guppies (OR20)

These weights have a unique design and look like a small fish, hence the name “guppies.”  The beauty of these weights are they are designed to be used either as an in line weight or can be rigged on a snap weight.   This gives you the ability to tweak presentations at a moment’s notice, and eliminates carrying unneeded product in the boat.  The Guppies weights range in size from ½ ounce to 3 ounces.  These are ideal to run on crawler Harnesses, crank baits or slow death rigs.  Best yet, they are 99.9% lead free.  For the entire weight system…about $40. 

 Rapala Charge ’n Glow

We all have our glow lures awaiting use in the tackle box.  We also carry our flashlights and other devices to charge the lures.   At times it takes effort to get the darn things to glow.  Rapala has introduced the Charge ‘n glow.  It is slight bigger than a cell phone and has eight led lights embedded inside a case.  The case, once activated with the start button will “charge your lures” using 3 AAA batteries.  The intense light will charge your lures quickly with almost no effort.  You can use this on your jigs, crank baits and soft plastics to name a few.  Runs about $15.

 

Lowrance structure scan (LSS-1)

This is a state of the art sonar imaging system for HDS Lowrance fish finders (Structure Scan will not work on older style sonar units).  This add on product gives the angler a picture like view of the bottom content.  This is similar to Hummingbirds side imaging, except it is less confusing to read on the graph because it is a straight down view as opposed to the side view.  If you are already accustom to the side imaging --that is also available with structure scan and can be run simultaneously in separate windows.  It runs about $600, in addition to the cost of the HDS Finder.  The unit details timber, rock, weeds plus other structure below the boat in high detail and can be networked to other sonar units within the boat.   

 

E Chips

Yes that’s right, the world’s first microchip bait has arrived in the walleye world.   The chip gives off an electronic impulse vibration similar to a wounded baitfish, once activated.  No batteries are needed, just water.  I have picked up several of the crawler harnesses from Michigan Stinger Company and cannot wait to use them.  Other companies offer other variations including spoons, crank baits and swim baits.  This technology is common on Salmon fishing lures on the Great Lakes. 

 

Improved Flicker Shads

Berkley has reworked the Flicker shad.  Tons more colors are available.  Bass Pro Shops could feature up to 12 custom colors exclusive to their stores, along with some other retail stores carrying their own variations (Fleet Farm and Scheels).   The price did take a slight jump up, but it continues to have one of the lowest price tags on the market currently.  The new color schemes look to be hot!

Frabil Hibernet

This is a cool product.  This is a net which retracts into the handle so storage in your rod locker becomes possible.  Frabil explains it as a broom stick converting into an umbrella.  When retracted the item Is more of an aluminum pole of about 52 inches in length.  Once deployed, a 22 by 22 by 24 inch triangle net appears for landing fish.  This is a great item as your primary net, or a stay in the boat (out of the way item) in case that main net stayed in the truck when you launched.  About $80.  

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