Anything cool at the Bass-a-Thon?

Hey Rob I saw a hard head bait that was a copy of the older Castaic.
The rubber body was missing and it was made by Vagabond. Now here is the interesting part. On this bait it had the BADDEST treble hook I have ever seen. It was a round bend and kinda of a matte peuter finish. It was extremly sticky sharp and you couldnt bend this thing out on a 300lb tuna. The barbs were on the outside. I was totaly thinking about you and Mark when I seen this. Mark had already left when I found it so I couldnt show him. The hook was about a 2/0 but I imagine they make them smaller. IT WAS YOUR PERFECT HOOK!!!! I asked the Vagabond guy about it but he spoke verry little english and all he could tell me was that it was a Japanese hook.
Other then that I had my new bluegill there and huddleston had a Tiger trout and a blueish pink one there two. Castaic had a couple of his new gills there as well. I am sure I missed some things but Nothing realy jumped out at me. Okuma's swimbait rods were selling well and oh yeah a guy used the pictures I took of my swimbait box and made a nice swimbait box for sale. It looked good but a little pricey. It was funny when Mark and I walked over to him and he said he got the idea of the internet. I informed him that Mark was the inventor. I dont blame him though, its a damn good idea.

i cant believe i didnt go :(

Thanks Matt for the scoop :) If you ever find out more about that hook I would love to hear about it.

Hey Matt, I grabbed up a couple of your trout baits there, goes with the collection of other great baits of yours I have. Your right about the guy sellin the bait boxes, my girl friend said I should get one and I told here I have seen how to build those before, for half the price. Did you guys see the Lucky Craft bait, I think it was a three piece, S-type, hard bait? It is new. Just wanted your opinion...and the colors of those Jackall Bluegill baits? Talk about high tech lure making....

Had a great time....would of been better if I had won that boat though.... ;( :D

PS....So is KVD going to be throwing a Mattlures bait this year????

Bryan Vogt

I missed Matt's trout baits? Was that on Sunday?

New Jackal Bros. baits were cool. They had some new Deps frog that looked interesting. It had rabbit hair legs that flaired way out and looked very natural.

Canyon Plastics had some cool drop shot worm type baits.

That new Lucky Craft bait didn't do anything for me, looked like a knock off of Rago's tool but smaller. I see potential hook to land ratio problems with that bait.

Huddleston had some new limited colors. Tiger Trout was the color for Saturday. I missed the one for Sunday, but Dennis Miller said they were cool. Maybe someone here picked it up so I can see the color? They also had some different color Huddlebugs. A green/orange and a red color.

Not too much new stuff that interested me. Typical gimmic type stuff thats there every year. Super crowded as usual and a long line to pay for the tackle.

Some guy ripped off SWMB8R's swimbait box idea and was selling them for $25/each. We talked about it and laughed on Saturday. Sucks Mark you should have made some and sold them!! Or you could have ordered him to cease and assist...

My Favorites:

1. Matt's new bluegill with the flared out fins. Freaking awesome and I bought one and will buy more. Can't wait to see the reaction of a bass when it sees that the bluegill it noses up on has the balls to flare out it's fins like a middle finger.

2. A couple of hand tied white jigs that stand up perfectly for bed fishing. I forget the makers name, but they might be carried at Bob Marriott's if I remember correctly. They also have two tail feathers in purple that stand up to tickle the nose of a curious bass.

3. Jackall bluegill giron hard bait was impressive looking, but I'm sticking with Matt's at this point.

4. The new jackall frog and mouse baits with the rabbit hair feathers were pretty awesome looking and I would definitely add that to your frog/mouse arsenal when you get the chance.

5. Scott Whitmer (Triple Trout) had the new 4 part swimbait out and if you asked nicely he also had some protype lures in a box he would show you and explain. All had the same design as the TT, but there was a 3 inch minnow pattern, bluegill pattern, and then he had a giant 5 piece Triple Trout.

6. Strike King has a new minnow two joint swimbait coming out that looks like it might be cool to try out. KVD fished it at Mission Viejo lake over the weekend and said he did fairly well with it.

Those were the few things that stood out to me. It's amazing how many great anglers show up at such a small event and it's really a top notch show that Angler's puts on. Tons of great giveaways as well.

magmaster, you should have stopped and said hi. I didnt have a new trout just my little 6in in a new color. Bass Thumb thanks for the compliments. The 2nd Hudd had a nice blue top color(not too blue) and a light pink hugh along the sides. It looked pretty.
I gave KVD one of my new perch baits and the other big pros bought alot of baits from me. Ish grabbed a bunch and so did Edwin Evers. Murray also bought a bunch and Luke clausen took a couple gills. It is pretty cool to find out these guys already knew about my baits and came over to stock up! The new frogs were cool but Optimum already had them out for a little while. I forgot to mention Okuma had a little VS casting reel that was a 100 size. I am going to get me one for wormin. Rob I bet Mark can find that hook for you. I KNOW you will want them

Matt I stopped by your booth and you were busy. I ended up getting cornered by some ex co workers and stuck talking. I just flat ran out of time because I had to take a friend from out of town fishing. I'm sure you saw me there and just didn't know who I was. I was wearing a cool redneck camo hat and a Champion Boats sweatshirt.
Let me know if you are going to offer them again because I would like to throw one. I liked the original protoype I saw last year(?)


Rob I'll send you some pics tomorrow...

Here's a pic of the Jackall Bros. BG bait



http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/5385-JBBGbait.JPG

Matt email or call me and I will tell you who makes the hooks. I am going to get them from my guys in Japan and test them out. Rob, I will send you some when I get them. If I give the name out, you won't get them on ebay for under $25 each.
Jackall makes some great baits, I have been fishing them for years. The baits they had at the show, only scratch the surface of what they produce. I spoke to them about the other stuff they make and hopefully they keep sending new stuff to us in the USA.
I was one of 20 guys picked for a chance at the boat. I had bag 13 and won $4, it was fun though. Thanks to Rick and his staff at Anglers Marine for a great time again this year.
David Conway

(ooops...nevermind)

thanks Bass Thumb :) I'd like to see some pics of any of the stuff you guys mentioned if you have a minute to take some pics.

>thanks Bass Thumb :) I'd like to see some pics of any of the
>stuff you guys mentioned if you have a minute to take some
>pics.

Rob,

I will try to take and post some pictures of the baits I picked up or was referring to tomorrow.