Jackall IOBee Frog

Also at the 2011 ICAST show was another great finesse fisherman and Jackall representative, David Swendseid, who showed off the new IOBee frog. This new frog is designed to be fished right out of the box and features many of the modifications already built in that pros use to prep their frogs for battle. Custom made hooks are designed to improve hooksets and the lure features a balanced weight system that allows the frog to stay balanced when casting and walking the dog. This system also helps the frog sit more level in the water to achieve more splashing and aid in a perfect side to side walking action.

The IOBee features rubber skirts for legs, and the rubber flares out and sink slowly when the lure is paused. The IOBee is 2.5" in length and weighs 1/2oz. making it easy to cast long distances to cover plenty of water. This exciting new frog features the realistic finishes you would expect from Jackall and each frog will retail for $12.99.

The new Jackall IOBee Frog that hit the market is being offered in six different enticing colors and can all be found at MonsterFishingTackle.com

D&M Baits 'Baby Newt' and 'Super Newt'

Following their recent release of the D & M Super Newt and Baby Newt, company rep Dale Meddock offered more info and some instruction for fishing the plastic.  "We will have two sizes, both are five inches long.  The Super Newt is a big piece of plastic and the Baby Newt has thinner legs, ideal for a jig trailer or for flippin' and pitchin'.  From finesse to power fishing, this is really a nice bait," explained Meddock.

Addtional Colors can be seen at MonsterFishingTackle.com

He then included the following tips;

Finesse Fishing

The Newt swims exceptionally well at the slowest retrieve. Several things are trying to happen at once during a slow retrieve. First, the feet will spread apart and the legs will start to quiver. This causes the tail to instantly start swimming. If you speed up your retrieve with pulses in the cranking, the legs will start kicking open and closed. This gives the illusion that the legs are thrusting forward.

Chuck-n-Wind or Power Fishing

This is just as it reads. You can just go down the bank, picking out targets. Pushing out a huge wake and nice bubble trail. You can run the Newt at any depth and at any speed, topwater or subsurface. Burning, sends out huge vibrations from the kicking legs.
It is extremely weedless, made for the heavy mats, thick tules or open water. It will work as great a search bait any time of year.

Bed Fishing

The durability of this floating plastic formula is very nice. Multiple fish catches are possible. Just slide it into a bed and it will setup. The rate of fall is two seconds per foot of fall, this is with no weight and a heavy 6/0 EWG Gamakatsu hook. The Newt falls horizontal and slowly.

Kiss Rule-Keep it simple, stupid!

 The KISS principle states that most systems work best if they are kept simple rather than made complex, therefore simplicity should be a key goal and unnecessary complexity should be avoided.

Dry Rule-Don't Repeat Yourself

 This is aimed at reducing repetition of any kind. The DRY principle is stated as "Every twitch of movement must have a single, representation within a cast”. Predictably changes and uniformly are thus kept in sync.

Power Fishing-Rule of least power

This is a design principle which suggests choosing the least powerful fishing method suitable for a given purpose or don`t wear yourself out.

Yamamoto Senko

While the Senko was his brainchild, and has been his tournament bread-and-butter for quite a while, Gary Yamamoto is constantly looking for ways to improve its effectiveness. Over the course of the past year, he seems to have reached a point where he’s able to catch fish seemingly at will by rigging it “backward.”
“The image people have of the Senko is that you fish it slow, cast it out and let it sit,” he said. “But that’s not the case here. With a #8 by one-inch screw in the head and the hook in the tail, you can fish it pretty fast with a yo-yo presentation. Cast it out, let it fall to the bottom, then pick it up and do it again.”
The proof, as they say, is in the livewell and Yamamoto utilized the technique to notch a 2^nd place finish in last week’s PAA event on Tennessee’s Old Hickory Lake. That’s his second runner-up finish on the rig in less than a year – he came in second to Dave Wolak in an FLW Tour Open on Lake Champlain last year using the same presentation.
Last year, during the Porter Wagoner Memorial Artists and Anglers Fishing Tournament on Old Hickory, Yamamoto located fish with the Senko in large marinas, suspended under floating docks. This time he couldn’t get that pattern to go, so instead he borrowed a page out of his Beaver Lake playbook. When he’d been there at the end of April, he’d targeted bass relating to bluff walls, particularly wherever there was downed wood. He found a similar stretch at Old Hickory and doted on it for much of the tournament.

He thought he’d found a reliable topwater bite on his company’s Sugoi Splash popper, but it proved to be a frustrating exercise: “I’d get them on and they got off,” he recalled. “I missed a few good fish.” Fortunately, he then abandoned that technique temporarily, headed to the bluff walls, and salvaged his first day of competition to the tune of 13.54 pounds, enough to have him comfortably in 5^th place, but still almost four pounds off the lead.
“On the second day, it got even worse,” he said. “I missed the topwater fish and broke off a 3 ½ pound bass at the boat when it wrapped around a log.” Nevertheless, he had almost 10 pounds, which kept him inside the cut in 8^th place.
“That third day I did some things backward,” he said. “I started with topwater and didn’t get a bite, so I went right to some docks I liked. I had caught a 4 ½ on Day One on one of them and quickly caught one about a pound and three quarters, just a keeper. I hoped they weren’t all going to be that way.”
On Day Three, his years of experience on the water and tinkering with tackle paid off. First, he realized that he’d been fishing the popper on a rod that was too light. He went to a stiffer model and proceeded to atone for past mistakes. Perhaps more importantly, he recognized that the water had gone up four or five inches overnight, which “gave the shoreline grass some depth,” and inspired him to stick with the topwater. “Fortunately, I didn’t miss any more,” he added
He spent the rest of the day mixing it up between the docks and the topwater. Even with the Senko, he maximized his effectiveness by using two different rod and reel combos: when pitching it to the grass and bluffs, he used a baitcasting rod spooled with 20 lb. Power Pro braid and a 16 lb. Sugoi fluorocarbon leader. When he skipped it under docks, he switched to a spinning rod with 15 lb. Power Pro and the same 16 lb. leader. He used a 2/0 Owner worm hook (not wide gap) under docks and a 1/0 version around the bluffs and grass.
By 10am, he had four fish in his livewell when he skipped the Senko up under a dock and tied into a six-pound kicker which he recalled “put up quite a fight” on his light tackle. With that fish in the boat, he had a limit and a kicker, and eventually culled up to 17.73 pounds, the biggest limit of the tournament.
Unfortunately, despite the big bag and the monster comeback, it was not enough to make up his ten-plus pound deficit to Steve Kennedy. Yamamoto fell just under two and a half pounds short, and while he has no regrets – “I performed quite well,” he said – he also noted that if he’d caught all of the topwater fish that bit “it would have been close.”
With two bridesmaid finishes in recent months, the most recent one to a fellow Yamamoto pro, Yamamoto was even-keeled about his fate as he moved directly on to the next event, an FLW Tour tournament on the Potomac.
“The competition keeps me going,” he said. “It’s what helps me develop new lures and techniques. And maybe one of these days I’ll win one on it.”
He may not back into a title, but no one should be surprised if the backwards Senko plays a role when he does claim the hard-earned trophy.

Costa Del Mar Brine Serries Sunglasses

When it comes to optics for anglers there are few sunglass companies that are as in tune with what anglers need out of a pair of polarized sunglasses than Costa Del Mar. The company not only studies the applications that anglers will use their sunglasses in but also is active in helping protect the environment and the fish for future generations.

Take a closer look at the "Brine" model and you will see that it features Hydrolite material for specially molded non slip temples. This material is actually fused into the frame so it will not come off like many competing sunglasses that use rubber slips.

The Brine comes in three different frame colors including tortoise, matte black and gunmetal and can be ordered in a wide variety of lenses. The hinges on the Brine are integrated and are designed to be very tough. Worried about your lenses fogging up? The Brine helps reduce fogging with patented venting on the side of each lens. The lens size on the Brine is medium sized and the sunglasses feature a sleek compact profile.

Lucky Craft SAMMY

The weather is getting HOT and so is that topwater bite we all love! Thankfully, Lucky Craft's SAMMY allows everyone to get in on the action since they've made "Walking the Dog" a breeze to do when fishing the SAMMY. Combine its easy to achieve "Walk the Dog" action with the spitting action of a popper and SAMMY gives you unsurpassed top water performance. But that's not all. Add the bass calling, glass rattles and the ultra natural coloring to top water bait that can be cast a long distance, and SAMMY becomes a must for all tackle boxes! SAMMY has already accounted for victories at the various tournaments within the past three years.

100 size - length: 4"          weight: 1/2oz       belly hook: #4           tail hook: #4

105 size - length: 4-1/8"    weight: 3/8oz       belly hook: #4, #6     tail hook: #5

115 size - length: 4-1/2"    weight: 5/8oz       belly hook: #4           tail hook: #4

128 size - length: 5"           weight: 1oz          belly hook: #4, #4     tail hook: #4

Lucky Craft FLAT CB D-20

Needing to get down deeper to feed those larger bass with a crankbait? Then the Lucky Craft FLAT CB D-20 was built for you. The FLAT CB is a series of crank baits featuring styling that's as functional as it is beautiful. This approach was born through exhaustive research in a technology called "Finesse cranking," which is used commonly in the Southeast, where cranking baits have demonstrated their effectiveness. The lightweight SR, for example, is designed not to alarm bass upon landing on the water. A unique system that shifts the balance point of a high-specific-gravity tungsten weight allows the user to get the maximum distance at each cast without losing control. The powerful rolling action achieved by a low center of gravity produces an excellent reflection effect that enable us to catch bass on all tries-from the very first cast, on the first day of field-testing, indeed, it is a miracle bait design.

Size: 3"      Weight: 3/4oz      Diving Depth: 20ft

The MR, DR, and D-12 were also developed under the same design concept: The user can choose the most suitable type, depending on water depth. Yet the most notable feature of these baits is the optimized oscillation rate achieved by their slender body designs. Unlike the FAT CB, which can be guided freely in water without being caught in the deadfall or rocks, the FLAT CB is suitable for use in open water, where it can lure bass hiding in rocky crevices or structure, or to catch schooling fish one by one without alarming the rest. Try it, and see for yourself the effect that optimized oscilliation can have.

Lucky Craft LV RTO

Lucky Craft LV RTO 150 and 250. The 150 size is a 2-1/2" long body that weighs 1/2oz. This lure is in the "Sinking" class and posses size 4 treble hooks in both the belly and tail of the bait. The larger version, LV RTO 250, is a 3" body weighing in at 3/4oz and carries size 3 treble hooks.

This new LV RTO series is a lipless crankbait that has a shimmy fall. Takahiro Omori designed this bait to fall with a fish attracting shimmy action that is perfect to get strikes from spooky bass. On retrieve, the wide flat head design increases the water resistance providing a strong wobbling action you can feel. The LV RTO is an excellent bait for use around weedy areas and vertical structure like break walls and bridge pilings. Throw it out, let it sink and hold on. Check out this video to see more!

Trokar HD Worm Hook

The trokar hooks line-up has a hook for every bass fishing application. Here's a description of the Trokar HD Worm Hook.

The HD Worm Hook is a heavy duty offset shank, round bend worm hook designed for soft plastic worm applications including the Carolina Rig. Many pros find this hook to be ideal for the big worms such as the 10" Power Worm. The round bend is among the most important factors when fishing the large plastic worms as it allows for a natural, texas rigged presentation and ensures the fish will stay pegged once they bite. The super sharp hook point allows any angler to set the hook with half the force required with traditional hooksets which means lighter line can be used resulting in a greater number of bites.

Zoom Baits Summer Tips

Zoom Baits Worms

Fishing Summer Ledges

Zoom Baits pro Terry Bolton suggests putting summer-time plastics on a diet Summer time worming for bass is an art form and few know it better than Zoom pro Terry Bolton. Bolton lived and guided on Kentucky Lake for many years. During the summers he laced miles of the lake’s infamous ledges with a wide variety of plastic worms.  Through those years of experience, Bolton has developed a routine to slim his plastic worms down as water temperatures go up.
“Basically, as the summer wears on, I go smaller, skinner, lighter and with less action in my worm selection,” Bolton explained. “It’s a trend that definitely works on TVA lakes throughout the summer and in a lot of other lakes, too.”
When ravished post-spawn bass first hit the ledges on TVA impoundments around the end of May and first of June, the fish are extremely aggressive and will eat anything that moves, including large worms.
“Not only are the ledge fish more aggressive that time of year, but we generally have more stained water, more current and less fishing pressure,” Bolton revealed. “That’s when I go to a bigger worm with a lot of action like a Magnum Ultra-Vibe Speed Worm with a paddle tail or a 10-inch Ol’ Monster.”
During this early-summer-time frenzy, Bolton tops his big worms with heavier 1/2- or 3/8-ounce weights.
“I employ a lot of lift and drop action to the worm early in the season,” he revealed. “The fish want something falling past them with a lot of vibration.”
But by July, Bolton starts altering his worm selection, slimming them down a bit.
“Once the water starts getting up past 82 degrees, it clears up and the fishing pressure begins to take its toll, I resort to smaller worms with less action,” he said. “The Mag II is awesome for the mid summer months – it’s a little thinner and its tail action is more subtle. I’ll drop down to a 5/16- or 1/4-ounce weight to give the worm a slower, more tantalizing fall.”
By the time late summer and early fall arrive, Bolton says “thin is in” and he goes to Zoom’s straight-tail worms including the original Trick Worm and Magnum Trick Worm.
“For some reason, the later in the summer it gets, the more sluggish the fish become and the less action the fish want in the worm, so I’ll back way off to the Trick Worms with a ¼-ounce weight,” he explained.
As for line size, Bolton employs 10- and 12-pound test fluorocarbons a majority of the time, regardless of the worm size or action.
And for colors, he lightens up as the season progresses, too.
“I like the plums, red bugs or junebugs early in the season with the bigger worms,” he said. “But by late summer and fall with the clearer waters, I move more towards the green pumpkins and watermelons.”
“Just remember, the later in the summer it gets, think smaller, skinnier, lighter weights, lighter colors and less action,” Bolton added. “And that should help get you a few more bites during the dog days of summer.”

Discounted G. Loomis Rods

Discounted G. Loomis Rods - G. Loomis Rods are known within the fishing world to offer the highest level of quality, comfort and performance. With fishing rods designed for Freshwater, Saltwater and Fly-Fishing they've got every angler covered. G. Loomis rods are priced at the top of the market and rightfully so, it can be argued they are in a league all of their own when it comes to fishing rods.

Recently, we at Monster Fishing Tackle, have listed rods returned by customers throughout the year. It is our policy that we do not re-stock the items as brand new due to the high price tag of G. Loomis and the expectation of quality that price tag carries. While none of these rods show any sign of use, we have decided to discount them and pass the savings along to our customers. Check them out at Monsterfishingtackle.com

Abu Garcia Reel Sale

The Abu Garcia Revo Reels have just been marked down. That's right, you heard it, Abu Garcia Revo Reel Sale! With incredible discounts on the high quality reels its unlikely that these reels will last very long. If you are in the market for a Revo S, Revo SX, Revo ST, or Revo Premier you need to check out this deal! Available for a limited time at Monsterfishingtackle.com.

The Best Grass Jig Ever?

The Bassmaster Elite Series event on Lake Okeechobee was the site of a dominating performance by angler Ish Monroe. Ish used the "big stick" all tournament and flipped up over 100lbs of bass during the four day event. While Ish Monroe's feat was incredible, the most dominating performance not have come from an angler at all, instead it could be said the most prominent headline of the tournament was the Medlock Double Weedguard Jig.

Over half the final 12 field offered the jig as one of their primary lures during the tournament, and an even greater number were filmed with it on the end of their line during the television program. The Medlock Double Weedguard Jig isn't a completely new bait on the market, its already been credited with numerous wins by local angler, and partner in Medlock Jigs, Brandon Medlock. The incredible ability to get in and out of heavy vegetation is among the most cited reason for using this unique jig. As the name states the jig actually incorporates two weedguards to keep the hook from gathering weeds, yet the hook point is completely uninhibited and, in fact, possibly more exposed than a traditional jig.