Last week I spoke to you about ICAST, the market test for all products new and exciting in the fishing industry.  I had the opportunity to walk the isles at the ICAST show this past week, looking for things new and innovative.  New things?-Yes, Exciting things-oh yes.  Does the consumer have much to look forward to? Most definitely, yes.

Here are Some of the more innovative things that I discovered in no particular order:

The Bagley Bait Company is back, reintroducing its famous Balsa B crank bait series.  These are the same baits that Jim Bagley created in the 1970’s and are credited with winning more BassMaster Classics then any other single lure.  Balsa, a type of wood that lends itself well to carving, has been the choice material for non plastic crank baits for a long time.  Unlike plastic, every balsa wood crank bait tends to have its own personality.

Tru-Tungsten seems to be a company that has finally gotten the art of creating Tungsten jigs completely dialed in.  Tungsten is a very difficult material to work with.  Companies have had difficulty getting Tungsten to hold on a hook, and it is very difficult to paint.  The new Tru-tunsten jig is 96% Tungsten which allows this bait to have a very small profile, in fact the 3/8 oz size jig has the same profile of a 1/8 jig.  Why Tungsten?  Tungsten in a very dense metal, which means a little tungsten can weigh the same amount as a larger, bulkier led bait.  Led, which is a very soft metal, lends itself to getting wedged and lost in rocks easier.  Tungsten also produces more hook ups, as a big bass cannot crush its teeth into tungsten and then “let go” at the boat.

Biosonix of Louisiana has created a new electronic device that is intriguing.  The Biosonix Fish Attraction System uses BSX Sound Technology to recreate the sound of feeding fish to stimulate the natural preditorial instincts in bass.  The system plays back digital recordings of naturally occurring sounds made my distressed baitfish and other species.  These sounds which Biosonix calls “signature sounds,” attempt to stimulate fish by mimicking the sound made by other feeding fish.   Skeptical?  I was, however their claims are backed up by studies conducted by Loren Hill, perhaps the most respected fisheries biologist in our country and Bill Lewis, creator of the Rattle Trap.  All of their studies suggest that fishing with the Biosonix fish attraction system in operation, caused them to catch more fish over the life of their study.

Wade McMaster may have solved the age old problem of applying fish attractant to lures with his new “Bass Wax.”  Bass Wax is applied the way you would apply chap stick, it comes as a thick gel on a stick and dispenses when you twist the opposite end.  Bass Wax is thicker than most attractants on the market, and can be applied to hard baits as well as soft baits.  Bass Wax comes in four different “flavors,” baitfish, crawdad, garlic and sardine.

Hawg Pockets is a neat invention.  Heavy plastic, secured by Velcro, allows an angler to wrap a hard bait, with big treble hooks to a rod without the hooks grabbing anything it shouldn’t.  Now rods stored in rod lockers will come straight out, without grabbing carpet in the locker and without hooking other rods.  There have been other products that secure hard baits while you are not using them, however this product is clear plastic which allows the angler to see his the bait on his rod, its also very cool that we won’t need to wonder whater he will  go.

Legend Laboratories out of Texas has a product that will turn your night crawlers or any other annelid you want to fish with into a glowing Chartruese.  Worm glow was created to produce the most visible color on the underwater color spectrum, making the common night crawler glow in water over 60 feet deep.  I really enjoyed talking to Doug Hannon, the Bass Professor at the Legends’ booth, he has a wealth of knowledge and information.

Dysar Products’ Portable Dock Cleat is a screw down t-bar device that drops into the space between wood slats on any dock.  Twisting the round top of the portable dock cleat secures the cleat to the dock and you have an instant parking space.   

As a consumer, you weren’t invited to ICAST 2004, but we have created a live broadcast highlighting the key products brought to the market.  Be sure to go to www.probassanglers.com  to access our live broad casts from ICAST 2004.  See what some of the industry’s insiders have to say about the new products  “On The Market.”