John St. John’s Swimbaits
John St. John of Northern California holds up one of his JSJ Snack Size Swimbaits in a baby bass pattern. Designed as a “twitch” bait, rather than a chuck and grind style swimbait, the JSJ Snack Size Swimbaits feature quality components, a detailed paint job and impressive swimming actions. Look for them to make a big splash in the big bait scene. These baits measure 7 inches and weigh a little over 2 ounces.
Also new for the 2009 season is a new sunfish imitation hard bait; the Snack Sized Bluegill. This 3 jointed sunfish imitation will should prove very effective on all bodies of water where sunfish are found.
Josh Upton’s Customs
This isn’t your standard dropshot fare sports fans. Josh Upton’s Customs features big baits for big fish. These hand poured worms come in both ribbon tail & straight tail versions available from 8 to 19 inches, these baits fall into the big bait, big fish category. Popular on southern California lakes such as Diamond Valley, these big boys will produce trophy fish anywhere big bass live. Don’t be intimidated either, most bites come from fish in the 2-6 pound range. When you do put one in front of a trophy fish, the combination of a bulky, slow moving meal often proves too easy an opportunity for big fish to pass up. Just goes to show that you don’t have to throw a “swimbait” to tempt the big girls.
Huddleston Deluxe
New for 2009 from Huddleston Deluxe are their new transparent color patterns. These new patterns are available in both the 8 and 6 inch versions of the Huddleston Deluxe swimbait. These should prove very effective in clear water and heavily pressured fish.
Okuma
Mark Rogers of Okuma Showing off a spinning version of the new Reflextions line of Bass fishing specific rods, featuring split grip handles and . The best price is that the Reflextions line of rods are going to retail for an astonishing $50.00 and are backed by a limited one-year warranty. These were by far the best buy available at the 2008 Bass A Thon, and should be an excellent choice for those who want a top performing rod without the top performing price tag. Available in 5 casting and 6 spinning models raning in length from 6’6” TO 7’0”, there is a Reflextions rod that covers the needs of the everyday bass angler.
If a rod with some more bling is your style, Okuma is also releasing another Bass fishing specific series of rods called C3, which stands for “Carbon Cone Concept”. These rods feature custom Carbon split grip handles, virtually indestructible Titanium guides, and no foregrips. . The Okuma C3 line of rods will retail for $159.99 and are backed with a lifetime warranty.
Also new for the 2009 season is another addition to the already super successful line of Okuma Guide Select Series Swimbait Rods. Mark Rogers designed a seventh model in the line to be the most versatile rod available, especially at this price point. If there was another intermediate action rod between the already proven and popular 7’11” Heavy and 7’11” Extra Heavy, this new “Heavy” rating would fit right in. If there was such a thing as a do-it-all swimbait rod, this model would be as close as it gets. Rated for 15-30lb lines, and 1-6 ounce lures, this rod can fish an 8” Huddleston, 10” Triple Trout or an 11” Nate’s Bait Trout. Finding a better designed rod for fishing big fish with big baits at any price is a challenge in itself, throw in the $120 Retail price tag and there simply is no other swimbait rod that will fit the bill. Measuring 7’11” and rated for, the best part is that this new swimbait rod is now telescopic! This makes storing and transporting this almost 8 foot rod much easier, and will prove to be a highly successful addition to any swimbait angler’s arsenal.
