Last week, the annual ICAST show was held in Orlando, Fl.
It’s the annual get-together for the fishing industry and as usual I was there learning about the latest in tackle innovations.
A couple of the booths I stopped at were talking about new products aimed at the “bird” pattern.
Bassmaster Elite Series pro Aaron Martens won an Elite event earlier in the season on what he called the “bird pattern”.
He was fishing at a bridge where baby birds sometimes fall into the water and using tackle that imitated that.
The often disrespectful outdoors media sort of made fun of him for it but the bottom line is he won the event. And he has also won two Bassmaster Angler of the Year titles. Aarons may be unorthodox but he is a fishing genius.
It amazed me that two different companies have prototypes that deal with the “bird” pattern, one that involves sound and another a visual clue.
The fact is we probably throw too much similar product at bass. In my opinion if we want more big fish, we need to throw them something they haven’t seen a hundred times before.
Lures that mimic birds are a good start. Small birds (especially ducks) can be a common prey item for big bass and using something that mimics that could be worth the gamble.
Another highly underrated pattern is something that mimics a snake. There have been snake lures on the market for years but unfortunately, they have been sort of put to the side.
In the spring and summer, snakes are common food for bass in certain areas and if you swim a big snake imitator across lily pads are work it along a grassy shoreline you have a good shot at scoring on a lunker. Everyone fishing frogs. Yes, they work and are fun to fish but consider snakes. Bass certainly will.
Something I have thought would be a real game changer in crankbaits is if someone could develop one that closely mimicked the sound of a gaspergou (drum).
Freshwater drum can be found virtually everywhere and bass will prey on the smaller ones. It seems to me a natural that a drum-patterned crankbait, with a drumming sound would draw strikes from fish that aren’t buying the typical rattling sounds.
As it turns out, I saw a prototype of a lure that will have that sound along with 29 others. We’ll have more information on that and other lure innovations soon, including an ICAST wrap-up next Thursday.
We humans like variety in our foods, so why would we think fish are any different?
You might consider something that looks like a bird, swims like a snake or drums like a ‘gou.
It could be a difference maker.
(To contact Chester Moore, e-mail him at chester@kingdomzoo.com. You can hear him on “Moore Outdoors” Fridays from 6-7 p.m. on Newstalk AM 560 KLVI or online at www.klvi.com.)