December Saltwater Lure of the Month: Super Spook, Jr.

December 2010

SUPER SPOOK, Jr.

“For any fish that feeds on other fish”

The Zara Spook was invented in Pensacola, a seaport in NW Florida, on Pensacola Bay, in 1922. This seductive lure with its trademark wiggle was originally called the Zaragossa, aptly named after the "wiggling" women on Zaragossa Street, which at the time was Pensacola’s red-light district.  A few years later the lure was given a new design (1939) and the name was forever changed to the Zara Spook.  The latter portion of its new name was inspired by the skeleton-like design painted along the sides of the first version of this popular lure.

To this day the Zara Spook remains one of the most often fished lures of all time.  In fact, even after all of these years and despite its enormous success, the Zara Spook's left-to-right, right-to-left top water action remains unique in the marketplace.  This 'walk the dog' motion pulls even the most stubborn game fish from the bottom when no other lure can.  The version of the classic enclosed is crafted from plastic, but the original was hand-carved from white cedar.  Not to worry, today’s Zara Spook is as deadly as the original.  Heddon, a company whose history dates back to 1894, originally sold the lure.  It’s now manufactured under the careful eye of EBSCO Industries, Inc.

Date Created: 1922 (The original Zara Spook received its name in 1939 and the Super Spook followed

Manufacturer: EBSCO Industries, Inc

Technique:

Cast the Super Spook out into likely cover.  Let it rest long enough for the ripples to disperse.   With your rod tip at a 30 degree angle from the water, begin twitching the lure from side to side with an occasional short pause to induce its trademark 'walk-the-dog' style action.

December Walleye Lure of the Month

December 2010

Flatfish

Walleye Lure of the Month

In the fall of 1933, Charles Helin unveiled an unorthodox creation to the fishing community.  Helin fittingly named his lure the FlatFish, and it eventually proved worthy of his effort.  The "banana-style" lure’s fierce side-to-side action and unique shape has earned the FlatFish a secure place in fishing history.  So secure a place, in fact, that the FlatFish has become among America’s best selling lures of all time.  According to the manufacturer, an impressive 40 million of their lures have been sold to date.  Over the decades the FlatFish has produced trophies representing the entire spectrum of game fish found in both streams and lakes. 

Over the past seventy years, the FlatFish has grown from a single prototype, that Charles Helin first turned out on a home lathe, to a vast line of high quality fishing lures.  The FlatFish comes in sizes ranging from a modest one-inch lure to a mammoth six-inch muskie version.  There are fourteen different FlatFish sizes in all.  The FlatFish is also no slouch when it comes to color combinations; no fewer than ninety-four variations are available, including four new "Fire Tail" colors: Lime, Chartreuse, Tutti-Frutti, and Hot Fire Tail.

Featured lure: FlatFish

Created by: Charles Helin

Created: c. 1933

Manufacturer: Yakima (current manufacturer)

Technique:

The Flatfish will produce the best results when fished slowly.  A slow retrieve will ensure that the lure realizes its now famous side-to-side wobbling action.   Be sure to tie the Flatfish directly to your line.  A small snap can be used, but a snap-swivel is not recommended.

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November Trout Fly of the Month

Lefty’s Deceiver

(With some Orange Parsons for the Holiday Seaon!)

In the late 1950’s, Lefty Kreh and his regular fishing companion Tom Cofield, both outdoor writers, were fishing in the Chesapeake Bay for stripped bass when conversation relating to this pattern first sparked. The fish that fed voraciouslyon alewives in the bay each season inspired Kreh and Cofield to create a fly pattern from scratch. The outcome of their musins eventually became the most influential pattern the sport has ever known. Almost immediately upon conception the Lefty’s Deceiver, as the fly became know, began blazing a trail for the fledgling sport of fly fishing.

The Lefty’s Deceiver owes its success, at least in large part, to its remarkable versatility.  Nothing about the Lefty’s Deceiver demonstrates this point better than the fact that it can be dressed in virtually any color combination imaginable.  The Lefty’s Deceiver has been tied in dozens of color combinations, each selected to meet the specific requirements of anglers across the globe.  It can also be tied long or short in length, tied to appear full or sparse.  The Lefty’s Deceiver can be tied as an imitator, imitating fish such as herring, alewives, and mullet.  Alternately, it can be tied as an attractor.  The repertoire of the Lefty’s Deceiver is nearly without limit and has earned its classic status.

Featured Fly: Lefty’s Deceiver

Created by: Lefty Kreh

Materials:

· Hook: 1/0-5/0

· Thread: Black

· Tail: Black saddle hackles and strands of Crystal Flash

· Hackle: Black bucktail, green peacock sword feathers

· Eyes: Large eyes painted white with black pupil

· Head: black

November Saltwater Lure of the Month

 Swim’n Image

The Swim’n Image is a wildly effective and compelling lure created by the legendary lure maker Heddon.  Stories about this lure both on and off the water immediately captured the imagination of the FE staff.  Evidently, we were not the only ones caught up in the excitement.  The Swim’n Image created a sensation when introduced in the 1990’s.  Anglers are still clamoring over this lifelike lure.  Apparently, Heddon has come as close to engineering the perfect bait as any lure maker in the market.  The Swim’n Image casts a country mile, it’s fitted with a rattle chamber, and it boasts a finish so real that we wouldn’t e surprised if the Swim’n Image started flopping around on its own, to say nothing about how it performs on the water.

This is the most polished lure we’ve ever featured as a monthly selection.  Heddon left nothing to chance when engineering the Swim’n Image.  The result?  The lure’s finish is among the best the industry has ever seen.  Heddon told us that they went to unparalleled lengths to perfect the process of applying such lifelike and hyper-reflective details to the lure’s surface.  The achieve these incredible effects, Heddon used in-house color specialists and graphics scientishs to push the envelope of the lure design.  Heddon added super-sharp Excalibur hooks that have a patented counter-rotating design.  Top it all off with true versatility on the water, and you have a classic in your tackle box.  Like the Swim’n Image?  For more luremaking goodness, check out the Swim’n Image’s stable mate, the Spit’n Image.

Featured lure: Swim’n Image

Date Created: C. 1990’s

Manufacturer: Heddon/ Excalibur

Technique:

Whether you’re fishing the Swim’n Image or the Spit’n Image, consider changing your retrieve style from time to time.  You might also find changing the speed at which you retrieve your lure advantageous.  The manufacturer suggests a stop-and-go retrieve, a slow-cranking retrieve, or a fast, “burning” retrieve as three specific methods you can use to generate “smashing strikes”!

November Freshwater Lure of the Month

Rebel Crawfish

Tim Gowing is a name Fishing Enthusiast subscribers might be familiar with.  He’s responsible for several of the lures we’ve selected over the past few years.  Gowing designed this month’s influential selection for Rebel early in the company’s history.  Considered a master lure maker, Gowing has been designing lures longer than some of the FE staff have been fishing.  By his own estimation, Gowing says he’s been designing lures for over 30 years.  That’s plenty of time to cook up a mess of killer classics.  In fact, if one were to crack open an angler’s tackle box at random, it’s highly likely that Gowing’s name will be behind more lures than any other individual designer.  That’s quite an accomplishment.

Though Rebel is wholly owned by EBSCO Industries, the Rebel Crawfish remains one of their best selling lures.  The company claims that it’s still one of the best selling lures of all time.  Perhaps Rebel Crawfish sales numbers do top huge selling classics such as Rapala’s Original minnow, the Johnson Silver Minnow, or the Mepps Aglia.  Regardless, it’s true that anglers consider the Rebel Crawfish to be without peer.  It’s the go-to bait for an alarming number of amateurs and professionals alike.  Anglers have a diehard loyalty towards this lure that is truly unique.  We can’t recall a lure that even comes close to the level of devotion that the Rebel Crawfish generates.  Except, maybe, another Jim Gowing designed lure.

Featured lure: Rebel Crawfish

Designer: Jim Gowing

Manufacturer: Rebel (an Ebsco Industries company)

Technique:

Rebel recommends that your style of retrieve closely imitates the behavior of a live crawfish.  “Cast around structure, muddy banks or rocky shore lines.  Use a slow, deliberate stop-and-go retrieve.  This will attract every nearby fish… whatever the species, large or small.  Get it digging the bottom along a rock ledge or around structure… then, be ready!!”

Bayou Boogie vs. Rebel Crawfish

BAYOU BOOGIE      vs                       REBEL CRAWFISH

Which of these great lures should be the November Freshwater Lure of the Month? Vote on the right!