June Walleye Lure of the Month: Flatfish

Walleye Lure of the Month: Flatfish

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.

Enroll in the Walleye Lure of the Month Club at FishingEnthusiast.com! Click Here!

June Saltwater Lure of the Month: Luhr Jensen's Krocodile Spoon

Saltwater Lure of the Month: Luhr Jensen's Krocodile Spoon

The Krocodile spoon was created by Luhr-Jensen, a world class company with humble beginnings.  The company was founded by Luhr Jensen, Sr. in 1932 in an unused chicken coop on a depression-ridden fruit ranch in the upper Hood River Valley of Oregon.  In the words of Luhr, “Things were simpler then. We made a few different styles of spinners and had special relationships with our Northwest jobbers.  Everyone was “your friend”… it was not a bad time”. 

In 1932, Luhr was 41 years old and his family’s fruit growing businesses was struggling.  With some extra time on his hands, Luhr began stamping and assembling very carefully made, hand crafted salmon spinners.  His fishing knowledge and careful craftsmanship helped to create a very high quality lure.  Before he knew it, friends and associates started demanding his lures.  And so, a little factory was born in his little backyard chicken coop factory.

With the help of his wife and his son and daughter after school, the business grew and prospered.  Luhr was the lead creator, and the kids then replicated his creations.  Most of Luhr’s earliest creations can still be seen in some evolved form today, such as the Ford Fender, named after the Model A from which he obtained the headlight reflector and built the blades.

Luhr Sr. has long since passed, but 70 years later the company is as strong as ever. His lures today are still made in only the highest quality, just as Luhr always wanted.

How to fish the Krocodile Spoon

The Lurh Jensen Krocodile spoons are used by both shore and boat anglers for salmon, steelhead, and other species. The spoon can be cast, trolled, or run off a downrigger. They have a swivel with split ring in front and a single treble hook in the rear.

The spoon can be used casting, trolling, or with a jigging action.  Also performs well with a wounded bait fish action.  Very heavy duty and with saltwater resistant hooks, this spoon can be used for a long time and has been known to catch everything from bass, yellowtail, barracuda, and bonitos to even yellowfin and halibut.

Happy Fishing and Good luck!

Sign up for the Saltwater Lure of the Month Club today!

FishingEnthusiast.com's Lure of the Month Clubs Featured in Canada's WalletPop.com!

FishingEnthusiast.com got some great press from our friends at WalletPop in Canada over Father's Day! They put together a slideshow of Father's Day Gifts that Dad Will Thank You For.  They note Father's as one of the toughest members of the family to buy for, but have created their presentation so you no longer have to buy him that old tie or coffee mug! Insert FishingEnthusiast.com to solve your shopping woes!

Click here to see the slideshow!

Here is what they had to say about us:

Lure of the Month Club

David Hasebroock is using his Omaha, Nebraska-based website, Fishing Enthusiast, to finally make shopping for your fisherman father easier than ever with the Lure and Fly of the Month Clubs. When it comes to lures, you can pick either fresh water or salt water lures and each one comes in its own gift box that includes a note on the history of the lure in question. On the day the three, six or 12 month subscription is purchased, a fishing gift card will be sent to dad along with a personal note from you. Premium lures such as the Chug Bug, Husky Jerk and Deep Baby N are mixed in with every subscription. Prices range $53 to $180 for their most popular Freshwater lure subscription and shipping is free to Canada.

Thanks WalletPop!!

June 2011 Freshwater Lure of the Month: Zara Puppy

June 2011 FishingEnthusiast.com Freshwater Lure of the Month: Zara Puppy

Originally Named After 
Pensacola's Red-Light District

The Zara Spook was invented in Pensacola, a seaport in NW Florida, on Pensacola Bay, in 1922 and sold by Heddon, a  company formed in 1894.  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 along with its smaller offspring, the Zara Puppu.  In fact, even after all of these years and despite its enormous success, the Zara Spook and Zara Puppy’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 now classic lure enclosed is crafted from plastic, but the original was hand-carved from white cedar.  Not to worry, today’s  Zara  is as deadly as the original.

Lure:  Original Heddon Zara Puppy

Size:  4 1/2"

Weight:  3/4 oz

Current Manufacturer:  EBSCO Industries, Inc

Technique:

Cast the Zara 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. 

FishingEnthusiast.com Featured on CNBC.com!

FishingEnthusiast.com was recently featured on CNBC.com as the top gift to give for Father's Day 2011!  What a tremendous honor and sales were through the roof!  Thanks CNBC!

You can read the article by clicking here

Here's what CNBC.com had to say about FishingEnthusiast.com:

If dad lives to fish, you might want to sign him up for a fishing lure of the month club. Fishing Enthusiast has several different ones. Pick the one that fits his favorite fishing spot or his favorite catch. There are lures for trout, walleye, saltwater and fresh water. 

Thanks CNBC!

June Freshwater Fly of the Month: Tungsten Zebra Midge

The FishingEnthusiast.com's Freshwater Fly of the Month: the Tungsten Zebra Midge

From FlyFishingOutdoors.com - Check them out! Great selection!

This nifty little midge imitation was developed, not by one tyer, but by a group of local fly fishers who call the richly beautiful Lee’s Ferry area of Northern Arizona home.

Originally called the Lee’s Ferry Midge, this little silver wire ribbed and bead-headed creation has been fished successfully from the Four Corners area of America’s western frontier through the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and even into the northern reaches in British Columbia.

Umpqua Feather Merchants’ Tungsten Zebra Midge sports a heavy tungsten bead head for increased sink rate and an attractive underwater profile. The neatly tapered thread body is topped with a contrasting ribbing of silver wire and bushy dubbing fibers form a realistic set of wiggly pro legs. When tiny midges make up nearly a fifth of the common trout’s diet in any water on the globe, this is a fly no angler should be without!

Specifications:

•    A fantastic fly pattern developed in Northern Arizona’s Lee’s Ferry region, tied professionally by Umpqua Feather Merchants

•    Midge imitation in the mature larval life stage

•    Fishes effectively in all types of trout water

•    Dead drift through slower water and eddies

•    Faster riffles and current seams can also be great spots to dead drift a midge larva pattern

•    Midges are often most effectively fished when attached as a dropper to a larger nymph or when fished just below the water’s surface with a large dry fly as a strike indicator

•    Because of the common and widespread nature of midge species, trout anglers ought to keep a wide selection of midge fly patterns in their fly boxes

Tungsten bead head provides extra weight needed to fish deep pools and fast riffles or runs

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