lures Archives - Southern Boating

LIVETARGET Lures – On The Cutting Edge

On the Cutting Edge

LIVETARGET brings lifelike reality to fishing lures.

By Tom Schlichter, Southern Boating June 2020

There’s a wide-held belief among veteran anglers that many lures are designed to catch fisherman as much as they are to catch fish. No doubt, the premise is true to some degree. In order to turn the heads of prospective buyers, new designs, shapes, colors, scents, and even flavors of lures are introduced every year and touted as features and then packaged in bright colors and marketed under catchy names.

“Somewhere along the way, a lot of manufacturers strayed from making lures that had realistic appeal to their ultimate targets, the fish,” says Victor Cook, a founding partner of LIVETARGET, headquartered in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. “We’ve always taken a different approach. While we certainly understand the value of good marketing, we built our company from the ground up by making lures that are as lifelike and anatomically correct as possible. ‘Match-the-Hatch’ is our credo, it’s in our company DNA. Simply put, we believe artificial lures can be better fish catchers when they look like the natural forage that predators hunt.”

Indeed, that would seem to be the case as LIVETARGET lures do look amazingly realistic. Most of their offerings come in natural color schemes, their baitfish imitations have perfect profiles, dark eyes, scaled bodies, and precisely placed pectoral fins and gill slits. But the company has gone further than simply replicating the appearance of baitfish species, they’ve actually invented new technology to do it.

“Lures not only have to look great to be most effective,” says Cook, who is largely involved with the development of saltwater products for LIVETARGET. “They have to perform well, too. They need to move naturally in the water and give off a little flash as their backs roll from side to side. They must be able to stop, go, and twitch just like the real baits they are meant to emulate. In other words, you need both form and function to build the ultimate lure. Tying these two aspects together is where we’ve spent much of our research over the past several years.”

To reach that goal, LIVETARGET invented a new, specialized injection manufacturing process called Injected Core Technology (ICT). Introduced at the 2019 ICAST show, the world’s largest sportfishing trade show, ICT allows the lure’s inner core to host a precise minnow profile encapsulated in an exo-skin covering that drives its vibrating tail or body action. Proprietary metal powder in the inner core ensures vibrant, lifelike flash, and the kind of high-quality realism game fish can’t resist while the clear, soft plastic exo-skin virtually vanishes beneath the surface. The result is a lure that looks anatomically perfect and sports the action to back it up.

“We know from science and our own experience that predator fish primarily focus on baitfish profile, so that’s really where we start,” explains Cook. “We take the forage we want to mimic and match it as precisely as possible. But matching the hatch is not just about appearance, it is about replicating a baitfish’s movements and swimming action, too. With ICT, we’ve been able to blend the natural appearance with the natural action of the baits we’ve produced. The results have been really impressive.”

LIVETARGET’s Slow-Roll Shiner, Flutter Sardine, and Twitch Minnow baits illustrate well the ICT advantage. All three are built around flawless reproductions of minnow baits, yet they have vastly different actions. The Slow-Roll Shiner has a fairly thick profile and hard-thumping soft-plastic swimbait action that incorporates a slight side-to-side roll to give off extra flash along the lure’s flanks. The Flutter Sardine, in contrast, performs like a spoon or jig with the inner core producing a vibrant flash and a feathered tail hook creating just enough drag to hold the points in the ideal strike position as it shimmies to the bottom. Watch it sink and you will see it not only wobbles, it also rocks forward and back. The Twitch Minnow is a small profile, soft-plastic baitfish imitation that can be rigged weedless-style or impaled on a jig. This lure lies on its side as you twitch it during the retrieve. It looks like a dying or feeding minnow, gliding and quivering with the slightest jig of the rod. All three offerings can tempt anything from redfish, snook, jacks, and sea trout down south to stripers, weakfish, sea bass, and fluke in Mid-Atlantic or Northeast waters.

“It’s important to get the appearance right, but it’s the clear, soft-plastic exo-skin that drives all the action,” explains Cook. “With it, we can refine, balance, or create new swimming motions, include a side-to-side roll, or add casting weight without disfiguring or changing the size or profile of the visible target. Because the exo-skin is nearly invisible, we can hide the action generator, such as a paddle tail, twitch tail, or spoon shape, for a more natural, appropriately sized appearance.”

LIVETARGET draws on a wealth of underwater video footage and extensive databases it has complied over the years to help match the hatch with each new product. They have an extensive lineup in both the freshwater and saltwater realms, and they were quite successful even before developing their ICT technology. Last year, their Slow-Roll Shiner, Flutter Sardine, and Erratic Shiner, all ICT products, each won Best in Category New Product Showcase Awards at the ICAST show. Eight additional lures in their lineup have captured New Product Showcase awards since 2011.

“We are really proud of our ICT options,” says Cook. “But we have plenty of other lures in our saltwater lineup that can stand on their own. In fact, for redfish, snook, and sea trout down around Sarasota and Tampa Bay, where I do a lot of my saltwater fishing, I love throwing our Scaled Sardine Twitch Bait. I can catch anything and everything on it. Just twitch, twitch, pause, and repeat. It’s a blast to see that lure get smashed. Our Fleeing Shrimp is another awesome saltwater lure. It looks incredibly lifelike, and you can cast it a mile. Let it settle and then just skip it back across the bottom where sea trout, snook, and summer flounder like to hang out. It has a shrimp-scented body with an embedded glass rattle that makes a ‘tic, tic, tic’ sound, perfectly imitating a fleeing shrimp.”

Just before we went to press, the 2020 ICAST show, which had been scheduled for July, was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Still, LIVETARGET has no plans to sit on its laurels.

“We’re going to take this opportunity to finish working on an incredible, groundbreaking project,” reveals Cook. “Imagine lures that provide their own unique strike-triggering action or that can flee and duck for cover like actual live forage, no batteries needed. With these, we plan to take the ‘match the hatch’ theory to a higher level than ever before, combining lifelike appearance with ultra-realistic action all driven by revolutionary new designs that will benefit anglers everywhere.”

Stay tuned…and lunkers beware! livetargetlures.com

Fishing an Inlet

There’s more than meets the eye when fishing an inlet. There’s much find in the rips, currents, and eddies.

The solid snook hit exactly where I expected, inhaling a large swimbait just as it fluttered out from beneath a bridge spanning a small pass along Florida’s southwest coast. As I hoped, the intersection of the boulder-lined shore with the fast current flowing between the bridge pilings caused my lure to sweep in a tight arc and drop into a small groove of deeper water as I drifted on the outgoing tide. It was there the snook was waiting to ambush anything that might struggle in the current. This is fishing in an inlet.

Releasing the 12-pounder back into the pass, I marveled at its trim, gold appearance. No monster, this one, but it was double the size of fish I had been catching on a set of nearby flats. “That’s the beauty of inlets,” I remember thinking to myself. “They always have a few big fish on the prowl.”

Open Secret, Open Season

It’s no secret that serious inshore predator fish species favor inlets. In fact, most expert anglers spend a lot of time working these areas with the hope of catching their largest fish of the year. Sure, you can tempt a few monsters in shallow backbay waters or pick big snook, channel bass, gorilla blues, and monster stripers out in the open ocean depending on where you are stationed along the coast, but inlets and passes concentrate predatory fish like few places can and allow sharpies to maximize their efforts.

“There’s a lot going on in an inlet to favor large predators over baitfish species,” says “Crazy Alberto” Knie of Tactical Anglers, a tackle company known for its popular Smart Lure series. “If you aren’t already looking for big fish there, you should be.”

According to Knie, who has fished inlets and passes from southern Florida to the northeast and hooked plenty of trophy-class stripers, snook, tarpon, and other species along the way, inlets feature a great combination of current and structure. “Any time you can bring those two factors together,” says Knie, “you’ve got a starting point. It’s a place where big fish are likely to congregate because they have an edge in power to deal with the current and ambush points in which to hold while waiting for baitfish overwhelmed by turbulence.

Read the Tides

Consider, too, where all that bait is coming from on an outgoing tide,” he adds. “Most inlets drain shallow flats, bays, and harbors. On strong new and full moon tides, entire schools of baitfish get sucked into the inlets and flushed out to sea. Down south, pilchards and finger mullet, along with big shrimp and the occasional menhaden, make up most of the menu. Up north, spearing, bay anchovies, and bunker are among the usual fare. The end result is a giant chum slick extending from protected shallows right out into the open
ocean, sound or gulf. No self-respecting trophy fish can pass up that buffet.”

As strong currents slice through sandy bottoms and create cuts, bars, and troughs, the rapid changes in depth also form rips and eddies. At the same time, bends in an inlet or pass make coves and points where baitfish gather to rest and regroup. Here, gamefish slice through schools of smaller critters pooled up by the current. Adding a bridge to the equation offers even more structure plus overhead lighting that creates late-night shadow lines where tarpon, snook, drum, blues, and stripers explode on passing baitfish silhouettes.

In the Night

“It amazes me how many serious anglers overlook the potential of fishing inlets after dark,” says Knie, who recommends tossing a Tactical Angler’s SubDarter lure under such conditions because it’s easy to work in a variety of ways from a straight, unbroken retrieve to a series of jerks and direction changes. “Either way, it presents a big silhouette and big fish like big baits. I’ve had bull reds on it, tarpon, snook, and even a few sharks. In the mid-Atlantic and northeast, it’s also accounted for cow stripers, big weakfish and slammer blues.”

Another great lure for fishing southern inlet waters is a Flair Hawk jig. It’s like a cross between a bucktail and a parachute lure. Work it close to the bottom with a pumping action to make it pulse during the day, and it will catch a multitude of species. Offshore Anglers makes a version they call a Redtail Flair Hawk that is a popular choice for targeting snook, redfish and jacks.

In northern waters, I favor bucktails and large soft plastic swim baits, although I’m likely to use a popper if bass or blues show on the surface. Live bait is yet another option, of course, with pilchards or shrimp favored in southern passes and live eels or bunker the preferred offerings from New Jersey north.

Know your Season

Water temperature enters into play with inlet productivity as well. In many areas, ocean temperatures can run as much as five to seven degrees cooler than those inside a bay or harbor. Early in the season, warm bay water flowing out of an inlet can turn on lethargic fish. Later in the season, rising tides usher cool water into the shallows to refresh summer species. Often, these fish will move up into inlets to feed.

“When you really get down to it, there’s little difference between fishing an inlet or another one,” says Knie. “Sure, there are more species to catch in southern waters than there are up north, and baits and lures might change from one place to the next, but the basic theory holds the same. Consider the tides, line up the structure, and work any holes, rips, eddies, or seams you can find. Keep an eye on other boats in the vicinity for safety’s sake, and never pass up the chance to work shadow lines beneath bridges on the graveyard shift.”

Having discussed the strong currents, rips and varied bottom configurations common to most inlets and passes, it should come as no surprise that these are not areas where you can let down your guard. Many skippers I know keep their engine running at all times, even while on the drift when fishing an inlet. That way, they can react quickly to stray waves or boat wakes bounding off the rocks, changes of direction in the current or a rapidly rising bottom.

Safety First

“Even though your engine’s running,” advises Knie, “keep your lights to a bare minimum and your music muted if fishing at night. Despite all that rushing water, big fish can still be quick to spook. The less they realize you are around, the better your odds of hooking a monster.”

Be aware, too, that you need to hold a secure position as you drop your bait or lure over the side. We’re talking heavy fishing sticks, big baits and, possibly, monster fish at the end of your line. Toss in a rogue wave or two, bouncy rip water, plus other skippers that may not quite possess your fine and courteous seamanship skills, and you’ve got an accident just waiting to happen.

Keep your drifts short and targeted to specific areas. Always watch the water, and be aware of boaters around you at all times. If you can do all that, and maintain your footing, you just might be able to haul a lunker or two from the inlet depths.

By Tom Schlichter, Southern Boating June 2019

The Best Fishing Lures

Top anglers spill the beans on the best fishing lures

Just about every serious saltwater angler carries around a tackle box or lure bag full of artificials. Some haul several to and from their boat on every trip. Simply put, fishermen want the best fishing lures. I’m no exception.

I want big ones, small ones, surface poppers, deep divers, and anything that wiggles, wobbles or rattles in between. But what if you could only choose one lure with which to fish? Which would it be? Here’s what a quartet of expert anglers with reputations for hooking the big ones have to offer.

Poppers on the Net

Hard fishing Nick Honachefsky is the host of the new hit Internet fishing show Saltwater Underground. For boat action with stripers, he’s addicted to topwater poppers, with a Stillwater Smack It, Tactical Anglers Crossover Popper and Creek Chub Knucklehead seeing roughly equal time.

“I’ll throw poppers as a search lure just about anywhere,” he says. “Off the New Jersey coast, they’ll raise stripers and gorilla blues. In tropical or southern waters, they draw strikes from virtually any large predator. If I could only choose one of the best fishing lures, it would be the Crossover Popper from tacticalanglers.com. At four and a half inches, it’s a size anything can eat.”

Top anglers claim that Tactical Anglers Cross Over Stalker is the alluring-est lure.

Matching the retrieve speed to the type of fish you target makes a big difference in hook-up ratio, explains this frequent flier. “For bass and snook, you want to work nice and slow. With jacks and little tunny, you need to almost rip the lure away from the fish. I like a seven and a half-foot St. Croix spinning rod rated eight to seventeen-pound test for this fishing. It’s light, for sure, but it can handle anything up to twenty pounds. For bigger fish, I’ll grab something more sturdy.”

Catch Honachefsky’s new show at tackledirect.com and follow him on Instagram at @nickhonachefsky. The show features everything from anglers on the docks to the top offshore pros, and each segment is only 12 minutes long.

Skitter Me This

Capt. Gary Dubiel of Speck Fever Guide Service in Oriental, North Carolina, is known as

Skitter done! A top fisherman swears by this lure.

one of the country’s premier guides for redfish and speckled trout. He works the Neuse River and Pamlico Sound and puts patrons on big fish using a variety of techniques. But when he just wants to have fun, out comes the new Rapala Skitter V. It’s an all-around, outstanding, inshore surface plug that catches a ton of stripers, speckled trout and redfish.

Dubiel favors a walk-the-dog retrieve, typically in shallow areas over wood structures, grass flats or extensive marsh edges, which he approaches quietly in his K2 Marie Frontier 210 Bay Boat.

“Every day can be a little different in terms of what the fish want,” notes Dubiel. “I tend to fish this lure a little slower than most anglers. That really lets the fish hear the rattle inside. If strikes come up short, you can slow it down even more or speed it up a little bit to elicit that bite.”

With lure color, Dubiel prefers a white belly and he doesn’t stress much over the top pattern. He will, however, opt for orange in tannin-stained water or for a black underbelly in especially clear water on bright days. Attaching the lure with a loop knot, he advises, allows for more side-to-side motion. “This lure will raise fish of all sizes,” he says. “You’ll catch anything from school bass to forty-inch redfish on it.”

A Tactical Approach

“Just one lure?” chuckles Alberto Knie. “Are you kidding me?” Knie is well known in the fishing industry as the head of Tactical Anglers. He’s also one of the most highly skilled and innovative fishermen I’ve ever met. From stripers to snook, clownfish to roosterfish, blackfish to summer flounder and even peacock bass, he’s mastered them all.

“For a combination of thrills and versatility, I’d have to go with the Tactical Anglers Crossover Stalker,” reveals this super sharpie. “It’s just a great inshore choice. I’ve used it for peacock bass, largemouths, smallmouths, stripers, snook, and even redfish. Some of the snook and stripers I’ve caught on it have surpassed the 40-inch mark.”

Knie works the Stalker using a simple walk-the-dog motion to drive predator species wild, and he loves that it casts a country mile, comes through-wired and sports 3X VMC hooks and a low-frequency rattle. “It’s indestructible, and the bone color wreaks havoc along the southwestern coast of Florida, especially in the mangrove stretches around Estero Bay,” he says. “Use a small, shallow-draft boat to probe backbay areas, and you can really clean up on the redfish during an evening bite.”

Vary your retrieve based on water temperature and species pursued, advises this trophy-catching guru. If chasing springtime snook or summer stripers, a slow retrieve around serious structure works best. As the water warms or the fish grow more aggressive, don’t be afraid to speed things up.

Make ’em Mad

Some claim the MirrODean is king in the quest for the top fishing lures.

A former game warden, Capt. Jason Semeyn of Shallow Water Escapes knows the Sunshine State’s waters better than most, especially Tampa Bay. One artificial he always carries along is a MirrOlure MirrOdine. It’s a hard bait he believes works on everything in inshore waters.

“This is a suspending lure,” says Semeyn. “Let it settle a few inches below the surface and retrieve it steadily with a few twitches mixed. One of the first times I used this lure, I drilled a 34-inch snook, and I’ve been a fan ever since. Fish just slam it.”

Semeyn likes to get his 23-foot Hanson Bay boat in tight to mangrove edges on the flats.

Snook in those shallows, he explains, act a little like largemouth bass. “If you know where they are, you can keep casting to the same spot until they get mad enough to strike. It’s a ton of fun hooking angry fish.”

A New Entry

As for me, I love Spro bucktails for summer flounder and stripers, topwater poppers for shallow water action anywhere, and soft plastic jerk baits for a gentle approach when predators seem spooky. Last fall, however, I got hooked on a new lure I helped Panther Martin design. Called the BigFin, it’s slender like a sand eel but sports a high dorsal fin that doubles as a weed guard.

I like the seven-inch, two-ounce size for big stripers, weakfish and large snook, and the five-inch, one-ounce version for school bass, redfish and slot-sized snook. Simply cast out and retrieve with an occasional twitch. The smaller size also slams false albacore when reeled fast enough to stay just below the surface.

By Tom Schlichter, Southern Boating June 2018

Photos Courtesy of Saltwater Underground, Shallow Water Escapes, and Tactical Anglers

How to Install Rod Holders

Most boat owners have experienced moments when that one missing thing on board would help make boating easier. Take, for instance, an extra rod holder in the gunwale. wouldn’t that be nice? That’s why you should learn how to install rod holders.

It could improve the chance of landing a trophy, provide a place to insert a pole to tie up a canopy on a hot, sunny day, or it’s a convenient place to attach a barbecue. Many boats are outfitted with a couple of rod holders in the gunwale at the boat’s stern, but unless your boat is already rigged for tournament fishing with rocket launchers, outriggers and additional rod holders installed at the factory, short of the pain of drilling holes in your boat, to install rod holders for a multitude of functions is relatively simple and straightforward.

Besides the rod holders used for storage or those that allow easy access to a variety of rods set up for particular fish or techniques, having a few along the rail offers more options for the style of fishing preferred on any given day. There are a number of rod holders available with a variety of purposes, such as fixed, removable and adjustable. It is vital to know size and type when you install rod holders.

Each has three main mounting systems: side, clamp-on, and flush. They also are made from various materials such as nylon, fiberglass, and aluminum, but stainless steel is recommended due to its durability and rigidity for handling rough water. It’s also recommended to use stainless steel hardware no matter which material you choose for the holder. So, let’s install a flush-mount rod holder in the gunwale.

Select the Appropriate Holder

Flush mount receptacles generally are available in three fixed angles: 0, 15 and 30 degrees. For your barbecue or if setting up a canopy (with the use of poles), the 0-degree, straight angle holder most likely will be the choice. For kite fishing, 15-degree holders are typically used and are set at 90 degrees to the gunwale with three or four holders required for the kite and the lines.

In that setup, having the holders within arm’s reach is advisable, but another option is to use a trident holder that will convert one receptacle into three. When trolling, 15-and 30-degree holders are used with the angle to the gunwale set between 22.5 and 45 degrees.

Choose Placement Wisely

Carefully analyze where you want to install rod holders before making any cuts in your boat. Take into account how many you plan to install so they are mounted where you want and within reach. Be aware of the angle to the gunwale as you don’t want rods to interfere with each other. As the saying goes, “Measure twice, cut once.” Working with fiberglass and patching a big hole is a different kind of beast.

Installation

Check the proposed location for the rod holder and make adjustments for wiring, plumbing, and other equipment. When the exact location is decided, tape the area. This helps avoid splintering or cracking the surrounding gelcoat. If taped, be sure to mark the hole’s center on the tape. Some holders will include a template to make the cut outline.

Ensure your hole saw matches the diameter of the rod holder. For a straight, zero-degree holder, the cut is a basic straight-in circle. But for the angled holders, you will cut a somewhat elongated hole. Free cutting the hole is fine, but the hole saw is round, so you will need extra cuts to accept the angle of the receptacle.

Try these tips for simpler and more accurate cuts when you install rod holders:

Take the holder, flip it upside down and hold it next to the marked spot matching the angle you want the holder to face, and use it to free guide the drill as you saw the hole; or
Take a small piece of wood (an inch or so thick), use the process just mentioned and cut a hole that matches the angle of the holder. Test the cut by inserting the holder in the piece of wood and make sure it mounts flush. (This will guide the saw more accurately as you cut the gunwale.) Clamp the piece of wood over the marked spot and make the cut.
If you’re satisfied with the cut, and the holder mounts flush in the gunwale and the angle of the holder to the gunwale fits, mark the screw holes by drilling pilot holes. This will depend on the location, a 30-degree holder may not fit at a 90-degree angle.
Remove the holder and finish drilling the screw holes.
Remove the tape and use sandpaper or a Dremel with a burring bit to smooth the edges and prevent cracking. Include a gasket for the receptacle’s flange and, if feasible, include a backing plate to attach the flange bolts, and recheck the holder’s alignment in the hole.
Once you’re sure it fits properly, remove the holder. Apply a bead of adhesive sealant around the main cut. Also, seal the screw holes (especially if you’re not using a backing plate). This ensures a permanent, watertight seal. Replace the holder and tighten everything in place. You now have a new flush-mount rod holder along with another chance to stock the fridge with a fresh catch.

By Steve Davis, Southern Boating June 2018