Here is the latest video of Steve Magnelia out on the water this spring in Texas  banging some heads with the Head Banger Wacky Jig Head. Even in sub-optimal conditions he was able to reel in some good-sized fish. Click the play button above or click here to view fullscreen.

We now have a video demonstrating how to use our hook barb!

The little piece of barb I used on the tube hook in the video really works well on the water.  It will slip, because it is such a small piece of barb, but all you have to do is move it back in position with a pair of pliers and keep on fishing.  The hook barb stays tight to the hook and maintains its shape because of the adhesive in the barb material.  It sure beats using a piece of toothpick through the hook eye, which is the way I used to do it.

If you fish a flipping tube this will definitely help you keep the tube in position on the hook and spiraling down with the weight tight to the head of the tube.

You can also view the video on the Amistad Tackle Hook Barb product page. 

We recently received some great comments on our custom painted crankbaits.  Comments like this make the work we put into each of these baits worth it.  We truly paint them like we would want our baits.  Many thanks for the positive feedback guys!!!

"Received the baits and they look good enough to be hanging on the wall instead of being used in the water... The kid's are already going through my old baits to get 'em painted in some other colors. We will be sending you some more, and some pictures of the fish we catch with 'em this summer."

Thanks, 

Cory O., Lincoln, Nebraska

"I received the custom painted baits yesterday.  Absolutely great job."

T.F, Dandridge, TN

"THOSE CRANKS ARE FN' ILL! Holy cow, man! The pics on the site simply do not do your justice!!!!! I may try and take some pics of them. Christ, I'm almost afraid to get 'em wet!"

 Will C., Virginia

Check out the article embedded below by Mark Hicks on flutter spoons in the May/June North American Fisherman magazine.  

Big flutter spoons have been the deal for structure fishing the last couple of years on the BASS and FLW tours.  They were also a big player in this years Ultimate Match Fishing semi-final and finals for JT Kenney on Kentucky Lake.  We knew the flutter spoon was going to be a mainstay in the structure fishing anglers arsenal when we saw Texas' BASS Pro Kelly Jordan absolutely destroy the fish on it during an Ultimate Match Fishing episode in 2007.  It was shortly after that when we started experimenting with this type of spoon and came out with our Hawg-N Flutter Spoon in 2008.  If you don't have a big spoon in your arsenal and you fish off the bank you are missing out on one of the hottest techniques to come along in years.  Get an Amistad Tackle Hawg-N spoon tied on and catch a big sack!

In addition to the NAF article check out our 2008 article on the flutter spoon here.  Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the article.

*North American Fisherman Article reprinted with permission of NAF Magazine Editor. 

I haven't seen many 7 pound smallmouth bass.  Dave Terre sent me this picture of one he caught this week on Lake Erie.  Dave said he caught the fish on a tube fishing a rock pile.  Dave was fishing with Dave Mercer of "Facts of Fishing" fame.  They were fishing out of Buffalo, New York.  That is an impressive smallmouth!  Nice catch Dave.

A great comment on the Head Banger Wacky Jig Head from Scott Blackburn of Oswego, New York.

"Hi, I just wanted to tell you how happy I am with the purchase of your
 Head Banger wacky jig head.  I live near Syracuse, New York, and fished
 Oneida Lake yesterday as a co-angler with a buddy of mine.  I outfished
 him two to one using the Head Banger, it is by far the best jig for wacky
 rigging I have ever used! The weight, and design works exactly as you say
 it does on your website.  The only modification I made to the jig head was
 to dip it in black jig head paint.  Maybe you could offer them with a
 black finish at some point.  Other than that, please don't change a thing.
  I orderd some more this morning.  Thanks, and keep up the great design
 work!!!!!!!"

The Head Banger is banging heads everywhere!

 

Be sure to check out these recently added products:

• Gambler KO Flipping Hooks
• Amistad Tackle Hook Barbs
• An updated version of our Natural Gill custom paint job

 

 

I have drawer full of hard baits I've bought in the past and culled out of my boxes, or found floating, that are great baits, but not in a color I liked.  I found this saltwater Heddon Super Spook pinned to a cypress tree in the Guadalupe River.  A great color for redfish, but not one I particularly like for bass fishing.  I decided I would paint this up for the upcoming post-spawn bite when big topwaters can be the deal.

This bait was etched, primed, and painted with a pearl white base.  I painted the back black and then sprayed a clear paint mixed with metallic blue over the back using scale netting.  A light coat of metallic silver was then added to the sides over small netting.  The lateral line stripe and accents are a clear yellow.  I used low pressure and sprayed black around the eyes for a "spook" ghost effect.  I changed the eyes out to a holographic version.  A super hard clear coat was then applied to protect the paint.   I've already fished with it and the fish tell me they like it.

Check out our crankbait painting DVD if you want to make a hunk out of your junk!

Amistad Tackle customer Ron Dameron shows off one of many beautiful 10 pound bass he caught using Amistad Tackle Magnum Fluke and Big Daddy swimbait hooks.  Our magnum screwlock is the key to holding the hook securely cast-after-cast.

Amistad Tackle co-owner Steve Magnelia and team tournament partner Mike Hastings finished ninth out of a 146 team field in the May 8th, 2010 Bass Champs tournament held on Lake Travis.  Charles Whited and Bill Polkinghorn won the event with a 17.12 pound limit.  Congratulations to Charles and Bill on another outstanding performance.  Event results and story can be found at the Bass Champs web site.

Check out the 10 pounder caught by Will Chiao's buddy Bill on the Amistad Tackle Senko hook. Who else offers a 6/0, 7/0 or 8/0 hook for the giant Senkos? A hawg haulin hook if there ever was one!

Retired Southern Illinois fishing guide Jay Zapp put a whacking on the big fish using the Amistad Tackle Head Banger and a Flick Shake worm. He won't let me reveal the location of the waterbody, but it was on a small public lake in the U.S. well south of the Mason Dixon line. Check out the incredible stats from the trip over a two week period; 100 hours of fishing and a total of 110 bass - six over ten pounds - six over nine pounds - six over eight pounds - eleven over seven pounds - seventeen over five pounds.

Jay said they tried a variety of other baits, but the Head Banger with a junebug 5.8 Flick Shake was the best bait and caught all of the big fish. The above pictures are of a few of the biggest fish. Jay said the fish were like footballs, having tremendous girth for their length. Jay tells me he has caught 27 different species of fish using the wacky jighead technique including quite a few species of saltwater fish. For some of Jay's tips on the wacky jighead technique, including a knot he says is critical, check out our In-Depth Angling article on the wacky jighead technique. You'll find it as an October 2009 entry in our blog. Click on the entry and the interactive article will open up.

ShareLunker 379 caught by Robert Robles of Del Rio, TX was released back into Lake Amistad on April 16th. The 13.5 pound fish was turned into the Texas Parks and Wildlife Share Lunker Program for breeding purposes, but genetic tests found it was not a pure Florida strain bass. Only pure Florida strain bass are used in the breeding program. The fish was caught on an 1 oz. Pearl Ayu Amistad Tackle Hawg-N flutter spoon. Photo by Larry D. Hodge of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Jerking a suspending stickbait around is one of my favorite techniques from pre-spawn through post-spawn. The bait often comes to an abrupt stop on a jerk, or your line jumps on a pause as a fish kills it. Nothing quite like it!

Here is a photo of one of many I caught last Friday fishing post-spawn fish on a power cooling reservoir. This is a custom painted "ghost" Amistad Sunfish pattern. It is transparent paint lightly sprayed on a clear blank. Ghost patterns are great on clear days, when you want a more subtle color pattern. As you can see from the photo there wasn't a cloud in the sky, but early in the day under lower light conditions we had been catching them on a gaudy Table Rock Shad pattern.  They wouldn't touch this in the afternoon. The fish on this reservoir are still shallow in the backs of pockets not to far from where they spawned. Spawning bluegill are an easy meal for hungry bass this time of year and a bluegill colored bait is the way to go.

For our customers who purchased our crankbait painting DVD email me steve@amistadtackle.com and I'll send you the color recipe for this cool bluegill pattern. Jerkbait fishing is huge in the Ozarks, especially on Table Rock and Lake of the Ozarks. For some great information on spring jerkbait fishing check this podcast out at the Ozark Anglers website. The information presented in the podcast will take you "to school" on jerkbait fishing!

Here is a beautiful 6.39 pound smallmouth caught by Aaron Walters on Kentucky Lake. That's a big brownie!