We’ve been out scouring the West Coast sportsmen’s shows this winter, in search of the coolest new fishing stuff…and let me tell ya, brother, we found plenty! From boats to plastic baits and everything in between — there’s a lot of stuff out there that you just may need.

Here are some of our favorites…

A Fresh Take on Driftboats

We’re always suckers for new boat concepts and Chuck Gross at Pavati Marine is an energizer bunny full of slick new ideas. Okay, so he’s obviously the “drift boat with doors” guy, which makes so much sense, but he’s just introduced his new fully customizable floor layout.

Everything's movable in here...

No more anchors bouncing around in the bottom of the boat on the way home!

Swimbaits for the Rest of Us

For those of us not named Skeet Reese or Kevin Van Dam, amassing a workable collection of swimbaits is an expensive proposition. These days you can spend more on a rubber bait that looks like a trout than you paid for your first truck. Now, however, thanks to Ho Pham, the president of the Real Fish Bait Company, us Regular Joes can actually afford a collection of swimbaits without taking a second out on the house.

Pham has an impressive list of cool baits that cost less than ten bucks, including Crappie, Bluegill, Tilapia and, our fave, the goldfish…

Bet they've never seen one of these before!

A swimbiat for under $10? No kidding!

Real Fish Bait Co. will have trout and shad models out soon too and Pham has plans for all sorts of baits in the near future like spanish mackerel, sardine, bullhead, baby bass, brook trout, balllyhoo, baby pike, brown trout, anchovy, baby tuna and a bunch more.

What’s really cool about this small company is Pham truly wants to know what his customers want. To that end, you can log onto Real Fish Bait Company, and tell him exactly what types of baits you’d like to see him produce — and in what sizes.

Sweet New Bass Sticks

Well, if you’re going to pick up some of those swimbaits, you might as well get a nice rod to throw ‘em on. It just so happens that you’re in luck! Lamiglas has just come out with a new lineup of rods: The Excel Series, which features 10 graphite models and 1 glass version to cover pretty much any bassin’ situation you’ll encounter: froggin’, small swimbaits, crankin’, rip baits, drop shot, etc…they’re all here.

The Excel’s feel really nice & light and have crisp actions.What’s really great about them is they come in at a really user-friendly price-point in the $99-$119 range. These days, to get a sick, American-made rod for a hundred bones is almost unheard of. Check ‘em out at Lamiglas

Back and Better than Ever!

It was a sad day for salmon and steelhead guides across the West when we found out Shur-Cure egg and prawn cure kinda just dropped off the map. For many of us, this stuff was like gold — the easiest cure to use ever created and the fish really, really seemed to like it. Unfortunately, the cure’s creator, Mr. Shur-Cure himeself, Budd Mackey, got tired of making it a while back and all of us diehards had to find a new cure.

That's Ms. Shur-Cure, to you pal!

It's almost like organic fish food!

Finally, Somebody Thought of This!

Let’s face it, the worst part of owning a driftboat is the whole tilt it up so it can drain scenario. You know the story — you go to rinse it out or store it and always seem to be propping it up precariously with a 2×4 or stick or whatever…It’s just a matter of time before the boat comes cashing down on somebody or it hits so hard that you break the trailer tongue.

Well, finally there’s an answer! Ken Smith has come up with a simple yet totally ingenious drift boat stand that allows you to prop up the boat safely.

A little piece of mind, eh?

With 4 bolts, you quickly and easily install this bad boy to your trailer and you’re good to go. Just pull the pin, lift the trailer and the leg drops into place. Put the pin back in and you’re done…And when it’s time to hit the road, the stand easily kicks up and out of the way.

Ready for the road...

Check ‘em out at Ken’s website, www.smitty-tackle.com

The Eel Deal

Being the Delta striper junkies that we are, we were drawn like moths to the flame to the Vision Hooks & Tackle booth when we saw their new line of sexy swimbaits: the Surf Eels and Sand Eels.

Though we have yet to get any into our hot little hands, these babies have that holographic paint job and skinnier profile that look a lot like small smelt, baby steelhead and salmon that stripers seem to really enjoy eating. See more colors at the website.

Cut it Up!

Finally, this one comes to you from our “we’re not really sure why we need this, but it sure looks fun,” file. Allow us to present Motion Marine’s Lil’ Mo Jet. These micro jet sleds come in three different sizes (12′, 12′ and 16′) but the little guy somehow looks the coolest.

Big Fred and Lil' Mo

See it a Motion Marine

West Coast bass wizard Gary Dobyns has completely re-designed his entire Dobyns Rods lineup for 2009 and has a whole mess of technique-specific sticks to cover just about any bass fishing situation you’ll encounter. The Dobyns Rods’ new 702 SF spinning stick is a nice, lightweight and modestly priced entry aimed at finesse plastics aficionados. But how does it fish?

Features & Specs

The 702 SF Champion Series is 7 feet long and rated for 6- to 12-pound test. It features a medium/light fast action and will cast 1/8- to 1/2-ounce lures.

• No foregrip
• Split rear grip
• Custom hook keeper designed specifically for dropshot rigs
• SiC guides
• Fuji reel seat
• MSRP: $229

On the Water Test

If you’ve been following the Dobyns Rods story, you’re probably well aware that the initial offerings were prone to some breakage issues. They really weren’t design flaws but quality control issues at the Chinese factory. Several hard core bassers I know said they liked those early rods but tip breakage was a problem. Although if you got one of the random good ones, the rods preformed very well.

The Cliff’s Notes version of the tale is Dobyns dumped his production facility in China and eventually found one in Korea that will produce a much better product. He also revamped the line, tweaking here and there and changed some of the models. The cosmetics have also been changed — the Champion Xtreme line, in particular, are really “pimped out.”

I got an early sneak peak at the 702 SF a couple weeks back and was immediately impressed. The first thing you’ll notice when grabbing one of these new generation of Dobyns Rods is how light they are…an important factor when you’re going to cast all day to cold, lethargic bass that bite extremely softly.

Dobyns designed the 702 SF with dartheads, shaking worms, shaky heads, tubes and Gitzits in mind. For my trial run, I did a little of everything but spent a lot of time casting a 1/4-ounce Smallie Beaver a lot of the day.

The rod was light, responsive and sensitive. Without a foregrip, you get direct contact with the blank so you can detect even the most subtle grab. The bass were deep that day and I could easily feel when my lead head or dropshot ticked the rocks in 35 feet of water.

Same holds true for the split rear-grip. More sensitive — and without all that cork, lighter, too…The extra length back here also gives you a place to put your left hand if you need to really punch a cast a long distance into the wind:

The action of the rod seemed perfect. A soft enough tip to cast light baits and protect light leaders while also possessing enough cajones in the lower end to muscle a big kicker bass out of deep structure:

Conclusion

The Dobyns Rod 702 SF was a pleasure to fish..I only wish the fish were on a better chew so I could have “really” given it a good, line burning, bent-double all day workout. Oh well, that’s fishing…

As a side note, though not designed for it, I think the 702 SF would also be a nice stick to throw Kastmasters and Panther Martins for trout at your favorite lake…just in case the bass aren’t biting.

Time will tell if all the quality control problems have been resolved with Dobyn’s new Korean rod plant, but I have a strong hunch that the West’s all-time money leader in bass tournaments has got all the bugs worked out.

Okay, so the first thing you’ll notice about the GLoomis GWR 901C is the color. The bright aqua color (GLoomis calls it “Seafoam Green”) is hard to miss — and rest assured you’ll always be able to spot which rod is yours in the boat in an instant. Color aside, does the rod live up to the manufacturer’s claims of being extremely light and sensitive and an excellent stick for large topwater plugs and soft plastics?

Features & Specs

The GWR 901C was designed with inshore saltwater fishing applications — flats and shallows, specifically — in mind. Redfish, specks, baby tarpon and other medium-sized saltwater marauders on poppin’ corks, topwater hardbaits and soft plastics were were the fish I believe the design folks were thinking about.

• Length: 7’6″
• Line Rating: 10-20 pound test
• Lure Weight; 1/4 to 1 1/4 ounce
• Action: Extra-Fast
• Power: Mag-Medium
• MSRP: $245

The GWR 901C also features beefy, saltwater-grade guides:

And a blank-through handle design to give you more sensitivity…

On the Water Test

Well, we don’t have any greenwater flats fishing in my neck of the woods (unless you count the old truck tire beds in the Natomas Drainage Canal near downtown…ah, never mind), but I have been doing quite a bit of “brownwater” flats fishing on the California Delta for striped bass, where topwater poppers and swimbaits are my two main weapons of choice.

While I’ve been happy with my swimbait rod, I’ve been searching for the ultimate stick for chucking Pencil Poppers and other surface baits to stripers. I’d been running a crisp 7 footer that had a super-quick action that didn’t load up well when casting the big poppers — or when a fish would eat one and I haven’t been happy with the overall performance. Enter the GWR 901C…

My first thought before I even made a cast was that I was going to hate the color (you see what I mean…that seafoam green really makes an impression). The first day out, my buddies gave me some grief about it too, but quite honestly, I really like the hue. It took a few days for it to grow on me but it’s now kinda of my “signature” striper rod…”Foamy” as it’s affectionately known now.

Anyway, enough about the color. For sporting heavy-gauge line guides, this rod is amazingly light and I can cast it all day without any problems. It’s got a pretty soft tip which loads up nicely with a popper, allowing me to expend a lot less energy when casting.

That slow tip section is also important when a big striper inhales your plug — he can take the lure down without feeling a whole lot of resistance, which is a huge key in getting these fish to stay hooked — kinda like plug fishing for salmon and steelhead, which this rod would work for, too…

For working poppers and walking the dog, I wish the tip was just a hair faster. The give in the top third of the rod means I have to pop a little harder and reel faster — the later I’ve been able to compensate for by using a high speed reel. But it’s definitely not too slow — I can still set the hook with authority with the rod.

In a total fit of laziness one afternoon, I didn’t change rods when the bite switched from poppers to swimbaits. What I quickly discovered was the 901C turns out to be one hell of a 1/2- to 3/4-ounce swimbait rod as well! It casts the baits really nicely and has some give to it when a striper grabs the lure. The exposed blank in the handle also helps me easily differentiate between rock rubs and soft tale grabs. It’s now my number one swimbait rod. Foamy in action…

You can also see the rod put the wood to a mid-teener striper in this short video:

Conclusion

There’s really not a whole lot I can say about the GLoomis GWR 901C other that it’s my new favorite striper stick. Yea, $245 is a bit spendy in this economy and the action is just a tad softer than I’d like, but overall, the thing is absolutely sick! You could say my fishing pals are now “green” with envy but that would be cheesy…anyway, 5 STARS!

GLoomis’ STR 1263C is ten and a half feet of bad-ass steelhead whipping technology. Read on for the complete review!

Don’t let the line and power ratings (6-12 lb. and medium-light) fool you, the GLoomis STR 1263 is a serious steelhead catching machine. At 10’6″, it’s got excellent castability and line control capabilities for drift fishing big rivers and plenty of line-lifting for float fishing. It’s also billed as a light-duty mooching rod for silvers.

Key Features

• Ample backbone
• Reasonably soft tip
• Available in GL2 or GL3

On the Water Test

I recently took the 1263 to British Columbia to chase trophy steelies. I opted for the GL3 model and used it primarily as a float rod. Initially, however, I drifted eggs and Slinkies with it and was instantly impressed with the castability of the stick — damn, a county mile and then some! But, it wasn’t just about distance…for such a long rod, I had pretty good cast control with it and was able to drop my gear on the edges of log jams and under overhanging trees with amazing precision…Of course, I’d like to take all the credit for that one, but I know the rod had something to do with it!

While the STR 1263 is a good drift rod, it’s the Mac Daddy of steelhead float rods. Its length made mending the line and keeping my float drifting along drag-free a snap. Though the tip has some give, it’s still got enough power to set hooks solidly and land fish in hot water. Here she is in action…

My buddy Matt also fished a 1263 on that trip…check out that sweet bend!

As you can see, the rod had plenty of cajones to handle the hard-charging brutes of the North. In fact, I dubbed mine “Big Poppi” and Matt ended up calling his “The Whuppin’ Stick” — we both were, of course referring to our 1263s…just to avoid confusion :)

If the rod can put toads like this on the beach, you can rest assured it can handle steelies on your home water…

Conclusion

All I can say is the STR 1263 is a man’s stick! Go confidently north with it and slay like a champion! I really appreciated all the power so I could land those BC beauties in reasonably short order and get them back on their way to the spawning grounds.

While I haven’t had a chance to mooch in the salt with it yet, I started thinking that the STR 1263 may be a sweet light-duty surf rod the next time I head down to Baja.

The only downside I could find is the rod’s length makes it a bit tip heavy…Before I started fishing with it, I was a little concerned that it would be something that would start to bother me at some point throughout the day but I can honestly say I never noticed it once I got on the water and had 20 pounders on the brain.

GL3 version, MSRP $320
GL2 version, MSRP: $240

This is a bad-ass rod…4.5 stars!

More fishing rod reviews

St. Croix hits the kokanee market with the Premier PC76LM rod.

Overview

The 7-foot, 6-inch PC76LM is a handsome trigger grip casting stick with a very interesting action that some kokanee anglers are sure to appreciate. Though made of graphite, the rod handles very much like one made of fiberglass, which will protect light leaders and help keep hooks from tearing out of the mouths of landlocked sockeye salmon.

Key features

• SCII graphite construction
• Ultra-hard SiC tip top
• Premium-grade cork handle
• Batson Forecast hard aluminum oxide-guides

On the water test

From the first time you pick up the Premier PC76LM, it screams “KOKANEE!!!!” It’s got a nice long cork handle perfect for stuffing into tube style rod holders on downriggers and a super soft action. The stick is rated for 2- to 10-pound line though it is slow enough that you could probably run 2-pound on it (10 seems a bit heavy, however).

On the other hand, I’m always on the hunt for a rod that will also enable me to backtroll small plugs on rivers for trout, and this one looked like it might just be able to double dip.

My first trial run took place on Lake Berryessa, one of California’s better producers of 18- to 20-inch kokanee salmon. I quickly set up on a popular spot, got my line in the water and dropped the ball down. When clipped into the downrigger release, the rod arced over beautifully and its parabolic action helped keep me from popping the line out of the clip on the way down…something I’m pretty skilled at!

That same super soft action, however, made it a bit of a pain to get my line to release from the clip when I got bit. After several hard yanks, the line cleared and I got to fight my first koke with the Premier PC76LM. From a keeping the fish from pulling loose standpoint, the rod preformed very well. It bends so much, though, that i had no leverage on the fish and I feel the softness actually made it harder to feel what the fish was doing…

As you can see here, the blank starts bending just after the second guide…

I had no trouble landing a limit of fat kokanee on the rod and ended up only losing 1 out of 7 hooked, which is a pretty nice batting average when it comes to kokes.

The next day, I hopped into my pontoon boat and tried backtrolling a No. 50 Hot Shot for trout on a local river. During that experiment, I found the rod’s action entirely too soft. With just the pressure of a small plug working in the current, the stick nearly doubled in half, making it extremely hard to read how my lure was working. Granted, the rod wasn’t designed for this purpose, so I really can’t knock it for not being a mini Hot Shotter.

Conclusion

So, getting back to the kokanee angle…The St. Croix Premier PC76LM is a light, durable and classy-looking rod that has its merits in the world of landlocked salmon fishing. Overall, it is a very nice rod but I think it’s just a little too soft to be considered the perfect koke outfit and I’d like to see St. Croix give it a little faster action. But for those of you who are into rods that really go “bendo,” this may be the one for you.

For more fishing rod reviews, click here.

If you’re into tossing spinners and spoons for salmon and steelhead, the Lamiglas X10 MTC may just be your rod.

General Overview

Designed by the Master of Metal himself, Bill “General Zog” Herzog, Lamiglas’ X10 MTC Certified Pro is one serious hardware-hucking howitzer. At 10 feet in length, the rod allows you to cast lures into different zip codes while also giving you excellent line control and mending capabilities. Designed mainly for tossing spoons, the rod is equally at home when you’re swinging spinners as well.

Key Features

• Fuji Alconite Concept guides
• Exposed-blank reel seat
• Premium cork
• Signature of the man himself, right on the blank

On the Water Test

My first overall impression of the Lamiglas X10 MTC was that it was a handsome-looking stick of good overall quality. Without fishing it yet, my gut reaction was that it seemed a little too beefy. However, I quickly changed my tune out on the water.

The tip section of the rod proved to be about a perfect (and somewhat difficult to come-by) blend of softness and power. It was just slow enough to make precision casts a snap while also allowing me to track each beat of the blade of my No. 4 Blue Fox spinner.

When it came to setting the hook, the X10MTC had power to spare and the day I fished the thing, I had 4 steelies grab my hardware and I landed all of them. Obviously, that often just has to do with luck, but I was able to get a solid swing on each of the fish. And when hooked up, I could feel how much of a bad boy the rod really is. I didn’t hook anything over about 9 pounds, but it was obvious that this rod could stop Chinook-sized steelhead. Here’s the X10MTC in action — as you can see there’s plenty of backbone:

My only real complaint — and this is a small one — is the rod felt a little tip-heavy with a Shimano Cronarch 101 onboard. With 10-footers, that’s always going to be a drawback, but it probably is less noticeable with a larger reel — maybe the new Curado 301 for example.

While it makes the rod look a little more pimpin’, I think the end cap on the “General Zog” actually acts as a counter-weight to help keep the tip from feeling heavier. In any case, it’s a good discussion piece…

The exposed blank in the reel seat is another feature that I’m a big fan of. While pitching hardware, the bites are often about as subtle as a slap to the face with a wet spatula on a windy February morning but the extra sensitivity will certainly help you keep track of how your lure is working.

Conclusion

Okay, I’ve gotta admit that I wasn’t expecting to like this rod when I first picked it up. Again, it just seemed really bulky and stiff. That all went right out the window after I made a cast and started swinging the spinner through a nice choppy flat. It was super responsive, crisp and sensitive — and I did a quick 180.

As I noted before, the X10 MTC felt a bit top heavy, but it never really was a factor in a long day of fishing. I really enjoyed fishing it and could see that it probably would serve nicely as a big water float rod as well. Speaking of big creeks, I could see this thing also working as a magnum Slinky tossing machine!

For more fishing rod reviews, click here.

I’m not totally sure why I need one of these, but I somehow find myself intrigued by the Stutzman Micro Rod.

It’s 32-inches of flea-flickin’ fun that will supposedly cast a line 25 feet. Several small streams with lots of overhanding brush and tiny brook trout come to mind and a couple bluegill infested farm ponds also would be fun. God help ya if you hooked a 3-pound largemouth, however…

The Stutzman rod comes with a functioning reel, line and tippet. The rod and reel combo’s a tad on the pricey side at $250, but it does come with your choice of reel and thread wrap color and you get to choose from Bocote, Bubinga, Cocobolo, Kingwood, Tulipwood, Zebrawood or Ziricote for the wood handle (if you have any clue what any of those look like…I don’t).

Want one? Go to LandBigFish.com