A visit to the New Product Showcase on Tuesday night gave some hint of a continuing trend when it comes to new bait designs at ICAST. Companies continue to think outside the box when it comes to designing realistic and innovative baits. Established bait companies are venturing further into realistic designs on their established and popular baits as well.
Savage Gear brought a new line of topwater baits to ICAST 2016. The company has multiple baits designed to mimic real animals anglers would find in lakes and ponds around the country. Savage Gear’s Suicide Ducks (shown above) won the Best of Show honors in the hard bait category. The company’s line of baits also includes realistic rats in gray, white and brown color schemes.
Introduced at year ago, Rapala’s Custom HD finishes are expanding through the company’s bait lineup. The company aims to fool finicky of fish and create the most life-like replicas of nature via their hard bait offerings.
For 2017, Rapala will add five new colors for the popular Scatter Rap Crank and Scatter Rap Crank Deep. The Shad Rap and DT series are now available in five new colors as well. The Custom HD finishes feature ultra-realistic color and scale details printed on classic Rapala foil to add a lifelike flash.
According to the company, the result of these realistic color patterns is multi-species success any time of year. Also, the Custom HD patterns work most often in lightly stained to crystal clear water.
LIVETARGET, which aims to match the hatch, brought a new series of swimbaits to ICAST this year. As Mike Suchan reported on Bassmaster.com, the soft baits launched Tuesday afternoon. They come in nine common forage species, and the swimbaits come ready to fish right out of the package.
Created with a balanced weight and built-in hooks, the realistic looking line of baits include a dorsal fin to help the hook avoid catching grass. The line of swimbaits will retail from around $10 to $20, and that’s because they use premium materials which help the soft bodies hold up better.
The display case of Megabass baits at ICAST was peppered with lifelike baits as well. The company’s I-Slide lineup is available in eight color options. Designed for fishing in clear water as well, the I-Slide’s coloring, profile and appearance are only part of the jointed bait’s attributes to attract lunkers.
