We arrived Friday lunch time and headed straight in. The show straight away seemed to be a good one, the stands and test tanks with crowds of eager anglers watching and learning.
We had a quick look around and sarted to notice some really nice gear. The thing with France is they have a huge market for soft plastics and we hardly saw any plugs being tested, which is a shame for the guys that still need to learn the different techniqus of working a lure properly. One thing I did learn was "twitching". Its not a new technique by any means but its new to me, and I can see the potential in it too. Basically you have a lure that is plug shaped, some have lips some don't, and you just wind it, twitch it and then give the lure slack line and it will flutter down like an injured fish falling through the water, it looks so good. These lures are solid and weigh anything from 25 to 40g, they cast a long way and I know of a few reefs and runs where distance is important. One of the french guys was saying (and he showed us the photos) how he was using a twitcher on day from the shore and he caught 3 bass in 3 casts, all 9lb in weight each!! He recons you can get these things to cast 100 yards too. A very handy lure to have I think.
This short video I made is poor quality but it is awkward to keep my camera on the lure when I cannot see the view finder, but you can see the fluttering effect of the lure as it sinks.
I also learnt some great ways for working soft baits with and without weights. Here is a video of one of my heros, Charles-Henri Canto, working a Mother Worm along the surface with a weedless set up. Again this will be so handy for me in situations where there is seaweed rising to the surface and the bass are below in the shallow water.
Here he is again with a lip weight on a Mother Worm, I was impressed how good it looks with the slightest of twitches. I recon for my vertical jigging work on my boat I will use this finnesse aproach over some heads, I am sure it will tease a bass into attacking it. The great thing with always fishing with my mate Bob is we cover different aspects whilst stood next to each other. If he is on the surface I will try a diver or a softie, and again if he is making quite fasts jigs with his vertical jigging gear I will try a more subtle approach. You can also see how when casting a weighted softbait it looks very life like on the retrieve, with bounces and jerks of the rod. Yannick, the MD of Ultimate-Fishing was telling me how when he fishes at night with softbaits he will really slow everything down, really slow and leave the lure rest and then the slightest of twitches and let it rest again. I can't wait to try it, I think I crank and wind far too fast when I lure fish in the dark so I am looking forward to some new tricks to be used this season.
I was simply stunned again by the way Ultimate-Fishing continue to push and push the fronteers of modern lure fishing, these guys just will not sit back on their laurels, you see they are all anglers as well as businessmen, even the girls in the office go out fishing and taking photos of the team whilst fishing too. The Ultimate Tenryu rod range has grown once again, there are now about 50 red beauties to choose from, from the lightest of lure rods right up to heavy verical fishing rods that will tame anything including GT's and big Tuna.
I was privileged to be able to meet the managering director of Tenryu-Japan Mr Naoto Shiozawa and the Tenryu rod designer Mr Sandy Saida, both of whom were of course absolute gentlemen and so knowledgeable when it comes to rod design I felt like I was a child in front of his teachers. I spoke with Sandy alot, this man is so respected in Japan for his knowledge of carbon fibre and glass, he really wanted to design me a rod range for the UK market but I told him to hold fire for a year or two as the rods we already have available are way more advanced than anything we have used before.
The guys from Ultimate made us all very welcome and showed us some amazing products and how to use them. Remember this is a public show and anyone can go to it and meet these guys and they are there to share their knowledge. Do youself a favour and get down to Nantes next Febuary it really is out of this world if you are seriously nto your lure fishing.
New lures have been ordered, I cant wait to get my hands on them and as they start to arrive and as I get to fish with them I will post some pictures and my findings.
Look at this sight, a row of red beauties that I couldnt leave alone, they are truely stunning to hold and the action on all of them is perfect.
Some of the new soft baits I am getting in, these really caught my attention. They seem to be halfway between a Slug-Go and an Xlayer, a bit firmer than an Xlayer and a bit softer than a Slug-Go, their action is brilliant too.
One great lure that I found at the show was the new Tackle House Feed Shallow 110. The original 128 Feed Shallow has become a classic lure and I am sure its little brother will soon become a must have lure too. I will post some better pictures and findings when I get some in a few weeks time, I can't wait to try them.
We all had a great time and like I say if you are wanting to go next year then keep an eye on my blog as I will post all the details when they are available.
Here are a few more pictures of a very memorable weekend. Here is the managering director of Ultimate Yannick showing off a light rod for Zander and Perch fishing. You should never do this with a normal rod...it could snap, but just look at that little thing bend.
Here is Henry and Neil playing with a baitcaster and softie....they did manage to work out how it worked...after a while.
Neil putting his new Megabass rod through its paces
Me and Stanley, he is the frenchman that first introduced me to modern lure fishing, my mate and a dam fine angler.
Me and my brother Dougie making a wish at one of the pools
Neil being presented with a Megabass hat signed by legend ITO himself, this hat is priceless and was given to Neil by the Ultimate team for his continued work and support he puts into Megabass products. It actually brought a tear to his eye.
And here is the Jersey team (well one english TV presenter too) that made the trip down there, we will be back next year and I already cannot wait. Watch this space as I start to get some of these new products through and start to fish with them
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