Sure, the first month of the year is a good time for winter fishing gear maintenance, but we love playing with hot new fishing gear no matter what the season may be. Here are our top picks, for January of 2018.
Pflueger Supreme QRS
It’s often said that simpler is better when it comes to fly reels, and we’re inclined to agree. That said, having a reel with a changeable spool is a tremendous asset, especially if you plan to use a floating line for spring smallmouth and a lead-core for summer stripers — but you want to use the same reel for both fisheries. The Pflueger Supreme QRS makes this possible, with a quick-release large arbor spool. The frame of the reel is 6061 aluminum alloy, while the spool cassettes are polycarbonate. The locking system that keeps the spool in place is stainless-steel.
While a one-size-fits-all option is never going to be the very best choice for one specific type of line or style of fishing, it did seem to us like this is an excellent choice for someone who needs a relatively inexpensive reel with multitasking ability. It’s available in sizes two through 12, and weighs 5.6 to 10.3 ounces, accordingly. Price: $149.95. For more info visit Pflueger.
Plano Z-Series Tackle Backpack
Plano dubbed their latest line of tackle backpacks Z-Series, because they’re zipperless. Instead of the usual zippers, buckles, Velcro, and cinch-cords secure the different pockets, holders, and enclosures, allowing you to securely pack away up to four Plano 3700 StowAway tackle boxes. We like this, because zippers are a common failure point in tackle bags of all types, especially when exposed to saltwater. How many dead zippers can be found in your tackle emporium right now? Yeah, that’s what we thought.
If you’ve already seen the Z-Series you may be wondering why we’ve placed it in the Hot New Gear section, since it was actually introduced last summer. The new detail here is that the Z-Series Tackle Backback is now available in Kryptec Typhon. That’s a color pattern, not a superhero weapon. And no, a new color pattern is not exactly earth-shattering, but we have to admit that it does look pretty dang cool. Price: $119.99. Visit Plano for more info.
Icearmor Woman’s Glove
For you female fishin’ fools who are just as bold, brave, one-track-minded, (and also silly) as he-man winter anglers, we have the Icearmor Woman’s winter fishing gloves. Tailored to fit a woman’s hands, these gloves have 200 grams of Thinsulate on the top and 150 grams on the palm. The cuffs are extended and have a draw cord for a snug fit, fingers and the thumb are pre-curved for comfort, and they come with a rather surprising five-year warranty. Size ranges from small to XL. We applaud Clam Outdoors (a manufacturer of ice fishing gear located in Minnesota, which we’re pretty sure is right next to the North Pole) for making gloves specific to women, who often have to adapt to ill-fitting guy-gear when it comes fishing gear. We also applaud the reasonable $39.99 price. And finally, we applaud any of you gals who are nutty enough to try catching fish in weather so cold that wearing these things is justified. For more info, head over to Clam. If you don't believe ice fishing is really a "thing" here in the Mid-Atlantic region, check out Cheap and Easy Ice Fishing.
Quantum Vapor PT
The latest rod to hit the water from Quantum is the one-piece Vapor PT, which includes the PT guide system. These guides are Kigan aluminum-oxide lined, which is sized in-between the newer “microguides” (which are lighter but some people believe to be problematic) and conventional guides. Blanks are built with HSX60 high-strain graphite, and rod butts incorporate split-grip cork with Fuji reel seats. Vapor PTs are available in nine casting and six spinning models, ranging from six-foot, three-inch to seven-foot 10-inch lengths, in fast and extra-fast actions (all spinning models are extra-fast), from medium-light to heavy power. Line ratings go from six to 30-pound test and lure ratings from an eighth of an ounce, to one and a half ounces. The rods feature a fast taper so you can apply backbone quickly, to set the hook fast and then yank fish out of cover. These rods are assembled by hand and are finished with a slow-cure epoxy. Price: $129.95. For more info visit Quantum.
C-Map
In the ethereal yet valuable category, we have C-Map’s new inland chartography. True, the charts we played with were for Florida (hey, don’t blame us if we had to go down there for work!) and the Florida Lakes bathometry was their big announcement at the time. But their coverage of inland waterways across the nation is getting a boost, thanks to Lake Insight HD charts and Genesis Edge community-sourced data. The important thing is that freshwater anglers running C-Map can look forward to vastly enhanced detail in their lakes and rivers charts, with bathymetric contours down to one foot. Price: well, we can’t really price this since it depends on what chartography your machine is running. We can say, however, that C-Map does have the details.
YUM Money Minnow
While it isn’t terribly new, we wanted to bring you news of the Yum Money Minnow in case you haven’t heard of it yet — because we had the chance to test these plastics rather extensively this past season, and discovered that the fish found them, well, down-right yummy. But let’s get the down-side out of the way right off the bat: these are molded with very soft plastic, which means that they get ripped up easily by the fish and five or six stripers fights is what you’ll get out of a single bait. If a bluefish so much as glances at one from 10 feet away, the lure’s tail vaporizes. This soft nature also means that if you shove a Money Minnow onto a thick hook-shank with vigor, you’ll pop the artificial eyeballs right out of the plastic. But that flexibility gives the Money Minnow an awesome swimming action, even at very slow speeds.
We found that this lure, thanks to its softness and large paddle-tail, was unbeatable for handing off to beginners who didn’t necessarily know how to add action to the lure with their rod. And on a couple of occasions, by doing so the newbies out-fished the experienced anglers. Money Minnow will cost you a bit more money than usual, though. We used the five-inchers, which are $9.59 for a four-pack. Ouch. For more info, visit Yum. (PS – Pearl/Chartreuse was the killer color pattern).