With Christmas just three weeks away, now is the time to finish up your shopping.
Is there an angler or hunter on your shopping list? Here are some last-minute gift ideas:
• For the angler, jigs and crankbaits are two top-producing lures for walleye and black bass.
Northland Tackle walleye jig (Photo from Northland Tackle)
Want to catch walleye (sauger and saugeye) year-round? A time-proven presentation is vertical jigging, drifting and pitching jigs.
Some of the top walleye anglers in the country do nothing but fish jigs, and they boat big fish, and numbers with regularity.
Northland Tackle produces a line of quality jigs.
Since walleye, sauger and saugeye spend most of their time close to the bottom on structure, vertical jigging is one of the most effective presentations. Fishing a 3/8-ounce jig it’s easy to feel the bottom. Tip the short shank of the jig with a two-to-three-inch fathead minnow, threading the hook through the mouth and out the back of the head.
Recommended tackle is a six to seven-foot medium action rod with extra-fast action, with the spinning reel spooled with six to eight-pound high visibility monofilament.
Boat control is imperative to vertical jigging success to keep you over the target cover when fishing in rivers or lakes.
Visit their website at www.northlandtackle.com
• Daiwa’s rubber-skirted bass jig, the Ever Green IR Finesse Jig, is highly-effective on black bass with pitched, flipped, dragged, or hopped.
The IR Finesse Jig is available in three sizes: 5/16-, 3/8- and 1/2-ounce, and 10 colors. The color patterns resemble young-of-the-year bluegills and crawfish in all stages of development.
Its design features are a perfectly round head to drop straight, deflect off a structure, and crawl on bottoms of gravel and sand. The head’s line-tie is at a 45-degree angle, which enables better rod tip feel and control, to ensure successful hooksets.
Its long-shank hook is sharp and won’t bend easily, with a wire bait keeper to secure plastic trailers and a weed guard that extends beyond the hook point.
• Bring up the topic of fishing crankbaits to a bass angler and the discussion will typically go towards fishing deep-diving baits.
But shallow-running crankbaits are highly effective too, whenever bass are shallow, on shallow flats, bluff banks, and along the vegetation. When retrieved slowly through wood and rock, shallow-running crankbaits dart and dive, drawing reaction bites.
Daiwa’s SH-3 series crankbait (Photo from Daiwa)
Daiwa’s Ever Green SH-3 series attracts big bass with its powerful, water-moving action.
Its highly buoyant, fat body and square lip produces a super-wide wobbling action that strongly appeals to big bass.
The SH-3 series is available in 13 colors.
The floating crankbait dives to a depth of two to three feet is 2 3/4 inches long, weighs 11/16 ounces, and is equipped with front and rear No. 3 hooks.
For information on Daiwa, fishing lures visit daiwa.us.
• For the bow hunter, Scent-Lok clothing is all about warmth, comfort, and scent control.
Scentlok windproof jacket (Photo form Scentlok)
The ScentLok BE:1 Reactor Windproof Jacket is the product of 30 years of experience in making advanced, bowhunter-friendly designs for ultra-silent high-performance, made from unsurpassed odor-controlling fabrics to maintain a proven-deadly advantage on any hunt.
The ScentLok BE:1 Reactor Windproof Jacket has Carbon Alloy Technology for maximum odor adsorption, Primaloft® Silver insulation for warmth, and its WindBrake® windproof design guards against harsh winds while allowing a great range of motion. Its ergonomic fitted hood design provides comfort, protection and mobility, and its three-pocket design is ideal for securing all your gear.
Camouflage patterns include Mossy Oak Terra Gila, Realtree Excape, and Mossy Oak Terra Outland. Black is also available.
Visit www.scentlok.com for more information.
Every angler and hunter appreciates a gift of great outdoor gear. It will be a Christmas they will remember for years.
