July 2016 A strategic merger between two leaders in the kokanee market! Mack s Lure, Inc., manufacturer of the famous Wedding Ring and Smile Blade, today announced that it is acquiring Shasta Tackle Company, makers of custom trout, kokanee and salmon lures, including the popular Cripplure, Hum Dinger, Sling Blade and more. The purchase of Shasta Tackle Company, based in Redding, Calif., further increases Mack s Lure, Inc. s share in several fishing tackle markets and kokanee, in particular. What an exciting time for both companies and their customer base, said Bob Schmidt, owner and president of Mack s Lure, Inc. This is two leaders in the kokanee market combining their strengths and ideas to offer anglers even more exciting products, as well as allowing Mack s Lure to grow more rapidly and get in touch with an even larger base of anglers. For 28 years, we have built a strong, deep-rooted, fast-growing company, but as business evolves, it has become more and more apparent that we needed a strong, well-established strategic partner to continue on our path, said Gary Miralles, founder of Shasta Tackle Co. We found that partnership with Mack s Lure. The acquisition with Shasta Tackle Co. is monumental for Mack s Lure, Inc., in that it further enhances our niche in the trout and kokanee markets. There are many followers of both companies, many of whom use both company s products in their presentations, so combining them is a plus for everyone. Effective immediately, all Shasta Tackle Co. s products, while still maintaining their established product names, will be operated, manufactured and distributed as a wholly owned subsidiary of Mack s Lure, Inc. Miralles is joining the Mack s Lure, Inc. staff in a product development and promotional capacity. This partnership will give me more time for product development and the freedom to focus more on the marketing and promotional side of the business, Miralles said. This merger will help to launch Shasta into a new level of growth; giving it the foundation to expand and grow in its existing markets and enter into new markets, as well. I am truly excited about the future, so stand by everyone this is just the beginning. Page 1
Spring Is Full Of Promise... And Promise Keeper Spinners By John Kruse Mack s Lure Pro-Staffer & Host of Northwestern Outdoors Radio I decided to try something a little different fishing this spring. Usually, I ll use a wide variety of lures to catch trout and bass from the lakes I visit from April into June but this year I decided to use one Go-To lure. My choice, the Mack s Lure Promise Keeper Spinner. It s long been a favorite of mine fishing alpine lakes in the Cascade Mountains during the summer months. The slim profile allows me to cast it further than similar sized spinners and the Smile Blade spins at very slow speeds, ideal for the style of reel and pause retrieves I favor when trout fishing. My first stop this year was Diamond Lake in Southern Oregon. Located in the middle of the Cascades, this large trout lake had just gone ice-free a week earlier. The locals, most of them fishing bait, reported little success. I hiked a mile and a half to an outlet creek with a friend and saw several nice trout close to the bank just outside the mouth of the stream. The fish were clearly waiting to ambush bait that would come by. I cast a black Promise Keeper Spinner with yellow dots, did a fast retrieve, and was instantly rewarded with a fat 20- inch rainbow trout. I hooked three more trout in the next 45 minutes while fishing in a snowstorm, the largest being a 21 inch rainbow that like the others, was released! John Kruse with a beautiful Rainbow and a big smile. From Diamond Lake I decided to explore the Oregon Outback, a remote area with promising fishing for trout and bass. My first stop was Duncan Reservoir where I had the whole lake to myself and caught several nice trout, the largest being 16 inches long, on a white and black Promise Keeper Spinner with a red treble hook. A nice Rainbow caught with a Mack s Lure white with black dot Promise Keeper. From Duncan Reservoir I went to Summer Lake where my cabin at The Lodge at Summer Lake bordered a bass pond. During my stay I caught a dozen largemouth bass using the same white and black Promise Keeper Spinner. My Oregon trip over, I headed back to my home in Central Washington. I went to visit friends in Manson and stopped by the boat launch there to make a few casts with my favorite lure. This time, the species on the end of the line was a smallmouth bass. Trout and bass from four lakes in the past month. That s what I call a promising spring and I owe it all to my favorite lure, the Mack s Promise Keeper Spinner! The Promise Keeper works well on largemouth bass too. Rigging The New 1/16 Sonic BaitFish (SBF) By Captain Pete Rosko Pete Rosko A few days ago, I water tested the new 1/16 SBF in a shallow cove off the Destin Florida coast. It was a perfect setting for evaluating a lure s action within the calm, clear water. My two basic, but critical, action tests are the downward flutter (vertical jigging) and swimming actions (on a straight retrieve). Many lures, as small as the 1/16 SBF, have limited action. Not the 1/16 you will like what you see with this little mite! It should be very effective in open water and thru the ice. In April 2015, Mack s owner Bob Schmidt, and I, tested the 1/16 in bass lakes and in South Florida canals. All those test lures were unpainted, bare metal prototypes. The lure produced a bass on about every third cast. In the Everglades canals, it was a fish on about eight of every ten casts. The technique was casting with a slow and steady retrieve. I m looking forward to fishing the 1/16th in silver, and gold, finishes once they are available! I would like to repeat some of what I talked about in the May issue regarding hook types. The accompanying photo shows two 1/16 SBF with two different tail hooks. Continued on Page 3 Page 2
Continued from Page 2 The top lure (pink/glow white), has a single hook attached to its tail. The hook is attached directly to the lure in an upright position. This is my personal preference for all the basic techniques including casting and trolling. The reason is that on the retrieve and troll, the SBF moves upright like a real bait fish. The bottom lure (fire tiger), has a split ring and treble hook attached to its tail. This is an excellent rig if a treble hook is preferred over a single hook, especially for vertical jigging in open water and thru the ice. However, I do not recommend it for casting and trolling. The reason is that the lure, with a split ring attached, causes it to flatten out and move horizontally like a flounder on the retrieve. Both rigs will always catch fish on the retrieve but the single hook version results in a very natural swimming action and triggers more strikes. As a final reminder, the top-ofthe-back line/snap attachment is exclusively for vertical jigging and not trolling. Besides increased vibration during active jigging, this attachment is deadly for finessing and dead-sticking in open water and through the ice. The SBF suspends in a natural horizontal position, closely resembling a live bait fish at rest. At times, this is the only position in which inactive predator fish will strike. Tip A properly positioned boat rod holder can be a tremendous asset especially when fishing with two rods. I consider most rod holders just that only good for holding a rod but not for productive fishing. Whether walleye drift jigging in Lake Erie, or saltwater jigging in the Gulf of Mexico, this technique is deadly. The trick is to mount an adjustable rod holder on your boat rail where your positioned rod will be parallel to the water. From a flat calm surface to about a one foot chop, the rhythm of a near-bottom bouncing SBF on a drift can out-fish a hand-held rod many times!!! Many of my biggest Lake Erie walleyes were caught this way. A 6 to 6 ½ ft medium action rod will service you well with this technique. Use the smallest lure to effectively reach bottom for best action. As always, thank you for subscribing to the Mack Attack. It is our sincere hope that our tips will increase your productivity, and enjoyment, on the water. Captain Pete Mack s Lure Sonic BaitFish Stan s Space A Winner Shares His Ways By Hall-of-Fame Angler Stan Fagerstrom Part 2 In my previous Stan s Corner, I had my friend Lance Merz, sales manager for Mack s Lure, reveal some of the details of how he and his two teammates managed to walk away winners at a recent major kokanee tournament on Washington State s beautiful Lake Chelan. If you read that column you already know that he made darn sure he learned what he was up against by some practice pre-fishing sessions. Knowledge of water is one of the major keys to any kind of fishing success. You should be aware of that going in. Lance Merz was. When he finally left the military after having served our country for more than 20 years, Lance Merz, sales manager for Mack s Lure, wanted to spend more time with his family. That s why when this trio of anglers won a recent major kokanee tournament on Lake Chelan it could be called a Family Affair. Merz is shown holding the contest trophy in this picture. His cousins Dan Phillips and Matt Phillips, the other members of the winning team, are at his side. Continued on Page 4 Page 3
Continued from Page 3 Just as important after you ve found fish is selecting the right lure and then finding the method and the depth at which that lure has to be fished for consistent success, which is what Lance shared with me in that regard and I want to share with you. Once again, I urge you to read and remember what follows. It would be difficult to over emphasize the importance if you seriously desire to become part of that ten percent of the angling population that usually catches about 90 percent of the fish. Lance s report starts on the first morning of the two day tournament. The morning of the first derby day was nothing out of the norm. We had my boat inspected and we were off. We left just before day break as the early morning bite on the lake in my opinion, is the best. During this time of the year however, there s a lot of logs and debris, so you have to go pretty slow to not damage your boat. We headed up lake to a place called 25 Mile Creek, which is about halfway up lake. We were the only boat around!!!! Keep in mind there were 87 boats in this derby!! We had 6 rods in the water all the time. We started fishing at about 1.2mph at a depth of 75, which was the best depth to catch fish the previous day. We caught a few, but I wasn t happy with the action that we were getting, so I decided to drop the lines to 95. We were covering a lot of water between 95 to 145, staggering each rod by 10. We would catch a fish and keep it at that depth. Once we started catching fish consistently at that depth, we dropped all the rods to that depth and it was magnificent!! At one time, we had 5 fish on. We played around with a lot of Mack s Lure products such as the Cha Cha Kokanee Squidder, Double Whammy Ringmaster, and Double Whammy Kokanee Pro. I had been playing with a lure that I fished with the year before on many lakes and decided to break it out. It is now called the Smile Blade Kokanee Hoochie and is in production in the Mack s Lure arsenal. It consists of a 1.1 UV Glo Smile Blade, two glow beads, and a clear hoochie skirt. Inside the hoochie is a Mack s Lure solid color UV pill float. I promised to provide the details regarding the Mack s Lure Kokanee Hoochie and here they are. The company can hardly keep up with the current demand for these derby winning lures. Continued on Page 5 Page 4
Continued from Page 4 The action of this hoochie is fantastic because the pill float allows the hoochie to dodge and dart more than a regular hoochie. It s also buoyant as well, so it rises just above a Double D Dodger. My leaders were short, very short. We were running a 6 leader behind the dodger. The shorter the leader, the more action you ll get in a hoochie. Day one, we were finished fishing by noon. We had 30 kokanee in the boat that were on average a pound a piece. Nice sized fish that were between 13-14. When we pulled in to weigh our fish, there weren t many people around, but the people that did see them almost gasped when they saw how big they were. This lake has a ten fish limit per person. Both my cousin s and I thought we may have a chance at winning this thing! We all agreed that no matter what we were doing or how we were doing it, having fun was the number one priority of the weekend. Nothing was better! We talked on the boat about our grandparents, parents, and kids. Our grandpa was a huge fishing fanatic, so we just knew that he was gleaming with joy from the heavens above. Here s a close up of the Mack s Lure Kokanee catchin lures. Day two and we went to the same spot. Still...no one was there! They were all farther down the lake. The fishing was slower on Sunday and the day was short. The last weigh in of that day was at 12:30pm, so we were limited on time. It s about a 30-45 minute boat ride just to get to our spot. We only caught 18 fish that next day in the same area and found a pod of bigger fish. All fish on that day that were caught were well over a pound. In fact, I placed 6th in the derby for biggest fish at 1.19 pounds! We showed up just in time to get in line for the weigh in. Apparently, word got out that we were contenders in the derby as there was a crowd of people on their tip toes looking at our big fish. We looked at the board and our current standing was 3rd place. This time, my cousin s and I thought, maybe we have a shot! We didn t think that 18 fish was going to make the mark, but boy did it. The way the weigh-in occurred for the derby was that only 10 of the biggest fish, per boat were to be weighed. They would take the 10 biggest fish for both days, and average it out to determine the winner. We were boat #72. We waited forever, for what it seemed. Finally, the totals were in. We kept listening for our boat number, but didn t hear it. We were happy with the great weekend of fishing we just had, but we were anxious. The reason I say this is because there wee many people who just knew they were going to win the derby because of what they were using. Some were manufacturers of different kokanee products. Others were guides. Prior to fishing this derby, my cousin s and I agreed that we just wanted to fish. Finally, first place goes to... Boat 72!! Lance Merz, Dan Phillips and Matt Phillips!! We were elated! We received a big trophy and it really was a good day. But as we saw it, it was a great weekend of fishing. Winning the derby was a bonus. Lance Merz credits a fellow member of the Mack s Lure executive team for helping him master the tricks and tactics it takes to walk away winner from a major kokanee tournament. That man is pictured here with a dandy kokanee. He s Bobby Loomis, a long time member of the Mack s Lure team. As you can see, Bobby has used a short leader to attach his Kokanee Hoochie lure to a Mack s Lure Double D Dodger. Get this rig over a school of kokanee and sometimes they just can t leave it alone. That s Lance s complete report and it s a dandy. The one other thing I know some readers will be asking is what kind of bait and scent the winning trio used with their Kokanee Hoochies. We used white shoepeg corn, Lance says, and tipped it with Pro-Cure anise or bloody tuna. I m hoping as I ve already suggested that you ll take the time to learn from it. I m hearing that the folks at Mack s Lure are having their collective hands plumb full ever since the Lake Chelan event just attempting to build enough additional Smile Blade Kokanee Hoochies to meet the demand for the product. That s not surprising. Chances are very, very good that it will do the same for you if you ll simply carefully follow the procedures Lance Merz has provided for you in my last two Stan s Corner columns. -end- Page 5
Hot Deals!!! Free shipping on all orders over $15. Offer available for the month of July only. SF1501 Question of the Month Have a question? We d love to answer it! Contact us at MacksLure@MacksLure.com if you have a question you would like to see featured! Q: What is the correct way to rig a crawler on a Mack s Lure Super Slow Death Rig when fishing for Walleye? A: Thanks for your question! 1. Thread a crawler from the end, and continue threading until the crawler is just about to the eye of the hook. 2. Pinch off the crawler at the tip of the hook and then continue to thread the rest of the crawler on up the hook until it is running straight up and down the shank. Note: The pinched off end should be resting on the edge of the bend of the hook. The tip end should be about a ¼ over the eye of the hook and running up your line. The knot on the hook has a short tag of line. When the crawler is threaded on, it will go up and over the tag which helps keep the crawler in place. It s time for the 5th Annual Wenatchee Salmon Derby which will take place July 15th-16th. Click Here for details. Photo of the Month Video of the Month It s time for Sockeye season. Watch the video HERE to learn more. Mack s Lure is proud to support The Fallen Outdoors, a volunteer organization of veterans for veterans who enjoy hunting and fishing. This picture took place on June 4th 2016 at Yale Reservoir for a recent outing for Kokanee Fishing. Send your photo s to media@mackslure.com for consideration to be included in a future Mack Attack edition or on Facebook. See more pictures by clicking here: Mack s Photo Gallery www.mackslure.com Page 6