Got lots of updates for you in this latest post…
New Product Announcements
We have been working on some new things and have a couple announcements to make – and still a couple BIG irons in the fire that are not ready for release as of yet. We will keep you waiting for those…
(1) Chrome Eyes. We have a new eye color, we are calling “Chrome”. These eyes basically have a mirror background and are very shiny and eye catching. Mirrors reflect all wavelengths equally so the thought is that they will even reflect UV at depth. They really do look great and give our jigs an even more “high end” look to them. But, the proof is in how do they CATCH. Well, in our testing they catch really, really well. Trout and redfish approved! These are only available from us (our physical store, and online at trouteye.com) but also as another new product line, which leads us to….
(2) Shad Eye’s We have heard a lot of feedback that freshwater fisher-people won’t pick up a Trout Eye or Redfish Eye because of the saltwater name. Which is kind of ridiculous but nevertheless, we have decided to also market our full line of jigs as Shad Eyes with freshwater targeted labeling. For now, they come in only two eye colors. Red and Chrome. We already know that our jigs work on ALL species of fish, fresh and salt, so this will be a chance to market them to a wider audience.
(3) Trout Eye “Finesse” jigs. We had some discussions with Greg Peralta about finesse fishing. Greg has been really successful using Z-Man TRD’s in the salt for finicky post cold-front fish. We discussed whether we could put a smaller hook on our heads to use for smaller lures like TRD’s or the super productive StreakZ 3.75″. The shorter shank allows the jig tail to float up and also gives it more action. We did some experimenting and found that with some very small adjustments that we could put these into production almost immediately. Thus, we now have the Finesse jigs for sale on our site now. Incidentally, Greg has started a new blog which I think you will like, that gives more in-depth how-to on using these jigs at www.captgregp.com. Check it out.
We will have more announcements in the next several weeks with some even better stuff, so stay tuned.
Southern Redfish Cup
The 2016 Southern Redfish Cup championship was last weekend. 25 teams qualified to compete over this two day event, and it was very difficult. We had a cold front with high winds and a full moon tide, followed by rapid warming on day 2 with more high winds. Needless to say, the teams had to really earn this… Coming out on top by more than 1 lb was the team of Jeremy Espiritu and Ashley Lowder. This win also earned them Team of the Year honors. The win had particular importance for us, as they caught ALL of their fish exclusively using Trout Eye jigs! You may recall that this team also won the first leg of the tour in Georgetown plus “Big Fish” honors also using our jigs. Ralph and I earned 4th place and Big Fish in the second leg (in Charleston). Plus, we personally know the 6th and 10th place teams were also fishing our jigs (and likely more teams that we just didn’t know about). We are very honored that our products had a role in winning easily over $50,000 for the fishermen over the course of the season. Really awesome stuff – we are grateful.
Ashley River Cleanup
Last weekend we had our 4th annual cleanup of the Ashley River. I organize this effort for Summerville Saltwater Anglers fishing club and am proud to do so. I estimate that over these 4 years we have removed over 20 tons of trash from the river! Well, this year, the river was remarkably clean. We still removed a lot of trash (including 3 tube-style TV sets) but it was much more difficult to come by. A very gratifying event to know that we have made a huge difference in the river. Now we need to stop the source of the litter….