FISHING
An alluring bait smell
With his company's motto of, 'Scents make sense,'
Charles Stone hopes to revolutionize the artificial
bait industry with lures that smell.
BY SUSAN COCKING
SUSAN COCKING / MIAMI HERALD
STAFF
GET A WIFF OF THIS: Charles
Stone holds up a bass caught with one of his Wicked
Strike lures.
For years, fishing lure manufacturers have been incorporating
flavors and scents into soft baits to enhance their
attractiveness to fish. Few put chemical attractants
into hard baits like plugs and divers, figuring their
shape, color, noise and action in the water would be
sufficient to draw the attention of a bass or snook.
Charles Stone, an avid freshwater and saltwater angler
who operates a Fort Lauderdale dental lab, hopes to
revolutionize the artificial bait industry with his
new line of Wicked Strike hard baits. His company's
motto is: ``Scents make sense.''
''Scent is the strongest sense fish use to hunt for
food,'' Stone said. ``This brings your bait to life.''
Stone's patented baits have a hollow reservoir in
the body where the angler squirts a liquid fish attractant
such as Bang or Lunker Sauce to saturate a wick that
protrudes from the rear of a lure like a tail. A rubber
bridle with a cap holds the wick in place.
''It leaves a scent trail as you pull it through the
water,'' Stone explained. ``It's like having a live
bait on your boat whenever you want it. One application
lasts hours.''
Freshwater models include poppers, shad and minnows
in a variety of colors, which sell for $10 on the company
website, www.wickedstrike.com.
For saltwater, Stone makes a mullet and squid for $1
more apiece.
Wicked Strike lures were a hit at last year's ICAST
show. Bass and redfish tournament anglers have begun
using them.
Casting the popper and a minnow on a recent late afternoon
in the L-67C canal near Everglades Holiday Park, you
could see an oily sheen on the surface while retrieving.
The wick protruding from the lure's body grew bushier
as it got wet. Stone and two companions caught and
released about a half-dozen bass to two pounds in a
couple hours of fishing before dark.
It was hard to say whether the baits and their scent
trail were attracting the bass, or if the fish were
simply in a mood to bite as the sun went down. But
watching their ferocious, topwater strikes was thrilling
as always.
Said Stone: ``The industry spends millions to get
baits to wobble and flash, but they haven't made them
smell properly. These are most effective in saltwater
because that's where fish really use scent.'' |
