As a music collector, I’ve been getting back to the great music sound produced by aged reel-to-reel recorders, so eBay has had plenty of visits from me. Yet, when I received a narrow cardboard box similar to that used for long-stemmed roses, I was puzzled. I didn’t think any of the sellers were that happy about my purchases, and my lady friend has left the world of the living. So my guess was felt pressure pads.
Happily, I was wrong. The box held 16 shiny, new crankbaits from Sébile USA, Ltd., www.sebileusa.com.
I enjoy trolling along structure lines as taught by the late Buck Perry. I learn the bottom make-up of a lake while pulling crankbaits designed to cause walleyes, pike, and other gamefish to strike.
While doing the initial draft of this piece, I wrote my impressions of the lures without reading through the advertising jargon or studying the cover letter. This way, you’ll see these lures through the eyes of a person who has been a member and officer of fishing clubs for over three decades and has written about fishing for just about as long. I’ve fished in tournaments, both on open water and on ice, and I’m proud to say that the last tournament I entered, I took first place. I don’t work for nor am I sponsored by any fishing equipment manufacturer. Today, many writers are fulltime tournament pros who promote their sponsors, are lure manufacturers, guides promoting their businesses, or are fishing boat manufacturers. I’ve remained a true freelancer, and my fans have appreciated my unbiased viewpoint.
When I went through this article for the second time, I added data and information from the manufacturer.
The high quality lures look superb, and they should. These lures are not on the low end of the price list.
The ACast Minnow Series is for fishing in the upper to mid, single digit depths of a lake or river. It’s a red-eyed, shallow diver lure having weights and sizes for retrieving 2- to 8-feet down. As with all lipped crankbaits, they go deeper when trolled. For comparisons, think of the shallower running Shad Raps or C.C. Shiners. My boxes all said “saltwater,” but I doubt if fish care. In our area, I’d target walleyes, largemouth bass, and northern pike. The larger versions could entice muskie strikes. This lure series comes in floating, suspending and sinking models.
ACast lures have rattles. The manufacturer states that when casting these rattles move to the end of the crankbait to increase distance, and during the retrieve, the rattles roll into a low center position allowing for the lure’s “natural side-to-side rolling action…” Patrick Sebile, the designer, calls this style an “erratic wobbler.”
The lure colors look like they will entice fish strikes. This is important when buying baits. Many manufacturers make the lures look attractive to anglers. While these crankbaits are good-looking to the angler, they have great shiner or shad looks to them, and gamefish love chomping on those forage fish.
The suspending Koolie Minnow SL is a narrow-bodied, long, slightly arched, and thin plastic bait. These lures differ from suspending Rapalas by what is inside of the plastic body. The lures contain liquid having tiny reflective things imitating fish scales. This adds life to the baits, and increases casting distance. Besides fishing during the day over healthy, green weeds for bass, I’d toss these lures at night for walleyes that have moved into the shallows to feed.
The thin-bodied, “Hyper-Wobbler,” Koolie Minnow ML and deeper running LL floating/divers are perfect for retrieving over healthy, green aquatic plants. These red-eyed lures have extended and narrower lips that create a wobble for which walleyes, pike and bass should succumb. This series also features the scale-imitating liquid filling. The shallowest baits in the ML series retrieve at ½ foot while the bigger lures with the longer lips retrieve at 5-feet. The ML series I received goes from ¼ oz. and 3 inches long to 1-1/4 oz. and 5 inches long. The 5/8 oz. ML differs from the other ML’s in that it is a “countdown” sinker. Again, my selection was marked “saltwater,” but I’ll use them on freshwater lakes and rivers.
Sébile says they offer the deepest minnow diver currently on the market. Their Koolie Minnow Long Lip LL 118 can “dive as deep as 43 feet when trolled with 60 yards of light braid (10 to 17 lb test).” I received a 118 LL in white lady color, and my box said the lure is a floating/diver good for 8.8 to 12.7 feet when retrieved.
Since this lure style doesn’t have a fat diving bill as do some deep diving crankbaits, it does not create a lot of rod load when trolling nor do you have to set the reel for heavy lure drag resistance. This is great for those of us who want to feel the fish strike. The deeper baits look ideal for catching those big fish lurking along outside weed lines to prey on forage fish such as the aforementioned prey plus yellow perch.
I’ve used jigging baits such as the Jigging Rapala and the tail-spinner Little George, but the larger-bodied, liquid filled with scale imitating flecks, plastic-bodied, lipless, sinking Flatt Shad is different. The bait presents a large profile, and it can be fished from single digits and down into depths you probably have not attempted. These lures will cast a long way. In reading the manufacturer’s information, it stated a European angler caught a 22 pound zander, a walleye cousin, 60-feet down in Sweden during December of 2007. I’m ready to try these baits in lakes having deep walleyes, such as Lower Twin, in Wisconsin’s Vilas County, from where I’ve taken early fall walleyes as deep as 51-feet while using inflated night crawlers on a Lindy Rig. Vertical jigging a vibrating Flatt Shad allows anglers to use a lure the deep water fish haven’t seen countless times and have become used to ignoring.
The lures designer prefers walleye catching colors such as “white lady, natural D-blue back, perchy, amber fashion, yellow pepper, rainbow trout, rogue claw and tequila gold” for the Koolie Minnow or Flatt Shad. For the ACast Minnow he likes “white lady, white perch, peacock, chartreuse holo and deep red.” I’m going to start with shad-imitating colors. Other anglers might try the perchy color first.
The liquid-filled baits with the red eyes mimic distressed prey fish. Red eyes are a blood distress signal, and the floating scales imitate the loss of scales. To attract feeding predator fish, the moving liquid gives off low-frequency waves imitating muscle contractions. When retrieving, I suggest using an erratic retrieve.
I’m eager to use these lures. They look like fish catchers, and that’s the kind of baits I want in my tackle box. The lures I’ve tried all track true.
Now, if I could only figure out a way to go fishing while still getting my other things done…
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