Great Seminar Turnout to Kick Off Show (and Great Lakes Perch is the Real Deal)

[djkimmel]

Ask a weatherman... they'll give you the honest, straight story! (All I know is early next Tuesday, I'll be tossing BIG lures for GIANT bass in 90 degree temps... tap your heels and repeat over and over... )

[huston]

Are you going Peacock Bass fishing in Brazil??

[LGMOUTH]

Are you going Peacock Bass fishing in Brazil??

No he is going Mexico bass fishing and its not nice of him to rub it in ever chance that he gets.

[djkimmel]

I wasn't rubbing my trip to LAKE COMEDERO in... I just forgot the rest of you were listening - my bad

(pictures and video hopefully to come)

[Fishmael]

Well, as each of us sit inside up here trying to avoid frostbite and losing parts we may need again in the future, you will be casting in the sun.  We will each be living vicariously through you, so stick a pig for each of us...I hope your arms are sore when you are done!  Anyone know how long until the ice is gone?   

[djkimmel]

The ice will be gone midday Monday (couldn't help myself)

I will be doing my utmost to catch a monster bass on topwater. News is it's in the 80's and so far today a 9.8 and 9.2 pounder have been caught!!!! One on a topwater !!! (Time for some Depends )

I'm taking some of my 5" Xtreme Bass Tackle tubes down there because some of the colors may be just the ticket to lure a big hawg out of the thorn trees! (I will probably add a tube trailer for maximum effect.) Taking some much bigger baits also of course. Someone is bringing some 14" monstrosity (but if it works, I'll be borrowing it )

I will be sacrificing some of my fishing time to get pics and video to share with the frozen Great Lakers I'm leaving behind.

[Cheetam]

Dan- You should have picked up one of the Sebile Magic Swimmer 228s at Mikes Rx at the show.  I'm sure you might have poked a fish or two with one of those monsters!

[skeeterman190]

 Im gonna go shoot myself now that ive heard your going to be topwater fishing! why were all here trying to catch a frozen bum on the ice!!!!catch one for each member here thats crying inside cause your going!-skeeterman-

[djkimmel]

Dan- You should have picked up one of the Sebile Magic Swimmer 228s at Mikes Rx at the show.  I'm sure you might have poked a fish or two with one of those monsters!

I have 2!!! (Figure I lose the first one to a thorn tree or mystery fish of unknown proportions!) Also picked up a big spook-like creature Mike told me to take (he might go too... not sure) and a couple of those $20+ crankbaits.

All in all, I'm setup to lose more money in lures than the rest of the trip will cost me!!!?!

[djkimmel]

Im gonna go shoot myself now that ive heard your going to be topwater fishing! why were all here trying to catch a frozen bum on the ice!!!!catch one for each member here thats crying inside cause your going!-skeeterman-

9 POUNDERS AND UP ON TOPWATER!!!! Sorry... I AM a little unclear about the 'catch a frozen bum on the ice' deal...?? Is that something they do in the mid-south for entertainment?!?

But you could topwater fish here still. Might not catch anything, but it all depends on how desparate you are!!

Let's see 8 degrees and sunny here (I think that is the sun... too cold to be sure)... 79 degrees and sunny there (and yes, definitely the sun, can you say SPF 70?)... ?? It's going to be rough. I'm going to miss everyone but I'll manage. And I'll be thinking of everyone up here, frozen solid, buried in snow while I slather on more sunscreen and heave the old saltwater chug bug out for another MONSTER!! (I probably jinxed myself now )

[WayneC]

Thanks to everyone who made this a record breaking show for the staff and myself.  Also thanks goes to the pro-staff, friends and family members who contributed at the packaging party just days before the show.  The blue ribbon goes to Brian Belevender though who singlehandedly packaged over 16,000 baits prior to the packaging party and was well over 20,000 packaged once the show was over.

We were fortunate to have the prototype version of Great Lakes Perch available because the final version of the 4" sold out by 2:30pm Saturday and the drop-shot shortly after that (St. Clair Crayfish 4" sold at 1pm Saturday last year but we had about 400 less pieces of that).  In all fairness, I discounted the prototypes (although they had everything the finals did, just less of a couple of flake colors) and anglers seemed very happy to get those.  Yes, more are on the way for the Outdoorama, Lansing and the Grand Rapids show.

I appreciate the comments about the bait and would like to add to the discussion.  The observation about them looking a bit like "baby bass" is not too far off the mark.  "Baby bass" is actually a knock off of the original Emerald Shiner released by Bob Dunlap and Reaper Products probably sometime in the early 1990's, although I wasn't yet in the business yet so I'm not exact on the date.  During the two year development of the Great Lakes Perch design there were many discussions (some opposing opinions had to be reconciled) about both the main colors and the highlights.  Even though I consider all forage species to be on the table for bait development, my tournament partner and friend Scott pushed for the perch bait to be next in line.  It almost was the new bait for 2008 except that I had lucked on to a whole crayfish from Lake St. Clair with a strong color presence that couldn't be ignored.

The real trick in successful bait design is to capture highlights.  Base colors are important but in my research, highlights ultimately trigger the bite.  Also, exact duplicates of baits don't do nearly as well as a bait that covers the spectrum of elements in a more general sense.  Also, many forage types come in different shadings for the same species and may change some during the course of the year or depending on where they are caught.  Averaging out all of this and more can get you closer to a bait with consistent production.

Great Lakes Perch came a last minute decision away from becoming an amped up version of Emerald Shiner.  On Scott's suggestion, I dropped a design element that would have put it into that category.  As it is now, Great Lakes Perch stands on its own as unique, and the first tri-color dip of its kind.  If all you have seen is the internet image, it would be very tough to pick out the depth of the highlights and how they are assembled.  The underside of the tail for instance covers each element that I have seen in the fins of a perch.  I've seen yellow, orange and even dark red fins.

One comment was made that the person expected to see more yellow.  This is an excellent observation.  I had to come down on one side or the other on this.  Ultimately, we are talking about a Yellow Perch here.  When you see the St. Clair (or Great Lakes) version of it, yellow doesn't dominate.  I had one photo a friend passed me that I immediately identified as an inland lake yellow perch.  It was yellow all the way through the belly.  Here's the rub.  If I average out both perch versions I would have built more yellow into the bait, but nowhere in my design or research experience have I seen the color yellow dominate the bite.  Chartreuse is the closest in color to this and that color has a proven track record.  That's why you see small chartreuse flake throughout the bait.  I'm not saying that yellow doesn't work, it's just that I'm going to follow my research not just build a bait to sell, but one that will catch fish.

At the end of the day, I believe this to be the most versatile bait I've designed yet.  You can see this in the first impressions of anglers.  Last year, anglers saw St. Clair Crayfish and said, "wow," then headed straight for the register.  St. Clair Crayfish set record sales and tournament cash records.  As it turns out, largemouth are even more aggressive on this bait than smallies.  Anglers who saw GLP for the first time quietly picked them up and started rattling off all the different bodies of water and spots they were sure this bait would work.  This is significant.  One lady at the booth insisted her husband buy a 25 pack for her saying, "I can never seem to catch fish, but I know I can catch fish with that."

My satisfaction comes from watching customers and friends succeed by using my products.  It's my impression that big companies design baits to catch customers, then tack on a big name spokesperson to sell it.  If you've been to my "High Percentage Baits" seminar then you know I believe that everything catches fish.  It comes down to what bait elements fit your style and strengths and above all, get rid of anything that isn't working.  So baits from other companies may have solid research behind them but marketing might have more to do with a new bait than the former.  In my case, if the bait doesn't work, I don't eat.  So I fire anything that doesn't work and keep pushing the research and technology harder until I find what works best.  Great Lakes Perch is in the top of its class and I'll be right there on the water with all of you to explore the results, collect the data and report them back to you.

[Skulley]

Will the new marked maps be available at the Outdoorama???  If so, save me two packs.  Or PM me and we can make arrangements for my purchase of two.....maybe even over the phone.  Great job at the show..........looking forward to using the new colors.

BD       

[WayneC]

Yeah Bill...my life depends on it.  Should be done before then though if I could just stop roofing for a minute.  Went out today to the far side of Lansing to chop ice out of a commercial gutter.  2 3/4 hour drive home.

[djkimmel]

I hope you honked when you drove by my house!!!

[WayneC]

Sorry...both sets of white knuckles firmly on the wheel.

[djkimmel]

Unnerstand...

[Rocknfish]

Managed to make it up to the Novi show...somehow.Was probably the worst conditions that I have ever drove in.We made the trek up from Cleveland on that saturday.It was a great pleasure to meet some fellow GLB members and get to talk to Mike(RX Baits),Brian Belvender,Dan and Wayne Carpenter.The seminar was fantastic and very well presented by Bob and Wayne.Those guys are some very knowledgeable fisherman.Thank you to Dan and all the sponsors for keeping Great Lakes Bass going and giving guys like me an outlet for my #1 passion in life,bass fishing.Keep up the good work and best of luck to everyone this coming season.Maybe see ya in the Open tourney?
Aaron

[karol]

 hey dan,check out www.redoctoberbaits.com He makes a 10" tube!!also a 14" tube swimbait type,bigger is better ,right? the only bad thing is he's doesn't make anything like a g-3 or canadian mist or glcraw, but it's BIG

[PIGSMALLIE]

Thanks Wayne...I bought 25 but I really dont think thats enough..Oh well I know where I can get more!!!!

[WayneC]

Much appreciate the purchase.  I just uploaded GLP to the Ebay store and am doing my absolute best to stay ahead of demand.  So far, so good.