Tackle companies keep on innovating. Tackle Warehouse is usually the first vendor to get the new gear and they certainly have the most comprehensive selection. I scour the “New Products” tab daily -- here are 6 new items that update our past articles.

This was the first Elite Series season I can recall where big gliders showed up in more than just a couple of derbies. There were also quite a few JDM products that gained a following. Most notable among them was the Deps Sakamata Shad.

We've been married 19 years and we have every material thing we need – and if we don’t we tend to buy it for ourselves. That makes purchasing anniversary gifts tough, because you want to do something special, but we’re also laser-focused on saving for retirement. Let me know if you think I handled the process well.

I overlooked the Crock-O-Gator Head Knocker Buzzbait for about 20 years. That was a mistake and now I’m making up for lost time. Check out what I purchased from them with cold, hard cash to make sure I’ll have enough.

When western tournament legend Gary Dobyns introduced his rods nearly two decades ago, he went all-in with technique-specific tools at a variety of price points. Recently he added some specialized travel rods in the Kaden Series.

As you step out of the van at Anglers Inn El Salto, the next steps are to collect your first of many secret recipe margaritas, follow your bags to your room, and quickly rig up some rods. You only get one first cast, and one first fish so I asked the members of our June group what they used to break the ice.

Reaction Innovations makes some groundbreaking and creatively-named fishing lures. Here are some of our favorites for catching big Mexican bass.

Over the past several decades, PRADCO Outdoor Brands has purchased up quite a few iconic fishing tackle companies. You’ll find some selection of them at every tournament, in just about every angler’s boat. While I haven’t used a Jitterbug in decades, plenty of their offerings are still included on our frequent trips to Mexico.

The Crush City Mayor was winning tournaments for Rapala pros before it officially came to market. Several of the group members on our June 2024 trip to El Salto were tipped off that it was deadly in Mexico, too – not just for numbers of fish, but for true giants. When we got back,we made an order from Normark

As promised, ICAST 2024 offered plenty of products for forward facing sonar, none of which I’m likely to use as intended on our frequent trips to Mexico. Nevertheless, there were still some items that I will almost certainly purchase and pack when we next head to El Salto.

While air travel with any rods these days is often a pain in the butt, serious surf anglers are particularly burdened. Their rods are often in the 10- to 11-foot range. There have also been a dearth of high-end travel surf rods. Daiwa aims to remedy that with their Ardito Series.

Rick Clunn’s true distinguishing characteristics are his explorations into seasonal patterns and his inquiries into the mental side of the game. Nevertheless, as I look back on his career there are a number of lures that I associate directly with him.

Fortunately the return from our June 2024 trip to Anglers Inn Lake El Salto effectively coincided with the annual Tackle Warehouse July 4th sale. That provided me the opportunity to get some much-needed items for next year’s trip at a discount while the bite was still fresh in my mind.

If you’d asked me a decade ago to assess the top price I’d spend on a spinning reel, I likely would’ve said $100-150. Maybe if I was feeling a little bit flush I would’ve pushed the ceiling to $200. Well, those days are over.

Ott DeFoe does just about everything well on the water, but his calling card is river fishing. He excels in knowing when to abandon the “lake portion” of an impoundment. On several occasions he’s used a tunnel hull boat to get up there, but when wise to do so he’ll also go upstream in his fiberglass Nitro.

We’ve used various kinds of leaders, but when we got to the tuna grounds it was a whole different deal. Forget your FG knots or swivels, they had a set-up that was foreign to us. We asked Elliott Stark to explain the purpose and the components of the wind on leader.

It’s rare that Hanna gets to use a particular lure class before I do. Even though I was the one who packed two crawler-style topwater baits for our most recent trip to El Salto, she was the one who tied them on first and got the insane bite going.  

Since being introduced to Bajío Sunglasses a few years ago, we’ve become huge fans of the brand, their products and everything they stand for. We’ve interviewed two of the women behind the brand – Marguerite Meyer and Melinda Mize – about their favorite shades. Now we’re going to co-founder Al Perkinson for his picks.

As the northland thaws, it’s a good reminder to pack bass lures that are meant to resemble gobies. These invasive species may have some deleterious impacts on other industries, but in the Great Lakes and elsewhere they’ve turned the smallmouths into footballs.

On our four trips to Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge we’ve run the full gamut of weather (well, everything except cold). Shane Jarvis and his team are on the water 300 days a year, sometimes dealing with brutal sun and strong rain, and they’ve got to stay on the fish constantly. They depend on Grundéns gear.