Having spent the day at the Fred Hall show, one could not avoid the lucanus jigs. It would cost about $800 for the rod, reel, 4 jigs , spectra and their mono-leaders. The supposed key is the super soft tip on their rods with the mono top-shot. Otherwise, you will land around 2 out of 10 bites. For the same $650 for their rod and reel, what do you think would be a better set up than the Shimano? INMHO the Accurate 2 speed 270 on the new Calstar GG would be more money, but would have significantly more versatility.
Nothing wrong with the same old Calcutta 400 that I've used for years. Any Soft tipped live bait stick should work. Only 2 out of 10 without "the system"? Well, maybe if you're from the Shimano marketing dept.
An $800.00 system for rockfish? The Jigs only hook 2 out of ten without the system? Give me a penn gti, some Izor spectra, and a soft tip Calstar and I'd bet I can do better than 2 out of 10!
Yep, it's a funny thing... To paraphrase what Adam Smith said a couple hundred years ago, When you take competition out of the equation innovation suffers. shimano's reel sales no doubt have suffered compared to Avet, Accurate and Penn. The other guys have stepped up to the plate with better designs.
On the lure front, the folks from "s" aren't the manufacturers themselves, lures simply represent another "profit opportunity" like their sales of over priced fairy boots and knock off krocks. They are scrambling. The jigs, again are not so much new or innovative, but they are a hype opportunity to build some tie-in sales. Again, for a very few impulse buyers with more money than sense, shimano may turn a few sales - but not too many. Instead of listening to Adam Smith, they must have studied P.T. Barnum (to paraphrase: "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American consumer"). I think long term A.S.'s point has been more soundly proven than P.T.'s. Consumers are much wiser than some (at least one) manufacturer thinks.
Braid will be releasing a very similar product line in the next couple weeks which will be another blow to shimano's marketing plan, just as River2Sea, ProFish Co and others did to 'em on knife jigs, they'll offer more for less. From my standpoint, it's enjoyable to watch. The arrogance of the great minds at "s" seem to be catching up with 'em.
What are they fishing with this system ? If it's anything like the two that I saw in action in the last two seasons Tuna fishing they will be way too wimpy . What good will the jig do you if you can't control the fish when your hooked up ? We had one fare catch two LFT around 35 lbs in two drops but it almost killed him . At the same time another fare landed one around the same size in a couple of minutes on an uglystick 40 to 80 and a 4/0hs with 60 lb string . The other instance the fare didn't have enough backbone to turn a YFT and it ran him into the gear with 80 lb no less. I think that it's the guy that's jigging not so much the system that he's using .
How about a 6 to 10 oz. torpedo sinker dipped in white or glow paint with a hook hung on it (Bobby Williams Special) , 60 lb dacron , Shrimp fly teaser ,Sabre 500 , and a 6/0 with long handle . Don'think that I missed too many . I fished the Tanner and Cortez banks with this setup and had no problems when the drift was slow . Used Ganions and rebar sinkers when the drift was faster .
Folks, with those crappy odds, my money is MUCH better spent with a scrambled egg yo-yo jig.
And anyone who is er, um, " willing " to spend $800 for a " sytem " deserves the lower odds.
sheesh. that is a sucker's purchase.
Hey I have 5-9 odds that Vegas is going to be beachfront property and am sitting on some prime beach house real estate there. Any Vegas beach SYSTEM takers?
