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Shimano Report
Shimano Sienna Ice Combos
Ice fishing has come a long way since the days of sitting on a pickle bucket fighting the cold more than fighting fish.
Shimano answers the rod and reel needs of ice anglers with its newly designed Sienna Ice Fishing combos, offered in 9 models and available now from select tackle dealers in the U.S. and Canada.
Whether it’s super lightweight jigs for bluegill and perch, or using big spoons, snap jigs and lipless cranks for walleyes, northern pike, and lake trout, “within the Sienna combo line-up, we have ice anglers covered for just about every situation and the techniques used,” said Adam Diehl with Shimano’s product development team. “We match the rods with our popular Sienna spinning reels – in either 500 or 1000 sizes depending on the rod’s length and power — which now feature a new streamlined grip and reel seat for lighter weight, along with better balance and enhanced sensitivity.”
Ultra-Light power combos include the 24” Sienna 24UL and 28” Sienna 28UL that are ideal for micro fly and panfish jigs, while Shimano designed the Light power 26” Sienna 26L combo is designed for standard size jigs and lighter spoons in the 1/32- to 1/16-ounce range. Medium-Light power combos – for finesse jigs and spoons up to 1/8 ounces, include the 28” Sienna 28ML and 32” Sienna 32ML. All of these rods are matched with Sienna 500 size reels and feature Shimano’s elongated high-visibility tip section for easier bite detection when fishing light lures and jigs.
Combos with Medium power in the Sienna lineup to target larger fish starts with the 28” Sienna 28M paired with a Sienna 500 size reel for use with smaller snap jigs and lipless cranks up to 3/16 ounces. The 36” Sienna 36M, matched with a Sienna 1000 reel, makes it ideal to combo for fishing medium-size snap jigs and lipless cranks up to ¼ ounce.
Big fish like big baits and ice anglers can be ready with the Medium-Heavy power 28” Sienna 28MH paired with a 500-size reel, and the 40” Sienna 40MH matched with a Sienna 1000 size reel. Shimano designed both combos to handle large spoons, snap jigs and lipless cranks up to 3/8 ounces, while the 40MH has the length and power for magnum-sized spoons, bucktails, and lipless cranks up to and over ½ ounce.
Diehl identifies the Medium power Sienna 28M or 36M as ideal ‘deadstick’ combos, “and depending on your fishing situation, the Medium-Light and Medium-Heavy power Sienna combos are the ideal choice if you are in a big fish area.”
For more information on Shimano’s new Sienna Ice fishing combos, all offered for $49.99 (USD), visit your local dealer or the the Shimano website at http://fish.shimano.com.
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VMC Report
VMC Mustache Jig
If you’ve ever Wacky Rigged to catch big bass, you won’t be surprised when you ice monster panfish with VMC’s new Mustache Jigs.
Featuring a pre-rigged egg sac with two tapering appendages, a Mustache Worm looks like a tiny Wacky Worm.
“The ‘mustache’ action is created by jigging the bait slightly up and down, undulating the appendages, which brings the bait to life,” explained James Holst, host of In-Depth Outdoors TV on the Fox Sports North channel.
“The Mustache Worm has proven itself to be one of the best big-fish soft-baits I’ve ever dropped below the ice.”Mustache Jigs are purpose-built to punch through slush, drop fast and fish aggressively in a small package.
Capitalizing on the size-to-weight advantage of tungsten, the jig drops fast to keep a hot-bite on fire. Because tungsten sinks much faster than lead, even a tiny tungsten jig will get back down to biting fish much quicker than a standard lead-head jig.
The Mustache Jig’s intelligent hook design ensures lookers become biters. VMC’s exclusive Power Gap hooks feature a wider round gap than other micro-jigs of equal weight, greatly increasing hook-up percentages.
Additionally, a 90-degree hook eye ensures optimal horizontal position of the Mustache Jig, allowing ice anglers to convert more hits into solid hooksets and lose fewer fish at the hole.
VMC Mustache Jigs are available in six proven fish-catching colors.
Enhanced Ultra Glow pigments provide as long as 15 minutes of charge. The new jigs come in two sizes: 1/16th oz. (size 10 hook) and 1/32nd oz. (size 12 hook).
VMC Mustache Jigs are available at trusted fishing tackle retailers throughout the U.S. and Canada, as well as Rapala.com.
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NetBait Report
NetBait Tackle’s New Dagger Soft Plastics Deliver Better Penetration on Hooksets
The NetBait Dagger was created to provide a flipping and punching bait to the lineup.
NetBait’s Dagger design is centered around an innovative, thin flex-wing design for unique gliding action. The flex-wing is integrated with twelve forward facing angled ribs placed to improve water displacement and add subtle vibration to a natural swimming action that fish love. The flex-wing is mounted on a compact body core to easily accommodate even a 4/0 and 5/0 large Texas-rig flippin’ hook while the thin flex-wing compresses quickly to improve penetration on the hookset.
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Humminbird Report
Humminbird Brings MEGA 360 Imaging To the Ice with Ice Adapter Kit
Humminbirdís exclusive MEGA 360 Imaging sonar has provided anglers with unrivaled detail in every direction around their boat. With the introduction of the new MEGA 360 Imaging Ice Adapter, Humminbird brings that exclusive technology to ice fishermen.
The MEGA 360 Imaging Ice Adapter allows anglers to utilize the MEGA 360 transducer to see a clear and sharp view under the ice, up to 125 feet around the hole. Ice anglers can eliminate the guesswork and quickly find structure and fish without drilling as many holes, track schools of fish as they move, and know which direction the fish are headed.
"Anglers have been successfully using MEGA 360 Imaging on the open water to identify structure and fish to make every minute on the water more effective," said Matt Cook, Humminbird brand manager. "Bringing this technology to the ice will give hard-water anglers the same ability to be more efficient and productive and ultimately help them find and catch more fish."
The MEGA 360 Imaging Ice Adapter includes all accessories needed to convert a MEGA 360 Imaging transducer for use while ice fishing. The adapter is compatible with all MEGA 360 Imaging transducers (Universal, Ultrex, Fortrex and No Mount).
Accessories needed to use your MEGA 360 Transducer on ice:
- HELIX 8, 9, or 10 with MSI+ or MDI+ (G3N/G4N)
- HELIX Ice conversion kit (ICE PTC CHIPR H8910)
- MEGA 360 Imaging unit (No Mount, Universal, Ultrex and Fortrex models)
- MEGA 360 Ice Adapter
- Battery and charger
- Optional: AS GPS HS: GPS Puck with Heading Sensor (Mark and View waypoints on MEGA 360 screen)
The Humminbird MEGA 360 Ice Adapter retails for $99.99 and is now shipping to Humminbird dealers everywhere.
For more information call Humminbird at 800-633-1468 or visit www.humminbird.com.
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G. Loomis Tackles Hard Water with New IMX-Pro Ice Rods
Action, sensitivity, and purposeful construction are the driving forces behind G. Loomis’ new line of IMX-PRO Ice rods, a 12-model lineup that’s soon to be available at tackle shops in October.
The IMX-PRO Ice series includes 5 rods with solid graphite blank construction for panfish and lighter applications as well as 7 tubular graphite blank rods for targeting walleye, northern pike, lake trout, and other larger species.
The G. Loomis crew began the development of the IMX-PRO Ice rods in January of 2019 during a trip to Lake of the Woods, perfectly coinciding with the week of the infamous ‘Polar Vortex’ weather event. As the crew ventured out onto the ice in morning temperatures hovering at 50 below zero — and never going above 30 below zero for nearly four days —they experienced ice fishing in its utmost extreme.