Oh So Ready to Make Some Casts

Since leaving home five days ago, Nathaniel and I have spent a tremendous amount of time watching other people fish, taking photos of fish and fishermen, eying waterways and talking about lures, rods, reels and fishing trips. Today we were even waterfront in Lake Charles, supposedly with redfish and speckled trout within casting distance of the shore.

Our full fishing day doesn't come until Sunday, but I think there might be a window or two tomorrow where we can get out for a few hours locally and cast from the shore or wade a little. Just in case, I'm rigged and ready with my starting offering and have a whole line-up behind it. Rumor has it Lake Charles is rich with baitfish that the trout like to chase around, so my starting pick is a BOOYAH Boo Rig matched with Strike King KVD Swim-n-shiner a on a 1/4-ounce Egret Baits jighead. Lures waiting in the wings include a Bomber 14A, an Egret Baits Bayou Chub and a Vudu Shrimp.

Early Sunday we're moving just south of here to spend a day on Lake Calcasieu with Calcasieu Charter Service. Word has it that Big Lake, as Calcasieu is often known, has been producing great mixed catches of redfish, trout, sheepshead and more, with some good quality fish in the mix. I've fished there before, but it has been several years, so I'm eager to fish it again.

Gear: Boo Rigs Open Many Options

At a glance you might think, "Another umbrella rig." Take a closer look, though, and you'll see that the BOOYAH's new Boo Rig family of rigs offer something completely different. These rigging accessories, which were just revealed last week at ICAST, open a wealth of new options for fishermen, and they really are quite different from anything else I saw at the show or have seen in other places.

For starters, there's only one place for a lure. These are not multi-hook rigs, and they therefore should be legal in most places, if not everywhere. The blades or grubs (depending on the specific rig model) are only teasers to draw fish's attention and to create the look of a school of bait or of a chase taking place. As importantly, though, the back wire, which leads to the lure snap, is highly flexible. Because it's not stiff, you can rig it with a crankbait or jerkbait or virtually any other lure without concern about the wire hampering the action of the lure. These rigs also aren't big and bulky, which means you don't need a magnum outfit or a triathlon-competitor's endurance to fish one all day.

Beyond the attracting value of the blades or grubs, these rigs provide added weight, which allow you to fish crankbaits or jerkbaits deeper than they run on their own. Just count 'em down before you start retrieving. That added weight also allows you to use a small bait to mimic smaller forage without having to turn to ultralight gear. That's valuable when big bass or even larger gamefish such as stripers are eating small stuff.

The rigs come in four styles: The Boo Rig has four blades on stiff wires spread around with flexible wire; The Boo Teaser has four hookless grubs that spread similarly, the Boo Spin has spinnerbait blades in  couple of different configurations in front of the lure wire. The Boo Flex has no teasers. Each runs behind a weighted spinnerbait-style head and comes in 1/4-, 3/8- and 1/2-ounce sizes.

I've not gotten to fish these yet, but the word I've gotten is that they swim really well and have preformed exactly as was hoped (from a fish catching standpoint) during testing times and on photo trips. I'm eager to try 'em myself and to join in the fun of discovering applications.