Stan Fagerstrom
02-15-2003, 07:48 AM
Canadian Walleye Anglers Score
With Easy-Turning Smile Blades
By Stan Fagerstrom
Ain't it funny how talk gets around!
A guy named Willie used those words in a country song he wrote a long time ago, but it's not country music I have in mind. Come up with something that catches more fish and the news about it scoots around faster than a pregnant polecat in a prairie fire.
You don't have to take my word for it. Ask Mel Barr, a walleye fishing pro who hangs his fishing hat up there across the border up there in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. Barr, you see, had never heard of the Mack's Lure Smile Blades. These easy-turning blades have carved a reputation for themselves over the past few years among walleye anglers in some parts of the country.
Barr has been a walleye tournament angler since 1989. A couple of years ago at a tournament he was visiting with a young guy who was just getting started in professional walleye fishing. "This fellow was just learning," Barr recalls. "He was also asking a lot of questions and getting his gear together. He showed me a couple of lightweight spinner blades that he had bought that were made out of some kind of plastic. I asked him where he got those things. He told me and also gave me a couple to try in my own fishing."
http://www.ifish.net/sfwally.jpg
Plastic Smile Blades can be used in many different ways. Here one is part of a lure called the Wally Pop.
Those smile-shaped pieces of plastic were Mack's Lure Smile Blades. Barr promptly stuck that pair of blades in his pocket and forgot about them. But that's not the end of the story.
"We were at a tournament on Lesser Slave Lake north of Edmonton at the time," Barr says. "The day after this fellow gave me the blades we had 7 and 8-foot waves on the lake. We were using bottom bouncers and I got bit off by a big pike. I reached down to pick up a replacement rig I had all tied up, but I'd forgotten to put a spinner blade on it. The boat was bouncing around so much I knew it would be difficult to get back to where my spinner blades were. Then I remembered those Smile Blades the young man had given me."
Barr put one of his newly acquired Smile Blades on top of some beads and resumed fishing. He immediately hooked a good one, but it came off right alongside the boat. He dropped his rig back down and right away nailed a 4-pounder.
http://www.ifish.net/sfmelb.jpg
Canada walleye expert Mel Barr displays proof of his angling expertise.
"That fish was twice as big as the ones we had been getting," he says. "I caught two more after that, lost another, then boated another 4-pounder. The long and short of it was that my partner and I almost doubled the size of the fish we had been catching. This was all within the last hour and a half of the tournament. The result was we jumped from 23rd place to 7th place. The other guys in the tournament couldn't believe it."
The first question that came Barr's way after that tournament wound up was: "What the heck were you using?" Mel Barr is a sharing kind of guy. He told those Canadian pros what little he knew about Smile Blades. Then he made it a point to find out a whole lot more.
"As soon as I got home I called Mack's Lure," he says, "and made arrangements to get myself an assortment of Smile Blades. I got a sufficient supply so I could give some to other fishermen in our area. Each year I host a walleye tournament for our local fishing club. In our last club tournament, out of the top nine finishers, five used Smile Blades. I hadn't given some of the club members their Smile Blades until just before the tournament started."
Why have Mack's Lure Smile Blades done so well with those Canadian walleye? "I'm not entirely sure," Barr says, "but it has to have something to do with the way the Mylar plastic the blades are made out of moves in the water and with the exceedingly slow speed at which the Smile Blades can be fished."
Visit with knowledgeable walleye anglers in Canada's Alberta Province and you won't find very darn many who don't know about Mack's Lure Smile Blades. Many, like Barr, are using them to put fish in the boat. I've heard there are Columbia River walleye anglers who are doing the same thing.
And that's why I said what I said in the beginning. Talk does indeed get around---especially when it deals with better ways to put fish in the boat.
With Easy-Turning Smile Blades
By Stan Fagerstrom
Ain't it funny how talk gets around!
A guy named Willie used those words in a country song he wrote a long time ago, but it's not country music I have in mind. Come up with something that catches more fish and the news about it scoots around faster than a pregnant polecat in a prairie fire.
You don't have to take my word for it. Ask Mel Barr, a walleye fishing pro who hangs his fishing hat up there across the border up there in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. Barr, you see, had never heard of the Mack's Lure Smile Blades. These easy-turning blades have carved a reputation for themselves over the past few years among walleye anglers in some parts of the country.
Barr has been a walleye tournament angler since 1989. A couple of years ago at a tournament he was visiting with a young guy who was just getting started in professional walleye fishing. "This fellow was just learning," Barr recalls. "He was also asking a lot of questions and getting his gear together. He showed me a couple of lightweight spinner blades that he had bought that were made out of some kind of plastic. I asked him where he got those things. He told me and also gave me a couple to try in my own fishing."
http://www.ifish.net/sfwally.jpg
Plastic Smile Blades can be used in many different ways. Here one is part of a lure called the Wally Pop.
Those smile-shaped pieces of plastic were Mack's Lure Smile Blades. Barr promptly stuck that pair of blades in his pocket and forgot about them. But that's not the end of the story.
"We were at a tournament on Lesser Slave Lake north of Edmonton at the time," Barr says. "The day after this fellow gave me the blades we had 7 and 8-foot waves on the lake. We were using bottom bouncers and I got bit off by a big pike. I reached down to pick up a replacement rig I had all tied up, but I'd forgotten to put a spinner blade on it. The boat was bouncing around so much I knew it would be difficult to get back to where my spinner blades were. Then I remembered those Smile Blades the young man had given me."
Barr put one of his newly acquired Smile Blades on top of some beads and resumed fishing. He immediately hooked a good one, but it came off right alongside the boat. He dropped his rig back down and right away nailed a 4-pounder.
http://www.ifish.net/sfmelb.jpg
Canada walleye expert Mel Barr displays proof of his angling expertise.
"That fish was twice as big as the ones we had been getting," he says. "I caught two more after that, lost another, then boated another 4-pounder. The long and short of it was that my partner and I almost doubled the size of the fish we had been catching. This was all within the last hour and a half of the tournament. The result was we jumped from 23rd place to 7th place. The other guys in the tournament couldn't believe it."
The first question that came Barr's way after that tournament wound up was: "What the heck were you using?" Mel Barr is a sharing kind of guy. He told those Canadian pros what little he knew about Smile Blades. Then he made it a point to find out a whole lot more.
"As soon as I got home I called Mack's Lure," he says, "and made arrangements to get myself an assortment of Smile Blades. I got a sufficient supply so I could give some to other fishermen in our area. Each year I host a walleye tournament for our local fishing club. In our last club tournament, out of the top nine finishers, five used Smile Blades. I hadn't given some of the club members their Smile Blades until just before the tournament started."
Why have Mack's Lure Smile Blades done so well with those Canadian walleye? "I'm not entirely sure," Barr says, "but it has to have something to do with the way the Mylar plastic the blades are made out of moves in the water and with the exceedingly slow speed at which the Smile Blades can be fished."
Visit with knowledgeable walleye anglers in Canada's Alberta Province and you won't find very darn many who don't know about Mack's Lure Smile Blades. Many, like Barr, are using them to put fish in the boat. I've heard there are Columbia River walleye anglers who are doing the same thing.
And that's why I said what I said in the beginning. Talk does indeed get around---especially when it deals with better ways to put fish in the boat.