THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 5, 1994 TAG: 9411050662
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DeGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BUXTON LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
Fish beware.
High-tech tackle for 1995 will give anglers greater advantage over ocean dwellers.
Chemists have helped create soft, scented shiners that never loose their smell. Engineers have designed lead-sleeved lures which self-correct casts.
Fishing gear manufacturers have tackled new products from guideless rods to space-age braided line.
``There are a lot of exciting things going on in the sports fishing industry - especially salt water,'' said Evans Poindexter, sales representative for Henry's Tackle and Sporting Goods of Morehead City, N.C.
``Besides dressier cosmetics, most companies are improving their products technically. They're coming out with up to eight ball bearings per reel - where there used to be only two or three. They're much smoother, they last longer, and they're more expensive.
``There's extremely small diameter, braided line - one-third the size of the same test monofilament and you can get more on the reel,'' Poindexter said Thursday night. Smaller diameter line also means improved casting.
``There are super sharp hooks made out of Vanidium instead of steel. Lightweight and razor sharp, they can penetrate the fish's mouth with a much smaller hole - and you're much less likely to lose the fish.''
Each November, the Cape Hatteras Anglers' Club Surf Fishing Tournament draws hundreds of fishing enthusiasts from along the East Coast to the beaches around the candy-striped lighthouse on North Carolina's southern Outer Banks.
This year, organizers added a new line to the 37th annual tournament, one of the country's oldest: After the first day of fishing, anglers gathered in their Buxton club for Hatteras Island's first tackle show, dubbed ``Reel A-Luring,'' free to the public, held Thursday night.
Ten national fishing products manufacturers, six small companies, and buyers for tackle shops around the region turned out to talk about glittering grubs, laud color-coordinated rods and lines, show off snappy salt water fly rods - and hook potential customers.
More than 800 anglers and on-lookers walked through the crowded club - finding new products and eating free food.
``I think it's great - especially the beer,'' said a Virginia Beach angler who called himself Eugene ``The Flounder Machine'' Farrar.
``It beats the heck out of past tournament entertainment. We used to come down here and play FISH-O, that's what they called it to get us to come play Bingo. This show adds class to the tournament. And I'm seeing a lot of new stuff.''
According to Silstar representative Chris Hall - who was hawking $90 titanium rods without guides - the sports fishing industry is worth about $69 billion per year.
``Cape Hatteras is a very prestigious place for fishermen to go. This tournament is like the Bass Master's Classic of salt water,'' Hall said. ``I came from Connecticut to set up this booth.''
Salt water fly fishing seems to be the new wave this year, with many fresh water rod-and-reel manufacturers trying to catch the beach crowd. Rods which weighed 9 ounces a decade ago now are as light as 3 ounces. That allows anglers to cast farther and more accurately.
Reels come with five-year guarantees in an array of new shapes and sizes. Graphite has been replaced by stainless steel for non-corrosive salt water casting. And wider bodies allow more line to be wound at once.
Braided lines in low-stretch plastics ``are ideal for deep water jigging and down-rigger trolling,'' one Stren Kevlar display declared. ``They're five times as strong as monofilament.''
``Power Shiners'' come in a dozen new colors - each specially scented to attract fish. Chartreuse, pumpkin seed, root beer gold and other nail polish-sounding shades will brighten tackle boxes by Christmas.
With chemically correct lures and computer-engineered casters, most displays at the tackle exposition were high tech. But in a cardboard fish box propped behind the front door, someone had donated a box of bait. ``Free Grubs'' read the handwritten sign alongside.
The plastic Coleman cooler filled with sparkling sample spoons was still half-full at the end of the night.
The grub box was empty. ILLUSTRATION: DREW C. WILSON, Staff photos
Pig Foster, left above, and Jack Leary of the Pasquotank Anglers
Club inspect rods on display at the Cape Hatteras Anglers Club in
Buxton. At left, reels are compared by Gary Oliver of Nags Head and
Jim Parker of West Berlin, N.J.
Fisherman Len Mann, right, of Wanchese gets advice from 1993's
Virginia Salt Water Angler of the Year, Bill Hall of Bloxom, Va.
by CNB