Welcome to Week CLXVI of ‘Fishing Parkland Shorelines’. Like most of us I am a novice fisherman, loving to fish, but far from an expert. In the following weeks I’ll attempt to give those anglers who love to fish but just don’t have access to a boat, a look at some of the options in the Yorkton area where you can fish from shore, and hopefully catch some fish.
When you have fished as long as I have — yes there are many of us who started throwing hooks before we were old enough to reel in a hammer handle pike if we did catch one, and have kept at it for decades — it’s surprising how new lures still attract our attention.
I have stated here before how new lures may, or may not catch fish any better than what is already in our tackle boxes, but they do a wonderful job of catching our attention to the point we pull out our debit cards and head directly to store checkouts.
It is not all that surprising we quickly look to new things related to our passions. It is a phenomena I am actually keen aware of it not just the context of fishing.
In my day I was a rather avid player of Magic the Gathering, at least within my local board gaming circle. Magic is a collectable card game which launched in 1993, with new cards released in set at a rate of two, or three a year. New cards are still being released, although somewhat regrettably I have been out of the loop for years now.
But I mention MtG ( www.magic.wizards.com ) because as a player I was always looking to buy the next new set of cards to make my play deck better, or to buy single cards at a gaming shop to enhance a deck I was already partial too.
Fast forward a bit and I am active in the sport of disc golf. Most disc golfers look for two things, new drivers which will give them even a few extra feet off the tee, and new putters which find the chains more consistently. We might only have one or two midrange discs in our bag, but many will eagerly buy new drivers and putters in the hope they enhance their game.
And, that’s what we fishermen do in buying new hooks. We hope the pattern, colour, sound, shape or whatever other feature the lure has, will make it the lure we could cast into a flooded ditch and still catch a whooper of a walleye.
So most fisherfolk will have a bunch of pretty lures in their tackle boxes, bought on a whim, holding all the promise of catching fish our imaginations could muster, only to find they don’t.
Still, when I found out Len Thompson was releasing new lure patterns I was hooked.
Any new spoon is of interest as shore fishing pike as I often do, they work about as well as anything in the tackle box, at least most days.
But when it comes to the Len Thompson company it holds a lot more appeal based on the track record this Canadian-based lure manufacture has.
There may be some out there unfamiliar with Len Thompson lures, even with their roots in nearby Abernathy, SK., so I here is the company story borrowed from their website.
“Len Thompson, a returned First World War soldier and farmer, developed his first fishing spoon in Abernethy, Saskatchewan, in 1929. After many years of trying all kinds of manufactured lures, he was convinced he could make a better spoon,” it states.
“He believed that the slow wobbling action which antagonized game fish into striking could be created with a more intricate combination of shape and weight. Always looking for better results, he carried a file and ball peen hammer in his tackle box to perfect his already very successful prototypes.
“Len Thompson Bullet and Bait operated as a part time, winter business out of his farm until 1945 when Thompson decided to make a career change. He traveled to Toronto where he secured suppliers of brass, components, paint, packaging, and production equipment as well as hired his first professional tool and die maker. Within a few short months, he had a factory built and fully equipped. Len Thompson Bait Company entered into full time production in the village of Abernethy, Saskatchewan.
“After a decade of impressive growth, Len & Myra Thompson and Myrtle & Cecil Pallister formed Thompson-Pallister Bait Co. Ltd and chose to relocate to Lacombe, Alberta in 1958. Lacombe was closer to suppliers and customers as well as offered many excellent fishing and hunting opportunities. Len Thompson continued to experiment and promote while his son-in-law Cecil Pallister refined the manufacturing processes. Len passed away in 1979, but his name is carried to anglers on approximately 500,000 fishing spoons each year. Cecil presided over the business through the 1970’s and early 1980’s when he and Myrtle turned over ownership to their sons: Richard, Greg and Syd.
“In 2012, Richard acquired sole ownership of Thompson-Pallister Bait Co. Ltd. and was joined by his son, Brad who is the fourth generation to participate in Len Thompson’s success …
“Famous for its yellow and red (Five of Diamonds) and red and white models, the line has expanded to include “The Platinum Series”, nickel plated spoons finished in very high contrast, often fluorescent paint jobs in today’s most desired patterns. Approximately 40 million lures have been produced since 1929.”
The Len Thompson (LT) red and white is a pike magnate, and their hammered perch is usually the first lure I try at most spots, unless I opt for the fancier fire tiger from their Platinum Series of lures. I’ll note here that while the Fire Tiger is very effective, both it and its sister Rainbow Trout pattern, are far more prone to their paint chipping off on rocks than the regular line of LT lures.
If you look in my primary tray of fishing lures LT lures dominate the slots. I carry pretty much the full range in various sizes, even the black and white and leopard frog patterns, even though neither have the fish catch stats in the local area like they did on Tobin Lake in the days of my youth.
So when the new lures were announced I was already counting out my cash, frankly sight unseen.
I figured if Len Thompson was announcing its first new product line launch in 20 Years it was likely to be a good one.
“We are not only excited about the appearance and unique nature of the product, but the fact that these lures attract different species of fish in markets where our brand has great potential” said company President, Brad Pallister in a release launching the new Dimpled Series.
In the water, The Dimpled Series spoons are said to reflect more light, create more noise through extra water turbulence and (perhaps) improve upon the slow tantalizing wobble of a traditional Len Thompson spoon.
Now to be fair LT has had a yellow lures with three red diamonds, and orange and black and a couple of other lures with dimples for a few years now, but they were simply variations on existing patterns.
With this new release we get some wild new patterns; candy cane, metallic rainbow, traffic light and raspberry granite among them.
“Initial testing and feedback from both our retailers, our pro staff and our select fans has been overwhelmingly positive,” Pallister explained in the release.
So how have the lures worked for me?
To be honest that is a very difficult question to answer.
Shore fishing has been less than outstanding, at least my experience, which I attribute to an early spring, low water, and little rain, so no lure in my tackle box has been racking up significant numbers of fish. Based on this year to-date I wouldn’t rave about any lure.
As a result the new LT lures have not excelled. That however is not to say they are not worth having.
There are eight lures in the new line, and while you might not want to grab all eight on a whim, I would eagerly recommend Sun Set, Candy Cane and Traffic Light are going to be lures I regularly toss, and I think Raspberry Granite and Holy Mackerel may join that list too. Grey Ghost and Brown Trout may be lures to use in more specific situations.
So grab a few, use them on days when the old reliables are not catching, and find a niche for the new LT lures, at least you know they are quality lures from a top-notch company.
