ORLANDO, Fla. — Grant Koppers stood on stage with his team at LiveTarget Lures videoing his surroundings. It had to be rather cool as he captured many of his peers in the fishing industry.
Koppers took the time to record those at the Best of Show ceremony Wednesday night at ICAST 2019, where LiveTarget picked up three more awards.
“We’re making a tradition out of this,” he said, adding he was recording because his past times accepting the honor has been “like a total blur to me.”
LiveTarget, which has been winning Best of Show awards for its lifelike soft and hard baits since when he began the business, introduced a new way to make lures at this ICAST. They call the process Injected Core Technology (ICT), and Koppers believes it’s a game changer.
“ICT is not just a new product, it’s a new technique in construction, in manufacturing,” he said. “It’s kind of where we were with hard baits, crankbaits and deep divers. We used to make them out of opaque plastic and then transitioned to clear plastic.
“This process is kind of where we’re at with soft plastics — making that mechanical shape that gives the lure its signature action, making it clear. It’s not just soft or hard, it’s like its own genre of lures.”
LiveTarget used ICT to win Best of Show in Freshwater with its Erratic Shiner and in saltwater soft and hard lures in a Slow-Roll Shiner and Flutter Sardine.
While the products are just being introduced, Koppers said the vision behind it is about as old as his company that began in 2007. The team has taken years to really map out an entire product line.
“When we came into the industry, we didn’t come from manufacturing,” he said. “We’ve had to learn a lot about it, and as time has gone one, we’ve had to learn a lot about technology. Trying to get on the front end of that technology is key.”
Kopper said the competition within the industry is the best it has ever been, and that has really inspired his team.
“Everybody works really hard,” he said. “This is an especially special year — the competion was very steep. There’s a lot of good products out there. I think it’s at its highest level.
“You almost want to sort of convey a message back to the market, let them realize how hard all these lure companies are working. They’re all at the top of their game. Everybody is working very hard. It’s very exciting.”
Lunkerhunt legs out spider lure
Lunkerhunt and its Phantom Spider prevented a clean sweep by LiveTarget as it won the Best Freshwater Soft Lure. Elite angler Matt Arey is on the Lunkerhunt team and explains its allure.
“This is the first arachnid to hit the fishing industry. The thorax and head are about 2 inches, it’s got eight wiggly legs, and it will flat scare big ones into biting it,” he said.
Lunkerhunt founder Dave MacDonald was thrilled to follow up 2017’s Best of Show win with yet another top Freshwater Soft Lure.
“It’s a hollow body topwater that walks across the surface and is just a lot of fun to fish,” he said. “The application for the bass guys is overhanging trees, cover, and it’s not too bad for skipping. It’s really effective when you can hold it in a spot and shake it. The legs just go and, dude, it catches fish.”
The Lunkerhunt team, which is based north of Toronto near Lower Buckhorn Lake, Ontario, was ecstatic with the win.
“It was a team effort in building it,” MacDonald said. “It was difficult. Building a bait isn’t easy. With the spider, there’s about 18 production molds to make one bait, and then all these patterns. The realism I think people will appreciate it.
“The team, we put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into working with dealers and pro staff, getting it in the field. When you get an award like this, it just shows your efforts are appreciated.”
Adding flash to treble
Davy Hite has been using the new VMC Bladed Hybrid Treble (Best of Show winner in Terminal Tackle) for about six months, and he said the added flash simply elicits more bites, especially in clear water.
“VMC makes a great treble, but this adds a barrel swivel a small willow leaf blade, which gives off a lot of flash,” Hite said. “For years, we’ve had treble hooks with feathers and that adds appeal.
“I’ve used that a lot on jerkbaits and also topwaters. This flashy willow leaf blade just gives that extra attraction. With that on there, sometimes the fish will just bite the hook and not target the whole bait.”
That creates more hookups, Hite said, as the blade is small enough that it doesn’t interfer with the action or the hook.
