When you love fishing as much as we do the research and development side of the creative process is probably the best part of the business. When we first started producing soft baits we had a conflict of interest in regard to the plastics used to make soft baits. Although we elected to use phthalate free plastics which are less harmful than traditional plastisol we wanted to take it a step further. In an effort to help preserve the environment, reduce pollution, and produce a product that is not only harmless to fish but nutritious we started working on our ENVIRO Soft bead. These soft beads are made from natural products and safe and healthy for fish to eat.
To our surprise the very first batch of our Enviro bead turned out much better than expected. Based of our infamous Bloody Disco, this beads has the scent cooked in. In this case salmon egg oil, eatable glitter, a touch of salt, and a few drops of garlic. Phew! The smell of success is in the air. To our surprise the consistency is a bit firmer we had initially expected. Fairly good elasticity and pretty strong as well. We also found that you have to keep these baits cool. If left in direct sunlight they turn to mush. So you have to keep them in a cooler. temps above 65 degree they start to break down. They hold up is water pretty good, however the warmer the water the more the bait expands and starts to dissipate.
The absorbtion and dispersion scent extremely effectively and these baits hold up on the hook better than natural bait but over time start to soften up. The fish attracting capability is fairly effective. We ran a chum test and bait fish were all over it. We will be working on additional flavors like shrimp, garlic, and anise to get an idea on how fish respond to those flavors as well. Were thinking in terms of fish food, not just bait. the idea is to provide a bait that actually have nutritional value for the fish yet a similar consistancy to soft baits and hopefully an improved performace in regards to fish attracting capabilities.
Given this is our very first batch I would say, So far so good! Our next phase we will be running more test in the field to see how it holds up after several casts, or after a fish bits. Overall we’re pretty excited to see the results. Given the success of our current soft beads our new Enviro Beads are destine for greatness. stay tuned for future posts as we work to help create the greatest soft baits in the industry and provide the sport fishing world with a new eco friendly fishing bait.