<%= FNT_CONTENT %>> Hal Abhire, NC
> Randy Alexander, KY
> Mike Bailey, NC
> Tim Bauman, NJ
> Cary Bever, FL
> James Blauvelt, ID
> Steve Brown, CO
> Larry Byrd, LA
> Rick Byrnes, IL
> Carl Chambers, VA
> Don Dobbs, VA
> Pete Dubois, CO
> Robert Eckle, TX
> Steven Emery, MI
> Jeff Evans, ON
> Jim Fields, DE
> William Florence, AL
> Larry Gaines, FL
> Andy Godwin, WV
> Ken Golub, NY
> Shonn Goodwin, OK
> Billy Graves, NM
> Burnie Haney, NY

<%= FNT_CONTENT %>> Roy Hawk, UT
> Jeff Henson, IL
> James Huggins, SC
> Tony Jameson, OH
> Bob Jeffrey, CT
> David Johnson, ON
> Tawny Larsen, TX
> David Lauer, IN
> Frank Maher, MA
> Mark Marcantonio, WA
> Greg Marks, MS
> Marco Rodriguez, OR
> Kevin Runyon, KY
> Nelson Scherrer, MO
> Jerry Schlief, UT
> Bill Siemantel, CA
> Steve Simer, WI
> Sammie Stainbrook, FL
> Walt Swafford, FL
> David Swendseid, OR
> Fred Szatkowski, AZ
> Rusty Trancygier, GA<%= FNT_END %>

At this time fishing is a little tough on the river, because we are in the dog days. The fish gorged themselves right after the post spawn and now they are not as active. At least, not until I fished the BEVYSHAD75. I did not realize how effective a jerkbait could be in the summer on a river system. I caught 8 bass on Saturday July 22,2000 fishing grass with topwater and a jig/worm. I changed my pattern on Sunday July 23,2000 and went to deeper water using the BEVYSHAD75 and caught 35 bass ranging from 1/2 lb. to 3 1/2 lbs. I would switch between the BEVYSHAD75 and a Pointer 78. I would occasionally hook a fish on a Pointer. The fish I landed would have only a back hook in their mouth. I'd switch back to the BEVYSHAD75 and the fish had both sets. The size definitely made a difference for this time of the year.

I would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to field test the BEVYSHAD75. If I was not field testing this bait, I would not have known I could catch fish in the summer time on a river system with a jerkbait.

The workmanship/ detail (true baitfish finish) is outstanding. This lure is only 75mm (2 15/16” lg.), but casts great even into the wind, due to its unique weight/rattle transfer system. It easily dives 5 to 7 feet and suspends. I have found that it not only is a great suspending jerk bait (perfect nose down balance), but also works as a small crank bait. The internal glass rattles calls them right out of the grass.

BEVYSHAD75 will become a go to lure for suspending or schooling fish, since it is possible to match (the hatch) size and color of baitfish on most lakes I fish. By combining the BEVYSHAD75 with the POINTER78, it is possible to cover water depths surface to 7 feet plus.

I was fortunate enough that Ted Sakai from Lucky Craft Lures sent me up some BevyShad75s just as our tournament trail was about to hit the big small outh waters up here. Even though I had been using the pointers and flash minnows there are those days that the smallmouth want a smaller profile bait. This is fairly easy to identify. Generally you will see one or 2 things happen when fishing the bigger baits. 1) smallmouth will constantly follow the bait to the boat without striking, 2) every fish you hook, will generally have it on the outside of their face. Any one that knows smallmouth also knows that if you are hooking them on the outside of the face, your percentages of landing those fish goes way down. That's when the BevyShad75 comes into play for me. I have used the BevyShad75 on several of our northern lakes that hold big smallmouth, these lakes included Rice Lake (Peterborough Ontario), Balsam Lake (Cobiconk Ontario) and Lake Simcoe (Keswick Ontario). While fishing Balsam Lake I was there during mid August. the weather conditions were varied from cool mornings to afternoon temperatures in the high 80's. Water temperatures were in the mid 70's. One of the things I first noticed about Balsam lake was that the numbers of smallmouth in the the regular spots had drastically decreased. After spending half the day throwing the traditional baits and only catching a few fish, I decided to down size and tied on the BevyShad75 and increased the numbers and size of the fish that I was catching. I don't think I would have ended up in the top 10 in that tournament if I didn't have the BevyShad75. While fishing the other 2 lakes, I fished a variety of structure which included wood, submerged train tracks and rock shoals in water less then 8 feet deep. I fished these lakes during mid September. For those people out there that don't know these lakes I would have to say that they are in the top 4 for small mouth lakes in Canada. It is not uncommon to see numerous 5 and 6 pound smallies and the winning weight for 3 day tournaments is in the 54-57 pound range for 15 fish. Due to the extensive pressure that these lakes sustain I thought the BevyShad75 would e a great choice to start with. It offers me the advantage of showing these fish something different then they have seen all season and believe me they see allot of stickbaits. The BevyShad75 offers me all of the advantages of the other Lucky Craft lures including the incredible darting motion and suspending features but also allows me to down size which gives a different presentation and look from what the fish are accustomed to seeing, therefore you get more and bigger strikes when the fish are not as aggressive. I like to throw the BevyShad75 on 10 pound line I can run the bait 4-5 feet deep and make the necessary bottom contact with the structure. You have to be sure to pause the bait after you make contact, this triggers big strikes and also keeps you from hanging up in the bottom structure.

Another area that I will use the BevyShad75 is in deeper water when the bite has slowed. It is not uncommon up here to have smallies come up and hit stickbaits 2-3 below the surface in 14-16 feet of water. Once again we are dealing with smallies that have been bombarded week after week with the traditional stickbaits and instead of striking the baits they follow them to the boat and generally speaking are near impossible to make them bite. I have found that by scaling down to the BevyShad75 and matching the color to the natural bait fish in your lake will make those smallmouth more aggressive and then its up to you to put them in the boat. Another advantage of the BevyShad75 is that it runs deeper in the water and on those days when the wind is blowing and you are dealing with 2-3 foot waves you can still run the BevyShad75in the water and not have it skip on you. Smallmouth become very active when the wind is blowing, so it is a distinct advantage to be able to run the BevyShad75 and fill the boat when the bite is on. For largemouth fisherman out there don't despair. These same principles apply. We all know that big buckets like their wood and weed lines and if the lake you are fishing has this type of structure in 4 feet of water and its feasible to run the BevyShad75 without constantly hanging up then you need this bait in your boat. With its built in action and true suspending features big buckets cannot keep from committing suicide on this bait. My choice for tackle when fishing in this manner is 17lb test with medium action rod, you need to get them buckets out of the trouble areas as fast as you can. Hope this helps your fishing out there it helped my partner and I to finish 3rd over all in the team of the year on the Bassmania tournament trail.

Good Fishing.

The Bevy shown is my version of the Ghost LuckyCraft Bevy Popper. I have used the original popper and changed the hooks to a 4/0 Silver Gamakatsu. The tail hook is retied with streamer material, red thread,and three feathers to a length of 2.25 inches. Work the lure in a slow twitching motion, moving the lure two to three inches at a time. I also fish it with a slow swimming retrieve with a small twitch occasionally . With the extra weight, the lure has less splash but gives a splooshing type noise that drives them mad.. Many times I get strikes when I speed up the retrieve to bring the lure in and recast. I have used the lure throughout the southern states and Ohio with great success. I live and fish on Lake Murray, SC. A recent trip with the popper produced amazing results. A multitude of species was caught and released including Gar, White Bass, Perch, Striper (Rockfish), and Largemouth Bass. Normal strikes occur with the bait completely inside the fishes mouth.

The results of this excursion is completely normal. I have caught fish and won tournaments with the Bevy when other participants were hard pressed to get a bite. On one tournament which I won, my draw partner offered me $50.00 for the bait I was using. Of course I refused, this was the only one I had.

Sales at LuckyCraft state they are going to discontinue the lure. I truly believe this is a grave mistake, and would gladly take all of them I can get.