Like Christmas In The Summer Time

I received a package in the mail a few days ago from my friend Michael Andersen. Michael lives in Norway and he makes a small number of baits under the Pikeopath label. I was very fortunate to be able to get a couple of his lures considering the limited number of baits that he makes. On my first inspection of his baits I was very impressed with the quality of the materials and workmanship. The paint work is very clean and precise with a heavy clear coat that is near perfect.
The two that he sent me are different styles, one is a glider that he calls "Stiff Beaver". It's right at 8" long and weighs 4 ounces. The other is a style he calls a tail bait and it's name is S.O.S. (short for Strap On Sally). The tail bait weighs 3-3/4 ounces and measures 9" with the tail curled and 11" with the tail straight.
After looking his baits over I was anxious to get them in the water and see how they worked......yesterday I got the chance to try them for a little while and I must say that they work better than they look....if that's possible.
The Stiff Beaver has sink rate of about 10" per second and a nice side to side glide of about 20-30" each way....but what impressed me the most was how lively the bait is. It has lots of body movement during and after the glide and a tantalizing wobble when allowed to sink. It handles most all speeds very well from a slow steady walk to a fast erratic retrieve. You can control the direction of the glide with the position of the rod tip from a consistent side to side walk to an erratic up, down, left, or right. This one bound to get eaten for sure.
The S.O.S. is more of a straight line retrieve, pull type bait. With it's large tail swimming along behind the body has a random wobbling, rocking motion. The faster the retrieve speed the harder and faster it wobbles When allowed to fall it sinks just fast enough to make the tail work.
After just a short time playing with these two lures it quickly become apparent to me that Michael has got both of these balanced perfectly and the only reason that these two wouldn't catch any fish, whether pike or musky, is if they don't get used.
If any of my blog readers ever have a chance to get a hold of any of Michael's baits I would highly recommend giving them a try on your local waters....you'll be glad you did.
Here's a link to Michael's blog for those of you that would like to see some more of his work.
http://yankeedoodoo.blogspot.com/
Thanks Michael for the baits and hopefully the next time I post some photos of them they will have some teeth marks in that pretty paint work.
Jeff