ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 2, 1997 TAG: 9702040023
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-8 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Outdoors
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
When Robert Mullins of Vinton told his angling partner he should tie on one of the new V&M 8-inch Super Needle plastic worms, it might have been the best tip of the fishing season..
The timing of Mullins' suggestion was impeccable. It was the final day of the 1996 Forrest Wood Open on Kerr Lake. Mullins' partner was Mike Terry, who was in fourth place.
With a long, lean Super Needle in green-pumpkin color, Terry added two hefty bass to his catch, one of them about 5 pounds. That vaulted him into first place and gave him the $100,000 winner's prize.
Now the V&M Super Needle is one of the red-hot lures grabbing the attention of fishermen at winter bass shows, including the Roanoke Bass Boat and Tackle Show at Tanglewood Mall.
If you stop by the V&M Bait Co. display at Tanglewood today (the show is open 1-6 p.m.), you will see Terry's victory touted in the company's 1997 catalog.
Mullins' name, by the way, isn't mentioned. He simply is referred to as Terry's ``amateur'' partner, but he is no small player in the worm's sudden fame.
``Just to look at [the Super Needle], you would think it would do nothing at all,'' said Floyd Williams, a V&M representative. What makes the Carolina-rigged worm special is that its slim profile let's it crawl across cover nicely, and the whip-like action of its tail is a come-on for bass, he said.
Looks that kill aren't the only thing the worm has going for it. The scent of pork fat and salt has been cooked into the plastic. The people at Henry's Gun and Tackle in Vinton say the black bubble-gum color is what anglers are grabbing.
Several other offerings also fit the hot-bait-of-the-year category. When you ask Lou Zienius of Big-Z in Radford what is hooking the attention of fishermen, she directs you to a package containing the Roboworm Zipper. You get much the same response from Kevin Crawford of the Virginia Outdoorsman on Smith Mountain Lake and Glenn Young of Douglas Sporting Goods in Princeton, W.Va.
``I'm not sure if they are catching any fish right now, but they are catching fishermen,'' Zienius said of the lures. ``Everybody has been asking for them.''
The Zipper is a fat, 5-inch plastic worm. It is flat on the top and bottom and has seductive sides that look like an oversized, open zipper. You can fish it like a regular worm, or shorten it and use it as a trailer on a jig, Crawford said.
In the crank-bait category, new finishes are hypnotizing fishermen.
``The colors will knock your eyes out,'' said David Webb of the Fishing Hole in Roanoke. Webb was referring to the Rebel Mystic Series by Pradco.
The lures reflect a rainbow of colors at any angle and in any type of light, even at depths when colors can be expected to die. They won Pradco the ``best new freshwater hardbait'' award at the recent American Sportfishing Association Show in New Orleans.
One neat trick about the Mystic series is you can tell whether you are reaching for a floating or suspending lure by checking the color of its eyes, said Derrick Hines, of All Huntin-N-Fishin in Salem.
Also sporting the new hyperactive-reflecting finish is Heddon's top-water Spit'N Image in Pradco's Excalibur Series.
``We are selling the fire our of them at the shop,'' Hines said.
``You lay one in your hand and it looks just like a minnow,'' said Crawford.
An angler should be able to quickly learn to make the lure come alive by walking and jumping it across the surface like a fleeing shad. It should be attractive to stripers as well as black bass, and - good news for striper anglers - you can get it with tough, saltwater hooks.
Another innovative lure of note is the Carolina-Rig-Jig, Young said. It is designed to eliminate the problem fishermen can experience when using a Carolina-rigged worm or lizard. Often a bass will grab the rig's slip sinker rather than the lure. What the Carolina-Rig-Jig does is replace the sinker with a jig that not only performs like a sinker, but also works like a bait.
LENGTH: Medium: 78 linesby CNB