After many months of talking with lawyers, getting back to the drawing board, and trying to find ways to enhance our products to the next level, I am proud to introduce the new Constant Pursuit Outfitters. This company offers products that are all handcrafted here in the United States of America, by the hands of people who fish and hunt for a living.
Over the summer, I was approached by two people that forever changed my business. One of them was an old NFL player who wanted me to pay him in order to use our old tackle name, the other told me that the lures I then produced caught more fishermen than they did fish. I declined to pay the man to use the Lights Out name, and have since moved on. The other instance though, despite my success as a guide fishing with my baits, left a very sour taste in my mouth, and it instilled in me a movement to look into how we can improve on our product lines, ensuring you the fishermen catch more fish.
LUV at First Sight
The fact that fish see in a different light then we humans do has been known for a while. Fish see light filtered through a different set of cones than we do, and will pick up UV rays that our eyes wont, in the midst of natural light. Basically, fish vision is similar to what we see when we turn on a black light.
With that fact in mind, and with the help of a couple buddies, we found a way to target one of the crappies major predatory senses. All of our baits are now made with a UV enhancing gel that allows for the crappie to actually see our Thump Buddies and Thump Jumpers with much more ease.
As a guide, this has me extremely excited. What Ive noticed with these new UV enhanced baits is that on dark, cloudy days, Im getting more strikes than I normally would. Sunny days, everything seems even keel. What this means for the fall/winter fishermen is that once these fish begin going deeper again, like at Fork and Pines, these types of UV enhanced jigs will draw in more light, making them easier to see for hungry crappie. The more crappie that see the jig Im fishing, the more fish that go in the cooler, making me and my customers very happy.
That Makes Scents
For quite awhile I was a person who did not believe scented jigs made a big difference. I thought that presentation was key, and that if properly fished, any jig, scent or no scent, would catch a fish. While I still believe a crappie uses its sight more that its sense of smell to track its prey, I am now a believer in scented jigs.
Every bait we produce now is loaded with a garlic and shad combination that is changing the way fish react to our jigs. On easy days, the fish are eager to thump the jig regardless of smell. On tough days though, and this is what sold me, the fish are now chewing on the jig, enabling us to catch them with more ease. In the past, a fish would simply not have anything to do with us, but now were making their tummy grumble just enough to get that hook in their mouth. I am now a believer in scented baits, and to be frank, I wish I wouldve caught on a bit more quickly. Oh well, we fish and we learn.
Whats New
Thump Buddies
With this new company, comes a handful of new products. For starters, we are offering three new additions to the Thump Buddy line of baits. From top to bottom we have the Blue Wing Teal, the Fishin Farmer, and the Funky Monkey.
The Blue Wing Teal: This bait is one that Ive been thinking about for roughly six to eight months. I wanted a bait that I knew would be a heavy contender in the fall, on a lot of local lakes. I have been fishing this bait extremely hard for the last month on Cedar Creek. It has helped me put fish in the cooler for my clients, and Ive heard good feedback from Fork and Palestine as well.
The Fishin Farmer: I never fished with a blue and chartreuse jig until Cody Standerfer caught several fish to my zero, one morning up on Texoma. Since then, I have enjoyed success with this jig on Cedar Creek, and have heard similar results on Fork and Ray Roberts. I owe Cody big time for coming up with this jig, and I appreciate him giving me the ok to offer it to the public.
The Funky Monkey: For all of you Monkey enthusiasts out there, this ones for you. Ive had several people ask for this color when ordering customs, so there has to be something about it that catches fish. I plan on using it with a pink jig head, in some creeks this year as I chase big females. Ive been told this is a great jig by barge fishermen, which Im guessing has something to do with the fluorescent lights that are often found in those areas.
Jig Heads
We are now offering a number of different jig heads, all of which are also handcrafted by local fishermen. The painted jig heads that you see are coated with a UV enhancing powder that allows the fish to see them better. Much like our jigs that are now enhanced, these painted jig heads are designed for initiating more reaction strikes out of the fish that we are chasing.
We are also now offering an option to those who are looking for a round bend hook. These black nickel hooks are some of the sharpest Ive ever fished with. I have been testing them since late August when I first received them, and have enjoyed the results.
All jig heads shown can be found in both 1/8th oz and 1/16th oz, affixed to a #4 hook. We also still carry unpainted jig heads with your choice or either a #4 or a #6 red sickle hook, in both the 1/8th oz and 1/16th oz sizes.
Thump Jumpers
These little dudes have been my bread and butter here as of lately, and I will continue to use them if they keep catching fish the way they do. The trick to these baits is to keep them moving. Slow and steady is the name of the game. A slight pitch, or the raise of the rod tip, and these Thump Jumpers start to kick like crazy.
What I like so much about these baits is that they are always moving, and the flat body profile allows them to fall at a much slower pace than the average jig. When fishing this bait, the angler is going to notice a different bite than usual. Whereas most crappie thump jigs, tight lipped crappie will have a tendency to chew on these, until they take one bite too many. Creature baits are starting to be more prevalent in the crappie fishing industry. Once the crappie fishermen gains more confidence with them, I think they are going to appreciate what these different looking jigs are really capable of doing.
From top to bottom: The Snow Frog, Blue Wing Teal, and Live Wire. My go to color has been the High Noon as of lately, with the Live Wire being a close second.
Custom and Bust em
This is a good time of year for those anglers looking for a secret weapon to approach me about custom jigs. I have a little more free time, allowing me to really sit down and focus on exactly what the angler has in mind. As with all custom orders, I will not be satisfied until you are happy with your product. Here are a few from last year:
As this is the first day of my new venture, I want to personally say thank you to the Lord, Texas Fishing Forum, Crappie Anglers of Texas, Chuck, Laurie and Jana at BigCrappie.com, Anglers Pro Tackle, East Texas Archery Bait and Tackle, Fun-N-Sun Boats, all of our tournament fishermen, Carey Thorn, Mike Wilson, Seth Vanover, Mark Hodgson, my very special wife, and Chris Webb. I would also like to give a very big THANK YOU to Jay Don, Rhonda, and Brittany Reeve for allowing me to produce baits in the old Finny Tribe building for over two years. They will forever hold a special place in the heart of Constant Pursuit Outfitters, and I hope that one day their offices no longer smell like garlic and shad.
Please feel free to PM me with any questions you may have, and I invite you to visit our new website at
www.ConstantPursuitOutfitters.com. Lets catch some crappie!
This is what drives us:
http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/7428760/1
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