Chrome is the New Black

3/4/2010 12:01:33 AM

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By Jason Sealock

Trends present themselves in every part of our life. Trends in fashion, in health and in music seem to dictate some folks lives. Wired2Fish anglers are guilty of the same with tackle. We follow fishing trends, one because it leads to good story material, but also because we're avid "fish heads." To be a versatile and effective angler, always look for what is working in different parts of the country to see how it can apply to fishing near home.

New trends in fishing are generally the results of anglers saying the same things to a lot of different parties. Swimbaits were the hot trend several years ago. A couple years ago Jackall and Seiji Kato introduced us to flick shaking with Kato winning the co-angler division of a Bassmaster Elite Series tournament on Lake Amistad and later creating the Jackall Flick Shake worm. Of course most know what Kelly Jordon did to put big spoons on the map with his exploits on Ultimate Match Fishing, something over which Kentucky Lake guides are still angry with him.

Occasionally colors trend. A couple years ago Strike King and Kevin VanDam introduced the world to Sexy Shad. It was simply a shad pattern with a sky blue back and a chartreuse strip down the side. From that moment and the amazing demand that followed, every manufacturer in the world started making baits in similar shad, blue and chartreuse schemes. Custom painters still do a ton of business with their versions of Sexy Shad.

The key isn't in seeing these things a year after they happen. Rather the ability to forecast that they're coming and know that there's something to all the hype will put a savvy angler ahead of the game on his local waters.

This year I've noticed at least three manufacturers added chrome varieties to their lineups. I'm not saying all the sudden chrome is going to be cool again. But I think while it lingered in obscurity for several years, there has been enough demand by anglers at some level to prompt manufacturers to get on the "chrome" band wagon again.

Lucky Craft introduced a chrome version of their popular Gunfish topwater bait. The bait looks sleek and effective. This bait in this color will be a killer in the southeast on lakes like Murray, Russell, Clarks Hill, and Lanier.

Tru-Tungsten added chrome to their line-up of Tru Life swimbaits. The offer them in blue back and black back options, and I see them being viable in the same situations. I'm curious if they will make swimbaits a little more effective in dingy water.

Strike King made sexy even sexier. They threw a chrome background behind their Sexy Shad pattern in both gold and silver hues. And it's well documented what Mr. VanDam did with the gold version a couple weeks ago on Lay Lake.

In my fishing I really only use chrome in two places, jerkbaits and lipless baits. But I can definitely see where it has applications in swimbaits, topwaters and even crankbaits. The popularity of the big chrome spoons might have helped put chrome back on the map. Who knows, but I look for a lot more chrome to come into several line-ups this season.

I'm anxious to know where chrome plays a vital role in your fishing. Sound off on our Facebook fan page and let us and the manufacturers know where chrome is hot and where you desperately need it in your fishing arsenal. A few custom painters make some sick chrome paint schemes, check out FLW Outdoors Magazine's blog about one such painter here.

I can already sense some chrome fishing clothing about to hit the scene. Soon we'll need our own fashion runway to keep up with fishing clothing trends.