The Lindner dynasty may dispute this assertion, but anyone who was on Falcon Lake this past Sunday knows that no one in the entire fishing industry was cheering for the Minnesota Vikings any louder than Kelly Jones, head worm wiggler and lizard dunker at Kicker Fish Bait Company.
He tried to get the game on the radio in his boat, but deep in the Salinas all he could pick up was the occasional Mexican soap opera and a few soccer games (in which the score was inevitably nil-nil). But that didn’t stop him from clipping his cell phone to the windshield of his Triton and lunging every time his wife sent a scoring-update text. Deep in South Texas, you could hear the whooping and hollering as each touchdown was piled on to what eventually became a 34 to 3 rout.
While the Lindners, Wired2Fish’s Todd Hammill and other residents of what might as well be the Arctic Circle probably cheer on the Vikes out of regional loyalty, Jones was clear that his loyalty to the Purple People Eaters only extended as far as one Brett Fav-ruh – his all-time non-fishing hero. He’s followed him throughout his career and reveres the passion and never-give-up attitude (as evidenced by his inability to stay retired) that Favre brings to the workplace every day, creaky knees be damned.
Jones brings that same passion to the bait business. Listening to him talk about his new Hightail Holeshot Series, his XPlodin’ Toad or even the Original Texas Weedless Wacky Worm that put him on the map is like drinking from a fire hose. He can expound on just about every detail of how they’re made, why they’re made the way they are, every fish he’s caught on them and every tournament win he knows about in which they played a part. It’s a mile a minute, and that’s fitting for a former motocross and Jet Ski racer. The tattoo on his leg of him making a jump in the Astrodome even has details. “It has my number on it, 231,” he said. “Yeah, I was a zip code, but at least I wasn’t in the eight hundreds.”
But despite the need for speed (don’t get him started on “Talladega Nights” or he’ll come at you like a spider monkey), ultimately the message he brings to the fishing world is all about slowing down. It’s like the old joke about the young bull and the old bull standing on the hillside, looking down on a pasture full of gorgeous cows. The joke itself is probably a little bit too risqué for this family-friendly website, but the analogy holds up – Jones doesn’t want to just rush down and pick off an easy fish or two; he wants to put the best bait in front of the most fish and catch them all. Just like his hero Brett Favre, Jones is all about efficiency and putting up some W’s.
The Kicker Fish motto is “Modified Baits for Performance” and Jones lives up to it. In his Hightail Holeshot Series he’s taken three basic designs that have stood the test of time – a lizard, a ribbon tail worm and a straight tail worm, and developed a patented method for making them stand straight up, even when weighted down with a heavy wire hook. Other worms get to the bottom and lay down on their side, leaving the angler to do all of the manipulation. The Holeshots get down to the bottom and stand almost vertically. The slightest bit of current or twitch of the rod tip starts them quivering, imitating the most natural and nuanced actions of an easy meal.
As for the XPlodin’ Toad, once again Jones built the proverbial “better mousetrap.” It was a simple revelation “Have you ever seen a frog that had legs coming out of its rear end?” he asked. Jointed legs would not only provide his toad with a more natural action, but would also allow him to rig his favorite Mr. Blitz Peli-Lock hook with a small trailer hook, thereby all but eliminating the missed strikes that are the bane of just about everyone who has ever pulled a plastic toad through a patch of lily pads, milfoil or hydrilla.
By the time this past Sunday’s game was over, Jones had a Falcon Lake eight-pounder to his credit and his loyal and understanding wife Misti was taking the proper steps to procure two tickets to this weekend’s playoff game at the Superdome in New Orleans. The big dome seats about 72,000 screaming fans, and most of them will no doubt be cheering for the Saints. If you listen closely to the television speaker, however, and you hear a Texan drawl any time Favre’s on the field, you can thank us for letting you know who it is. In all likelihood, Jones won’t make many friends among the Saints faithful, but maybe a few worms and lizards thrown to the crowd like Mardi Gras beads will inspire a few of the more outdoors-minded fans to see things his way.