Product Review - Bass Minder

While at the ABA National Championship in November this year I ran into an entrepreneur named David Stewart who I think has some pretty neat stuff for the amateur and professional angler alike.  David had a booth set up at the weigh-in tent at Grand Lake and he caught my attention with a couple of items I have been looking to fill a large void in my fishing arsenal for a long time. Bass Minder now has 4 products that the serious angler cannot afford live without (especially when every moment on the water counts) and a must for the beginner that will give them a fast track to competitiveness. 
The first item at first may seem a little basic but that is the genius of it. Bass Minder’s® Lure Selection Guide is an easy to read chart that gives/reminds you the best lure selection based on water temperature/conditions and the time of year. It is a durable waterproof sticker that can be used on the card from your tackle box or glove compartment or permanently applied to your boat, tackle box, inside lid of a tackle compartment or any smooth surface you want. A must for all beginners it takes the place of countless hours of studying and reading the “not so secrets” from magazines and is always at your fingertips. As I said for the seasoned pros the genius is in the simplicity. We have all been there, the tougher the fishing gets the deeper the hole we dig with frustration as time slips away. At a recent tournament when faced with this situation, while rummaging through my hatch for something to entice a bite I picked up the Lure Selection Guide and sat on the deck for a few minutes, got back to basics, and finished with a limit of fish. Now the Lure Selection Guide is permanently stuck to the gunnel of my boat where it reminds me when things get tough to slow down and get back to basics to catch more fish.

Just like the Lure Selection Guide, you can permanently apply Bass Minder's® Line Selection Guide to the inside or outside of your tackle box, inside your boat, on any smooth surface or keep it on the card as is in your tackle box. This is probably the most important product and works better for me right on the card as I use it primarily in preparing for an event more so than on the water. The Bass Minder® Line Selection Guide is a quick reference for the type of line to use for optimum performance from your lure. Again an absolute must have for the beginner with an opportunity to learn from years of experience, in seconds with this quick reference guide. It’s easy for the experience angler to get stuck in using the same lines for the “local” waters as we know what type of lures and conditions we are going to fish in and have matched the line accordingly. But like myself, who recently moved from my comfort zone in South Texas to Northern Alabama you may be faced with using lures you have not tied on for years a reminder or sometimes a pure education on line types to use with these lures again becomes invaluable.

 Matter-a-fact I’m in the process of removing the beautiful 65 and 80 pound braid from all my South Texas rigged gear and putting on the sissy baits so prevalent in this part of the country (LOL) and the Line Selection Guide is becoming a primary tool for me this week. The Line Selection Guide also comes with my favorite of the Bass Minder products the Bass Minder® Line Reminder Stickers.

I have spent countless years trying to come up with a way to mark what type and size line I had on my reels. I made labels that washed off or would not stay stuck, I made tags that tied to the line and I even know guys that would scratch, etch or mark into their rods and/or reels the size of the line (ouch!). Especially with braids and fluorocarbon lines it is difficult to tell the difference in size by looking but can make a significant difference in lure/fishing performance. More importantly prolonged exposure to sun, heat, and cold weather, can make fishing lines brittle and more likely to break (and it always seems to happen at the most critical time) too many fishermen don’t replace their line until something bad happens. This product solves both problems with bright, durable labels, color coded to clearly let you see even at a distance weather you have Mono, Flouro or Braid on, what size it is, and most importantly the date you spooled it on. The waterproof labels can be applied to the reels or the rod and are very durable. Now obviously you have to pay attention where you apply them as if like most, you palm your reel and have the sticker under your hand or fingers it will start rubbing off after thousands of casts. A lot of guys like putting them on the rods but I will often mix and match rods and reels based on fishing conditions. My method is to put the sticker on the bottom of the reel seat/cleat as I set up my reels before an event (cleaning and lubing them often) and don’t make a lot of changes on the water that would not require me to take the reel off. This allows me to make those rod and reel changes on the water without mixing up line size by leaving the label on the rod. The Line selection Guide comes with 6 Line Reminder Stickers and the Line Reminder Sticker pack comes with 50, enough to almost cover all the reels a guy like me has. But seriously you gotta’ get a pack and try them out they will greatly improve the number of fish that make it in the boat while reducing the amount of time and money you spend changing line you are “not sure of”.
The final product is a great improvement on problem I only thought I had solved. Molded plastic tackle boxes are now the preference of most anglers, they are relatively inexpensive and all the new bass boats include slots to secure your tackle boxes. But once they are in the boat or a tackle bag it is almost impossible to tell what’s in them without pulling them out. I bought an expensive label maker only to find the waterproof plastic labels were even more expensive and there is no way to color code them without buying even more expensive plastic labels and constantly changing tapes. 

With the BASS MINDER RUSS LANE PRO SERIES TACKLE MINDER LABELS I can identify the boxes in the hatch from the front of the boat and eliminates any questions when asking a partner to grab a box for you. I have even labeled the slots in the boat so when having someone help load the boat the boxes all go in the right place and I can tell my partner where to find a box without even having to look.
As simple as this seems it is one of the most innovative products I think to come along in a while and something all fishermen beginners to professionals must have. I am glad I took the time to walk over and talk to David and stay tuned for updates on the first full year of use and abuse… The Bass Minder products take all the guesswork out of your entire trip, beginner or seasoned professional.