Page 30 - ODUMar-Apr2019
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More Than Just Another Blade Bait


   By Billy ‘Hawkeye’ Decoteau

                                                                                           The  year  was  2016,

                                                                                           shortly  after  that  every
                                                                                           now and then I would be
                                                                                           enthusiastically enticed by
                                                                                           the     sweetest      looking
                                                                                           blade-bait  I  had  ever
                                                                                           seen!  Then  just  like  my

                                                                                           enthusiastic-enticement it
                                                                                           would       disappear,      or
                                                                                           rather  truthfully,  I  just
                                                                                           forgot  about  it!  After  all
                                                                                           these  blade-bait  visions
                                                                                           were NOT during the cold-
                                                                                           water periods. It was July-
                                                                                           August the hottest days of
                                                                                           the  year.  The  time  when

                                                                                           savvy bass anglers SLOW-
                                                                                           DOWN,        bass      scatter
                                                                                           taking  up  residence  in
                                                                                           thick  green  vegetation,
                                                                                           and  large  six-eight-inch
   plastic baits become the Daily-Special on the Bass Menu.


   Over the next two-years I became more and more curious of this sleek, shiny, lustrous baitfish profile
   blade-bait.  My  inquisitiveness  uncovered  a  treasure  chest  of  information,  as  my  enticing  blade-bait
   vision came into full focus... It was called the SteelShad.

   Being  a  New  Englander  I  was  overwhelmed  to  learn  the
   SteelShad Fishing Company is based in East Dorset, Vermont.
   Green  mountain  perfection  coupled  with  ‘Yankee  Ingenuity’

   enticed me to  contact Stephen Price, CEO of SteelShad. CEO
   Stephen Price enlightened me on the history of the SteelShad
   Fishing Company. Founded in 2016 Price, Brad Wightman and
   Campbell Mathewson partnered together with Florida Fishing
   Guide  Captain  Steve  Niemoeller  and  launched  the  SteelShad
   Fishing Company nationwide.


   I couldn’t hold back any longer, I had to inquire, “So Stephen,
   tell me how you and your partners developed the SteelShad’s
   unique  baitfish  profile?”  “Actually,  the  SteelShad  lure  was
   designed by B.A. Gills, a fisherman on Kentucky Lake. However,
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