Three New Walleye Baits from Acme and Kalin’s

Most of us consider Lunker Grub’s and Little Cleo’s as the classic baits from an umbrella of brands owned by Acme Tackle. Recently, however, company representative Peter Longobardi stopped into our North 40 Outfitters’ headquarters in Great Falls, Montana and showed us three new products that the walleye fishing community is very excited about, baits that could supplant the Grub and Cleo as this company’s go-to offerings. Here’s what we learned.

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Kalin’s Google Eye Jigs

The Google Eye Jigs are equipped with what Kalin’s is calling a shockwave rattle system, which is a rattle that’s built into the head, right where the eyes of the bait are. These jigs have a hardened steel Katana hook and come in three sizes (1/8, 1/4, and 3/8 oz.). Note: These images depict prototypes. The actual production product comes with a red hook and a much better plastics-keeper on the shank which, of course, keeps your soft plastic baits in place.

Acme Hyper Glide Jigging and Rattle Minnows

The Hyper-Glide jigging minnow is actually in its sophomore season, but as Longobardi pointed out, it’s still new to many who haven’t explored the Acme Tackle lineup for a while. The Hyper-Glide has “wings” on each side of the bait that create a lifelike gill action and actually glides the bait, side-to-side, as it falls. This differentiates its look from every other jigging minnow on the market. The Hyper-Rattle version of the Acme jigging minnow is brand NEW this year and is loaded with a four-way “sonic rattle chamber” which is audible to walleye at long distances. Both versions of the jigging minnow come with UV and glow to maximize visibility in dirty water and are available in three sizes (1.5, 2, and 2.5 inches).

Kalin’s Hot Hair Jigs

Hair jigs are becoming increasingly popular and work extremely well, and we know that firsthand from our North 40 Fly Shop crews. Kalin’s developed a new line of bucktail hair jigs that incorporate a great natural profile with a complementary under-hair color that blends perfectly in the water. These jigs also come with holographic that you can keep on the jig in dirty water or pull off in clear water, depending on your preference. If you are fishing water that holds walleye and bass, this is a great bait to try—it targets both species equally well.

Directly after our meeting with Longobardi, I grabbed lunch with Paul Considine, who is North 40’s fishing buyer, and local walleye expert Dale Gilbert, from montanawalleye.com. We told Gilbert that we’d just met with Acme, and he told us—while actually scratching his head—that he didn’t know why he ever stopped using that company’s “salt grubs” in the purple color, which we assumed would be Electric Blue. He said it used to be one of his best baits. We are adding them now, of course, to North 40’s lineup. It’s great to see Acme Tackle bringing innovation to the walleye game, and we can’t wait to get these new offerings on the water.