News

Bakersfield, MO: Jewel Bait Company begins production of the Hyper Hook™ designed for plastic Swim Baits and Swimming Frogs. “We have observed the Swim Bait and Frog trend without the corresponding development of premium terminal tackle for these specific applications,” commented Bryan Head, Jewel Bait National Sales Manager. Head states, “Our precision molded keel weight is the difference – it is balanced perfectly and allows the bait to swim or fall naturally. The Hyper Hook™ will improve angler success with any brand of Swim Bait or Frog on the market.

The Hyper Hook™ consists of a 60 degree black nickel Mustad Ultra Sharp hook with a precision molded keel weight and Hyper Clip™. The Hyper Hook™ is offered from 1/8 to 1/4 ounce in 5 hook sizes ranging from 4/0 to 8/0, and in two colors. The Hyper Hook™ will arrive at your favorite retailer by late June 2008. Jewel Bait Company is committed to improve angler success by building tools for technique specific applications.

Invest in Success and order the Hyper Hook™ now by visiting www.jewelbait.com.

Jewel Diamond Staff Fishing Team member Brian Fritts shatters existing records using Jewel Jigs:

I'd like to congratulate Brian Fritts for having a great year and breaking the club all-time end of year weight with a whopping 125.69 lbs. The current record which was held by Rob Griswold was 118.62 lbs.

Also making it into the records was John Cross with 114.40 lbs. putting him in the 4th all time high year end weight. Congratulations also goes to Joe Lewis for placing 6th on the all time year end weight total with an impressive 102.24 lbs.

Heaviest Weight One Day Individual: John Cross - 16.20 lbs., Brian Fritts - 15.80 and 17.25 lbs.

Heaviest Weight Two Day Individual: Joe Lewis - 20.60 lbs., Brian Fritts - 25.15 lbs.

Heaviest Weight One Day Team: Brian Fritts & John Cross - 25.60 lbs.

Heaviest Weight Two Day Team: Brian Fritts & James McAdoo - 32.25 lbs.

Bakersfield, MO: Jewel Bait Company proudly releases three underwater videos showcasing the Jewel Bait Company; Football, Pro Spider and Eakins jigs. “These videos allow anglers to see how our products act and react in the water” Jewel Bait Company Promotions Coordinator Eric Prey stated. “It’s really impressive to watch an Eakins Jig falling through the water column or a Jewel Bait Company Football Jig coming through a brush pile” Prey added.

The videos are currently posted on U-Tube and can be viewed by following the attached links and are also available on www.jewelbait.com. Created by East Creek Marketing in Springfield, MO the videos offer the general public visual evidence of the Jewel Bait Company motto of creating “specific tools for specific fishing situations.”

Bakersfield, MO: Jewel Bait Company proudly announces the addition of B.A.S.S. Elite Series angler and Bassmaster Classic Qualifier Kevin Short to their National Team. Short, known for his pink boat wrap and tournament jersey, is on of the most respected anglers on the Elite Series and is a welcome addition to the Jewel Bait Company National Team. “I’ve known Kevin for years, he is a great guy and an awesome angler,” Bryan Head Jewel Bait Company National Sales Manager said “We’re very happy that Kevin has joined our National Team and look forward to a long relationship with him.”

“I have been using Jewel Products for a number of years and have always been impressed with the quality” Short added “I am excited about being a member of the Jewel Family and look forward to a long relationship with such a first-rate organization.” Short qualified for the 2008 Bassmaster Classic and will represent Jewel Bait Company along with Mike McClelland in the 2008 Bassmaster Classic and B.A.S.S. Elite Series. Questions regarding Jewel Bait Company can be directed to eric@jewelbait.com or visit the Jewel Bait Company website at www.jewelbait.com .

In multiple day pro am events, it is an angler’s ability to bring a “kicker” fish to the scales that will propel him to victory in many instances. The 6th stop on the 2007 Central Pro Am Association tour at Lake of the Ozarks proved that point once again, as Nixa MO Pro Troy Eakins brought another limit to the scales on Sunday, anchored by a 5.89 pound largemouth.

Targeting floats under dock walkways in the mid lake area, Eakins utilized his namesake Jewel Jig, with a couple of changes from his normal pattern. “I used a 7/16-ounce Eakins' Jig,” he began, comparing it to his normal 5/16-ounce Eakins' Jig. “And I used black for this tournament, since I felt the fish could see it better than the brown one I normally use,” he finished.

Eakins’ two day total of 28.76 pounds gave him more than a four pound margin of victory over day one leader Greg Bohannan, who only managed slightly more than 10 pounds on Sunday. Eakins’ victory, his second of the 2007 season, sent him home with an additional $5465, including his big bass money.

Jewel Bait Company proudly introduces a new one ounce football jig. Built with the quality and attention to detail that Jewel Bait Company is famous for the new one ounce football jig features; A proprietary bend 5/0 Black Nickel Mustad Ultra Point Hook, Jewel Hyperflare Skirt, concave face, 45 degree flat spot stand up head design and a fiber weed guard.

“Several members of our Pro-Staff have been asking for a heavier football jig for a few years now” said Gayle Julian Owner of Jewel Bait Company. “The heavy weight and innovated head design allows even the deepest cover to be fished effectively.” Following Jewel Bait Company’s philosophy of building tools for specific situations, the one ounce football jig is the latest “tool” to join the already impressive line of baits from Jewel Bait Company. Production of the one ounce football jig has begun and should arrive in retailers by September of this year.

Jewel Bait Company recently hired Eric Prey of Springfield, Missouri to head up its promotions department. Prey has worked within the outdoors, fishing and sporting goods industry for the past 20 years spending time with Bass Pro Shops, Koenig Sports and East Creek Marketing. Prey said, “I’m really excited about the opportunity Gayle has given me to promote Jewel Bait Company products. I will handle all of the advertising, pro-staff and internet promotions for Jewel with the goal of increasing sales and market share by integrating them into a cohesive campaign.” Gayle Julian, owner of Jewel Bait Company said, “The experience Eric brings to Jewel as a professional angler, retail manager and marketing professional will help us build our promotions department. He has worked with all levels of promotion within the fishing industry and that will give Jewel an edge in advertising and pro-staff development.”

“Simply put I have been brought on board to bring all of Jewel Bait Company’s promotional efforts under one umbrella” said Prey. “Regardless whether it is developing pro-staff, creating print or internet advertising I look forward to expanding the impact of Jewel throughout the country.” Jewel Bait is very popular throughout The Midwest and with the hiring of Bryan Head as National Sales Manager in December and Eric Prey as Promotions Coordinator the company is positioned for expansion.

Mike McClelland captures first at Clark's Hill in South Carolina. Then, BASS Elite Series Rookie Casey Ashley captures a win at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia. Both anglers win $100,000, and both use Jewel Jigs.

While McClelland used a football jig, Ashley used the flagship bait in the Jewel line-up, the Eakins' Jig. Ashley said, "I travel with Boyd Duckett and Jason Williamson, and they said this is a jig lake, and I really like to catch fish on a jig." Ashley used the Jewel Eakins' jig to fish rock points or rock piles to catch his fish. He continued, "I was fishing rock, and instead of using a football head jig, I used the Eakins' Jig with that ball head, and I was able to drag it through the rocks to catch my fish."

The versatility of Jewel Bait Company's products is proven time and time again as they continue to show impressive numbers at all levels of competitive fishing. Visit www.jewelbait.com

Jewel Bait Company recently hired Bryan Head of Clinton, Arkansas, to become the head of the sales department. Head has spent the last 11 years as a distributor salesman with Henry’s and American Rod and Gun. Head said, “Gayle brought me in here to handle everything from day-to-day sales to dealing with distributors and dealers to help increase and expand the Jewel market in the industry.” Gayle Julian, owner of Jewel Bait Company, said, "Bryan brings to Jewel years of experience at all levels of distribution and sales in the tackle industry. This experience will continue to help us provide the highest level of customer service to our dealer and distribution network and be able to work more closely with all our customers to better serve them."

Jewel Bait is already strong across the Midwestern states, but the goal is to expand the company to give it a stronger national presence. Head said, “My job is to get the word out. People who use the products know they are great and continue to use the products, but that is still regional. We want to find a way to customize the product line to fit beyond the Midwest.” The company hopes to research and impact markets throughout the country, and Head affirmed that by concluding, “We want to customize colors to make the bait more effective for anglers from the Northeast to the West coast. I’m thrilled to be working for Jewel at a time when they are so strong and looking to expand.”

KG Enterprise, one of the leaders in the manufacturing of jigs and soft plastics, recently established a new partner in Gayle Julian, owner of Jewel Bait Company. This partnership unites one of the best manufacturers with one of the more progressive bait developers, a benefit to the customers of KG Enterprise.

Ken Kramer, one of the founders of KG, said, “This is great for us. We pride ourselves on service and design. What Gayle brings to the table is the ability to enhance the operation of powder coating and plastics as well as to provide new marketing concepts. The bottom line is it will streamline the process without compromising the quality, helping to reduce costs on all levels.”

Julian added, “If there is a better way or more productive way to serve our customers, we want to find it and make it beneficial to them.”

KG Enterprise has provided custom manufacturing for the fishing industry for over 19 years and will continue to manufacture the complete line of Jewel products as well as all other clients at the Mountain Home, Arkansas, facility.

Jewel Bait Company will unveil three wrapped trucks. With the wraps designed by Azure Graphics in Dallas, Texas, these wrapped vehicles will be driven by members of Jewel Bait Company’s pro staff. Bryan Head, Clinton, Arkansas, will take command of one; Rich Dalbey of the Dallas, Texas, region will drive the second vehicle. Troy Eakins, of Nixa, Missouri, with the wrapped graphics of his namesake jig, has been selected to drive the third vehicle. Capitalizing on the promotion and exposure offered by wraps, the owners and staff of Jewel Bait Company appreciate the presence and visibility of these vehicles on the road.

In 2003, Jewel Bait, producer and marketer of the Eakins’ Jig, added graphics of the namesake jig to Jim and Troy Eakins’ Ranger boats for the Central Pro-Am Championship. Gayle Julian, owner of Jewel Bait Company, said, “When we tried the graphics on those boats a few years ago, we got a positive response. It has taken some time for us to pick who would be running these wrapped vehicles, but we found our guys and expect to get noticed again. We plan to get a few more wrapped vehicles on the road. It’s just a matter of timing.”

Jewel Bait Company has announced it will team with a new circuit in the Midwest. The Ozark Mountain Team Trail (OMTT) is a regional circuit run by Don Berry. Gayle Julian, owner of Jewel Bait, said, "With us already doing some work with Don, it was an easy decision to make. We want to keep our products in the spotlight, and this is a great way to make that happen."

The increasing visibility of Jewel Bait Company will be evident on the FLW Series Tournaments during the 2007 season. Jewel has wrapped the boat of Dr. Norman Seat from Branson West, Mo. Seat fished the Midwest Stren Series in 2006 and one FLW Series event and qualified to fish the 2007 Series Division. Seat said, "This is a big deal for me and the goal is to make it a big deal for Jewel. The products work and Jewel was willing to make this work for me. I'm thrilled to be on board."

The owner of Jewel Bait Company, Gayle Julian, said, "We have Mike McClelland on the BASS side, and for us to get a person the caliber of Dr. Seat just made sense."

The skirt that has been incorporated over the past 18 months into several lines of Jewel jigs is now on all Jewel jigs. The Hyperflare skirt gives the bait the look of being hand-tied while having a silicone skirt. The skirt has double bands to provide the flaring effect, and the inner red band mimics the inner red hue that a crawfish gives off. Gayle Julian, owner of Jewel Bait Company, said, "This is a skirt no one else has and we have been working on it for over a year. It gives the bait the right appearance without the labor of hand-tying baits. The inner red core just makes the bait that much more natural."

Mike McClelland won the BASS Elite Tour Event at Grand Lake in grand fashion using the new Jewel Bait Company peanut butter smoke purple 1/2-ounce heavy cover finesse football jig to catch nearly 80 pounds of fish in four days and win by over 15 pounds. The design for the new heavy cover finesse football jig allows this jig to maneuver through shallower cover and rocks than the traditional football head jig. McClelland said, “This bait is effortless to fish and comes through cover so easy, that the cameraman who was in my boat on the last day of the tournament made a comment about how easy the jig seems to come through cover.”

Jewel Bait Company’s new 1/2-ounce heavy cover finesse football jig offers an angler the right weight-to-depth bait. A bulky presentation allows an angler to catch quality fish in the 8-15 feet range while the bait still maintains the trademark Jewel Bait Company finesse-style skirts. McClelland said, “The biggest part of a Jewel jig is that you never lose a fish. I never lost a fish on that jig the entire week, and I caught one fish over six pounds on that jig. When you set the hook you know the fish is getting to the boat.”

To see the new ½-ounce heavy cover finesse football jig, visit the Jewel Bait Company web site at www.jewelbait.com.

The Jewel Bait Company 3/4-ounce football jig was the first football jig Jewel Bait produced. While achieving success with that bait for many years, Jewel Bait researched improvements for 2007. To enhance the already successful bait, it will be given the fiber weedguard, the concave head and a flat spot on the bottom of the jig to allow the bait to sit at a 45-degree angle in the water. Match that with the Hyperflare skirt in any of the Jewel colors, and you have a winner.

Gayle Julian, owner of Jewel Bait Company, said, "We had to do this. When we made the 5/8-ounce football, it turned people’s head. Then came the 1/2-ounce heavy cover finesse football jig, and Mike McClelland won a BASS Elite Series event on the bait, so we needed to update the ¾-ounce bait to catch up with the other baits."

Mike McClelland won the BASS Open Championship Dec. 1-4, 2005, on the Alabama River in Prattville, Alabama, by catching a limit each day for a winning weight of 46 pounds, 9 ounces using the 7/16-ounce Jewel Eakins’ jig. Being his first BASS win since 1996, this performance earned him a berth in the 2006 Bassmaster Classic Feb. 24-26, 2006, at Lake Toho in Kissimmee, Florida. McClelland used the 7/16-ounce Jewel Eakins' jig in green gourd to catch 90 percent (18 of 20 fish) of his four-day total. McClelland noted, “The falling action of the bait causes the bait to fall flat. It may be a Midwest secret, and many companies have knocked off the finesse jig, but none have the characteristics of the Jewel jig. The jigs I used the entire week were straight out of the package with no modifications.” McClelland also observed that none of his co-anglers had caught any fish until he offered them his Jewel jig, which allowed them to add keepers to the livewell. This win earned McClelland $79,539 and the opportunity to resurrect his career with the aid of Jewel jigs.

Jim Eakins won the December 2005 Central Pro-Am event by catching just over 33 pounds of bass by using his name-sake 5/16-ounce Jewel Eakins' jig tipped with a green-pumpkin Eakins’ craw during the two-day tournament on Table Rock Lake. Eakins keyed on large docks and was able to catch all three species of bass on the jig. Eakins said, “Fishing slow was the key along with putting the jig where the active fish were. The largemouths were in 5 to 8 feet of water, the smallmouth were around 10 feet, and the spotted bass were anywhere from 20-35 feet deep.” Eakins weighed in all three species on both days, showing not only the effectiveness of the jig but its versatility as well.

Finesse flipping just got a lot better with the introduction of a new jig by Jewel Bait Company.

The Eakins' Finesse Flip'n Jig has a special head design and a needlepoint hook that allows anglers to fish heavy cover with confidence. Designed by former BASS Masters Classic qualifiers Jim Eakins and his son Troy Eakins, this jig has some of the finesse qualities of the Eakins' Jig, but it can be applied in power fishing situations.

The Eakins' Jig is for fishing in rocks and around docks, but the Finesse Flip'n Jig is made to flip into heavy cover," says Jim Eakins. "It will go in and come out of bushes and grass real easy." The 12-time Central Pro-Am championship qualifier recommends using this jig in flooded bushes during high-water conditions or around the edges of grass beds in lakes and rivers filled with vegetation.

The jig's pointed head allows penetrates instantly and glides through cover without snagging. Even though small in size, the jig is still heavy enough (3/8 of an ounce) to pitch on 17- to 20-pound test line. "If I'm flipping that jig into real thick bushes and I have to go right down in the middle of it to catch the fish then I'll go to 25-poind test line," say Eakins.

A custom black nickel needlepoint Mustad hook is another special feature of this jig. "It's probably the best jig hook I've seen in a long time," claims Eakins. "It's a very strong, very sharp hook. I also really like that dark color in a hook because it just matches the bait better."

The jig also comes with rattles that can be easily inserted in special holders on the lure's collar. Eakins recommends adding the rattle to the Flip'n Jig in muddy-water situations (visibility of less than 6 inches) when bass hone in on sounds to locate prey.

Similar to The Eakins' Jig, the Flip'n Jig features a "spider-style" silicone skirt (cut short in front and standard length behind the head). The jig is also equipped with a keeper on the hook shank to hold an Eakins' Craw or a variety of other soft plastic baits.

The jig is available in the following hues: green pumpkin/green flash, brown/purple flash, black/blue flash, brown and chartreuse emerald, brown, black-and-blue and Missouri Craw.

The Eakins' Flip'n Jig is sold in a package of two jigs and two rattles for a suggested retail price on $4.99.

For more information about this new finesse flipping jig, write to Jewel Bait Company, P.O. Box 330, Bakersfield, MO 65609; call 1-800-458-7370 or visit the company's web site at www.jewelbait.com

The little plastic crawfish that has been a big hit on the tournament trail is now available through Jewel Bait Company.

Last year former BASS Master Classic qualifier Jim Eakins and his son Troy Eakins teamed up with Jewel Bait Company to produce the Eakins' Jig and now they have designed the ideal plastic crawfish trailer for their jig. The Eakins' Craw is a 3-inch plastic trailer saturated with salt to make fish hold onto the lure longer.

"It's loaded with a fine salt, not a granular salt that you can feel," says Jim Eakins, who has been working on this jig trailer design for about eight years. "The craw's designed to fit on the jig hook exactly. When you bring the hook out between the crawdad's eyes it makes a nice little compact profile."

The Eakins' Jig and the small plastic crawfish has accounted for more than $200,000 in tournament winnings for Jim and Troy Eakins. The jig-and-craw combination has been instrumental in helping Jim qualify for the 1993 BASS Masters Classic and 12 Central Pro-Am championships. It also played a key role in Troy's Triple Crown year in 1999 when he won a Central Pro-Am tournament, Angler of the Year honors and the Ranger Mercury Pro-Am Bass Fishing Championship.

"I use the smaller jig and the craw because so many times it is hard to get a bite," says Jim Eakins. It just doesn't intimidate the fish at all and they will bite that smaller bait more often. You might not catch as many big fish but I've still caught several 7- and 8-pounders on it."

When rigged properly, the jig-and-craw combo descends at a more natural angle than other jigs that usually fall straight down. The craw is rigged on the jig by holding the jig skirt down to expose the hook. Then slide the craw onto the hook and push it past the barb. Keep the hook in the center of the craw unit it exits between the crawfish's eyes.

The craw can be rigged on all sizes of Jewel jigs by removing various amounts of the lure's distinct tail segments. To achieve the right size, action and profile for a combination of Jewel jigs and the Eakins' craw, follow these recommendations: Eakins' Jig, Pro Spider Jig and Eakins' Flip'n Jig, remove four tail segments; and Rave 3/8- and 1/2 ounce jig, remove three tail segments. On all Rave jigs, the hook exits between the arms of the craw.

The craw is available in five natural-looking crawfish colors--green pumpkin, cinnamon/purple flake, black/blue flake, root beer and watermelon green/purple flake.

For more information about this new plastic crawfish, write to Jewel Bait Company, P.O. Box 330, Bakersfield, MO 65609; call 1-800-458-7370 or visit the company's web site at www.jewelbait.com.