BEMIDJI, Minn. – The name “Eye-Candy” suggested by JMO host and veteran Devils Lake guide, Jason Mitchell, the transformative soft plastic walleye bait family comprises five shapes in an almost endless array of walleye-specific colors.
Northland Marketing Director, Mike Anselmo, summarizes: “Our pro staff team members and in-house bait designers came together and sketched out shapes, sizes, colors, and movements that would offer walleye anglers something completely new and different. But it wasn’t for the sake of just being different. Everyone collaborated on creating the kind of walleye soft plastics we’d all been wishing for.”
But there’s even more to Northland’s new Eye-Candy than five striking new shapes with fish-attracting movements. Like Eye-Candy’s unique composition—a deviation from the typical PVC-type soft plastics—Northland chose a Super TPE material that’s ultra-stretchy, beyond tough, ultra-buoyant, absorptive, and holds up to countless bites. It’s also spongy and holds scent well.
Eye-Candy™ Nightcrawler
The ‘crawler bite is on: all manner of harness and spinner rigs, Death Rig Jigs, etc. And every angler knows you can burn through a lot of meat during this time of year—as in an entire flat of ‘crawlers sacrificed to ‘eyes and nuisance fish.
Eliminating soiled hands, messy boat floors, and wasted time re-baiting harnesses with mucous-y, writhing worms, Northland’s new Eye-Candy Nightcrawler is a godsend.
Northland’s Super TPE formula allows the Eye-Candy Nightcrawler to move and swim like the real thing. And unlike its live counterpart, the Eye-Candy Nightcrawler’s durability allows you to catch fish after fish on the same bait without re-baiting. After all, it’s all about keeping your bait in the strike zone, not the boat.
“The Eye Candy Nightcrawler just catches fish,” says JMO host and Northland pro staffer, Jason Mitchell, “it has a nice, soft action, is durable, and absorbs scent well. It floats, too, so it works great trolled on a nightcrawler harness in place of live bait.”
Mitchell continues: “It’s also deadly on a dropshot simply nose-hooked, even wacky-rigged. And I like to fish it on a jig—either the Northland Slurp! Jig Head or the new, longer-shank Tungsten Jig.”
Mille Lacs Lake guide, Brad Hawthorne, throws in: “The Nightcrawler is probably the sleeper of the entire Eye-Candy line. That thing’s a knockout. I fish it on a traditional walleye spinner and we’re processing 30 to 40 fish before you need to change the plastic.”
The Eye-Candy Nightcrawler is 6-inches long and available in eight colors: 1-Pearl White; 1081-Sunrise Core; 3-Black; 410-Purple Chartreuse; 7-Natural; 611-Pink Silver; 74-Natural Core; and 85-Firecracker.
MSRP: $7.99 for 5 baits.
Parting Thoughts
Northland Marketing Director, Mike Anselmo, concludes: “In terms of enthusiasm and sales on the consumer side, Eye-Candy is unlike anything we’ve ever seen in a very small sample size. And the reception from our wholesale partners has been nothing short of enthusiastic. All things point to an incredible full launch in 2024. And where the rubber meets the road—or should I say the water—anglers are reporting great success with these walleye soft plastics.”
SPINNER RIG HARNESSES to pair with the Eye-Candy Nightcrawler
ABOUT Northland® Fishing Tackle
In 1975, a young Northwoods fishing guide named John Peterson started pouring jigs and tying tackle for his clients in a small remote cabin in northern Minnesota. The lures were innovative, made with high quality components, and most importantly, were catching fish when no other baits were working! Word spread like wildfire, the phone started ringing… and the Northland Fishing Tackle® brand was in hot demand! For 40 years now, John and the Northland® team have been designing, testing and perfecting an exclusive line of products that catch fish like no other brand on the market today. Manufactured in the heart of Minnesota’s finest fishing waters, Northland® is one of the country’s leading producers of premium quality jigs, live bait rigs, spinnerbaits and spoons for crappies, bluegills, perch, walleyes, bass, trout, northern pike and muskies.
ABOUT Bagley Bait Company
The personality of any company comes from its founder. Jim Bagley was an inventive, fun-loving, passionate fisherman who became one the most respected legends in the fishing tackle industry. In late 2010, Jarmo Rapala and a group of investors bought Bagley Bait Company. As an admirer of Jim Bagley for his attention to quality and of his product ingenuity and innovation, Jarmo initiated significant changes in operations, enhanced production processes and quality control. Now in 2020, Northland® Fishing Tackle, along with Jarmo as its Chief Lure Designer, maintain the legacy of creating premium balsa crankbaits and topwater lures, as well as jigs and spoons for both freshwater and saltwater anglers.
