ENJOYING THE OUTDOORS: ANGLERS HAVE WEALTH OF NEW GOODIES TO PICK FROM IN '95

Fishermen anticipating the approach of spring are much like kids longing for Christmas: both can hardly wait to play with the new toys.

As usual, this spring will allow anglers to attack their local waters with an array of new tackle and accessories. The giant fishing industry continues to grind out fresh wares to coax angler spending, and it usually works. The fishermen and the fish both bite well.

Much of the new crop of piscatorial provisions for '95 is good -- some items quite innovative and others more on the order of refinements or adjustments of existing wares. All considered, fishermen will find that the selection of high quality equipment has never been better. Even at reasonable, within-reach-of-the-masses prices, gear continues to improve and proliferate.

Here's a scan of just a sampling of the angler's cornucopia for the new season ahead:

Tru-Turn, the manufacturer known for its popular curved-shanked, rotating hooks, has added ultra-quality Dalichi hooks to its line of goods. Dailchi hooks, touted as the world's sharpest, are made of high-carbon steel and forged for strength. They are made with two barb styles, minibarb and microbarb, for a choice of balance between penetration and holding power. Styles include round bend and offset worm hooks from sizes 2 to 5/0.

Uncle Josh Bait Company, maker of the staple Pork Frog, has made some improvements with the No. 7 Hank Parker's Pro-Cut Frog, a trailer for jigs, spinner baits and such. Patterned after custom-trimmed pork, it features a tapered head for easier hook-sets and has longer, split-at-the-ends tails for increased action. Dimensions are 3 1/4 inches by 1 1/4 inches, falling between the existing No. 11 and No. 1 frogs from Uncle Josh. The No. 7 comes in five standard colors.

Sponj-Lur Worms, Craws, Lizards, Rinds, Frogs and Leeches are unique, open-cell foam lures that can be used as trailers or alone on jigs or Ueyas-rigged. They come bone dry but fluff out lifelike when wetted, becoming 70 percent water. They absorb and disperse scent attractants too. Sponj-Lur baits float and are exceptionally soft when wet. If left on a hook and allowed to dry, they can be re-wetted and used later repeatedly. The sponge lures, biodegradable and tackle box safe (no melting), come in a wide variety of single and two-tone colors.

The new Quantum Iron baitcasting reels combine the tradition of round baitcasters with the technology of a one-piece metal frame for durability. Both the 9.5-ounce IR3 and the widespool, 10-ounce IR3W feature three ball bearings for smooth operation, centrifugal brakes, continuous anti-reverse, machined aluminum spool and thumb button spool release. The retrieve speed is a rather speedy 5.2:1 ratio for each. The workhorse reels don't cost an arm and a leg, either, retailing respectively for $60 and $65.

Zebco, the originator of spincast reel design, adds pushbutton fishing options with two new ones: The Rock I and The Rock 2 spincasters. Each is housed in a streamlined metal case and each features ball-bearing drive through a dualgrip power handle and star drag. Each version has positive line pickup with ceramic pin. The Rock I, a single ball-bearing model, packs 90 yards of 8-pound line and has a 3.6:1 retrieve ratio. The Rock II carries two ball bearings and 75 yards of 10-pound line. This model has a fast 4:1 retrieve.

Berkley had expanded its line of lures using the scent- and flavor-dosed soft Power Bait material. Like the existing hard-body/soft Power Bait-tail Power Rattle plug, new hybrid models include the Power Chub jerkbait, Power Walker and Power Popper surface plugs, and Power Crank diving plug. Other new quirks are the 1-inch versions of Power Tube, Grub and Craw for panfishing. Berkley's Power Spin Tandem is redesigned with longer blade arm, and the Power Spins and Jigs now have redesigned silicone Power Skirts, which are available separately for revamping existing lures.

Berkley's high quality, use-specific monofilatment line, Berkley Select in spinning and casting varieties has been added in a low-visibility green color options.

Greater fishing range with less effort is the angel for Dalwa's Longcast casting reels. Three Longcast models use a new lower line capacity spool design and special high speed shaft and bearing to reduce line weight and friction and increase spool revolutions per cast -- 3.3 more spool rotations than an ordinary spool, according to engineering reports. The three versions fall into three price ranges; from the top end down, the Procaster-X-i is a five-ball bearing model, the Procaster-S-i is a two-bearing version, while the TriForce-S-B is a one-bearing option. Respectively, the three weigh 9.2, 8.8 and 7.9 ounces. All have Autocast thumb bar spool release.

Strike King's Spence Scout is a familiar, shallow-diving plug to many old hands at bass fishing -- one that was for years discontinued, but now has been introduced for its popularity in use over weedbeds and brush. The new version, a 3/8-ounce bait, features Eagle Claw Laser Sharp treble hooks and glitter-dashed painted surfaces. The dancing skirt on the comeback lure is glittered silicone with contrasting tip colors.

Bill Lewis Lures, producer of the bass angler's staple Rat-L-Trap, offers now the SpitFire, a 3/8-ounce topwater popping lug with an oversized mouth cavity designed to spit and spray water forward as the lure is pulled across the surface. The SpitFire features the same sort of loud rattle system used by its stablemate, the Rat-L-Trap.

Hart Tackle Co. offers a new solution to the spinnerbait trailer with its Silicone Twin Tail Trailer, a simple double 4-inch starnd of 1/8 inch wide silicone -- the same sort of material used in many spinnerbait and jig skirts. The trailer simply loops over the lure hook, snugged in place by a rubber band. It adds pulsating action without the weight and bulk of most trailers, lending itself to use on smaller spinnerbaits. The silicone trailers come in a variety of popular colors.

PRADCO, the mother company that includes the branches of Bomber, Rebel, Heddon and Cordell lure companies, for '95 has produced a Pro Autograph Series of existing bass plugs, improved upon and endorsed by a select group of professional anglers who use them. All feature dazzling new colors and quick-sticking Rotating Excalibur Treble Hooks.

Included in the autograph series: Larry Nixon Bomber Model 6A and 7A Bomber deepdivers in GLow Craw and Chartreuse Bar FIsh colors; the Bill Dance Bomber Fat A in sizes 6 and 7 and Bengal Perch and Ghost Shad patterns; Jim Bitter Pro 15A Bomber Long A jerkbait in Silver Shad and Golden Shad; Kevin Van DAm Bomber Suspending Long A in Yellow Flash and Blue Flash; Zell Rowland Rebel Pop-R in two sizes in Flash Bass and Flash Shad colors; Zell Rowland Heddon Zara Spook cigar topwater -- with three small hooks instead of two large ones -- in Flash Shad and Flash Bass patterns ; Denny Brauer Heddou Baby Torpedo propellered surface plug in Lightning Shad and Lightning Bullfrog; and Jimmy Houston Cordell Super Spot lipless crankbaits in 1;4- and 1/2-ounce sizes and Rayburn Red and Summer Sunfish colors.

Atsko/Sno-Seal Inc., which among other things makes water-repelling compounds, ultraviolet ray treatments for clothing and N-O-Odor scent eliminators, offers fishermen and others a reprieve from raw hands with Pro-Tech-Skin, a beeswax formula to protect weather- and water-exposed skin. The Water-free blend helps shield hands from friction and heads off cracking and peeling from loss of natural moisture.

~Steve Vantreese is outdoors editor of The Paducah Sun.