An idea that puts the mystery back into fishing tackle

By Mike Jackson

Next to my wife, children and the rest of my family, I simply treasure both salt and fresh water fishing as my other true love.

On the other hand, the fishing tackle industry sometimes makes me feel like my obsession is more like an affliction.

The average angler is bombarded with hundreds of new lures every season that supposedly hold the promise of catching those elusive monsters.

Once in a while, the fisherman goes out on a limb and buys something new and different because that's what we do. We invest lots of dollars to keep the local fishing shops in business just as our tackle boxes grow heavier.

In the days when the big-box stores used to have gigantic tackle displays with just about every brand name hanging from hooks, anglers would salivate as they gazed upon the various gaudy colors and snazzy packaging. But when the season was over, some of those big-box stores demanded that the manufacturers take their inventory back to the warehouses.

And today, all of a sudden, there appears a ray of sunshine amid the morass of negative news,

Try to imagine getting a birthday present every single month of the year.

Imagine receiving what could be described as a fishing treasure chest, with an invitation to try something new every month.

Now, I've lost track of the number of times over the decades that I've been alerted about a new product or service just hitting the market. Some of the items offered in the news releases turn out to be passable - while others just don't make the grade.

I remember one lure in particular that was an all-metal contraption designed to impale a large minnow between hooks and act as a super-duper pike bait.

There were myriad spoon baits offered by their manufacturers. There was even a soft-plastic, mechanized crawfish that failed to move its parts when it sat on the bottom at 15 feet.

But now arriving on the scene is the Mystery Tackle Box (mysterytacklebox.com).

Chicago idea man Ross Gordon came up with an excellent way to whet our appetrites, offering a monthly "tackle subscription" under the name Mystery Tackle Box.

It's simple. A fisherman signs up, pays a $15 monthly membership, and every month the company ships a bunch of relatively new lures to you with a retail value between $20-25. The idea behind this concept is to introduce people to new tackle. Plus you may specify your box to be tailored to the general kind of fishing you'd like to do that month.

Your Mystery Tackle Box usually comes with a hard crankbait, some some soft plastic lures, a spinnerbait, maybe a bass or crappie jig, a new style of treble hook and maybe a pack of plastic craws.

You can go to the web page to check out the various subscription rates.

And because I have some semblance of what kind of chap Ross Gordon is, I wouldn't be surprised if he comes up with another great idea to help stimulate the angler's appetite.

Fishing report:

Fox Chain: Excellent crappie action on Pistakee Lake in 8 feet of water.

Lake Marie walleyes active and going after trolled crankbaits.

There is some largemouth bass action on West Loon Lake, while Deep Lake crappie continues to be good.

Bangs Lake: Largemouth bass, bluegill and crappie good in afternoon periods.

Lake Michigan: Coho good off Montrose as well as straight out from Burnham Harbor. Waukegan OK for coho and browns.

Perch action very good off of 95th and 79th streets.

• Contact Mike Jackson at angler88@comcast.net, catch his radio show 7-9 a.m. Sundays on WGCO 1590-AM (live-streamed at www.1590WCGO.com) and get more content at www.mikejacksonoutdoors.com.