I noticed that on BAAD and wondered. Bass Pro doesn't have any in Grapevine.

I told this story before. Somewhere around 1988-89 I took about four guys to Port Mansfield. We stayed in the Red Bandanna usually. I walked over to the small gas station on the left as you drove in. Looked around and bought two three packs of a Kelly Wiggler touts. The color description was clear red neon. On that day I smoked everyone on reds. At the end of the day I had one left.

Everyone headed back to the store to buy some. The rack I had left with about 15 packs was empty. I asked the young girl working there about them. A guy stocking beer said, "Those are guide baits, we took them off the rack."

"What do you mean by guide baits?"

"The color is on a trial basis to get feed back from the guides."

"Well I'm the guy that's guiding these guys, how many do you have?"

I bought what they had which was maybe 20-25 packs. We had a great day.

When I got back home I called to speak to Pat Kelly and his wife answered. We talked and after down on my knees pleading she said, " I just can't do it!"

Norton had just started his lure in Port Mansfield. As a last resort I asked, "Do you know if Bob Norton will do a private pour?"

"How many do you want?

"How many do you have?"

She shipped me about a 1-1/2' square box. I used that one bait for about 15 years exclusively. I never saw anything on the market close to it. When I started getting low I called Kelly Wigglers and found out that Pat's widow had sold the business and they didn't do private pours.

I called a bunch of places and the first response was usually, "What's a tout?"

I called Texas Tackle Factory a couple of times because I liked the action of the Trout Killer but I never got a call back. I tried one more time and the lady said, "So and so is in, he can help you."

I don't remember his name. I started telling him about the lure. After a pause he said, "I've had a lot of people ask me about that lure over the years but no one has ever described it in as much detail. How can you do that?"

"Well it's pretty easy because I'm holding one!"

It got real quiet. "You are kidding?"

He went on to explain that Pat Kelly and his Dad were best friends. His Dad had designed the lure. As I remember both had passed away about six months after that guide pour and they never came on the market.

I sent him the remainder of the ones I had in packages and he did a private pour for me.....you get a big box.

The only thing I have ever seen since that was close was a private pour by Roy's by Reaction Strike called a Jerk Jr. in Red Tide. Dip the tail in red and nearly exact. Roy's did another private pour that was good called Marker 37. Both work very well and I have a bunch but they are not in Reaction Strike's line........or Roy's now..

Can you post a picture of it?

The pictures are not a true depiction.I don't have any of the original KW touts or shrimp tails but they were very clear with tiny red flecks and a pink tail.

The top one was from the TTF pour. The color in the old pours would bleed over time and these are very old. Originally the Trout Killers were very clear with tiny red flecks & the pink tail.

The other three were from Roy's private pour. They are much clearer than the picture indicates. The top one is how a Red Tide came out of the packet. The second is one I dipped in red as I like red better than pink.

I haven't fished much since Harvey but will be soon as we are nearing the end of a three year rebuild.

The bottom one is a result of putting several in a baggie and the dipped tails bleeding.

If this isn't clear let me know.

The Reaction Strike baits were called Jerk Jr. & Diet Jerk Jr. Roy's special orders were the diet version. They were extremely soft, good for one piggy perch,one trout and maybe two reds. Fantastic action and I assume I was the only one that loved them and when I heard about their decision regarding special pours I bought everyone they had in stock.. Not sure why they didn't do a Jerk Jr. pour.



I stand corrected. That last batch of red tide I bought was Jerk Jr. The Marker 37 & Blue Runner were Diet. It surprises me that Reaction Strike wouldn't pour some of those colors because a lot of what they have is the same look. My best friend thinks Texas Tackle Factory has the best bait in that Trout Killer-II in liquid shrimp. He tried to get them to pour him a batch or make some for retail and they never did. I found some but the price will sky rocket when he runs out.

By the way, this kind of story, and finding one bait that crushes all the rest, is why I buy a whole peg or two of the good ones when I find a deal on them. My buddies all laugh at me and call me a tackle hoar (the correct spelling was blocked). Later, when all retail outlets no longer have em, guess who comes crawling back to the tackle hoar for a fix?

I often have gallon size ziplocs of some of my favorite baits, and they produce like crazy for me. Is that saying the new stuff might not work as well? Not really. But it's saying I don't have to think too much about the new stuff. It also helped me out when Academy decided to no longer sell Saltwater stuff North of IH-10. I am still surviving off my stash, and not having to pick up too much. It still makes me sad that I cannot spend a lunch a week looking at soft plastics for saltwater in my local Academy store.

When plastics first came out these things were called touts. Any thing similar was a tout. I guess marketing took over and they became shrimp tails, red killers, trout killers, jerk, shad, mullet, gulp, sand eel etc.

https://www.amazon.com/Boone-Shrimp-Tout-Smokey-3-Inch/dp/B00BDP3W60

Picard said:

---

I read the thread title as "Texas Tickle Factory"

---

That is in Austin.