Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations New Stubby Steves works!

Hello, gentlemen! I hope all is well. This note is from Steve:

I thought I would weigh in on the thread pertaining to Stubby Steve�s and its acceptability to non-pellet trained fish; in particular the very valid questions raised by Catmandoo as to the relevance and efficacy of our lure with wild fish. As the inventor I had the identical questions. This lure was invented because, correctly or not, I was convinced that my Aquamax fattened trophy fish became more difficult to catch with traditional tackle and techniques. We produced this lure exclusively for personal use. However, in our initial tests, its efficacy far exceeded our expectations. Unbelievably, the first fish I ever caught in our 2nd test pond was a non-pellet trained LMB. We knew there would be a small market directed towards pond owners who also wanted to catch their pellet accustomed fish. However, we wanted to know more. We wanted to know the answer to the very question Catmandoo raised- does it work with wild fish? In the past five years we have sent out approximately 50,000 sample packs to every fishing venue we could acquire, including 5.000 packs to NAFC and FishHound field testers. It is important to preface the following by declaring what I am about to say is based on hundreds if not thousands of calls and emails over the past 5 years, plus the results of the NAFC and FH which they were required to forward to us. Bottom line � the vast majority of fish caught with SS have never seen, tasted or smelled a fish food pellet. Many of their results are posted on our website. There wasn�t a species of fresh water fish that wasn�t equally represented in their catch results, including LMB. There is however, I feel, a very scientific reason for this. I wish I could share this with the PB community but I would be relinquishing very important proprietary information. Jardan inc. (Pure Fishing/Berkley, et. al.) is already breathing down our neck, so best I shut up. Since the shape of the brown pellet is very unfamiliar to wild fish the attraction has to be the smell. To help validate this I can relay a recent incident. We are now involved in the crappie tournament trail. In our first four tournaments in which some of the anglers used our product we procured 4 first places, 4 second places, 1 third 3rd, and 3 biggest fish (professional and amateur divisions). As most of you know, avid crappie anglers usually tip their jig with an odor attractant. They will tell you their success rate is much lower with the jig alone. In one tournament Jo Carter, who has been fishing the tournament trail for 20 years, and has always used minnows, was having terrible success. Half way through the one day event he had caught no fish. In desperation, he switched to the SS he had received as a sample pack. He very rapidly caught his 7 fish limit and won 2nd place. The following week, he won first place by such a large margin (3.2lb) that the rumbles of �what in the world did he do?� started. He declared at the awards ceremony he will never use minnows again (�coincidentally�, Berkley/Pure Fishing ordered a bunch of our lures the following week). Correct me if I am wrong, but my understanding is that crappie don�t take to fish food pellets well. I do think that with the invention of our lures and the likes of Gulp products we are in the very beginning of realizing how important the correct odor is in the day to day affairs of most fish most of the time; in particular as it pertains to catching fish. Thanks again to the Pond Boss community for their support; you gave us our start. Also, I recently recruited Eric West as an expert to draft an �affidavit of effectiveness� for my patent attorney and the patent inspector. In an unassuming way, Eric displayed his tremendous ability as a writer, an attorney, and his extreme knowledge as a scientific sportsman. Of course, he would not consider financial compensation for all of his hard work. I hope the PB community realizes how fortunate they are to have the �likes� of Eric West. One day I�m going to sit down with all of the scientific thinkers like Catmandoo and explain how this silly little product is made. Then you�re going to say, �that explains it!�. I promise you there is more to it than meets the eye. I feel this brown pellet and the favorable results with wild fish shows that a lot of the time if it smells right it doesn�t matter what it looks like. With the introduction of our worms and soon to be available crawfish and shrimp we will have the combination of familiar appearance and odor. We will be sending them to some of the PB folks for testing, if they will. Our worms are already in the very capable hands of George and associates. Thank you for your time and support,
Steve
aka Stubby Steve