Take a quick look around the outdoors world with a tip, a new piece of gear and more
Tip of the week
Walking quietly in the woods is a skill that can be learned. How to do it? Take smaller steps and, most importantly, move using what’s known as the rolling compression step. You place your heel down first, then slowly roll your foot forward (you can go toe first if that’s easier). Feel for twigs, branches or other objects beneath your boot before placing your full weight on that foot. If it feels like something is going to snap, lift that foot back up – you’re still standing on your back foot — and move it to a less noisy spot. Finally, however you walk, move only when the wind is blowing or some other natural noise covers your own sound.
Lure of the week
Lure name: Comet Combo
Comet Combo
Company: Mepps (https://www.mepps.com/)
Lure type: Inline spinner
Sizes and colors: Available in 13 colors – though which ones the company has yet to detail on its website – and four sizes: 1/16-, ¼-, 5/16- and 7/16-ounces..
Target species: Largemouth and smallmouth bass, northern pike, crappies and walleyes.
Technique: This is the offspring of two already iconic lures. Mepps has long made its Comet Mino, which is an inline spinner with a soft plastic minnow body. It’s also long produced its curly tail grub soft plastic lures. The Comet Combo is a melding of the two. It has the Comet’s blade rigged with a Twister Tail. The blade spins close to the body, which means it can be fished in shallow to mid-depth areas on top of those tight areas above weeds and cover. The curly tail grub is rigged on a Mister Twister “keeper hook” so that it’s weedless when you pitch it into the pads and walk it over logs, rocks or any other submerged cover.
Sugg. retail price: Yet to be announced.
Notable: Mepps just released word of these lures. They are not even yet on the company’s website, but are expected to be available early in 2020, if not sooner.
Outdoors oddity of the week
If you see a lot of benefits in paddling, well, sorry. You’re not the first.
As it turns out, people have been taking to the water in canoes and kayaks for a long time. A really, really long time.
For example, the Pesse canoe is recognized as the world’s oldest surviving boat or, at the least, the world’s oldest surviving canoe. Scientists have dated its crafting at between 8040 and 7510 BC.
That’s old.
Roughly 10 feet long and 18 inches wide, it’s a dugout canoe, meaning made from one solid log hollowed out to accommodate passengers.
The world’s oldest surviving kayak is ancient, too, though not nearly that old. Still, it dates to 1577 and was exhibited in Europe – along with its owner – -as a curiosity from the New World.
MORE FROM EVERYBODY ADVENTURES
Check this out now: Requirement or not, think safety when paddling
And coming soon: A look at new outdoor books on the market
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
