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Lurehead03

W.E.C. Zoom Crankbaits

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Are you kidding me???????? Always a day late and a dollar short. I was just there the weekend of the Classic and they did NOT have Zoom cranks. Unlikely this "mini Bass Pro Shops" in Hampton Va near my home will ever carry them.

These are some of the best cranks available in my oppinion (ranked with Black Jack, Tim Hughes, etc). If I were you, I would buy as much as you can afford!

I add suspend dots to the sweet p's that I fish to get them down a little farther. Dont know exactly what wood Mr Chambers uses but I would assume it's balsa.

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WEC baits are made by Ed Chambers. I believe he is the owner of ZOOM. He makes about 3000 baits a years. The original TAPP was made by Steve Blazer. I have heard that he was from TN. I am not sure but I think Steve died. Ed bought the rights to make the bait along with other crankbaits made by small companies in the Carolinas and TN. All of the WEC baits are balsa. They are good baits when you can get one that is right. I bought some at a show in Greensboro 3 yrs. ago and every one of them had the lips put in crooked. That is what really got me making and using my own baits exclusively. But I will give Ed one thing..... the dude can paint. He does a beautiful job. From my observation I believe the baits are clearcoated with lacquer clear. They will hold up for awhile in the rocks but not for too long. The clearcoat on the plugs I bought are separating from the paint. You can see the air pockets forming in them. Plug knockers can really take their toll on these baits also. But, they are some fish catching baits. Fritts won the Classic on them. One of our locals, Spence Brunson from Salisbury N.C. sells them on his website. www.bubbajackstackle.com I understand that he is good to deal with. Visit his site if you want to get your hands on some.

Skeeter

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Skeeter thanks for the info I could'nt tell the wood type I agree on the bill placement I looked at a bunch of em before I found one I would buy I gave it a test last night caught 6 nice ones down one bank in about 2hrs right before dark thanks for the head up on the clear may have to e-tex it and hope it don't mess up the floating and action

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SpoRoller,

Coble won back to back All Americans on the Classic color tapp and a jig. Unfortunatley he is now banned from the FLW. They also helped take him to the Classic in his first year of competing in BASS.

Jaime,

Check with Blackjack. He could probably tell you.

Lurehead03,

I would just leave it alone untill the plug needs recoating.

Skeeter

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the bass pro in atlanta has a large selection of zoom baits. they are on the end cap of one of the crankbait isles. Ed does an excellent job. i have never heard of a zoom bait that would not run. not doubting you skeeter, but that is the first i have heard. you are right about the clear ed uses RM brand lacquer clear.

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Spence is a good guy to deal with.

Many of the Z-4s and Z-3s definitely have crooked bills.

I have still caught fish on them. For whatever reason, they are fish-catching machines. My own theory is that the lexan lips, combined with a fairly small profile bait, give it a little bit more action that fish like.

I made a bait pretty close to the Z-4, but lost it on Harris a few weeks ago on only my second trip throwing it. Now I am working on a batch of about 20 of them. Won't be having that problem next time.

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Lexington already is the crankbait capital of the world. In both the people that make them and the people that fish them. But it has only been declared that by the people that count the most..... Other fishermen!!!

I am not gonna comment on the Zoom's. You guys just keep fishing them and let me know what you have to say about them in 3 mos. But Spence is a nice person to talk to. He has always been pleasant to me. He is quite a crankbait fisherman. You could learn an awful lot from that man about how to fish a crankbait.

Skeeter

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skeeter just wanted to let you know steve blazer is not dead he is a close friend of mine . he is also responsible for my lures that i make being the quality that they are. he is also responsible for the design of the old poes rc1-rc3 despite what rick clunn says .we were at a show in knoxville tennessee when clunn took some of steves plugs without his permission.the rest is history i know this to be the truth i was standing there with him.so makers beware of the pros all they want sometimes is to steal your designs i know i some designs of my own taken from me dt series is not a new design i had it ten years ago so be careful who you share the workings of your lures with it might come back under someone elses name

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Hey JawJacker! It's great to actually talk to someone who know's Steve Blazier.Every now and again the topics about Tuffy Baits comes up as well as the Tapp.I have almost commented on both subject but for lack of a "clear story" have avoided it.

Since I do a good bit of custom painting I get alot of baits over the years.Many of the customers will tell me "take good care of these,they are original tuffy's " or "tapps"

So I set out to get educated on these baits.I talked at length with the guy running Tuffy Baits now up in TN.While he had alot of praise for Steve he also told me of alot of the misfortunes the two of them encountered.

I think one of the questions I asked was why I had seen so many versions of a Tuffy?I had seen some that were really nice, and some that were total crap.I had good information that Blazier made this bait originally.

I was also wondering why Sisson was making them.The guy mentioned that there was a time way back then that demand was so high that they were forced to employ outside help to manufacture and that eventually led to trouble.I will not mention all the details here but got the impression this guy was not giving the whole story.I dont know why I get this feeling but I kind of feel Steve got the short end of the deal!

I really hate that there are two or three people making what they call a Tenn-Tuffy.

From what I here about Blazier,If he is not involved in the bait business at this time,he could probably do well once again.

And although Skeeter is correct about Lexington being the crankbait capital,I do no that it was Blazier and Fred Young that paved the way for crankbait use and design for the future. I have tracked the birth of the Flat Sided Crank Bait and I believe that much of the history can be traced back to a couple of guys with Blazier being a very important part of this and Tennessee being the area alot of this took place.

I am sure this all sounds petty but I would love to be able to talk to Mr.Blazier some time.It must be cool to have him as a friend.Glad to see you on board here.Maybe you can shed some light on these subjects I mentioned if they come up again.

BTW I have 12 Tuffy's and 8 Tapp's that i believe to be originals.Guess it would break my heart to find out they were not.

Oh!- The Tapp bait was named after Ronnie Tapp wasn't it?

Take Care! Blades

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