Hear Ye, Boys and Girls! A New Toy to Titillate Your Tackle-Buying Temptations

And if that's not enough Ts for ya, here are a couple more just for good measure. The gadget, after all, is called the "Cat 3 Tackle-Bladed Teaser."

Furthermore, don't you dare blame me if you succumb to the power of that "buy me" neon sign that'll likely be flashing in your brain by the time you finish reading this. I hadn't even heard about this gadget until my buddy Jim B called me yesterday. (Sorry, my friend, I hadn't meant to throw you under the bus like that.)

Anyway, this new gadget, as posted by Shaye Baker in Wired2Fish online, is the creation of Ben Adrien. Baker first heard of it during a live-streamed head-to-head tournament he was hosting at the time.

"When I first saw Ben lob out a deep-diving crankbait with three little blades in front of it," said Baker, "I began to question whether the guy ever had caught a fish. But my prejudice quickly was silenced as I watched him get a couple big bites and reel in a few more small ones to win the head-to-head. I knew then I had to check this thing out for myself. He sent me a few, and I've put them to the test."

This product doesn't fall neatly into any current genre of baits; instead, it has created a lane of its own. The Cat 3 Tackle-Bladed Teaser essentially is three small willow-leaf blades attached to quality ball-bearing swivels that are then attached to a clear prop, which ultimately is threaded onto your line. The idea is to put this teaser out in front of the baits you already have confidence in and give a bass that much more reason to go ahead and commit.

As you reel this teaser through the water, you'll see the blades on the swivels are all turning independent of one another. But what's really cool is that, while the blades are spinning individually, the whole teaser is spinning, as well. The clear piece that holds the whole teaser together is built like a prop, so as it spins and the blades spin, you get a truly dynamic flash that's constantly reflecting little rays of light in countless directions, very similar to what you'd see with a small school of baitfish.

There's a seemingly endless number of ways to rig the Cat 3 Tackle-Bladed Teaser. For example, you can put it out front of a spinnerbait, vibrating jig, squarebill, deep diver, lipless bait, and the list goes on. Heck, it even could be used to mask the head of an umbrella rig.

Said Baker, "I haven't had the opportunity to try it all these different ways yet, but I did have a particularly cool experience fishing it with a small swimbait. I had been throwing a small single swimbait for about an hour with little success...maybe catching one or two...when I decided to put this bladed teaser in front of it.

"Unfortunately, I rigged it wrong (simply ran it up my line and tied my swimbait back on). But even with the teaser right up against the bait, I proceeded to quickly catch seven or eight bass in much less time than the hour it had taken me to get a bite or two."

The Cat 3 Tackle-Bladed Teaser comes with bobber stoppers, which can be used to hold the teaser in place by putting one above the teaser and another below. Then, simply slide your teaser and bobber stoppers up and down your line until you have them the desired distance away from your bait. There are many ways to rig the teaser onto your line, and some actually work better than others.

Using a bobber stopper above and below the teaser will keep it away from your bait, but if you really want the prop to turn at max capacity, you need to add something else to the mix. Adding a glass bead between the teaser and the bobber stopper closest to your bait will allow the prop to spin much better. It's also worth noting that, when putting the prop on your line, there's a top and a bottom. You can tell which is which by the cup in the center of the prop. The bottom has a cup to it, and this cup should be pointed in the direction of the lure with which you're using it.

Baker also found that exchanging the glass bead for a small tungsten bullet weight works really well. This allows the prop to spin freely but also adds a little weight to the rig to help get your bait down deeper. This will be helpful if you're fishing small single swimbaits down deep, or if you want to fish this teaser with a spybait, for instance. It also keeps the whole rig level in the water, instead of having a heavy jighead swimbait below and the teaser being weightless up above. With some weight up near the teaser, it looks like the lure is more naturally trailing a small school of baitfish.

You also can use a swivel to better lock your teaser in place. If you're using small-diameter line, casting really hard, or perhaps even trolling a setup with this teaser in salt water, you'll find the bobber stoppers aren't enough to hold the teaser in place. Using a swivel in place of the bobber stopper closest to your bait will fix this problem. Then simply tie a short leader line to the bottom of your swivel, attach your bait to the opposite end of the leader line, and you're good to go.

Along with the Cat 3 Tackle-Bladed Teaser, you'll receive a little card that illustrates how to rig it, using a bobber stopper, teaser, bead, and swivel. You should be able to figure out several other ways to use the teaser, as well, based on this piece and a little creativity on your own. The teaser comes one to a pack, along with six bobber stoppers, for a price of $6.99.

The main thin you have to watch with this product is not putting it up wet.

"Take care of it, and dry it after each trip," said Baker, "and I believe one will last you quite a while. The wide array of baits with which you can use this product makes it one of the most versatile items on the market today. Don't be scared to try it with anything."

The Cat 3 Tackle-Bladed Teaser is available for order at https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Cat_3_Tackle_Bladed_Teaser_w__6pk_Peg_Stops/descpage-CATT.html, as well as https://cat3tackle.com/.