We sift through all the new gear in the fishing world to introduce you to product upgrades, new gear and what’s likely to be the next hot thing. This month we bring you the latest fishing app from GoFree, the new Sailfish 325DC, Rapala Shadow Rap Shad and the latest Shimano Socorro SW.
The Shadow Rap Shad ($9.99; rapala.com) features wide-body style with flat sides and a metallic finish with textured scales. The swimming action of this lure mimics a dying shad, making sharp right and left turns with little forward motion. On the pause, the bait kicks and slowly rises, keeping it in the strike zone. The Shadow Rap Shad is available in a standard and a deep-diving model.
The GoFree Hooked app (gofreemarine.com) allows anglers to record their catches by saving fish photos and details about the catch such as location, size, and other notes. Anglers can review these notes to track their progress over time and identify successful patterns and locations. Anglers can also challenge friends and members of the GoFree Hooked community, while tracking who is in the lead via a live leaderboard.
The new Sailfish 325DC (sailfishboats.com) provides the perfect platform for a number of on-the-water activities, from sunset cruises to serious fishing missions. Following up on the popular Sailfish 275 Dual Console introduced last year, it offers luxurious bow seating, a well-equipped cockpit galley and below-deck pantry, a spacious head, comfortable captain’s chairs, easy step-down rear and side entries, and a full array of fishing amenities.
Shimano now offers its Hagane cold-forged drive gear in the newly designed Socorro SW ($129.99; fish.shimano.com). It’s available in four models—5000SW, 6000SW, 8000SW and 10000SW—to take on the harsh saltwater environment and species including stripers, bluefish, black sea bass, tautog and fluke. The 5000SW and 6000SW, perfect for light-tackle fishing for stripers and bluefish, have 4.6:1 gear ratios, while the 8000SW and 10000SW, designed for surf fishing and inshore jigging, have 4.9:1 gear ratios.