September 26, 2014
By Ned Kehde
Savage Gear introduced its Armor Tube Worm to the angling world at the 2014 International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades show in Orlando, Florida, on July 14.
Its name is a tad misleading, because it is neither a soft-plastic tube nor a soft-plastic worm. It is, however, a stickbait or Senko-style bait, and it is being hailed as the new generation of stickbaits.
One of the problems that anglers encounter when they wacky rig a traditional Senko-style bait revolves around its fragility, and because they are so fragile they are quickly jettisoned off the hook or torn asunder during a short donnybrook with a feisty largemouth, smallmouth or spotted bass. Savage Gear rectifies this problem by installing what they call armor, which is a nylon mesh that is located within the center of the Armor Tube Worm. According to Savage Gear, this construction process will allow anglers to tangle with scores of feisty black bass before the Armor Tube Worm becomes too tattered to use.
For more information about this nylon-mesh phenomenon, please see our Sept. 12 gear-guide column that featured Savage Gear's TPE Panic Popping Shrimp and the Sept. 25 gear-guide that featured their 3D Armor Crawler. Both of these baits are endowed with nylon mesh.
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The Armor Tube Worm is 5 1/2-inches long. It is enhance with a precise mixture of salt and iodine.
Anglers will not be able to purchase it until December, and then one online tackle purveyor will sell a package of eight for $5.19. And it will be available in the following colors: Black N Blue, Green Pumpkin, Purple Haze, Smoke N Pepper, and Watermelon Red.
Footnote :
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The 5 1/2-inch Armor Tube Worm is too long for most Midwest finesse applications, but if and when Savage Gear manufactures a three-incher, we will write about it straightaway. At this point, Savage Gear has no plans to manufacture a three-inch model, but they are hoping to manufacture the 5 1/2-incher in several more colors.