February 21, 2018
By Ned Kehde
Last year we proclaimed that we wanted to publish gear guides about all of the soft-plastic finesse baits that have been manufactured since we began publishing our Midwest finesse column in August 2011. To facilitate that task, a veteran Midwest finesse angler, who is always in search of soft-plastic baits that he can affix to a small mushroom-style jig, told us that we need to publish a gear guide about the Magic Flick that is a creation of Beast Coast of Danbury, Connecticut.
Even though it was produced for drop-shot, neko-rig, and wacky-rig anglers, he said it looks to be a soft-plastic bait that Midwest finesse anglers could affix to a small mushroom-style jig and employ it the same way they use a shad-shaped worm or a grub.
The Bass Candy Magic Flick Straightaway, we agreed with his observations, and here are some details about the Magic Flick.
It is about three and five-eighths inches long, and it possesses what the folks at Beast Coast describe as an hourglass shape. This unique shape is said to engender significant and titillating gyrations in the Magic Flick's tail.
Advertisement
The predorsal area is engraved with two eyes, gill membranes, and a gape. This area is three-eighths of an inch long. The top of the predorsal area is flat, and it is about three-sixteenths of an inch thick at is thickest spot.
The dorsal or back area is flat. It is devoid of a dorsal fin and an adipose fin. It is about one and five-sixteenths inches long, and three-eighths of an inch thick at its thickest spot.
Its body is endowed with 21 ribs instead of scales and a lateral line. There are no pectoral fins. It is about one and five-sixteenths inches long.
Advertisement
Its pelvic and anal areas are smooth-skinned and thinner than the dorsal area.
There are no pelvic fins, but it is adorned with what the folks at Beast Coast call an "under-fin," which in some anglers' eyes is an abstract version of an anal fin. The under-fin encroaches into the area of the caudal or tail fin. It is smooth skinned, thin, and somewhat transparent. The under-fin is one and seven-sixteenth inches long, and it is a quarter of an inch wide at its widest spot.
The tail is eleven-sixteenths of an inch long. The top of it is flat, and it is about a quarter of an inch thick at its thickest spot. It is smooth-skinned.
Derek Carr of Danbury, Connecticut, is the sales and marketing manager and of Beast Coast, and he says the ribs and the under-fin create subtle undulations and vibrations. What's more, he says the anatomical details, such as the gill membranes, add realism.
It is available in the following "iridescent powder-based colors:" Ayu Fire, Bankroll, Bass Candy, Beast Coast Special, Dirty Deluxe, Dream Shad, Magic Shiner, Purple Rain, The Chronic, and The Truth.
It is impregnated with a mild-mannered garlic scent and a small quantity of salt. Carr said "too much salt kills the action and detracts from its durability."
It is manufactured with a system that is called "mech-poured plastics," and it is said that each Magic Flick is "poured one-at-a-time with custom formulas." In other words, it is "a proprietary machine-assisted hand-pour process." Ultimately, this system creates a neutrally buoyant bait that is garnished with decorative details. Beast Coast uses a proprietary formula that is plastisol free. According to Carr, they "are quite durable for a thin hand-pour-style bait" -- especially when anglers compare it to other hand-poured finesse baits.
A package of seven costs $5.69.
Endnotes
(1) Here is a link to Beast Coast Fishing's website: https://www.beastcoastfishing.com/soft-baits.html .
(2) Here is a link to a YouTube feature about the Magic Flick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6d-ahTUz3s .
A Bass Candy Magic Flick affixed to a red 1/20-ounce mushroom-style jig. It is similar to the shad-shaped worm rigs that Midwest finesse anglers have been using since 2006. (3) Across the years, Midwest finesse anglers have discovered that day in and day out that soft-plastic baits that are affixed to drop-shot rigs, neko rigs, and whacky rigs are not as effective as a soft-plastic bait that is affixed to a small mushroom-style jig. And when Midwest finesse anglers affix a Magic Flick to a mushroom-style jig, they will be able to use all six of the standard Midwest finesse retrieves and subtle variations of those retrieves. Here is a link to a Midwest Finesse column that explains how to execute those retrieves with a Magic Flick: http://www.in-fisherman.com/midwest-finesse/six-midwest-finesse-retrieves . Midwest finesse anglers can shorten it by ampuatating the predorsal area or head and a short segment of its body behind the predorsal.
(4) Derek Carr provided us with a photograph of a Magic Flick in the Dream Shad hue, and it is affixed to an aspirin-head jig, which Carr calls a Damiki rig. Before Carr affixes the Magic Shad to the jig, he removed its head. The Damiki rig is a popular rig at Cherokee Lake, Tennessee, and other east Tennessee reservoirs and various reservoirs in the Appalachian Mountains.
(5) Carr also provided us with a photograph of a package of the Dirty Deluxe Magic Flick.
