Dirk/Luca- Is the reason for the popularity in "Scandanavia" because it's a Swedish lure and easier for people in Scandanavia to get, i.e., more fisherman are using them? I also know there are many pike fisherman in other European countries using them. If European pike fisherman are like North American Pike & Muskie fisherman the majority are hestitant to share their fishing secrets, including hot lures.

Luca- Do you say "poor lure" because of personal preference or is that a general concenus of Pike fisherman in the rest of Europe?  If the answer is it's a general concenus I would be very ineterested in the data that supports that opinion. 

Before I became a hard core Muskie fisherman ( When Muskie season is open-all other fish are bait), I fished almost exclusively for Pike here in North America (35years). With respect to "cold water" versus warm water,  all northern pike preferr cooler water and this drives their location throughout the summer fishing season in their southern range. I would not think that this is much different in Europe. Here in the Mid-Western USA during summer small pike are commonly found in shallower warm water (3 meters or less), but the big girls are almost always found where the water is deeper/cooler, i.e., where trout streams (cold water) enter the main lake or river, or real deep water (10-20 meters), or where fresh water springs are present. These areas are huge big pike maganet's. You might want to try a sinking Zalt to go after those deep fish.

Dirk- I became interested in the Zalt because of some MF message posts that I saw where you and ToddM were responding to qestions & talking about these lures. Needless to say it tweeked my curiosity and I began to investigate Zalts. 

The net result was one of my best friends,  Mike Hofmann of M&H Enterprises wound up with the exclusive  sole distributorship for North America and formed Zalt NAD. Mike is an avid fisherman (Capt. Troll) and is a genuine honest guy. Our aim is to have some fun & hopefully help some other fisherman catch some fish. Well of course we'd like to make some money while doing that, so it's pretty hard to give away these lures. Especially when we have to import them from Sweden.

 I received my first Zalt (sample from Peter af Rolen at Zalt AB in Sweden) a 19cm/7.5" in 06 color (Zalt NAD "parrot") sinking model in early October of 2002.  Excitedly, I immediately  took it to a local river. Not wanting to waste time hooking up my boat etc, I decided to try a local bridge. Here in Wisconsin, river bridges get very heavy fishing pressure especially by fisherman whom don't own boats. Having never thrown this lure before I was just really interested in seeing the action. On the 3rd cast a ~40 inch pike smashed the lure and I missed the hook set- I really wasn't fishing-just playing with the lure.

I threw two casts back to the fish & a 20" pike slammed the lure on the second- I was pissed, landed the 20" & tried for ~10 minutes to raise the big girl- no luck. Next, a week later, I took the same lure to a very large local reservoir (Petenwell Flowage) with my son. He got delayed by his job so we only had ~ 2 hrs to fish. Launched the boat & started fishing about 2 km from the launch, ~ 30th cast I had a 37" Muskie absolutely crush the lure ~ 2 meters from the boat, after a short fight she was in the net & released. Did I say I had never fished this impoundment before and we had to quit shortly because of all the stumps & trees- I didn't want to risk damaging my boat running around in the dark on unfamiliar water. I had almost identical experience with my first sample Zam in November 2002. However due to ice & extreme cold it was time to hang up the fishing poles.  Total fishing time w/ Zalt-> ~ 3 hours- missed 40" Pike & caught 20" + 24" & 37" Muskie.

Perhap's I'm a bit biased. But I think the 2003 season here in North America will prove me right- this is a very good fishing lure for not only Pike & Muskies, but other species too, i.e., walleye, salmon, trout, strippers & bass.... We have  heard from a few fisherman ( not including ToddM) who have also been using Zalts for up to 5 years. They all report good results.

For those of you fishing with Zalt's this season. Send us a photo of your big fish, length etc, include some background information and your name and address. We are going to post these on our web site and at the end of season, Jan 1. 2004. (Only fair for you southern guys) we will give the largest fish of each species a $100.00 gift certificate. 

Well Ranger- now he's a funny guy. I had the pleasure of sharing Ranger's boat at the MF Cass Lake outing ( mine was broken + he netted a 44" spotted muskie for me) Great net man! Ranger can probably attest I am a bit strange & obsessed about Muskies and fishing in general- I think our last day fishing together I had a total of 5 lures in the boat. So to the next extreme for 2003- I intend to only fish w/Zalts, maybe a couple of live leeches on a Northland Gumdrop Floater in mid-June for some hog walleye's up in Canada. But the Zalts will get first shot there too.....

Watch for the ESOX Maniac "Yard Sale"/Trade signs here on MF. Easiest way to keep the commitment is to get rid of the other stuff. -

No! Ranger the Stan Durst Purple Jake, Muskie Treat, etc. are not gong to the yard sale, but will be office decorations- maybe they'll get  pulled out sometime in the future for nostalgia's sake.

For those of you have fished with Zalt's, send me an Email & let me know what your thoughts, are, i.e., both good or bad  + be sure to include your secrets about Zalts

Both Mike & I are very serious about giving our customers a quality product that produces more fish in the boat. We value your feed back. Our warranty policy is "if it breaks in normal useage, it gets replaced."  

Hope to see you on the water in 2003.

"All Water is Zalt Water"

Al Warner

Director of Marker Development

ZaltNAD

http://www.thenethouse.biz