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HOUSTON'S VIBE
Jimmy Houston on his New Line of Spinnerbaits and What his Future Holds


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Story and Photos By Matt Pangrac

Norman, OK - Jimmy Houston has been a staple on the bass fishing scene for over three decades. From planting a kiss in the nose of a bass to entertaining crowds watching him on the weigh-in stage, Houston never lacks energy.

The BZ caught up with Houston to find out more about his new line of spinnerbaits and talk about what the future holds for the veteran Oklahoma pro.

According to Houston, his Booyah Vibra-Flex spinnerbait, which premiered at ICAST in July, contains several key components, most notably the frame and skirt.

“The spinnerbait is actually made using a new stainless steel alloy that resembles titanium. It’s very strong and actually looks like titanium,” explained Houston. “This new type of alloy is really strong and extremely flexible which has allowed Booyah to use a smaller frame size giving the bait more flexibility and vibration. The importance of vibration in spinnerbaits is something that I’ve talked about for what seems like 100 years.”



Houston also overhauled the Vibra-Flex’s skirt, making sure that the unique color combinations were created using silicone. “I asked Booyah to use two different strands in the skirts. What they actually did was use a wide and narrow band and use over 80 strands.”

“On most spinnerbait skirts, you can stick it on the bait however you want,” explained Houston. “If you look at the Vibra-Flex skirt, the colors are matched from top to bottom. It seems like little things to most fishermen, but to the guys that are fishing for a living or fishing a 150 to 200 days a year, these little things are what make the difference.”

While there are plethora of spinnerbaits on the market, Houston believes that his Booyah VibraFlex offers something unique to the industry and adds to Booyah’s line of existing spinnerbaits.


"I think that it’s important for fishermen to have a bait that performs like titanium but costs less money,” he said. “The big deal that sets this bait apart is the skirt and the wire frame. That’s the two big deals. Of course, they also feature the flared gills and red, 3D eye.”

Houston’s 2008 FLW Tour season highlight came at Beaver Lake where he recorded a Top 50 finish, primarily by way of a shallow water spinnerbait bite in the high, muddy water. “Beaver Lake was a lot of fun because it was probably the only tournament this year where a guy could catch enough fish on a spinnerbait to do any good,” said Houston.

“We used to fish a lot of lakes like that but with the tournaments changing, we go to waters where a jig and shakey head dominate. The Tour has also visited a lot of lakes where a lot of practice time really helps, which is something that I just don’t have.”

While Houston announced at the Forrest Wood Cup that he wouldn’t be fishing on the FLW Tour in 2009, he doesn’t want to completely give up tournament fishing. “I have a little hope down inside of me that FLW will let me fish two or three tournaments on the 2009 schedule, but I perfectly understand if their rules are that you have to fish them all.”



“If I’m able to fish in two or three events in 2009, will I get to go practice? Probably not, but I’ll still have fun. I love to fish and that’s all there is to it. When I go, I’m going to have fun doing it. I’m probably not going to take it as seriously as I should from a tournament aspect, I never have, and probably won’t start that in the future.”

One would think that taking six weeks off the schedule would free up some calendar space to relax but for Houston, that’s not the case. “My wife explained that my calendar is like a bowl of gravy. You can take a big scoop out of the bowl but it just fills back in,” laughed the Oklahoma pro.

“I do over 125 personal appearances a year and 40 television shows. That’s a pretty busy schedule, so taking away six tournaments really doesn’t open up that many days that are not already booked. Everyone that I went to high school and college with are already retired and I’m still working - but they all want my job so I guess I’ll keep it as long as I can.”

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Jimmy Houston was my hero! I remember watching Jimmy Houston outdoors every weekend as a kid. We kind of idolized him because he was a professional bass fisherman from Oklahoma. The only one I really knew of, basically because of the lack of popularity of the sport and it's limited media coverage. Man how things have changed since then...