Swimbait Underground and Working Class Zero have teamed up to bring you the Elusive Beast Collection. Prior to the gear dropping we were able to spend a few minutes with Mike Gilbert, of Working Class Zero to find out a little bit more about Mike, WCZ, and the Elusive Beast Collection.
The Elusive Beast Collection will be available 6/12/20 at 6PM on both the Swimbait Underground and Working Class Zero online stores in addition to our retailers worldwide.
Where are you based out of?
In general. San Diego, CA
How long have you been Swimbait fishing? What got you into it?
Started in 2009. I grew up fishing, but what got me back into fishing was needing a break from my job. My job was my life at that point so i was in desperate need of a hobby. Some friends invited me to go fishing for bass, crappie, just whatever we could catch. Quickly became addicted and months later I started throwing bigger baits to up the size of the catch.
Prior to WCZ what did you do full time?
I made skate videos for the better part of 18 years. It allowed me to travel the world and meet a lot of different people and see many cultures. All things most high school drop outs only dream of experiencing. Those experiences produced the foundation that I would later rely on when I transitioned into being the Director of Digital Media for Thrasher Magazine in 2014.
Do you have any advice for people starting their Swimbait journey?
Less is more. You don’t need every bait under the sun. Limit the gear and baits you buy and just focus on what are proven baits and tackle. Stick to one body of water that you will have consistent access to that is close to home but has a substantial population of quality largies. Spend time learning the basics with a few things then slowly start to mix in a little more as you go.
Is there anyone or anything in the SB community that inspires you?
A lot of people inspire me in the community but I'm drawn to those that seem to have a genuine passion and standards that he or she wants to reach. Those looking to play the percentages and catch the biggest bass in their body of water.
Where is your dream location to fish?
Japan and South Africa would be the places. There are elusive beasts lurking in both those places. I have been to South Africa for skateboarding but never fished. I have not been to Japan but am looking forward to going in the near future.
What made you start Working Class Zero?
I just felt that something was missing and that I have a different approach to it than most. I could bring the years of experience in skateboarding and just offer a new perspective.
Do you see any correlation between the skate & fishing communities?
Very few people are willing to take the risk to do something new, yet both industries are filled with individuals of self reliance. There weren’t and still aren't many renegade style brands in fishing in comparison to skateboarding. I want to see things change the same way the skaters grabbed the wheel and made the industry skater owned and operated. There is A LOT of room for that mindset in the fishing industry and we are seeing that take place specifically in the swimbait sector of the industry.
When did you start making baits and what led you to do it?
Making baits to sell would be roughly 5 years ago, making my own baits to fish started a few years before that. The reason being is I had to make stuff that wasn’t available on the market to fill a unique slot that was necessary for my style of fishing. Even with baits I didn’t make myself I would often tweak those baits to make them standout against the other baits those fish were being shown.
Why do you like to collect the data of length, girth, and weight?
If you do a good job of keeping track of the measurements, you can understand the health of a fishery or the specific genetics of the fish certain bodies of water. It also dispels the myths associated with many of those online weight calculators for bass. Something else to consider, the board pics give reference samples to others to add to their understanding. It's almost as transparent about the size of the fish as one can be. Seeing others pics, encourages growth and knowledge of your waters and your ability to form a gameplan to use your time most efficiently.
We noticed you do a lot of cast2catch video. For those in the Swimbait world that aren’t capturing their catches on video what’s the easiest way for someone to get started recording?
Buy an action camera and mount it to your boat or a tripod. Make sure it is plugged into a power source via USB port on the boat or external battery pack attached to a tripod and that you have a large capacity memory card. You want it to be ease of use and not something you are going to be playing with every fifteen minutes. It should be as easy as turning on and pushing record while your fishing and stop record when your moving from spot to spot.
What’s the significance of the Sasquatch and the Elusive Beast collection?
I am a long time fan of the great ape theory, the Elusive Beasts lurking in the woods of the world that will one day be documented as a species. The same way one day, someone will break the world record Largemouth bass...
The board has CM and IN, what was your reason for doing that?
We are reaching a community that is worldwide and inches is not the standard unit of measurement for most outside the US. In the past anglers were adding their own stickers to the board so we thought we would make it easier on them. On one piece of real estate you get both worlds.
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