Howell's Terminal Deal
By Pete Robbins
Mid-Atlantic Staff Writer
October 2, 2009
The problem with being wiry like Randy Howell is that it doesn’t leave much room on your tournament shirt to add new sponsor logos.
The Alabama-based pro has plenty of partner companies, both fishing-related sponsors like Triton, Mercury, Quantum and of course Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits, along with a variety of non-endemics. But wedged onto his jersey is the emblem of a company that might not ring a bell with even the most avid American fishing fans. 
It’s Molix, a European manufacturer whose products have played a critical role in Howell’s ability to crack the top twelve in this year’s Bassmaster Elite Series Angler of the Year race.
One catch, though – Howell is one of the few anglers using it right now. “It’s not for sale (in the US) yet,” he reported. “But they’re trying to get it here. They were at ICAST this year so it shouldn’t be long.”
The company makes a wide variety of lures, but they’re probably best known for their terminal tackle and line. Those are the categories that Howell promotes, and he believes that using them has made a marked difference in his on-the-water results.
“It’s the highest quality fluorocarbon there is,” he said. “It has smaller diameter and lower stretch. I never knew how much of a difference it could make. The stuff in the US market wasn’t that great. It caused a lot of trouble. I started off buying it online.”
“In the old days, you’d throw a Senko on mono,” he continued. “It was buoyant and didn’t sink, so your lure fell with a bow and you couldn’t feel the bite. You’d miss the bite and 
you wouldn’t get a good hookset or they’d swallow it and die. Now, with this fluorocarbon, you get just about a hundred percent hookup rate. With mono it was only about 75 percent.”
Another category of products that has made him more efficient on the water is tungsten worm weights. Once again, Howell was dissatisfied with most of the domestic products. “I had trouble with them fraying my line,” he said. “I tried different brands but they’d all get a nick in the weight and fish would break off.”
When his frustration boiled over, Aaron Martens, whose family often camps near the Howells at tour stops, showed him a partial solution to the frayed line problem. “I wanted one with a sleeve,” Howell said. “He showed me how to doctor (an existing weight) up with heat shrink tubing.” That was good, but a few months later, thanks to Molix, he had something even better.
“The produced a weight with a real hard sleeve that came all the way out,” he said. “It has no corners or edges to catch on.” The short-term result was a 4th place finish in an Elite Series tournament on the Potomac River. Over two years later, he’s still going strong with them. “They’ve available in green pumpkin, watermelon and black, the three colors I wanted them in,” he explained. “In everything from 1/32 of an ounce all the way up to an ounce and a half.”
Randy Howell’s not going anywhere. Still in his early thirties, with nearly two decades of professional bass fishing under his belt, he rightfully believes that he’s still on an upward climb. Expect to see him in the winner’s circle soon – and in the pictures that follow, take note of the Molix logo. It plays a bigger role in his success than just that small corner of his shirt would indicate.
For more information on Molix, go to www.molix.jp
For more information about Randy Howell, go to www.randyhowell.com