LAS VEGAS - A Mystic, Conn., company has won the top prize for best new lure at North America's largest fishing-tackle show. The company has created a lure that could change sport fishing if it works as the manufacturer claims it does.

The American Sportfishing Association awarded its best-in-show prize to Mystic Tackleworks for the company's BioPulse System, a lure system developed by a team of scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, M.I.T., the University of Connecticut and other research centers. Mystic Tackleworks received the prize on the first day of the International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades, a three-day tackle-trade show that ended Friday.

On the outside, BioPulse lures look like other crankbaits and spook-style plugs.

On the inside, lures in the BioPulse contain intricate electrical circuitry and a stimulant-disbursal system. The lures also feel different than traditional plugs. Their backs are rigid, but the bellies are soft to the touch.

"This is not just a lure," says professional angler Gregg Silks, who was a member of the development team. It uses scent, taste, vibration, flash and sound."

The system has been in development for eight years, said Gregory J. Mitchell, founding chairman and chief science officer of Mystic Tackleworks.

"Mystic Tackleworks essentially is a bioscience and engineering company," he said. "Half of our team is in bioscience and medical research at major universities, and the other half are engineers at major universities or institutions that study the environment."

"The ability of a fish to find food is a sequential event," according to the company's literature. "A fish will try to identify a sound within certain frequencies. Then it uses its vision if the water is clear enough. As it approaches its prey, it uses its tactile sense from water displacement: vibrations."

The lures' internal electrical circuitry operates a digital LED light system that flashes in a sequence designed to attract fish, said Silks. Built-in reflectors scatter ambient light for additional flash.

An internal "speaker" emits vibrations at frequencies that imitate baitfish.

The company's sales literature continues: "What is most critical, when a fish closes in on a lure, the lure has to feel, smell and taste like food for the fish to be adequately stimulated to bite the lure."

Mystic Tackleworks' consulting scientists have developed stimulant compounds, bottled in containers they formulated to keep the stimulants stable. They have stimulants that have taken striped bass, bonito, redfish and other saltwater game fish, as well as stimulants for largemouth bass and other freshwater fish. And they are working on more species-specific compounds, said Silks.

When a fish touches the lure's tender underside, the lure emits some of the chemical, encouraging the fish to take the lure.

Silks said BioPulse Systems should be on the market this fall. Bass Pro Shops will be among the first retailers to have them. A lure-and-stimulant package probably will cost slightly less than $40. When the battery wears out, the factory will replace it.

"It's a real privilege to be named a winner after all the hard work we put into our product. To receive a Best of Show honor during our first year of exhibiting at ICAST is an honor," said Ric Ice, president, Mystic Tackleworks Inc.

The Curado E Series reel, from Shimano American, was voted by buyers and media as the most innovative product in the ICAST 2008 New Product Showcase in both the freshwater reel category and the overall "Best of Show."

There were 190 companies that entered 695 tackle products and accessories into the New Product Showcase.

Making up a special section of ICAST's 350,000-square-foot show floor, the showcase gives visibility to the fishing industry's latest innovations. There were more than 7,000 representatives of the global sport-fishing community in attendance, with nearly 2,000 buyers and more than 400 media representatives in Las Vegas for the annual show.

Marine recreational anglers caught more than 468 million fish in 2007, down slightly from the historic high of 475 million fish in 2006, but still the second-highest recreational catch total in the last 10 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service.

The overall number of fish caught and kept also declined slightly, from 214 million to 196 million fish, according to NOAA.

The 2007 data demonstrates a widespread turn toward catch and release among recreational anglers, said Monica Allen, spokeswoman for the fisheries agency. While anglers are catching about 27 percent more fish than a decade ago, they are also releasing more fish than they keep. Of the 468 million fish caught by anglers in 2007, 272 million, or 58 percent, were released. The percentage of fish released into the environment has increased steadily from about 51 percent in 1993.

The statistics are compiled by NOAA from in-person and telephone interviews with recreational fishermen. The agency is working on a joint state-federal initiative to redesign its surveys to provide a more complete picture of saltwater fishing.