Mattlures

I know bass eat real baby ducks but I doubt that bait looks anything like a real swimming duck from underneith. If it had swimming leggs underneith then I would try one. I know where big bass eat ducks

play nice Bizz ;D

Yes I have fished Dixon many times. I have even caught a few

Yeah I know it sounds like I am contradicting myself. Its not that they dont look natural. Its that they dont look healthy. Like a wounded trout. When trout get stocked you always see a few that look beat up or injured. I have seen these battered trout sitting up against the shore scared for their lives. So when I say those baits dont quite look right, I mean they dont look like healthy trout to me. This is obviously a good thing because they get bit. Bass like any predator will take the easy meal first. A strong lively trout is not that easy for a bass to catch. An injured one is dead meat

Yep there is no silver bullet. The statement made by Bill dance is a good one. However there is no lure made that looks and acts like a shad exactly. If you throw the most realistic shad bait made through a school of shad, its going to stick out. If it sticks out but still looks natural its going to be a target and get eaten NOW. If it doesnt look natural then it still might get eaten durring the frenzy but the realistic bait will out produce. Catt I do agree with you. I am well aware of negative ques. I base my whole aproach on them. To many negatives and I dont get bit. Each little mistake snowballs. Plastic worms have very little negative ques. They almost have no detail. Nothing about them looks wrong. They are subtle and natural. They need to be because the fish realy get a good look at them. If a fish got the same oportunity to look over a crankbait or a spinnerbait its not going to eat it. Matching the hatch is one of the biggest reasons swimbaits are so productive. A good quality bait can look and act like the real thing and get bit in tough conditions. The bait doesnt have to look realistic in your hand (stocker trout, Triple Trout) but they need to creat the illusion of a real fish in the water. I actualy think both of those baits get bit because they dont quite look right. They look like somethings wrong with the trout. They look like easy prey. I also belive the Hudd looks like a freashly planted drugged up trout. Obviously I am bias but I feel swimbaits are one of the best types of baits for actualy tricking a bass into thinking its eating a real baitfish. Most bites are feeding not reacting. Most bites come on a slow presentation where the fish get to look at the bait. If anybody thinks matching the hatch is overrated then net some shad while the bass are feeding on them and use them as bait. Or when they are feeding on dads, get the same size and color live dads ans see what happens. Or go get an ultra realistic trout swimbait and throw it while the bass are actively feeding on stocked trout. Dont go get a 6in jointed trout colored rapala and think your matching anything.

I am not saying you need to match the hatch, you dont. Like I said bass are at a disadvantage because they have to eat and when something comes by them they only have a few seconds to react. The conditions play a major role. If they cant get a good look at the bait its going to apear more natural. Again you dont NEED to Match the hatch. Finding regular sized fish is the biggest key to catching them. They arent as "smart " as the bigger fish. Finding big fish is obviously important but even if you fishing where they live all the other variables are much more important. My 2 biggest points are #1 most guys arent matchin when they think they are. #2 when bass are feeding on a specific bait and you truley do match what they are feeding on you should get epic results especialy with big bass. I usualy agree with everything Catt posts but I have read that little experiment where they claim that the plasic worm is the only thing they cant be conditioned to and I disagree with it. If I remember corectly the study was done one 1 fish in a tank. So they claim that all bass act just like that one. Fist of all I have had many bass in tanks and my own little ponds etc. And I have seen them get conditioned to worms so I know that is not true. If you give them enough time and present the bait properly they will hit the same bait again. One rule of thumb is, the older the fish gets the fewer mistakes it makes. The more presured the lake is and the more experiance a fish has the more it learns to avoid anglers, boats, shadows,noise,hooks,and line. Small fish are stupid and make many mistakes. It almost like they are two seperate species and that why people who fish for big bass usualy have different ideas on how and why to catch them. Also dont ever think that you should not question sombody elses knowledge. I may be right where I fish but I could be very wrong on your lake there are a million variables

Muddy I disagree. Of course I am fishing for different bass then most people. My bass live in super clear, super pressured water. Plus I am not fishing for small fish. But even then I still totaly disagree. I think most anglers dont give the fish enough credit. In a lot of cases a bass doesnt have much time to react. It either eats the prey right now or it gets away.This forces the bass to attack or go hungry so the advantage is to the fisherman. If bass were so stupid and so easy to predict and ate anything then just about everybody would catch 10lbers and anybody could be a pro. The truth is when sombody doesnt know WHY a bass ate a chartruse senko they just assume the bass was stupid. Just about everybody that bass fishes has been on a bite where one color worked and another color didnt. Why was the good color soo succseful and the bad color wasnt. The baits were the same? I dont know the answer but I do know its not because the bass was stupid. The are not intelegent but they have stong survival instincts. My whole point was that most of the time your lures arent matching the hatch when you think they are. You arent giving them enough credit if you think a 6in trout painted rapala is matching a real 10 in trout. Or if you think a bluegill painted crankbait looks or act anything like a real bluegill. When flyfisherman match the hatch, they realy do match it. Their flys look like the real thing the trout are eating from the fishes perspective. Trout are no different then bass. If you truely match the hatch from the fishes perspective you will fool them.

The biggest problem with matching the hatch is with the fisherman. NOT THE FISH. An angler will pick up a jig and think he is matching a crawfish. Ever watch a bass in an aquarium? Feed the bass crawfish for a while. Now throw the jig in. You could probably catch him 1 or 2 times but he will quickly learn that the jig is bad. He probably never though the jig was a dad in the first place. He just thought it was food he will continue to eat the dads but will not eat the jig anymore. Have you guys ever watches lures swimming under water? I'll let you in on a little secret. Almost all crankbaita and lures in general look very little like the bait they are suposed to be imitating. I believe you arent giving the fish enough credit. They dont think your shad colored crank is a shad. they just see something come by and they react. When you truley do match the hatch you will see the results. If bass are busting on shad and you snag a shad and throw it out there, guess what, you will get bit. If you throw a chrome rattle trap you are only slightly matching the hatch. In most cases the angler is NOT matching when he thinks he is. Bass will eat almost anything if you find them in the right place and right time. Its when they arent actively feeding that a truly realistic bait in shape, size,color, and action will get bit when other wont.

yes that is a permenant thing. The only time you would need to change bodies is if it got dammaged. Honestly I have never heard much from any of the old Castaic hard heads except the trouts. The original hard head trouts were cutting edge and got bit. I just never heard of the other hard head baits doing good. I always thought they looked real good though.

Catt I completly agree with you. However you are an experienced angler who knows when its good to be patient. I see many guys doing things wrong or at least not doing the something better simply because they think thier patience will be rewarded. In most cases it never is. If you have enough experiance to know when to be and when not to be patient then it can be a very good thing. But I see way to many average fisherman who think patiencs is good when for them it is a very bad thing. BTW I have very little patience except for when I have to

Bizz is right. That is an older version. Not a snap on. The bait was packaged incorectly. You nned to VERY carefully glue the 2 halfes together. Super glue is a apin and I always end up with it on my fingers. I would put a very thin coat ao each half and let dry. then put a little more superglue on them on push together. Just so you know the snap on baits never caught on and the older versions are though of as the better bait.

Your girl is pretty. She has a pond. I think I would be shopping for a ring!

Not even close. Confidence is a great thing. Patience is usualy a bad thing. If your not getting the results you want and your just waiting hoping things will change then there is a good chance you are waisting your time. Change it up, figure it out, use your head, NOT PATIENCE. The more experience you have the more confident you will become.

It appers to ba an exact copy of a BBZ. The factory that produces these baits also makes the River to Sea. Probably owned by R2S. I am sure the bait comes from the same factory and is sold to "Dingo". Looks to be a great way to buy a BBZ for a fraction of the $$. However I bet they arent allowed to offer a trout color or any of the same bbz colors

The actual raw materials in a soft plastic swimbait may be around $5 but when throw in labor the cost goes way up. Plus the molding material is over $100 a gallon. I know it takes me months to to properly test and design my baits. This includes many prototypes and many molds. Soo to answer you question? I guess I dont realy know. Ha Ha. Now worms and other basic soft plastics can be pennies. However by the time you get all you supplies it will cost you a good chunk of money. It can take a long time before you actualy save money. The fun part/benifit is creating

osbornj2 Thanks for posting. I have saved that pic for when I finaly add pics to my site. That is a beatiful fish. Smallies are cool, I want to catch some. We dont have them real close to me but I might just have to travel a little and get some. I think your photo skills are fine, well at least your friends skills are

Ha ha that is pretty much exacty how I fish them.

Yes this is a calico bass. It should have been closer tp 6lbs but only went 4. It was long and skinny. They are just like largemouth except they live in the kelp. The Rage shads have held up gret for me. I have not had one tear at the tail. I have worn holes in them from hooking fish but a drop of Mend it makes them new again. I have been searching for a weedless buzzbait for a while and these are it. I have tried weedless grubs and toads and frogs but these are the best. My hook up percentage is MUCH higher then the toad baits(I dont even know why)and they get me more bites then any others I have tried. Buzzbaits are one of my goto baits and I will still use them but if there are weeds at all I now use the shad.

I realy like this bait and I was heading out into the thickest nastiest stuff imaginable. There is an area probably over a mile long just coverd in these weeds and they are full of bass. This is a real test for any weedless bait and I knew The Rage shad would get through it. Bit I had to find out if it would get bit. Well it did check out this nice bass This bass just blasted the shad on a slow-medium retrieve buzzing along the top. The stuff is soo thick you cant get you boat over to the fish. You just have to trim up you moter and let the wind eventualy drift you through it. It can take hours if its not very windy. Anyways It took me a while to get the fish through this stuff and to the boat. Now that is a weedless bait.

Paul I have to thank you for being a guinea pig. There were several reasons I chose to let you test a bait. See I dont keep a regular prostaff. I give out a few baits to certain people for feeed back. In most cases the baits have been thourohly tested before hand but its alway good to get some different feedback. Here are the reasons I picked you. #1 I have seen you progress and learn and you belive that swimbaits can and do produce big bass consistantly. #2 You are not a "pro". I can and will give one of these baits to Mike Long and John Kerr. But seriously what will that prove? Those guys are soo good they could could catch huge bass on any decent bait. You however are closer to the average good angler. Actualy Your a stud but a rookie swimbaiter. #3 Your a nice likable guy, who I always enjoy reading your post. #4 The one thing that realy stood out to me was your knowlege of useing real live bluegill for bait. That takes more skill then some realize and I knew that you could use your experience with real gills to stick big fish with fake gills. If I could make you a believer then that says something. Thank you again for giving the bait a shot. Thank you to everybody else for the kind words. You guys are awsome!!!!!

Wow Paul what a great review, I think I am blushing!! I dont remember if I told you a swimbaiy "WILL" out fish live bait but it certainly can and does outfish bait at times. I think I said it can out fish bait but I might have said does Either way it certainly did for you!!!!!!!! Aslo thank you to everybody else for the compliments on the bait.

Jay that has to be one of the best reports ever. What an awsome place. Did you see any deer? or other big animals? That looks like good hunting area. You should be writting magazine articles. Seriously

Thanks FC I will have a rod out for sturgeon the next time I go to that lake

That cool Chris. I had a bit with 1 minute to go catfishing on the last day of my favorite lake but it dropped it. The last secong is just that much more rare. We have one lake down here that has sturgies. It is a very small and shallow lake. About 100 acres. What should I use for bait and do you have any basic tips I could use to catch one? I am completely clueless Thanks Matt

If I can afford it that sounds like fun but what the heck is a JW blue?