Mattlures

If the bait is crooked it could cause it to lean. It is soo easy to straighten the bait. All you need to do is put the back half of the bait in boiling water for a minute or two and the bait will automaticly return to its original straightness. When the bait is straight it will run straight. I do not know why but some line/knots tend to make them leam a little. If you guys cant get them to swim straight I will exchange them for you, or just straighten the ones you send back. My packaging keeps them pretty staright but its not perfect. I personaly hang my baits by the hook eyes. Also remember, Slow down. 90% of my bites are fishing the baits as slow as I can swim them or bouncing them along the bottom. with these baits you WANT the fish to get a good look at them. RW I am glad to hear your getting some fish on them I was beginning to wonder what was taking so long Keep throwing them, you WILL get big smallies on them

Very nice Fbizz. I love to night fish and I use very similatr tactics. I also think color is unimportant at night. Every body says black, and black does work but so does every othey color except glow. I like slow waking swimbaits, buzzbaits, big worms and creatures. I am just more comfortable fishing at night.

Brent be careful with those bubbles. Wear a mask!

any worm can be custom poured to float. They can be poured to stand up on end. You could make a Senko copy with just a small tail section that floated or any othe worm. You would probably have to order a bunch but I bet if you contacted some guys who do custom handpours they could easily do it for you.

bucketmouth is right. that will fix 95% . also the faster you reel them thmore they will "try" to lean. The bait is designed to be fished slow. reel them just slow enough to get the tail to kick and maintain that speeed. The biggest mystake I see new swimbaiters making wath any swimbait is retreiving them too fast.

It is a very borring technique and it does not work. The guy who named it stitching was well known for catching 2 lb bass. Ok let me start over. MR LUNKER BILL MURPHY, the original modern day trophy hunter is the one who named this technique. He had caught hunderds of fish over 10lbs before he died a couple years ago from skin cancer. Mike Long, Bob Crupi and pretty much all other trophy hunters have read his book. "In pusuit of giant bass" it is known as the trophy hunters bible. The man was the best there was and one of his favorite techniques was stistching. He used spinning setups and so do I. The idea is togather line with your fingers a couple inches at atime untill you have a couple feet, then your reel the slack and continue. There is a lot more to that just this as setting up your spot is crucial. stitching is probably the best worm technique for catching big bass. It is slow and percise and EXTREMLY efective. I actualy have some of his worms he made I bought off of ebay after he died. He used big bulky worms and a small bait hook with a small split shot. HE SLAYED THEM!!!!

preach4bass thanks for posting. This is why I make baits. This is what drives me. Yeah I make little money too but when I am burnt out and tired its things like this that keep me motivated. Thank you.

Heartbroken? NO No No. think about what you did. You should feel good about it. Now that big ol bass can make sombody elses day maybe even yours again. You did the right thing.

Thats a good question because I caught somethis year that to me looked like they were 2 lbs and when I got them up they were twice that size. For me it seems that size plays a big part in distortion. Small looking fish almost always look bigger when they are caught and I have caught a couple that a swore were 12 and only weighed 10. For the most part the water makes fish look smaller to me. 80% are bigger than I thought. It also has to do with how many big fish you have seen and caught recently. If its been a while they look bigger if I have caught a few recently then they look smaller. Glad I could help. ha ha :-/

I dont recomend bending the harness but nait weights work. I still recomend boiling first to get everthing straight. If you use a treble on the bottom you can embed one of the hooks into the belly. If you hook it slightly off center it can correct the lean. Also certain stiff lines can cause the bait to lean.

I Have not caught as manny as Randall but I have caught a couple. I think the key here is playing the percentages. I have hada couple good fish caught on various baits like Rapalas and small plastic worms but those same baits have produced hundreds of fish for me under 2lbs. Baits Like jigs,buzzbaits,big worms and Suprisingly SMALL creature baits produce bigger fish on average. But.. through much trial and error I have learned when certain baits work well for big fish. For instance Buzz baits at night equal big fish but in the day they catch small ones. Why? because in the day time the big ones are out deeper and there are to many negative ques for a big bass to fall for a buzzer. At night they move up shallow to feed and a SLOW buzzer becomes a big fish bait. Swimbaits are probably the only no brainer. They simple give you the best odds of catching a big fish. Now I dont mean that they will catch bigger fish all the time than a jig or other big fish bait. what I mean is if you took the average weight from a hundred fish caught on all the popular baits, swimbaits would win hands down. It wouldnt even be close. Now a jig might catch as manny big ones but it would also catch more small opnes. Big worms are interesting. I dont think you increase your odds much just by upsizing your worms. I have caught a ton of very small fish on verry big worms. I think a big worm fished in a regular spot will do as good or less than a small worm. However a big worm fished in a big fish spot will greatly outproduce a small worm. The small creature bait still makes no sence to me but I have a very high average weight on little 3in power hawgs. It makes no sence to me but there is something that better sized fish like about them. Of corse most of my big powerhawg fish were caught at night in ponds. hmmmm.

It all has to do with expectations. If I am hunting big fish and I catch 10 fish and the biggest is 5lbs, I feel like I failed. It would still be fun but I would not be satisfied. Now if I didnt expect any big fish and I was throwing plastics than that same day would be a good day and that same 5lber would be a good fish. Its funny how when you swing on a swimbiat fish and you realize its only 5lbs you instantly are disapointed. Any other technique I am thrilled to catch that 5.

They were actualy in the act of spawning. This does not take to long. Usualy when you see bedded fish they are either getting ready to spawn or they are protecting thier eggs. When you see them rubbing and turning likethat they are getting it on!

Avid I serously think you should send your story to Loomis and Diawa. That is great advertising for them. It shows their products are still good even after being under water for a year. Who know mayb you can be thier next ad campaign. Mayb they will send you new gear if they use your pictures and story. Couldnt hurt.

I have always thought about this. Many years ago when I was a kid I used to fish various Rapalas 80% of the time. The plain black and silver ones were a million times better than the ones with a fish pattern on them. I am mainly talking about the shad raps. I believe that with detail you give the bass a chance to find something wrong. A negative cue. I have always thought that a plain spinnerbait, buzzbait, crankbait, or jigs should have a simple pattern. With the exception to jigs, bass dont have a lot of time to decide if they are going to eat those baits or not. I dont like jigs with eyes or scales or a detailed head. I like them simple. Now keep in mind NONE of these baits are realistic to begin with. They have bills or hanging trebles or splitrings etc. To me cranks get bit becuase of the illusion they create. Not on the detail. Now as a swimbait maker I feel this is completly diferent becuase the most common method is to fish the baits as slowly as possible and LET the fish get a good look at them. If you realy want to get a bite on a swimbait cut off all the hooks and use 4lb Fluorocarbon in a clear lake. You wont catch a fish and you will get your bait bit off but you will see that the little details help. Think about a plastic worm being worked along the bottom. There realy isnt much a bass can find that looks wrong except the line. One more thing I always here that lures are made to catch fisherman instaed of fish. I disagree. If a company invests the time and money they want a bait that will continue to sell. One that does not produce will quickly die off. However I do believe that lure companies do make many diferent sizes and colors of a good product to capitalize on sales. I myself have done this. The ones that our out to catch the fisherman and not the fish are the knock off companies. They will copy good designs to make a quick buck. This is the main reason that originals are almost always better than copies. Not always but most of the time.

Man that makes me feel sick. I feel soo sorry for them.

dropshot worm ;D spinnerbait ;D flyinglure ;D walking worm ;D any other soft plastic worm that is under 10inches ;D Ok for real My gill a big trout swimbait (there are several goo ones) My baby bass Jig Buzzbait, only at night though.

Dan I would contact the company. Maybe they could fix it for you. I have had mine for a while now and love it. I would definatley be upset if it died

FC whats even worse is when we got out of the truck I took out all the stuff that I didnt think I would need from my backpack including my salter scale witch is pretty big. I am not worried about it, They look bigger than they actualy were although they werent small . I am sure none of them were teen fish(maybe close). They just didnt have the length. Yeah I have to get back out there but I have soo much work to do I cant justify another trip untill I get some more stuff done. Plus I realy dont want to go durring the weekend. Another interesting thing is this is the time out here were most guys hang up thier swimbait gear untill next year. Well I dont put my swimbaits away I just adjust. I foccus less on the trout baits and more on the other prey species. Thats not to say the bass wont still hit the tout baits because they will but there are definatly times when they are not the best choices. BTW I always have some kinda trout bait tied up even durring the summer but when I see busting shad I know what I am throwing at them. I figured out the key was to not stick the first bump and let the bait sink through them a little and swing on the deeper bites. I know that sounds rediculous but when we figured it out we were not catching the little ones anymore.

I decided to go fishing today since I have been working nonstop 12-14 hr days for the last two weeks. I didn't really expect much I just had to get out and away from work. We got to the lake around 10. These fish were huge. I had no idea this lake had fish like this. I have hiked in there before but only caught dinks. We ended up with around 20-25 with our top 5 around 40-45lbs. And almost all of them were over 4lbs. I got two real big ones and Mike got one. We both caught a ton. I took a bunch of pictures but honestly I am not sure witch fish are witch. I know the last one I got was the biggest but of course I didn't bring a scale cause I had to carry a back pack all day and only carried the essentials like water and lures and a camera but my dumb #### figured I wouldn't need a scale there. Oh well at least I have the pics. Enjoy

Ok that pic helps alot. Just so you know that first pic is COMPLETLY diferent. not only in rigging but function. Ok to start Kenedy was fishing Hudds ans Basstrix. Basstrix are verry slim and hollow like a tube. They can take a weighted worm hook and still be efective. Your bait is to thick and You probably would have a hard time sticking anything with that hook. I might slit the belly like a bass assasin and rig a large ewg worm hook in it and rig it like a texas worm complete with the worm weight. You could also hook a jig head through it like it is or cut the head off and use a jig head. To be honest the bait you have is a poor choice because it is not easily, efectivly rigged. If you use a jig head it takes away from any realism that bait had. You could slit the bait from the throat to the belly and remove some plastic where an internal jig head would go, the put a jig head in there and glue it all up. You could dropshot them. Personaly I wouldnt use them. The first bait you showed is a much better choice. It actualy swims ok with a nice little wake but it is verry tempramental and like to roll easily. If you like the style of bait that you have get an optima, if you like the first one pictured get a Baby E. Those are much better choices

Rig it just like the picture except embed one of the hook on the treble into the belly. That bait is meant to be fished as slowly as possible while keeping it just under the surface creating a wake

If more people thought like you, there would be more big bass to catch You are doing that pond a service

I think I am using a size 4 2x owner with a heavy splitring. Gammies will bend out on big fish. I dont trust them. I also dont like a big oll hook on the bottom. It gets snagged more and it takes away from the realism. I also embed on of the trebles into the belly so the hook is not hanging

All of you guys will come to the realization tha RW is right. The problem is by the time you figure this out you will have already collected a ton of stuff you will never use. I used to buy anything that was decent and cheap. Now I only use high end gear. Is a $200 reel worth that much more than a $50 one? actualy its worth about $2000 if you compare it like that. I wouldnt trade any of my good reels for a hundred Abus. Will thay catch more fish? No. Will you get more distance and less backlashes? Maybe but most likley it wont matter too much. Then what makes a high priced reel worth it? The experience!!! It just feels good. They are so much more enjoyeble to use. They are so much smoother and they feel like $200. A $50 reel feels like one. I bet in "regular" fishing I would catch the same amount of fish with a cheap rod and reel as I would with good gear but I wouldnt enjoy the trip as much. There are some actual advantages to higherpriced gear especialy reels. The DRAG is usualy the most noticable upgade. It may never come into play for you but if it ever does you will be sorry you bought that cheap reel. If your drag is just a little sticky and you loose a monster because of it you will hate your prized reel that you got such a great bargin on. Also since I fish a lot of big swimbaits and saltwater I can tell you that the lesser reels cant take the same abuse. There is a reason people always say " you get what you pay for" cause its true. The real bargin is to buy it right the first time and you wont need to upgrade. Now with all that said ther are definatly bargins out there. I own 2 calias and 2 calcutta te's. I paid $200 or less for each one. 3 of them I bought from board members in the clasified section on my home board. the 4th I bought on Ebay. I actualy had to send that one to Shimano but now ita as good as new. wait for a sale or a deal on Qaulity gear and you will save money.