Mattlures

Steve Kennedy was throwing a full sized Huddleston trout in hitch color. That bait is 8 inches long and its a big bait. I am not sure who was throwing what but most of those guys had lots of diferent baits so I am not sure about specific baits. Some had mt stuff, some had swimbabes and others had 3:16 and Hudds

There are a few good companies out there producing quality baits that arent too expensive. It just depends on your definition of too expensive. If I didnt make my own baits I wouldnt buy anything under $10. That seems to be where the the cheapest decent baits are at. I also wouldnt be spending hundreds on a bait either. Well maybe but I would realy have to KNOW it was going to catch me giants. I would stick to baits in the $10-$40 range ang pick brands that are from or originated out west. Huddleston, Rago, Mattlures, 3:16, etc. These guys are my competition but I do respect their work. BTW gtalbert, what is that fish in your Avitar? It looks cool but the pic is to small. Salmon?

I few months back I was in a heated debate over weather swimbaits could win a Major tournament. Some guys said they were an all or nothing bait and werent consistant. WELLLLLL the last 2 elite tournament were both WON using swimbaits. Not only were the winners using them but prety much everybody who made the final cut were also using them. They werent throwing those cheap walmart baits either. Nope the majority were using high end west coast style baits. I wonder were the doubters are now? MR FLY? ;D This post is light hearted dont get all hurt

Mike and John have their own section in a forrum on another site. It is similar to how Doug Hannon has his section here. The site is San Diego based. Also this pair wins the southern CA Won Division every year. They do not own a certain Lake, They own So Cal. Mike has 6 bass lake records and a couple more for I believe trout and Crappie. He Also had 2 other bass lake records but they have recently been broken so he only has 6 current ones. He has 2 bass over 20lbs and around 50 over 15lbs BTW he is humble and would never say or think he is the best, thats just my opinion.

2 days before this tournament Mike went to lake he has only fished a couple times and caught the lake record. His Partner John Kerr Won his first Pro Tournament he ever fished. The US open(which is in another state)and beat all the big names for $100,000.00 so I guess they can still fish out of their comfort zone! Also I believe John will fish the FLW in 2008 while Mike has no intention of "turning pro" He said he job pays realy well and he gets plenty of time off to fish pluss he has to send his kids to collage. Mike Long is the single greatest bass angler that has ever fished.

Man you guys are realy tearing them up out there. When I first made my gills it was easy to catch big fish. People would give up on fish and I would go behind them and catch them. Now everybody out here has them and its not as easy anymore. I sure would like to fish "virgin" waters like that. Thanks Doghouse and Randall for sharinng. Matt

Randall You rule! Thanks for posting.

people dont give fish enough credit. I dont believe for one second that a bass thinks its eating a crawfish when it bites a jig. However since a jig is similar in size and action the bass thinks it is food. If you doubt me get an aquarium with some bass in it and feed them crawfish. Throw your jig in the tank and see what happens. I have done this before and they eat all the crawfish before they even look at a jig. Throw the jig in first and they will bite it. The only way a bass might actualy think a jig is a crayfish is if it was a fast reaction bite. All this means is, even if there are no crawfish a bass will still eat a jig. For those that think a jig is a crawfish, whats a spinnerbait? That must be a crawfish that has a shad by the tail

Raul you sir have obviously owned your own business! Funny thing is I actualy started selling my baits because I couldnt afford to by a bass boat. Well now I have a boat but I hardly ever have time to use it.

Raul is correct. The type of bait, not always the brand is paramount to giving you an answer. The term swimbait is used on so many diferent types of baits that your question is equivilant to, What is the best way to use a soft plastic bait? There are so many types that without knowing the bait a detailed answer is not possible. Most swimbaits(especialy the real ones) were designed by guys who use them and fish for big fish. Each bait was designed around a specific need. For instance if I was out on the lake and seen bass eating bluegill only when they jumped out of the water I would figure out a way to make a jumping bluegill bait. The technique for using this bait would be completly diferent than using a heavily weighted soft trout imitator. Personaly I need more detales in order to answer your question.

I have 2 almost full time employees and 4 part time emplyees not counting myself.

vurtualy every step takes longer with the gills. from start to finish there are 8 major steps in making the gills, and apoxamatley 20 individual steps The bass has 6 major steps and aprox 10 individual steps. The gills are just more time consuming. The actual componets only cost a little more for the gills. Its all Labor. They are a pain to make! The bass are much easier.

Matt your a stud. I wish I had smallies down here. Thanks for posting!

Bizz you learn fast! You should enter some touny's and take the worm throwers money

I get asked all the time from musky guys about how well the baits will hold up and do they work for muskies. My answers are yes of course they work and they work well from the reports I get but..... I do not recomend buying them for muskies. They wont last. A muskie will tear them up. I assume a pike will do the same damage. I dont know of a way to catch bass and keep the pike and muskies away. I dont have them where I live.

Labor. Plain and simple it takes 3 times as long to make a gill.

Today the held a WON bass tournament on Lower Otay lake. This is the biggest tour out west. Mike Long and his partner John Kerr came in with 38lbs and change. The second place team had 23lbs and change. Mike and John beat them by 15lbs!!! It is almost pointless to fish against them. You are fishing for second place.

bocabasser You line may or may not make a diference but I would never use braid on swimbaits, never. I know Fish Chris does but he is about the only succesful guy that I know of that uses it. I believe he catches all his big fish in spite of using braid. I think he would have many more if he used fluoro. Fourbizzle gave you excelent advise. I like to throw my gills where I think a real gill would be to smart to go. Kinda like when you see a slasher movie and sombody goes down in the basement. Bluegill know their suroundings and if they make a mistake then they die. I try ti visualize were e real gill shouldnt go and thats where I throw it. In general I like a slow steady retreive.

That is an awsome report. thanks for posting. Those "custom" colored ones were so ugly I am glad you got some fish on them. Even the rejects catch fish, thats funny

I am glad you found more pictures! Well that pretty much clears that one up! Looks legit to me ;D This reminds me of a post on another board. Sombody posted (the now famous) picture of the 25.1 bass. Then this other guy comes on and proclaimes him self to be a didgital photo expert and gave several reasons why the phot was fake. He even went as far as saying he hadn't heard of the fish so it was obviously a hoax. Then sombody posted links to the newspaper write ups and a link to the video of the weighing. It was halarious. The expert wasnt even man enough to admit he was wrong. He just didnt post anymore on that thread. So whats it going to be? are you guys man enough? PS this post is all in fun dont get your feelings hurt, I have been wrong many many times too! :-[

I'll give you that. I just dont think anybody should be upset with the IGFA for wanting to see Macs aplication. I dont blame them I would want to see it to and I would encourage them. If your going to be upset with them, do after they accept Macs aplication. It aint happenin though.

Burley you have to remember how big CA. is. That lake doesnt look like any lake around me. Most of my lakes are deep resiviors with a lot of rocks and steep mountains

I dont see anything strange about the pic, but its not mine so I dont care . To me it looks just like our LMB that have been eating trout and are loaded with eggs. I do not know if there are any trout where this fish was caught though. It's FAR away from where I live.after examining that pic that fish looks to be around 20-21inches and considering the girth I would say the weight seems right to me but like I said, I have nothing to do with this pic so think what you will it dont bother me

I just thought I would share this picture because I havent seen a smalie that looked this thick before. I looks just like our fat trout eating largemouth. Plus most smallie pics that I have seen the fish are more bronze or brown. I just think it is an awsome fish. I dont see anything doctored. here is the caption Caught Sunday 3/4/07 @ Pardee lake. The fisherman (Ryan Leveque of Ceres) was using 4 lb. test line and a natural colored rubber worm w/a chartreuse tail. The fish weighed 8.94 lbs. and was caught at the mouth of the Mokelumne river at 7:30 AM.

Agreed Avid. I didnt mean to put words in your mouth. I do disagree about the money though. I dont think the manufactures would get behind a foul hooked fish. I believe they would have already done that and they havent touched it. Mac mada a statement saying that they recieved almost nothing and believed that even if he the IGFA gave it to him it wouldnt be worth much at this point. Ha said its not about the money. He basicaly said that he has gotten all the controversy with out submitting so why not submit and see what happens. I agree with him. he has been accused of every thing and his charachter has been questioned. He basicaly has recieved all the bad why not submit. He has nothing to loose. I actualy agrre with his mentality but. I am still stuck on the foul hook. To me, he missed so it doesnt count however if the IGFA says its good acording to their rules I will accept it. I still say he only has a 1-100 shot at it. The IGFA is the real winner here. Hey you probably never will but if you or Lightning rod ever get out here I will personaly guide you on little Dixon lake and show you where that fish was caught and maybe we can get a few our selves. The offer is genuine.