gobig

Happy Thanksgiving.

The wildest thing I have ever seen fishing was out on a Salmon trip in the Pacific. My grandfather had hooked a nice 25 to 30lb Salmon and fought it with in about 10 yards of the boat. Out of no where a Sea Lion grabbed a hold of the Salmon and with in seconds a 15 foot plus White Shark nailed the Sea Lion right in front of us. This happened so close the the boat the Shark actually hit the down rigger line.

You have to think in broader terms. For one I don't think fish have the ability to reason. Water displacement is part of what gets their attention and they respond visually. Your right in the sense that a 12in trout is going to displace more water than a single 3in shad. But Shad tend to swim in schools. so how many shad does it take to displace more water than a single trout? Is is possible to have larger amounts of water displacement associated to smaller bait? The 8in Tiger tube was designed to imitate a small pod of darting shad. IMO your headed in the right direction. Your swimbait just like your jig is a tool, not a technique. All of the techniques (swimming, burning, stroking, dragging etc...) you apply to jigs can be applied to swimbaits. I think in most situations swimbaits are fished way to fast by people. You can fish the right swimbaits stupid slow. Going to an ROF5 will make a big difference. The bait tends to glide more where the ROF12 tends to dig in. We fish a alot of chunck rock out here. The only place we get a ton of weeds in NorCal is the Delta and Clearlake. Even in those places you end up fishing alot of rock. I would try and stick with Butches rig to the T if you can. I am sure you saw his post on the other site. There is more to why he uses the VMC then being able to bend the hook. It has to do with the way the hook lays flat on the bait, he feels it looks more natural. He also says the Owner has to much of an inward bend near the hook point which accounts for missed fish because of the way the hook sits on the bait with his rigging style. He claims the Gamakatsu has to small of a barb that allows fish to throw the bait easier.

This idea definitely did not originate from me. As mentioned its a BBZ concept. I do not know if the idea originated from Bill Siemantle or someone before him, it really doesn't matter. What matters is awareness, how does this concept apply to different situations? Everything I have learned from Bill is logical, but you are required to think. Everything needs to be taken into account. Water displacement is definitely a factor. The more information we can process the better. I have not spent enough time with the 68 yet. I did pick up 4 on the last run though. Are you rigging the bait exactly like Butch says? hook brand, size and all? and if you are what are you snagging on? Weeds? wood? rocks?

Ok, this is what I mean when I say we tend to think one dimensionally. Pictured are some different baits that vary drastically in size. But when looked at from different angles they are not really that different in apparent size. I believe this is the reason a 1lb fish will bite an 8in bait. I think it also makes for a good argument that northerns will eat bigger baits. This is a 9.5in Baitsmith Mag trout and a 5in Mattlures ultimate gill. In this picture from the side the Baitsmith looks huge compared to the gill. Now imagine both baits are swimming directly towards you. How big is that 9in bait now? Is it possible that a 2lber could try to eat a 9.5in bait from this perspective? What about a fish feeding up or down? I know almost everyone here uses or has used senkos at one time or another. This is the profile of a 8in Hud next to a 7in senko. Here is a look at a 5.5in shell cracker compared to a regular spook. From this perspective the shell cracker looks huge compared to the spook. Both of these are top water baits, here is more or less what they look like from the fishes perspective.

The biggest problem when we look at baits is that is we tend to think one dimensionally. We look at things from our perspective, which is generally from the side. Baits are even marketed this way. Depending on the angle you look at a bait there is going to be a different appearance in size. Later today when I have time I'll try and illustrate my point through a few photos.

Really depends on what you are fishing bait wise and location. For instance I hardly ever loose a fish on a dropshot in open water, but throwing a frog or punching heavy mats there is a much better chance for heart break. Those are just a few examples.

I have never used spro cranks but I have used their swimbaits. Everything I have bought has exceeded my expectations. They all have quality components and perform as expected. As far as buying baits third party there is nothing wrong with it. Just be careful not to pay to much. I look at it like this... Bass tackle depot, Tackle warehouse and other shops have sales several times a year. 15% discounts off retail are not uncommon. Keep this in mind when deciding what's a fair price.

Depends on how you have it rigged.

I would say northerns eat big and small forage, just like any other Bass. For years Musky fishermen have been catching large bass on huge Musky baits. Even if you fish lakes that have no Trout, there are plenty of other fish in the lake that reach 8in or larger and become food. I don't know that I could identify a Northern from Florida strain if you set them side by side, but I can tell you this... A 4 to 5lb Bass has no trouble choking down an 8in Hud or smacking a 9in slammer. Hell, I even catch Spots and the occasional Smallie on big baits so I don't know why it would be any different with a Northern.

I agree with Tom (WRB). One thing about fishing in ultra clear water is.. if you pay attention you will see alot. Bass, especially big bass will inhale a jig and spit it out in a split second. For this reason I do not waste any time setting the hook with a jig. I think the difference between a good jig fisherman and a great one is the ability to detect the strike and react to it. If I had to guess, I would say that a fairly high percentage of bites are never even detected by the average fisherman using a jig. The video IMA Bass Ninja posted really shows alot. Look at the initial strike. The craw was inhaled and spit with in about one second. Now this is a real crawdad. Imagine it was a jig. Does the fish come back after spitting it like it did for the crawdad? or would the jig feel wrong causing the fish to abandon pursuit leaving the window of opportunity to one second? I think there are times bass will hold a jig for a long time and there are times when they don't. I just want to be prepared for the latter.

I throw all of my cranks on a higher speed reels now, Including the DD22. For me there were more comfort issues in having the right rod. But I continually hear the torque argument so let me expand on the reel aspect... I am not using my grandfathers reel. The reels I use are made by Shimano and have High Efficiency Gearing. These reels have an over sized main gear, pinion gear and drag washers. Giving the reel about 20% more power than a standard bait caster. Things have changed and people still seem to cling to the old school ideology that you need to use a low speed reel. I understand if its a preference, maybe you have a tendency to fish to fast so you want a slower reel, or maybe you have big hands and a round reel is a better fit. These things I get, but I disagree with the implied mechanical advantage. Maybe in the old days but not today. At a certain point how much power do you need? Its no different than needing a big rig to tow your bass boat to the lake.

I used to use a low speed reel. Then I heard Randy McAbee suggest a high speed reel and it made total sense. The faster the gear ratio the slower you crank and it takes less turns of the handle to get the same amount of revolutions on the spool. This = Less work!

I have the same wake Jr, a few baby wakes and a few freestyles. I will say this... out of all the 3:16 baits I have, the wake Jr and the mission fish have performed the best for me. IMO must haves. They are all beautiful baits, true works of art. But the wake jr at this point, is the only 3:16 bait I would throw that kind of money at again. When it comes to the others, I have had way better results using much cheaper baits. Just like deep the BBZ 1 is one of my top performers when it comes to hard baits.

I wonder how much that spin lock is going to affect the action. On a standard dropshot the pivot point is the eye of the hook. The bait can move up and down from that point. In the case of the spinshot it appears the hook is fixed to the swivels and looks like it may inhibit up and down movement of the bait. I would be open to trying them. About a year and a half ago I switched to braided line with a floro leader,line twist is no longer a problem. The feel of what is going on is amazing. I believe I miss less fish then before because I feel bites that in the in the past went undetected. It is amazing how a decent size fish can take a bait and spit it with little detection. The only down side is in a tournament situation, the lost time of having to retie a leader after you have had multiple break off's or abrasion's from rocks.

Never used it but I have seen it in action. I want to give it a go on a dropshot.

No doubt the ez and skinny dipper do catch fish. But there is a lot more to just chucking and winding when swimbaiting. Things like the speed at which a bait performs, its rate of fall, the way it falls, profile and water displacement are just a few things that scratch at the surface of the swimbait world.

These two books changed they way I fish. Must haves in my opinion.

Try a spro phat fly under a bobber.

My last order took about a week and a half.

They sell out every time. If you sign up for the news letter they will notify you in advance.

I have caught fish on reaction strike baits. They are some of the first swimbaits I ever owned. It is true the quality is low. Many of them do not swim strait out of the package and take some manipulation to make the swim right. I have had a few huds that are the same way. The big difference is that huddleston has excellent customer service and if the bait is bad they will take care of the problem. There are some major differences between a hud and a reaction strike. First off as far as I know there is one sink rate for the reaction strike. Depending on which model hud, there are several sink rates ranging from 0 to 16. This allows you to apply the bait to several techniques. The speed that a Hud can be fished is much slower than a reaction strike. The way the bait falls is day and night. I would recommend the Hud any day over the reaction strike. Here are a series of videos that go in depth.

I have never thrown the Rago BVD so I cant really comment on it. But one that I would have to add to this list is the Little Creeper Trash Fish. It is a very versatile bait along with the mission fish, but you can't go wrong with any bait listed here.

I have had the same experience.

Man for the baits your going to be throwing I would go with the lamiglas excel XL 735C. The rod was designed by Bill Siemantle to specifically throw 6in baits and I have to say it really performs well. Bill built the rod around the currado/chronarch 300. This is exactly how I have mine set up and I can cast baits a country mile. The biggest complaint I have had with rods that are made for 6in baits is they do not load properly on the cast and it will feel like your arms are gonna fall off after a bit. This rod has just the right amount of parabolic bend and back bone. There are several good rods out there for the bigger baits but this is the first rod I have come across designed specifically for 6in baits that really performs well. You should be able to pick up this combo for about the same price as what you were originally intending to spend.