Chaz Hickcox

Yeah I picked up one too. It looks to interesting to pass by. I first saw em on *** back in Oct, but from the picture I couldn't tell the size and was a little skittish about them. After seeing them in person I like the compactness of them. Future skipping docks lure I think.

I spoke to Ivan from Bass Cat Boats at the Richmond Fishing Expo and asked him about these. He said that BCB had looked into the process, but there were difficulties in keeping the spray on keel guards consistant in thickness and protection capabilities, so they stick with Hamby's. He then tried to tell me about my Hamby being indestructable only to have me tell him about my ice breaking debacle (it chewed about a six inch long by half an inch deep chunk out of the Hamby). Didn't get to the hull, but still found some kryptonite for the Hamby.

Out of most things mentioned on this thread Hematoma is actually the colors of one. It's one that actually applies. On a further note, I may be lynched for asking, but other than trying to get some contrast with the water, do colors actually matter? I use motoroil types, greens, or blacks in plastics, and chart or white in cranks and firetiger in spinnerbaits. That's about it. Well, on real finicky fish I will go with something off the wall like Zoom's Greentruse on trick worms, but rarely if ever pink and pull fish on a regular basis. I just figure Big-O would know.

Out here in our heavily pressured water silent square bills will out perform the rattling ones. Probably because everyone is throwing noisy baits due to the dingy/murky water. IMO.

deepcreeklures.net I just saw them floating at the Richmond Fishing Expo. Never used them, but they do float so...

Wacked out or innappropriate!! Hematoma is a good name, or the good ol' dirty sanchez.

I will retire at 38 from the Corps. With that, I hope I am good enough by then to make it as an professional angler. Congrats, and know there will be professional retirees to follow.

To second the comments about vanish, that has to be the worst line ever. It became very brittle and retarded weak in a very short time, maybe less than a month. However the Berkely 100% Flouro and both Stren Flouro Cast and 100% have been good for me. I like the minimum stretch compared to mono for flipping and pitching. A good line conditioner will cover the memory issues. In my experience it holds up better than mono to abbrasions. I think that has a lot to do with brand though. I've looked at tests and when it comes to stretch most fluros have as much or more stretch than monos. I think most people have it pounded in their mind by ads that fluros don't have much stretch and they mentaly think its true when they use it. According to tests done by tackle tour Berkley 100% fluro has more stretch than thei own xl mono has. I believe the only thing that would add to the sensitivity of fluro would be that is sinks so you probably don't have as much slack in the line while it sinks That makes sense. I've never done a stretch test, but the concept of density vs. lack of slack means a lot. So, with that being said, I have clearly drank from the flouro coolaid bowl. I do like the sinking factor vs. mono.

That should work. I use my Revo S for Cranks so it should work for Swimbaits. I too have a few Revo SX's that I use for pitching/flipping and spinnerbaits.

To second the comments about vanish, that has to be the worst line ever. It became very brittle and retarded weak in a very short time, maybe less than a month. However the Berkely 100% Flouro and both Stren Flouro Cast and 100% have been good for me. I like the minimum stretch compared to mono for flipping and pitching. A good line conditioner will cover the memory issues. In my experience it holds up better than mono to abbrasions. I think that has a lot to do with brand though.

Have you actually seen that kind of speed on the gps? If you have Id love to hear the setup you or someone else had to achieve it. Ive never head of any legit speeds like that but, Im always trying to squeeze out a little more speed out of my PIV. ;D . No, I wasn't riding in it, and didn't personally see the gps. However, it was from a guy I know who usually gets some craziness out of boats (verified of course). So I'm not questioning it. Nor do I have the time or money to try to recreate the situation. I believe it was an SHO, but not sure. You're right though, most high end speeds seen with a PIV don't cross the 73 threshold. If you look on the BCB Owners' Gallery there is a couple who claim 75-80 with an Evenrude 200 HO and a 25p Tempest. THAT I would have to see no matter who told me they did it. Looking at James Castillo's boat, he claims 75.4 GPS with a 26 Raker II and an E'rude 200 HO. That, I see as achievable due to what that guy I know did. As far as specs for him, I dunno. I also don't know him well enough to call. So in the end, it seems to turn out to a guy I know of who says he did this. Sounds pretty thin to me too.

Was he telling you "Daddy, you need more tackle" or "Daddy, take me fishing"! I think it was "Daddy, I shouldn't be able to sit in here, it should be filled with more lures." Yeah, I think you're right about that one. The conundrum is that I want him to get bigger so I can take him out, but I like him being little and still thinking I'm cool. Don't have any pictures but filled a Plano divider box full of XCal Square Bills for the spring, XCS200 and XCS100 in Chart/Black, Tn Special, Foxy Lady, and Foxy Shad. Also a whole lot of punching gear, XCal One knockers and some replacements for the ol' reliable 1/2 Firetiger SK Premier Plus SB. Hope it works out.

Trout lures work in Brackish water with no trout out here. But there are some good baby bass and panfish immitations out there. Look at Mattlures' website. They have a lot more than just trout.

I could do 75 with a good three blade and a light load, I've seen people do it. With that being said, I want to keep the four blade for controllability so I don't expect to see 75. I just want to beat a Skeeter ZX225. My buddy only gets about 72 out of that. Dozer - This ain't no 85mph Puma. The 200 merc just can't do it. ;D

Has anyone used or heard of Keel-X from Line-X? I saw a post on the Bass Cat Forum and am completely sold on the idea. If they make it smooth for running in the water I just found project # 4 for my PIV!

I think he was telling me something.

Look at the recent swimbaits string.

Sure enough, you're right. Actually to add to this, though. It's not that paddletail grubs don't have their place in the world. In more dingy water with a lot of cover Money Minnows, Swimsenkos or Skinny Dippers are awesome when worked on a weighted hook in the same manner as finesse soft plastics. Twitch/twitch sink.

Yeah, but it's annoying to hear a paddletail referred to as a swimbait. It's tail paddles, the body doesn't swim. So he got a swimbait answer. That doesn't apply obviously to the amazing stuff from mattlures.

When fishing swimbaits it is important to know a few things. First, what kind of 'swimbait' are you using. Just like Mattlures said, there are paddle tails and then there are swimbaits. When I was growing up we differenciated by calling one a paddle tail grub and the other a swimbait. So now we have the terms aside, we can focus on how and where to use swimbaits. For the most part you want clear to mildly stained water. They will work everywhere there are fish, but why spend the money on the bait and equipment if the bass aren't picky about realism due to lack of visability? That's a common sense thing. Next, you have found your clear to mildly clear water now to present the bait to the fish. First off use a swimbait wherever the fish are holding. The thicker the cover will dictate the type of bait you are using. I first got hooked on Castaic back in the day when they were almost the only swimbait manufacturers out there. I still like em, but there is one problem. They usually have a treble hook exposed with no bill to deflect off of cover, meaning guaranteed snags here in Va (I learned the swimbait in Deep/Clear Arizona Reservoirs with nothing compared to here as far as cover where snags weren't really an issue). So if you have heavy cover with clear water, I would not go with the hollow bellies. They're not realistic enough, so I would go with the Sebile Soft Magic Swimmer. It comes with the terminal tackle to rig it weedless and swims like the magic swimmer. Through grass it is awesome. Still focusing on the basics, weedlines, transition points, pockets, etc... Think crankbait/spinnerbait. Now, another variable to be considered is the toothy critters that may or may not inhabit your waters. I lost three Catch 22 swimbaits from Castaic in one day when I first started fishing Va to Gar tearing them apart, and at $20 a pop that was the end of using Catch 22's. I had fairly open water adjacent to the docks I was fishing so snagging wasn't a thing. So I then got their Rock Hard series of trouts. Now a lot of people gave me flack for that because in my brackish water there are no trout. So? A fish is a fish and can be eaten by anything anwhere. I could take that little Rainbow Trout immitation and fish salt water with it and do well with Speckled Trout, if a fish is hungry and something swims by it doesn't take time to discern if its a type of fish that's natural to its waters. I mean seriously how many Rage Tail Hawgs or Shads have you seen swimming around, or wooly bugs or Mega Bugs? If it looks alive they will eat it. Now the presentation can vary greatly. During peak feeding times is when to use the big swimbaits in a slow retrieve through feeding areas, going back to the transition points, dropoffs, points, so on and so forth. But there is the non feeding times too that you want, or need to put fish in the boat. This is where I downsize my hard swimbaits and use a spinning rod with braid and a short Flouro leader. I will go to the 4in Rock Hard Baby Trout and work for a strike. I say rock hard because when the following presentation is applied the body will click against itself at the joints. I will cast out, and much like a sinking jerkbait, jerk the lure back in. Less pauses for more active fish. In fact during the summertime I won't pause at all. Reeling and jerking all the way back to the boat imitates a stressed and violently injured baitfish. If you get a chance do this next to the boat or in a pool and you will see what I mean. This is how you can turn you hard finesse swimbaits into a reaction bait. Look at youtube and search for a pike grabbing a bass that is fighting an angler. It's the same concept. Or why does a shark attack a fish that is on a line when it probably would have left it alone if it weren't? Equiptment is a different beast all together. For the large 2-3oz 10"-14" swimbaits you need some serious gear. I would say a 7'6" to 8' Heavy to Extra heavy rod with a fast tip (remember most swimbaits have trebles that you don't want to power out of the fishes' mouths). I don't use anything that big anymore and a 7'-7'6" MH FT rod is good for me. For the finesse stuff I am using a 6'6" Medium spinning rod. Line, generally think Flourocarbon in the heaviest line you can get away with. In some clear water that would only be 10-12# test. If your targeting in low light (remember peak feeding times + areas) then 17-20# flouro is workable. Adding scent is almost a must, make it walk, talk and smell like a duck and the hunter is going to shoot it (metaphor people). My braid/flouro combo I use is 20# spiderwire with 17# Stren Flouro. Last comes patience. Most guys who catch MONSTER bass out west with oversized swimbaits are usually coming in with only a few bites a day. Big swimbaits aren't a numbers catcher because they have very little to do with reaction and everything to do with hunger. You will see a lot of followers and that gets disheartening. One thing to mention about that. If you are in a slow retrieve and you see a follower, twitch the bait. It will turn around and then you pause the retrieve. Many times this will trigger the follower to strike. I hope this helps. As far as this all goes it has been years since I have been in a place where swimbaits are super useful. Like I said, why spend money on realism when you're throwing into dirty water. The fish can't see it very well anyways. Any new tactics or techniques that have been introduced since I learned the baits, I am all ears. The Corps will probably take me back to California anyways.

I got the medium vents, just smaller than dimes. But, now to find a 27p Trophy put the large vents in and call it a day. Thanks gents.

So I have a 25p Trophy on my 200 Opti on a Bass Cat Pantera IV. Now, my hole shot and low end is pretty cool, but the rev limiter goes nuts at WOT (approx 69mph). I know it's a 75mph boat. Now, if I were to stay with the four bladed Trophy, but go to 26p or 27p would that improve my high end without losing the low end and on plane control that is needed for the rivers I usually fish? Any advice would be cool. Thanks in advance.

;D I've tried that....it just makes the tiredness worse. You're doing it wrong. ;D

The sudoku trick is similar to why I can't fall asleep without the tv on. If all else fails at about 7 o'clock the night prior some excedrin PM works too.

BASS CAT SABRE!!!!!! http://www.basscat.com/sabreftd.html Check out the forum on the website. There is no better family of boats to own or be a part of. I would say do what I did and get a Pantera IV, I got my '04 for $18K. But that's a bit more boat than should be on small water like you explain. If you're looking for a loan go to reclending.com and once they call you back ask for Todd. He did mine and was awesome to deal with, not to mention he's a fellow Jarhead too.