hatrix

I'll participate I guess. You can put a jighead totally inside a hollow belly swimbait and it will be totally weedless except the tie of course. Some hollow belly swimbait have a outer layer you can peel off to get more action even at super slow speeds. A hot knife will melt ripped baits back together amazingly and can be superior to mendit and works instantly. Some hollow body frogs like a scum frog you can push the nose in and it will stay that way and now you have a popping frog if you don't have one. Put some split shots inside the hole on the bottom of weedless hudds and it will fall parallel like a normal hudd. I personally think they fish better like that. Put a little piece of tubing or a split ring if you have the right size over the bend on spinner baots and you can use a snap. Take a lighter leash for lighters and fix it to you pliers so they are always right there and retract back when your done using them. That's good for now I guess.

I hope people didn't take my post to seriously. I obviously don't chum with quarters or fish with twenties. I mean who does that? That's just silly. I chum with pennies and fish with fivers like a normal person would.

There is a little know technique I use a lot with good success. I like to pick a area and chum it with quarters. It really get the fish fired up quickly. Then I take $20 bills and nose hook them and make super long casts. I can spool a 300 soze reel and have to actually stop it so I don't hit my knot. Then just work it like a fluke the whole way back. I catch a ton of fish but go through a lot of 20's. I will switch to $10 bills after I run out of 20's but they catch a lot of dinks. When I think I have a shot at a giant I will bust out a $50 and it always pays off but I rarely do it. I have toyed with the idea of using $100 bills but Ohio won't set a world record so I don't even bother. I would suspect though if I lived in like Cali it would only take a couple hours to set the record with 100's. If I could get my hands on another $500 bill "I had one when I was younger" I am thinking I could set it first cast.

I am not site the type of cork Fenwick uses but it is easily my favorite. Just from a aesthetic standpoint it looks more expensive then traditional cork.

I figured that's how it was. It just seemed odd to be that way and going over the outside of the skirt. I wouldn't doubt it works though and has worked for you. I find chatterbaits to be pretty darn weedless snag less already as they come. I will say you were on to something by adding that screwlock to hide a hook point. There Is a way to make almost any bait weedless with screw locks. But like was stated it would be one of those pro secrets and I have said enough.

How would a keeper make it so you can t rig a trailer? Wouldn't it be on the outside of the bait and not threaded on the shank of the hook? I can't seem to envision it any other way.

I had to look it up to be sure. It was the state record for Ohio smallmouth. I am sure there is a world record swimming in Erie somewhere if your ultra lucky. But in lakes so insanely massive its way better to be lucky then good.

I thought the world record small mouth was caught in Michigan and KVD's brother caught it long after 1906. I might be wrong though about that and maybe it was Ohio instead.

Not with a C rig though. You use a dipsy diver and can make a bait run at any depth provided you have enough line.

I have use them all. I don't find any issue with just using a top hook vs a bb rig. If I do bb rig one I end up using magnets to hold the hook and it works great.

I only own 2 tatulas but they are the originals since they first came out and I have never had issue yet. One I actually bought from a member on here and it has had flouro on it ever since with no issue. The other reel has had CXX on it for most of its life. I have put them though hell and they are still going good. I think it is just lick for draw really.

I don't think there is any doubt anymore the power to draw big fish with the baits. In other words fish you would of never had a chance at hooking or to even have them show. Big baits draw fish of all sizes like crazy. I just tuned a new OG 250 the other day and while testing it every fish in that area seem to come out as watch it. It's actually kinda cool to see a school of fish that you made basically that are fixated on a baits every movement.

Well there can be a lot of factors. What baits were you throwing? What was the weather like? What time of year? Even time of day. What was the location or type of cover? What angle did you fish said location or piece of cover? They are not magical baits but it can almost seem like it at times when you are dialed in and get everything right. I wanted to quit myself throwing them when i first started. But I put in my time in places I knew they should work and eventually it paid off. If it something a person wants to get into then I would say go with proven baits even if they seem expensive. You might be able to get knockoffs for cheaper of find a bunch of big lures for cheap but there is usually a reason. You just might be shorting your self. I am not expert and there are tons of guys way better then me but I try to learn as much as possible from people like that and find a way it relates to me and put it to use. It takes dedication as most people usually don't start whacking fish right off that bat. That makes you question what your doing and if it's a waste of time. Once you start to catch them and figure a few things out it can be hard to turn back.

It's kinda funny all the stuff people are mentioning. They are only seem underrated and hardly used to "us" and by that I mean people on here and people who fish multiple times a week. If you take a random guy who fishes 5x a year he is probably throwing a worm or spinner ect. We are the ones who always seem to be looking for the next thing and those are old news. Even though old they are not forgotten and still used a ton by the people who don't fish like you do. Also I fish tubes a ton myself and it is a staple for me during spawning times. But in fairness I haven't thrown a ribbon tail worm in a long time and I probably should.

Not every place is big bait friendly. There are places I catch basically the same size and quantity of fish with the same regularity. But for whatever reason one place fish of all sizes will hit big baits but the other places even the bigger fish seem hesitant to hit big lures. The only way to know that though is put in the time throwing them.

I didn't even know you could buy a rod for only $9

You can throw a Gantarel on a stiff MH or H and be ok but it's not ideal. I don't own one but it being a glide it should cause very minimal drag. Drag is the real issue that limits a rod performance with big baits. Most rods should be able to cast baits over their recommend rating pretty alright as long as you keep it in reason.

Sorry I double posted te same thing on accident

I think the jerkbait boxes are flambeau and the big box with the tubes is a Plano . I am not 100% on that but I am guessing by what kind of latches they had.

Thanks Dwight. I appreciate that as I know you are no slouch yourself out on the lake.

Yes he is a troller. That is what they do out here on Erie. It has been that way forever and probably always will be. Starting very soon if you were to venture down to the lake at night you will see tons of boats and little blue lights off the side slowly moving along specific shorelines. Trolling is the opposite of what most people here think or even I myself do when I think fishing. But on the Great Lakes it is a staple and what you have to do usually if you want to consistently catch them. The great lakes are well to use a word I much despise "epic" in size. There has to be literally billions of fish between them but yet so much dead water at the same time.

Ya I used to use bonnets on everything but it was to easy to grab a bait and I couldn't cram nowhere near as many baits in a box. I missed the challange of trying to shake a bunch of baits apart. Or the perplexing mysteries of how a hook always seems to find its way into the eyes and rings of other hooks. I do love when I only need to get the last hook free and when I finally do and am ready to celebrate my victory. Then I notice s hook that was previously free has magically tangled it self up again.

Lol Dwight. You would know all those colors. I am sure you probably have customs too. When I stopped by he just had 2 more new ones he picked up one of them was Victoria Secrets and somethng else similarly named. The tuning is a big deal and the perfect 10's I think need tuned every fish.

That is true about how a line feels when fished. I guess I never thought of it but I subconsciously take that into consideration on how much I like a line. I still say unequivocally that Tatsu is the best line I have ever used hands down. Casting, feel, stretch, sensitivity, toughness, knot strength, ect. It is so much better then any line I seriously put time in using. I still love a freshly spooled reel of CXX though. It's tuff to beat for what it is. I would like to add Tatsu is worth the investment. Most guys probably change out line so many times that it is equal or more then what Tatsu would of cost for how long it lasts.

I haven't ordered online from bps in quite some time. The last time I had items that shipped out on 3 separate days and got hit for shipping 3x on that deal. Needless to say I wasn't very happy when I found out.