Bluebasser86

Welcome!

Compared to the baits the OP is asking about, yes, they're a bit on the small side.

All these baits are only about half the size of the magnum squarebills listed. Not saying they aren't good baits, but for a guy looking for a BIG squarebill, they're a bit on the small side.

Do yourself a huge favor and switch to a light braid or other similar type line (Gliss is my personal favorite). Just use a short leader of mono or flouro for the abrasion resistance and you'll be fine. It improves most every aspect of the technique from castability, bite detection, hookup ratio, line twist, and fish landed.

I have several jig rods all with different lines from 12lb fluorocarbon to 65lb braid and lots of in between. My main jig rods has 20lb Seaguar Flippin fluoro and 50lb Seaguar Flippin braid.

Academy offers a magnum squarebill similar in size to the 8.0.

Looks a little like some of the strip pits I fish occasionally where a wacky rig does very well.

H2O from Academy. They go on sale often but are only $60 at full price. Lots of them were on sale for $27 not long ago. They feel very similar to the Abu Garcia Veritas to me.

I fished the #5 a lot this past winter on 8lb mono and a spinning rod. It was one my best producing baits by far.

I usually go with a shad, a chartreuse, and a craw pattern when I'm buying new baits. If I like the bait then I'll expand my color selection to bluegills, reds, and golds.

I've fished the original size and the smaller size (mine is actually the Chibitrel), but it has not been productive for me. I've had very little success on bluegill baits in our lakes though (despite bluegills being the main forage species in a lot of the lakes), so it's possible they just aren't big fans of the gill glides here. I had very limited success on a Deps Bullshooter Jr too.

It's my favorite budget fluoro. I don't use it for cranking, but it's worked fine for me.

Mine was the opposite, I always got bit on the tube. Only thing that ever seemed to happen was I'd lose the DS bait to followers when they'd grab it and pull it off while I was fighting another fish in.

I'm with A Jay. Only been twice, but all the big swimbaits did for me was cut way down the number of bites . my best big fish bait was an 8" Magnum lizard and a 10" worm. Not saying they won't eat the big baits, I'd try them again next time. you might look at the Savage Gear Shine Glide. It's a solid bait in good colord and very affordable.

Bone is my favorite but my BIL does well with lite trout even though we don't have trout in our lakes. I did not like the 200 size (and not because it was too big, it just didn't glide very well I didn't think), but the 168 has been good.

For anyone interested in review of these heads (while they aren't Mike's specifically, they are my own from the same mold), they're even better than I'd hoped. I fished almost exclusively with these heads from the new Do-It mold yesterday with @Drew03cmc and their performance was off the charts. I fished a 1/16oz with a Hula StickZ and caught dozens of fish. Once that bait is secured over the keeper (which does take some pushing, but nowhere near the hassle of glue), it's staying on there, period. Not only did it withstand a large quantity of smallmouth and largemouth, but also dealt with an never ending barrage of bluegill and sunfish pulling on the tails of the bait and it never even thought about letting the bait slide down the hook. The head being flatter also allowed for a slower fall and it still skipped under the docks with ease. I'm using a different hook with mine, and it hooked fish well as expected, so the Owner hooks that Mike is using should be even better. They are a hassle to pour, I think it's easy to justify the asking price per head ( setting that tiny wire keeper in the mold is going to make my hair fall out), especially with a premium hook. I'll be doing some of the larger ones with larger hooks to fish the Diesel MinnowZ and GrubZ also. You guys that are gluing, throw it away and order some of these heads instead!

The low stretch of braid lends itself to cast offs because there's not much shock absorbancy. Probably a bit of damage to the line that caused it. I've had it happen, it sucks. One of the main reasons most swimbait guys don't use braid.

Cool pictures! I hear you on the lawn care. I've mowed "for the last time this year" about 3 times now and my grass needs cut again

I was so young I don't even remember. I know I have a picture of a nice bass from my grandparents pond that I caught on a floating Rapala. I remember that bass because my grandma filleted it and it had a mouse inside it (she's terrified of mice). I remember the bait because it's also the first bait I ever hooked myself with.

The line wrapped around the rod tip causing the cast off is my understanding. I don't know anyone who hasn't had their line wrap around their rod tip without them knowing and stop their next cast from ever happening. I use 10 pound Big Game on all 3 of my casting jerkbait rods and 8lb on my spinning jerkbait rod.

It's not technically a glide but the 5" Savage Gear 3D gill glides nicely if you crank hard and stop or use the rod tip to twitch it (I prefer to use the reel). That's been my best technique with it and it's worked well. Does not work with the 6" since it's a line thru.

How far are you currently casting? What is your current reel/line you're using on that rod?

It's several lakes but yes it sounds like it.

The small tournaments I fish that average around 8 boats, it's very rare for a team not to weigh a limit. It's been 3 years since my boat didn't bring in a limit, and we had 4 fish, big bass, and 1st place that night.