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Great fish and an awesome story to boot Congrats to you and your dad!!!

Thats a Hawg!!! Congrats on your new PB

Looks like a blast!!! Great Pics.

Ditto

I like to use a Gamakatsu G-Mag Over-Sized in them

It sounds like you are talking about a similar bait to a SPRO or ScumFrog. These baits are blow molded and would be near impossible to create yourself without a ton of cash.

We've done this many times. Experiment with different types of soft plastics. Flukes work really well when the shad are skippin'

Red Shad or Black Neon.

When the temp hits 98* here and the sun is beating down in the aftrenoon, thats when the topwater bite in the pads really turns on around here

A few of my suggestions would be. Try using a black frog or rat, bass seem to hone in on the higher contrast of a darker lure at night. Definately get yourself some 50#-65# powerpro braid. A 7'-7'6 H Fast tip rod will help and set the hook after you feel the weight of the fish. Swing for the fence!!! Just my .02

Its hard to say but at least it wasn't the tongue. Most fish I've seen tongue hooked don't make it.

Another problem with the Titanium is its durability. This is why you won't see too many manufactures making these. Titanium wire becomes brittle in cold water and breaks. A lot of northern anglers were upset to have there $8 spinnerbaits break in the early spring and late fall.

Welcome BassResource.Com basspaddler

For pitching and flippin' I'd suggest a 7,6" MH or H fast tip. This will extend your range considerably and give you the added leverage to get a good hookset and to turn their head in order to get them up out of the cover quickly before they wrap you up. A 6' M action rod just doesn't have the backbone for that, I'd make that your spinnerbait rod. JMO

Black Purple or any other high contrast color. Ribbed worms offer more vibration than smooth bodied worms. If Texas rigging, use a glass bead in between your worm and sinker for added attraction.