Big Swimbait

I so miss the Dangleberry Rig with the sliding weight. It made Flukes dance.

I saw a guide one time use black Spike It dye. He said he got the color and scent.

It was banned by major tournamernt leagues because it was too effective - they work. There are several brands that offer micro-sized rigs that are easier to throw.

I really miss the bladed jig version of this head. I think it was called the Rockin' Runner. I saw a Jimmy Houston show where he killed them on that bait. I bought the few I could find, but they went out of production. I talked to him at the FLW Cup one year and asked him if he had any for sale. He said never LOL.

I used to have great success with the Rage Shad, which is similar but smaller. I guess this replaced it. I used a 4/0 wide gap on that one, so agree on the larger hook.

On the ones made of TPE, you can run your hook through the bait. On the ones made of regular plastic, I use an Owner centering pin and then run my treble through that. Make sure to run a bobber stop/bait keeper over the treble barb hooking the bait. That keeps the hook from backing out and lossing $$$ baits. I am experimanting with some very slender BFS drop shot baits with the ring eye. I push it thru the hole almost to the top and then run my hook through the eye. This solves slinging $$$ drop shot weights on the cast. Good luck!

I use a 5/0 BKK

A funny story about forage size happened recently at the Sharelunker Program in Texas. They tried to spawn a 16+ that was donated, but failed because she ate every male they intoduced LOL.

I've caught fish on all 3 sizes. The small one on a Ned Rig, the medium Texas rigged and as a jig trailer and the jumbo on a wobble head. I got the most bites but zero hook ups fishing the biggie on a Free Rig. I assume they were little guys nipping the flappers.

Sorry, I missed your question. No additional tariffs.

^^^This^^^

Milliken has posted several videos using the new 6th Sense version. He is smashing bigs fishing it like a jerkbait using FFS. I have only used the smaller Z baits on a free rig. I call it the skunk buster. I have probably caught 5 different species on that rig - but nothing over 4 lbs.

I ordered a Ryoga before the sale and still saved $250. But I did have to sign for it.

I just stocked up from OM Fishing Sinkers. Prices were still pretty good. And I got them in about a week.

For your budget, I would do an all Ark combo. Check out Clinton Bruning on YouTube. He slays on that set up. I think his Ark discount code is CB10.

I have 4 Kastkings on my deck. 2 MG Ti's and 2 Deadbolts - one for frogs and one for pitchin/flippin. No complaints at all.

I have 2 MG Ti's. I bought the 2nd one after the first one blew me away. I fished them both hard last year with zero issues. The AL looks to be on sale right now.

I do not own the big guy and to be honest, I have tried multiple retrieves on the others. The best has been 4 medium speed cranks followed by 2 twitches & repeat. The bite is 99% on the slight pause after the 2nd twitch.

I justify the cost by using braid to a Tatsu leader. A spool lasts forever this way.

Grow Designs Flag 170, 175 and the 150. I am always on the lookout for drops of these baits. Not super expensive as a lot of swimbaits but easily the most productive for me.

I picked up 3 at the Classic on Friday, but unless they had back stock the pegs were getting very empty.

This is my go-to dock bait rigged backwards with an Owner Haymaker hook. Give it some slack as it hits the water and it will gide under the dock. You can do the same with laydowns.

Depending on water clarity, I do this as well using a mono or copoly leader. But in a lot of my East Texas lakes, the water is so dark I throw straight 832 Camo in 20#. I don't horse them so I don't bend any hooks.

I love mine. I left a section open for big swimbait hooks I left in the package. A Brother label maker is perfect for the empty boxes.

In an email from The Hook Up this morning, pricing on Daiwa reels go up and rods go down 1/1/26.