j bab

Can you post a link or pic of the lure? I didn't know that Live Target made a bluegill swimbait.

little dude swiped at my 7" red fin

Ah okay, thanks for the info

Are these a direct knockoff of keitech swing impact fats? I assume they use coffee scent instead of squid

Nice find, thanks for sharing!

Yes I've used 1.5 oz before. Use whatever gets you through the mat. I've heard of people using up to 2.5 oz! For baits I like a rage craw, menace, game hawg, sweet beaver, or whatever other craw type bait you have.

My mistake, I should have said cover not structure. The question still remains

Duuuude, I want one of those so bad. What are you going to use it for? Keep me posted. I was kinda thinking it could be useful for pitching/flipping grass since it's light but has that big handle

I use a 7' medium moderate for my smaller crankbaits (anything that dives less than 8 feet). I have excellent landing ratios on this rod, the biggest I've caught on it was around 4.5lbs on standard SK thin wire hooks.

Thanks for that @Bass_Fanatic @Catt any further advice?

How do I find good spots off shore for deep cranking / c-rigging? From what I understand you need to find spots with depth change or structure or bait or all of the above, but how do you know what spots are gonna have structure? Do you have to go in blind the first time and look at your graph to figure out which ledges have structure and which don't? For example this weekend KVD caught a lot of his fish in 20ish feet on a deep crankbait. I tried that in a couple different spots. One spot was throwing on a drop off on the edge of a big flat where I saw some fish on the graph. I tried both throwing uphill and throwing parallel to the drop off. That was 15-25 feet. The other spot I tried was off a main lake point where I had just located several big balls of bait fish. Threw the deep crank, a c rig, a jig n craw, a tx rig from different angles... Not a bite. Now I know I can't expect to do as well as KVD, but I was at least expecting a couple bites. Those spots sounded very promising... I located bait and fish on the graph on spots with deep water access... Please share what I was doing wrong. Could have been boat position, could have been the wrong color bait, I don't know. Also feel free to link me somewhere else if this question has been answered, I haven't read all 200 pages of this thread yet!

Stuff came in. Can't wait to throw it this weekend

I have this one. It hasn't failed me yet, I've had it about a year. I tested it by weighing several different things like a 5lb bag of popcorn, a 3lb bag of rice, etc and it came up extremely accurate. I'm still wondering "what's the catch," because $8 sounded too good to be true...

Sounds like you have a good plan already!

There's one. I think... I'll pay closer attention next time I'm out. That's usually when I'm with someone. I don't say much of anything when I'm alone

Are you closing the bail manually after each cast or are you slamming it shut by reeling before it's closed?

This will probably get moved/deleted because you should refer to the jig thread for this. But until then... try crawling it on the bottom, try hopping it, try stroking it. Whatever gets you a bite, do that some more. If it's not working at all switch to something besides a jig.

and the hook up ratio is just as good? sounds appealing

I highly recommend the Gantarels as well. Blue why do you recommend the weedless over the top hook? Just wondering because I'm getting a 68 soon

I think medium fast would work well for that. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, I don't use spinning much. 10lb braid should be an absolute minimum in my opinion. 8lb would be like maybe 2 lb diameter, I just don't see the point in using braid that thin for bass. You'll enjoy using 832 though. Definitely try the reel on the rod in the store and see how it feels, good idea.

Dude, nice! I recently became addicted to big bait fishing as well. I have a swimbait rod and reel on the way to the house, and I already have a 6" bull shad ss, 8" huddleston 12, and jackall gantarel ready to go... Keep the reports coming. I'd like to try a savage gear trout...

Not only this, but find holes/pockets farther back. Lots of people fish the outside edge, few throw in those deep pockets. Just get ready to shove the boat up in the grass if you have to go dig a big fish out that you pinned

How do you use it? Just spray it on the line after you spool it? Be specific. And how does KVD L&L compare with Blakemore Real Magic?

This is true. I don't use them for jerkbaits, just crankbaits.

I use snaps or speed clips sometimes for crankbaits. Everything else direct tie. For crankbaits, in my experience it does not hinder action in any way