MassYak85

Oh man I love that rig too. I feel like the exposed front hook might snag up on the extra line but it's worth a shot. Maybe if you added a nail weight to one of them to get it to twitch beneath the other instead of in the same plane it wouldn't foul. I'll have to try that as well.

I even managed a pretty nice 3-4lb brown trout on that rig on Lake Webster with like 6lb leader, surprised it didn't cut through it. Another nice thing about the rig is it glides down at a shallow angle like a fish swimming to the bottom. Plus you can use a relatively small hook if you choose and lighter line since not much of a hookset is needed. Plus (there's a lot of pluses to this rig) the hook rotates back and forth as you twitch it which I think gives it a little better action, almost acting like a snap on a hard bait.

I use 20lb braid with an 8 or 12lb leader and really like it. No issues "ripping out hooks". If you are doing that just back off your drag.

If I am truly trying to imitate perch I use this, probably a bit bigger than what you're asking but hey, perch are decent size. For more traditional soft plastics I'd probably go for a green pumpkin fluke, and you could add some yellow or orange JJ's or other dye for stripes.

Yea it's pretty neat, really helps with hook ups too, and if you watch the video they show the fish headhsotting the fluke more often than not so they get all of the hook even if they don't get all of the bait.

Oh man post a picture of it when it's together. I imagine those will look amazing aesthetically.

I definitely would, worth a shot. I have heard of him replacing people's before that ripped in half or had the tail ripped off when it was still new.

For lighter siwmjigs I prefer a 3.8 keitech, I'll step it up to the 4.3 or 4.8 for heavier ones.

I do that a lot with flukes up north but the cover I've been fishing around I had to go weedless. I got good hook penetration through the bait it just never stuck the fish for some reason. I'll be sure to give the shakeyhead a go next time I'm out. I tied a C-rig on too so I'll give that a shot as well.

I always carry mend it but if the other half is in the water then it obviously does no good. It's just one of those things you have to live with, like losing jigs when jig fishing.

I'm glad you guys are catching them because I've been out five times since being down here and have 4 fish to show for it...and I'm like 80% sure I caught the same fish on two separate occasions. I'm not sure if it's me or the places I'm fishing just getting a ton of pressure. Granted no one I've talked to while out there was having a good day either so I'm not really sure how to approach this. Muddy water, and textbook looking reservoirs, but I can't seem to find fish. So far my best luck has come imitating shad, either with a crank or a fluke. It didn't help I messed up every hook set with the fluke when I got bit either.

You can try pinching down the barb to make removing it easier if you still can't get it out cleanly. It sounds like the issue is you aren't detecting the initial tap of the bite. I usually work a fluke pretty aggressively so bites for me are pretty noticeable or even visual. But if you fish it slower and let it fall or sit it helps to let it sink on semi-slack line, or you could even try some vibrant colored braid to a leader and watch the line closely. That's what I do for wacky rigging where most of my bites are on the fall.

I personally usually run a 10ft leader, it's probably longer than I need in most cases it but I can go a little while of switching baits before needing a new one. I have never had an issue with the knot getting caught in my guides, I generally use an Albright or an FG knot to connect the braid to the leader. If you buy into line visibility being a crucial factor and want to go for the really long leader, like Matt says in the video you still get the benefit of the braid acting as a backing. Now if you need to change your leader from 6 to 12 lb you are only stripping off 20/30 yds of line, not an entire spool. At that point it's costing savings being the benefit of braid.

^^^ I'd also recommend using 20lb braid to start. I'm not sure what techniques you are planning on fishing but you can go lighter or heavier depending. 10 - 30 lb is a good range for your average size bass spinning reel, just depends what you want to do with it.

Abu makes some relatively cheap rods that would work good for frogging. The Vendetta or Veritas in MH or H, fast or extra fast will do well. I have a 7'6" HF Vendetta and it's a broomstick but I like that for frogging. If you fish lighter cover or prefer a little more give a MH might be better. Abu rods tend to run a little on the heavier/faster side of their rating.

It depends, some spinner baits purposefully use lighter wire arms, which will tend to bend more. I also generally have my drag on the looser side when fishing spinnerbaits. The hook is open and the bait is moving and doesn't take much to get them. Even if the arm does get bent though they are usually easy to fix by just bending them back. Too much of that can weaken it and cause it to snap though.

Here you go, and the guy in the video even has a fluke tied on, go figure. At least you aren't like me and missed every fish that bit my fluke yesterday.

If they're getting it so deep you can't use the gill removal method I would just crimp down the barbs. I do that for ice fishing now. I use the same type of finesse wide gap hooks popular for wacky rigging and just crimp down the barb on all of them. Most of the times they swallow it since you have to run to the hole but with the barbs pinched it still takes no effort to remove them.

Some of the coves on the south side have made a real nice recovery and offer some nice weed edges and clusters. I don't get why people want to get rid of it all. The lake is plenty deep to find places for recreational use even if there are weeds on the bottom. If it was me I'd tie on a deep diver, up the treble size, and start casting. Or even just get a 2/0 treble, wrap some lead wire around the shank, tie it to some heavy braid or mono and drag it in that area. I'm not sure what kind of snags and cover are there though. Good luck!

How deep is the place where you lost your setup?

If you are that worried about it I'd switch to either a circle hook or crimp down the barb. I would also recommend watching this video or others like it. This method has saved dozens of fish for me and I'm sure it can help you out as well. And if all else fails...no shame in eating them if they're going to die anyways. It happens occasionally to all of us whether we know it or not. If you know it...might as well put the fish to good use. But you should have a few options to avoid this now.

@XF15-Loader Unfortunately what you are experiencing are known issues with the 90, hence my first comment. The 90 is extremely sensitive to anything, even a single blade of grass, getting caught in the tail and completely throwing off the action and causing the entire lure to spin like you describe. The 130 isn't much better as far as debris but usually the entire lure doesn't rotate as easily. Only thing you can do is fish open water or just deal with clearing the bait of any debris as necessary. As far as the hooks, I don't really like the hooks they use. The 90's hooks I think are fine if you fish open water and are careful when fighting fish, but they seem pretty fragile to me. I see you tied direct braid, as do I, but IMO those hooks need a little extra finessing to keep them in tact, whether you do that with using some line with some stretch, a rod with more bend to it, or loosening your drag is up to you. I've already had them bend a bit on dink smallmouth using 20lb braid. I think I switched mine out for some Owner's. I'm surprised your's broke like that instead of bending though. I like fishing the 90 and 130 right on the edge of weeds or pads and having the power to keep them out of the cover once they hit usually means having the power to ruin the hooks. In short I'd recommend upgrading them and be mindful of the debris in the water. Fish them with your rod tip high to get them on plane quicker.

I'm going to take a wild guess and say you bought the 90 size

Yea it is pretty giant lol. I'll probably just start simple with a pair of hudds and see what happens. The perch he makes is probably my favorite soft bait though. It looks so real.

Speaking of big swimbaits, and just out of curiosity, have you tried Joe's 10" real prey trout? I'm debating whether to get a heavier swimbait setup come fall and that would be one I might be interested in along with some 8" hudds. I've seen pictures of it besides a Hudd and it dawrfs the hudd though lol.