Aaron_H

Another vote towards oval split rings for line ties. I use Owners, haven't noticed any difference in the action of baits. You couldn't pay me to use round split rings for line ties at this point.

Between work and moving to an area where I haven't found squat for ponds, I was only able to fish four days this years. Miserable. Didn't manage any big Florida bass this year, biggest was only 4.14lb, got it on a 1/2 oz Booyah One Knocker in Bling. Hopefully 2026 is kinder to me.

I have a 5 power Dobyns CB rod, I would think the bladed jig would overpower it. 6 power would be better, but YMMV. Since you have the rod already, I would say to give it a shot and see how it works for you.

Oh, wow. Not news I expected to see upon logging in. I wasn't close with Tom, but his presence was like a monolith here on the forum. His wealth of knowledge was incredible, but his eagerness to share that information with others to help them on their journey spoke volumes to his character and he will be missed deeply. As other said, his legacy lives on through every angler he has helped, what an incredible loss to the bass fishing world, but my deepest condolences to his family and friends close to him. Very sobering reminder just how fragile all of our lives are. Rest in peace, Tom. One of the best to ever do it.

You grouper fishing? 😂 Hmm makes sense, mimicking a baitfish feeding on the bottom instead of a traditional craw pattern. I've never even thought of this, only ever thrown craw or beaver trailers on my jigs. I will have to try this.

I'm not a spinnerbait guy but I do really like the compact ones out of what I've thrown. That is a very, very good looking profile but not a color pattern I throw. Will keep an eye out for some more natural shad, bluegill, and/or baby bass colors, though. Very nice work (and that price! 😲)

I got a pack of the Trench Hawg for free, caught some fish on them and a couple of fish in the 4-5lb range. They worked well, but there wasn't anything about them that stands out from a Brush Hog. Not a fan of the owners, personally, so I don't see myself purchasing more.

I have owned a handful of the standard SLX, an SLX XT, a couple of SLX MGL, an SLX DC, and the newer SLX 70A. I haven't fished any of the other A models, but as far as I'm aware the only addition is SilentTune, so my experience should be somewhat comparable. I see no real advantage to the XT over the standard, personally. The SVS brakes are nice, but with 4 pin vs 6, I don't really find them any better or worse than the 6 pin VBS in the normal SLX, whereas I do see a noticeable difference in the 6 pin SVS in the Curado 150 MGL. The big wheel on the side looks better and breaks up that giant garish SLX logo on the base model, though. I haven't noticed any difference in distance or cast control, but it's possible I'm not good enough to unlock the fullest potential of either reel. The DC is neat, but unless you have issues chucking into the wind or you skip a lot and have issues with it, I don't find it to be worth the extra cost. At its core it is just a base SLX but with IDC4. The real star of the line is the SLX MGL/SLX 70 A. Cross carbon drag and the MGL/MGL III spool make the reel punch above its pricepoint (maybe less so with the recent price increase) and are big upgrades over the other SLX models in my opinion. I can cast lighter lures with ease and get way more distance out of them. I think if they threw a 150 sized MGL spool into the SLX XT A, it would be a no brainer over the normal one, but 4 pin SVS isn't enough of a selling point in my opinion, and even less appealing with the price increase....

Have you contacted the seller to see if they might have more information about it? I agree with others that it looks like a knock off from Aliexpress or Temu. As long as it runs true and you put good hardware on it, should be good to go.

The 705CB is only 62 bucks right now, and you were just talking about getting a dedicated rattletrap rod.....

I use size 3 Owner Hyperwire split rings for the hooks, and a size 4 (but you could downsize to a 3) Owner oval split ring for the line tie. I have also used the Gamakatsu Superline split rings to good success when I could not get a hold of the Owners.

I used 30lb PowerPro to a 12lb mono leader for my 110 sized jerkbaits when I started out. I did okay Be prepared to bend out a ton of hooks, though. I switched to straight 12lb mono not long after, and now throw them on 12lb fluoro.

Was on my way home from a conference in Orlando and stopped into Bass Pro. Theyhad a bunch of the Egg wakebaits in stock, so I picked up one in each color I saw to try out. Also two more One Knockers because I have a sickness; the Bling I grabbed because I have one that I like and I thought I had backups that I grabbed in an Academy clearance but I could only find the one, and the Tennessee Blush Shad just looked too juicy not to try. The tungsten weight in the Tenn Shad one is stuck, though, so it's a much softer sound. We'll see how that does since I do like to play with sound profiles. Then stopped at Academy on my way back as well, and grabbed two 6th Sense Speed Wakes.

Lipless cranks are my all-time confidence bait, my last count was around 100 lipless cranks in my boxes, but I have given some away. Very versatile bait compared to many other crankbaits. You can fish them at whatever depth you want, burn them, rip them, yo-yo them, work them off the bottom like a jig, your retrieve options are almost limitless. And they get big bites. For what it's worth, Dobyns also makes the 705CB in the Maverick and Colt lines. The Maverick version comes it right under your budget. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Dobyns_Maverick_Series_Cranking_Rods/descpage-DMAVCK.html

I've tried a bunch, MHF will let you rip grass better but you will lose more fish. I settled on a MH/MF Dobyns Fury 705CB, paired with 15lb fluorocarbon and the system works very well to keep the fish as buttoned up as possible.

That's for sure! It's a rare occasion that I get to bass fish with my dad so always a good day when I do. Yesterday was coincidentally the first time in a long time I've been able to get my dad out fishing with me, along with my brother we decided to try out a spot we've been talking about hitting for the last ~5 years, a string of ponds in a golf course that shut down during Covid. The bite ended up being very mediocre there, but we did manage to pick some off here and there. Brother got his on a bladed jig, my dad got a few on a senko, and I threw a few things but connected with this small one on a spinnerbait after I had lost two (one of which looked around 5lb): Continued to struggle for bites, but right before dark I connected with two better fish on back to back casts with a lipless: First one just shy of 3lb hit like an absolute truck and ripped drag, genuinely believed I had a much better fish until it surfaced, very spunky and strong fish for its size: And right after connected with this one just shy of 4lb hit right at the bank: Not sure if I will go back, there is definitely a healthy fishery in the last pond and I could likely connect with some giants if I put the time in there, but years of neglect due to their closure have made the bank fishing access difficult and we had to be very careful about where we could cast. I did see someone with a kayak in the largest pond, he had the right idea for sure. Maybe I'll drag the jonboat over some day. Also had a nice run in with a water moccasin, Came close to stepping on it, that would've been a bad day for both of us.

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Thunderhawk_Sergeant_Lipless_Crankbait_Silent_/descpage-THSGS.html Not a lot of people throwing this one or the 3/4 oz rattling version, I throw both and they are good to go If the fish are aggressive, especially in warmer water, I like a loud rattle. If the fish are pressured or the water is colder, I like something more subdued. Silent works well for that. One knockers are also great for a more subdued sound.

Nothing, I can't risk wiping off anything lucky.

I have a handful of the squarebills but haven't thrown them yet, but they've got a lipless bait under the H2OX line that's called the 5/8 RT online I believe, but the package says Medium Profile Lipless. Side profile looks exactly like a Booyah Hard/One Knocker, but it's got this bulge in the belly rather than being a more typical "blade"/taper shape. I need to throw them more, but the action/vibration almost has more of a squarebill wobble to it rather than the typical lipless vibration. If this was a top down view of a lipless, most vibrate/pivot along the vertical axis, but the H2OX one seems to me to have a pronounced pivot/vibration along the horizontal axis. I may just be seeing things, however. Forgive the crude MS Paint drawing. I know you had the issue with a couple of other reels as well, but for what it's worth the chromed plastic thumb bar on my old ProMax also cracked with less than a season of normal usage. Replaced it with one from a BlackMax and then retired it. None of my other reels have any type of wear consistent with me doing anything that would've caused it, I think at its price point they just used an inferior plastic for that part. The Stik-O is my #1 Senko-type bait, I don't throw anything else anymore. I've thrown a lot of Yamamotos and other various brands, and I don't deny the Yamamoto is "the best," but in underwater footage, the Stik-O is the only one that looks identical to the Yamamoto to my eyes in shimmy and fall rate. I also like the fatter tail end of them and the durability is fantastic. As for the OP's question, it's a toss up between the H2OX Ultimate Jerk Shad in the Crackle color and the Shimano SLX MGL. Bought the jerkbait based on a recommendation from @Bluebasser86 as I was just starting out learning the technique. Quickly saw some very serious success come from that bait and despite having a box full of Vision 110s now, I still do throw that Academy jerkbait a lot. SLX MGL surprised me with how good it was for the price, still far and away the best of the SLX line, in my opinion. Better drag, and the MGL spool was a game changer for me coming from the SLX/XT/DC reels I had at the time.

Good info, Glenn. Just starting to dip my toes into glide baits with a couple of S Waver 168s, so this was very helpful. Is that an AI thumbnail? Something about that Chad Shad doesn't look quite right to my eyes.

I haven't had the opportunity to fish one of the originals, but the Booyah One Knocker is absolutely one of my favorite lipless cranks to throw and responsible for my current biggest bass on the technique. The packaging on this one in the OP looks like someone is just reusing the Xcalibur name, I couldn't find much information on the distributor other than a trademark registration. It's an active trademark that was registered by Canadian Tire, but I haven't found any info on if they purchased the rights to the Xcalibur name (or if they would even need to at this point). https://ised-isde.canada.ca/cipo/trademark-search/755617?lang=eng If you reverse image search the Castaic bait I linked, you'll see a few other companies selling the same blank, mostly in Italy. @NRJ1988 The Castaic version has been mentioned on BR here before positively, I would have no problem throwing that lipless to see how it does (after swapping out the hardware).

Looks like https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Castaic_Baits_CXV_Lipless_Crankbait/descpage-CCL.html

Been using them for years now, both the EWG (in 3/0 and 5/0) and the flipping hooks. They're like 6 bucks for a 25 pack and I've never had one bend out, break, or roll the point.