Aaron_H

Did you end up getting it at Bitters? ?

Good perspective, Phil. For me, sound profile is one of the most important aspects of lipless fishing, and a silent lipless can be very deadly on fish that want that baitfish profile and tight wiggle but aren't committing to louder rattles. Of course, there are many times (as you said) where a lipless just isn't the ticket, silent or otherwise. I touched on blade baits a couple of times in the thread, that I believed we see silent lipless crankbaits being discontinued in favor of blade baits which can be fished the same way. Traditionally I've always written them off as hardwater lures only, but I'm starting to come around.

TW just recently listed a new silent lipless, the Thunderhawk Sergeant. Never heard of the company, but the lure looks good. Rotating hook hangers, too, which is a nice addition. Seems worth checking out, definitely adding a couple to my next TW order.

You've already received many wonderful rod suggestions, so I'll just throw my two cents on the reel: Stick with the BG in a 2500 size. Daiwa really knocked that reel out of the park.

Premier has been my go-to inshore/freshwater leader material for ~5 years now, can't recommend it enough. Blue label is a close second, but I've definitely been curious about trying Gold label.

Finally got a decent day to fish in between all these storms. Bite was tough, but once I got some cloud cover they started feeding pretty good, blowing up on shad schools on the surface. I couldn't get them to hit topwater weirdly, but I got a handful running a lipless crankbait through them. On the walk back to the truck I saw a massive bass up shallow in the same pond I've caught a few 6s and an 8 out of, but she spooked off when she saw me. Made a dozen casts in the area just in case but nada. Next time, baby. Biggest of the day went 5lb 14oz, not a bad little day for August.

This was my thinking in my original post, that blade baits sort of took over the niche that the silent lipless occupied. I'll have to give some a go and see if they can produce the same for me. Definitely heard great things about the Damiki Vault. To the best of my knowledge, they've been gone for a couple of years. Another one I forgot to mention in the OP is the River2Sea Diver Vibe, but it's also on the heavier side of what I like for my fisheries. Still worth a shot.

Thanks for the tips, those Duos look great. I know the old Shallow Vibes that I like were also packaged under the Duo name, but wasn't aware of this model.

I'm quite fond of cotton candy grapes, myself. No luck with the cotton candy worms, however.

Interesting! I feel it loads too deep in the blank for how I like to fish weightless T-rigs, but I'll have to give it a try sometime to really see. I can definitely see it casting them well with that tip. I appreciate the information!

Junebug with a chartreuse tail.

My favorite rod for those techniques in that price range is the 6'10" M/XF Shimano SLX. It's an XF and not an F, but that snappy tip works really well to impart crisp action on a jerkbait and it's limber enough to keep fished pinned. I throw weightless senkos and jerkbaits on mine and I absolutely love it. The Dobyns Fury 705CB (for topwater and jerkbaits) or 703C (for weightless plastics) would be fantastic options as well. I have a 705CB and I wouldn't throw plastics on it but it's dynamite for treble hook baits.

Weather reports said no more storms until after dark, so I headed out to my favorite ponds. Only made it 30 mins before the lightning started and I had to pack it in, but I lucked into my first double so it was a memorable trip at least. Coupla little guys on a 1/2 oz Rattlin' Rapala in bluegill.

Personally, if I had the itch for a custom, I'd probably go for it. 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained' and all that. At the end of the day, the sentimental combo will still be there if you feel like taking it out.

I used to use 3/0 Owner Demon Perfect circle hooks, and landed several great fish on it (biggest went 8lb 7oz) but found that there were too many times where that circle hook wouldn't grab when it should have and missed some big fish as a result. Ended up switching to a 2/0 Gamakatsu Wide Gap Finesse hook and have had zero issues so far.

The shortest rods I own are 6'8" and the longest are 7'2". That's about the longest that I feel dialed into where I can just pick it up and go with no adjustment. I use the shorter rods only when I want to throw a lure where I'm working the rod tip down or if I'm in tight overhead cover, generally prefer ~7ft. My father still has an old Silstar BX-lite 5'6" pistol grip rod that he throws traps on and he loves it, but it's the complete opposite of how I approach the technique.

That was the other reason I passed on them before, didn't come in the weight I prefer for a lipless. I do like the dense/smaller profile, though. The Yo-Zuri Shallow Vibe I have is like that. A little over 1/2oz but only about 2.3" long, smaller than any of my other 1/2oz traps. The only ones I can find on ebay are the larger size, however. Fingers crossed Yo-Zuri finally emails me back ? I appreciate the responses, but I'm still surprised so few are available compared to a few years ago.

You know I have seen that one as well, but passed on it given Savage Gears prior reputation. With the new direction and quality baits they've put out lately I'll have to give that one a go. Thanks for reminding me!

Seems like all the silent lipless cranks are discontinued these days. Only one I can find online is the Damiki Tremor, which I'll have to try out once TW has them back in stock. I tried emailing Yo-Zuri about bringing back the LiveBait Shallow Vibe (I've got a 60 in gold/black, I love it), but they never got back to me. Is anyone besides Damiki still producing this type of lure or have they just been supplanted by blade baits? I'm this close to just drilling out some of my favorite traps and gluing the bearings in place....

Looks like a pretty standard summertime bass to me....

I can't speak to how it fishes, as I only played with one model (the 845CBR) in-store while shopping for a new crankbait rod, but it didn't feel great to me. Light, well-constructed (did not see any QC issues on the rod I handled), but I just...wasn't impressed? I can't pin it exactly, it just felt a bit dead in my hands. I ended up leaving with a Dobyns Fury 705CB after having them side by side.

I have my heavier spinning setup for inshore but I've used it for bass for the kind of stuff you're describing. I use 50lb PowerPro. Really any color is fine but I tend to stick to standard moss green. Lot of guys like the high-vis stuff, though.

Bitters had some Zodias rods, as well. I was handling the older model without the monocoque handle, but I think he had some of the newer ones, as well. Got to play with a couple Exprides, too.

If you haven't gotten your hands on the Poison Adrena yet, Bitters over in Longwood has a handful in stock. I was playing with them over the weekend when I went to pick up a Dobyns Fury. They feel unbelievable, but definitely out of my comfort zone price-wise.

I personally use a 7'2" MH/XF for those applications. The Shimano Zodias would be a great choice in your budget. Expride if you're willing to spend ~30 more.