Swimbaitstud

You’re casting near the end of your spool with a zillion? Running heavy line? Like you said, buzz baits aren’t known for casting like rockets. I can’t imagine casting anywhere near the end of a spool

Ya the full size is 7.5oz with an 8” body. The baby is 6” body. 908 throws it perfect. Def a big rat but nothing even close to the original Rago sewer rat haha. That one was 18” and 13oz

I used 5” grubs a lot about 20 years ago. Kalins and chompers in watermelon or smoke. Only colors you need. Except chartreuse of course lol

Man I wish we “only” had a foot of ice lol. Last I heard it was close to 20”. It’s mid-winter here 😂

I still have one but really don’t toss it. As Danny glover once said, I’m gettin too for this….lol

Also like the baby crank around current in late spring. Bridges and inlets. The full size was always more of a mid summer bait for me. Good bait for slow rivers and streams. Better have a big rod and shoulder tho lol

One my lone spinning setup this year I’m going 12# braid to 10lb mono leader. Prob do 6-8’

Was thinking of grabbing a couple for my deep cranking rods. No issues with tariffs coming thru customs??

That’s brutal! The lowest weight I ever won with that I can remember would 13-14lbs with 5 fish. Typical club tourneys here are 5 fish and usually take 15-16 on the low end to 22-24lbs in some spring tourneys. Lots of 3-4lbers here

Jeez you need to move northeast. Never am I looking for 2s in a tourney haha. But I’ve found the same overall. Just got back heavily into tourneys two years ago and this past year I never broke 6lbs. In previous years I was catching 4 or 5 over 6. That said, I am more consistently catching 5lbers in summer on conventional baits now

And I’ll add two things to this. I’m a firm believer that fishing for giants looks a lot different in SoCal vs. Florida vs. Maine. And second, I think we can all agree it was easier to catch a giant 10 years ago, let alone 40 years ago when Murphy was doing it. Not taking away from him being a great fisherman, but it’s a fact. Giant fish are less common and tougher to get to bite than they once were.

I’ll give my useless two cents lol… I’ve spent the last 10+ years chasing big fish with swimbaits. And I typically fish A LOT! When I was a little younger I fished every night and all weekend. From shore, yak, or boat when I could catch a ride. I learned some things from being on the water so much and focusing on big fish. Here’s a few things: First thing you need to ask yourself is this: Am I going to chase “big” fish or “trophy” fish? There’s a HUUUUGE difference. I live in Maine. A “big” fish is a 5+. That fish could win a tourney lunker any day. A trophy would probably be an 8+. Most people here, even tourney guys, will never break 7. You can catch a few 5s on a great day, but not catch a 6 for a couple seasons. So decide which you are going to target. The style of fishing will be drastically different. If you want to quickly figure out if a lake has bigs, night fish it. Big fish are smart. They often only feed at night and don’t show themselves during daylight. Also, imo, numbers will help predict size. If there’s plenty of 3s, it has some 5s. If you catch a 5 within a few trips, it has em 6-7lbs. You(or I) are not so good that we caught the biggest fish in the lake on our first trip. Get used to swimbait fishing and remember a swimbait does not necessarily mean a big swimbait. My two tying PBs were both 7lbs 9oz. One caught on a 4” bluegill hard swimbait and one on an 8” wake. Time otw will show you when to go bigger and when to go smaller. It will also show you when a swimbait just can’t stack up against conventional, although I think there are few circumstances for this once you learned a swimbait. You won’t know til you try. Lake size, depth, apparent forage doesn’t always dictate fish quality. I’ve caught 5+ from 20 acre lakes with 50 fow, bodies with a max depth of 6’, and 4,000 acre lakes. It doesn’t matter. You can catch a giant anytime. But your odds are tenfold from ice out thru prespawn. First 3 weeks of ice out are prime. My last 7 came in April. Have the right tackle/gear. Gear for consistently catching 3 is not the same as gear for consistently catching 5-7lbers. While I’ve never caught a trophy, I’ve caught a lot of 5 and 6lbers over the years. Broke my pb smallie two years ago with a 5-4. Caught 6 or 7 in the 7lb range and caught my biggest 5 fish bag a few years back with 27-11 out of a yak….and all on swimbaits. Lastly, if you want a copy of Bill Murphys book I have one you can have if you just cover shipping.

I use 5-6’ of big game as leader for everything. I prefer longer leaders but I fish all Daiwa reel and the T-wing really doesn’t like leader knots. I tie a pretty clean Alberto knot, too. I think the leader does give a little shock absorber as well as a slight stealthier approach, especially if your braid is losing its color. I think there is absolutely zero reason to pay thru the roof for “leader line”.

Not always tho. I used to strictly use mono and always spooled this reel with 20lb big game, which is a thick line. When you’re bombing a big walking bait or something that casts well, you’re getting down on the spool. It’s nice to still have a higher line intake still when you’re at the end of your cast. Something holding a lot less line you have no pickup if you hookup on a bomb casts. Also, anyone comparing tatula 200 vs 150, they’re the same frame

Looks like points carried over! Super excited to see them back!

Thought you’d never ask 🤣 The hype is real. Killer bait that shines in cold water. It does a lot of things and it’s good at them. But imo the Tk is BEST as a jerkbait. I weight every one I get to suspend. Occasionally I will slow roll them with a deep lip, but 99% of the time I’m fishing it EXACTLY like a jerkbait. Once spawn arrives they go away til fall. Dobyns 794, tatula 200, and 40lb braid to 20lb mono leader for me. Short lip is best because it has a lot less drag than stock. And I prefer the vtail because it looks more natural which I like because they’re gonna get a good look at it on pauses. As said, some of the knockoffs are very good. They obviously not made as well and they tend to take a good bit more weight to suspend. But I’ve caught 6-7lbers on both. Again, as said, all colors get bit. There’s literally hundreds of colors most people don’t even know about. I like trouts, shads, perch. Get a color you like and it’ll smash em. You can see in the first pic there is ice on the pond we had to break up. Best cold water swimbait ever made, and it’s not even close.

A trap slays in the low 40s. I stick to red craw or a generic baitfish color

Haha hey dude!! To be honest I’ve been doing the same. Got back into conventional a lot and it’s quite a rabbit hole! Good to see you on here!

And let it be known, that 31 degrees is the warmest we have seen in 3 weeks lol. This is a brutal stretch

Thanks guys. A lot of slammers lol. Maybe 225 or so. A lot of shellcrackers and hudds. Tk’s and knockoff tks. But yes, definitely an addiction haha

Lots more big bait guys here than I expected!!! @PhishLI thats a nice looking wall! I was just looking at grabbing a mattlures surface glide. I’ve unloaded a good handful of baits this year to pay for conventional setup but I try to keep around this many 🤣

Definitely get a wake bait like a slammer or bullshad wake and a hudd 68 Ya mass was definitely the second state behind Cali to adopt the big bait it seems. I’ve had all those baits you mentioned at some point. The RP trout was an absolute beast. Never really tossed it with confidence. The 250 absolutely has its days but I’ve just got away from glides in general. The possums can be great too but I catch dinks on them. Actually just grabbed my first psycho trout. Never loved the gill. The MDC baits are good too. I have a handful of those and they consistently catch fish. But I agree, a slammer does the hefty lifting for me in summer. Tk is a killer in spring. This was my best 250 fish from many years ago

I’m right there with you! Been bass fishing 27 years and it’s still always exciting. This year I’ll have tournaments on 3 bodies of water I’ve never been to and 1 I haven’t been on in 20 years so it’ll be a humble learning curve I’m sure. Hopefully will be able to prefish them. That’s always exciting!

Personally I hate flouro. I like 40lb braid to 15-20lb mono leader. I fish around cover usually. @bowhunter63 mentioned 15lb, which is also the correct answer for everything 🤣

Definitely noticing the extra light on both ends. We have gained about an hour and 40 minutes so far