Mattlures MH swimbait rod/ Shimano Curado 301E/ 15 lb Yo-Zuri hybrid/ 2 joint wood PB rat.

No new personal best, but I had a ton of fun this afternoon with the PB rat. I was doing pretty much what Matt Peters and his crew were doing with the Nezumma and Slammers in STE. Find a bluff wall with a tree overhang, and a bunch of laydowns. Since the slope of the land was so high, there was deep water very near the shore; ideal big fish hang-out in summertime.

The technique I used was to cast past my target, and then work the bait as much as possible with very little forward movement- thanks to Wayne C. for the tip. Casting room was quite scarce at most times due to trees and such. I pitched at least as much as I casted.

Caught three fish in about 4 hours, and had three more blowups. Biggest fish was 5 lbs 2 ozs, the second biggest was 3 lbs 7 ozs, the third was a dink.

No pics, because I knew I'd be doing more hiking than fishing and the terrain was pretty rough to put it mildly. Taking care of an 8 foot swimbait rod is bad enough. so I left the camera in the car.

Forgot to mention the best part. I managed to rescue my real prey trout that I snagged and broke off on a stupid laydown last week. Water level is almost 4 feet down from last week, and I could barely make out the outline of the bait, still snagged.

Stripped down, swam out, dove down, and got the bait back, no problems. I had the devil's own time trying to unsnag the hook though. I had to make a return trip to get my nail clippers to cut the rigging off.

All in all, a great day!

Fished the rat for maybe 20 casts today. One blowup and one hookup. The big one- seemed to be about 3-3.5#- missed the bait, and the little one hooked up. Ironically, those were the only bites, and that was the only fish I caught today. Wish I could have stayed longer.

It's amazing how this bait is getting me some good bites, it's equally amazing how half of the fish that are committing to the bait are clean missing it. I'm not talking about swipes or nudges or swirls either, all the strikes I got yesterday and today, whether I hooked up or not, were really vicious.

Midday topwater for the win.

Barely a keeper:

That's some pretty looking water and a healthy looking little fish. I've been playing with a 6" Hudd in a lake that is notorious for only producing small fish, it's amazing how small of a fish can inhale a 6" bait.

I hate when I lose lures especially when I just bought it and it gets snagged. I am too lazy to go in after it and get it.

looks like great fun. man you have to have a ton of confidence to throw a giant bait like that. awesome.