There's been a lot of talk about this bait the last few weeks. I guess it's a "sleeper" no more.

 

Ksam1234 stared a thread a few weeks back asking where he can find these, since most places were out of stock in the 3", 3/8oz versions. Until then, I really didn't give much thought to these lures. I've heard of them, but after seeing them on sites, I just thought "eh, looks like nothing special". So, I started looking around for him to see if I could help him out, but had no luck. Little later, he replied that he had found some (forgot what site). So I decided, heck with it, I'm gonna order a few.

 

Now, I've been fishing this local river (from shore, too shallow/rocky for my boat) for a few weeks now hoping to get some smallie action. No luck. Actually, nobody has been doing that well except for an occasional walleye. The current has been VERY strong, making it a bit more challenging. 

 

Anyways, I went back out last weekend and hit a few spots with my new Dark Sleeper. And holy man, what a difference!! This bait is magical! I caught 9 smallies in about a 4 hour span (few hours each day). I've been concentrating on tiny slack water spots behind laydowns/boulders. That's where I caught all of these bass. Eventually I lost both my lures do to snags. I tried tubes, jigs, other plastics. Nothing. But I ordered a handful more, which came the other day. 

 

Yesterday after work I had an hour to spare so I went out and caught 3 smallies in my first 7 casts. 6 total in that hour. There was a front about to come thru that may have turned them fish on. Also caught a nice crappie! 

 

Annnyways, I just wanted to let my fellow fisherman/women know how great these little baits are. And even tho they are small, they're anything but finesse fishing (well, the 3" at least). 

 

Here's a few I caught. Nothing huge, but a few chunkers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

looks like they all choked it.......Good fishing

3 hours ago, NorthernBasser said:

There's been a lot of talk about this bait the last few weeks. I guess it's a "sleeper" no more.

 

Ksam1234 stared a thread a few weeks back asking where he can find these, since most places were out of stock in the 3", 3/8oz versions. Until then, I really didn't give much thought to these lures. I've heard of them, but after seeing them on sites, I just thought "eh, looks like nothing special". So, I started looking around for him to see if I could help him out, but had no luck. Little later, he replied that he had found some (forgot what site). So I decided, heck with it, I'm gonna order a few.

 

Now, I've been fishing this local river (from shore, too shallow/rocky for my boat) for a few weeks now hoping to get some smallie action. No luck. Actually, nobody has been doing that well except for an occasional walleye. The current has been VERY strong, making it a bit more challenging. 

 

Anyways, I went back out last weekend and hit a few spots with my new Dark Sleeper. And holy man, what a difference!! This bait is magical! I caught 9 smallies in about a 4 hour span (few hours each day). I've been concentrating on tiny slack water spots behind laydowns/boulders. That's where I caught all of these bass. Eventually I lost both my lures do to snags. I tried tubes, jigs, other plastics. Nothing. But I ordered a handful more, which came the other day. 

 

Yesterday after work I had an hour to spare so I went out and caught 3 smallies in my first 7 casts. 6 total in that hour. There was a front about to come thru that may have turned them fish on. Also caught a nice crappie! 

 

Annnyways, I just wanted to let my fellow fisherman/women know how great these little baits are. And even tho they are small, they're anything but finesse fishing (well, the 3" at least). 

 

Here's a few I caught. Nothing huge, but a few chunkers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice man I love it ! I actuslly csught my PB smallmouth on the brown and gold one few days ago. They work!!

Do they just run on the bottom, or can you swim them higher in the water column? Most of our lakes are shallow and the bottom is mud covered with algae. Bottom fishing is mostly out of the question. Also, we do not have any smallmouth, but I assume the largemouth would also be interested in these?

I should’ve fished them today. I got the small ones because I see the fish eating very small forage fish that are only 1-2” — every so often, you’ll see a few hop out of the water to get away from being chased. Saw it about 3 times today. First time so far this year.

1 hour ago, rboat said:

Do they just run on the bottom, or can you swim them higher in the water column? Most of our lakes are shallow and the bottom is mud covered with algae. Bottom fishing is mostly out of the question. Also, we do not have any smallmouth, but I assume the largemouth would also be interested in these?

I'd say the 2 most effective ways to fish them is either bouncing them like a jig, or swimming them closely to the bottom, or along the bottom. And yeah, I'll definitely be throwing these for LM.

14 minutes ago, CrankFate said:

I should’ve fished them today. I got the small ones because I see the fish eating very small forage fish that are only 1-2” — every so often, you’ll see a few hop out of the water to get away from being chased. Saw it about 3 times today. First time so far this year.

I'm sure the 2.4" would do great as well. Maybe even better in certain situations. 

 

I love how pretty much every bass I caught was hooked deep in the top lip or in the roof of the mouth. 

28 minutes ago, NorthernBasser said:

I'd say the 2 most effective ways to fish them is either bouncing them like a jig, or swimming them closely to the bottom, or along the bottom. And yeah, I'll definitely be throwing these for LM.

I'm sure the 2.4" would do great as well. Maybe even better in certain situations. 

 

I love how pretty much every bass I caught was hooked deep in the top lip or in the roof of the mouth. 

I loved the action. No matter what you do, it makes an eye catching action.