Getting good topwater and wake bites currently and am looking at the Jackall Gantarel which is a 6.25” 2.5 oz swimbait/ glide/ wake. Is July a productive time to buy and use this lure for big bites when the topwater bite is on? 

@Bluebasser86 I read you spent a short time with this lure and it just didn’t catch. Looking back can you tell me what your rod you used, technique in how you used it and thoughts now on it years later, is there a different way you’d use this lure today? Ive searched online and videos and they’re isn’t as much info on this lure as I had hoped. 

If you like them buy it.

Spro BB1Z size 50 rat weight 2.5, is effective wake bait.

Tom

12 hours ago, Smells like fish said:

@Bluebasser86 I read you spent a short time with this lure and it just didn’t catch. Looking back can you tell me what your rod you used, technique in how you used it and thoughts now on it years later, is there a different way you’d use this lure today? Ive searched online and videos and they’re isn’t as much info on this lure as I had hoped. 

I was fishing it on a Dobyn's Fury 795/300E/20lb Big Game. I tried all kinds of different retrieves but only ever caught 2 very small fish on it, not even sure what retrieve I was using when they bit. For whatever reason, with gill baits, I can get bit on wakes and soft baits, but segmented baits are a complete flop. 

YoZuri wake bait is my most productive all-time topwater.  Can count on one hand the fish caught on jointed topwater minnow baits.  When a summer monsoon washed stripers over the spillway into our cold trout tailwater, people were reporting stripers eating big rainbows off the end of their fly lines and right at their net.  Two different crack-of-dawns, took a Castaic rainbow to deep "Barking Dog" pool, where most rainbow eats had been reported.  After awhile, felt silly casting the thing.  

From there into fall, though, harvested 7 good stripers swinging cats whiskers on a Teeny sinking line. 

I've always thought big piscivores on small flies had to do with your fly/lure drawing a good bait ball.  Same spot, two friends broke the state record twice that summer into fall.  Jeff's 36"er on a San Juan worm surprise.  John's targeted 43"er had 5 rainbow carcasses to 16" in its gullet - they do eat them, but a jointed/diving topwater just doesn't imitate them that well.  

  

I have only caught a turtle on mine so far lol, doesn’t stop me from trying though.

I fish a very grassy lake, in the height of the summer, trebles can be difficult to deal with in water less than 17-18', so I don't throw the Gantarel that often.  The spring and fall have given me good fish on that lure though, a little less deep water weeds allows me to effectively work the edges.  That said, I feel like the Gantarel is a pike magnet.  I think it's due to the when/where I throw it mostly, but it seems like it's a 2:1 bass to pike bite for me.  Fast retrieve with frequent stops has been most effective, but the 2nd most likely time to get bit is about 2-3 seconds after hitting the water.  So I usually let it sit for a moment, then twitch a few times, then start a fast erratic retrieve.  The gantarel jr rides higher in the water column and seems more versatile for my lake.  I haven't noticed a decrease in size of fish either.  If your water is like mine, I think the Jr is a better summer bait.

 

scott

 

On 7/2/2021 at 5:27 PM, Smells like fish said:

Getting good topwater and wake bites currently and am looking at the Jackall Gantarel which is a 6.25” 2.5 oz swimbait/ glide/ wake. Is July a productive time to buy and use this lure for big bites when the topwater bite is on?