21 hours ago, txchaser said:

How are you finding those Trash fish gills vs the keitech? Just got some.

 

There is a 'trash fish' and a 'sunfish' and I was using the sunfish, which has a taller profile. My local tackle store is currently out, and has been for months, but they promised to let me know when they are back in and available. That one worked best on an 8/0 beast hook flashy swimmer, and it was tricky to rig as I had to use my imagination to keep the hook somewhat weedless. Caught a 4+ on my first cast with it dragging it though some relatively sparse tules in the same spot where I was killing it with the Keitech. 

 

The little creeper sunfish is more of the shape of an actual bluegill/sunfish that most other soft plastics for better or worse. The worse part is that rigging baits like that is tricky, but it actually came out great and swam perfectly with a very slow retrieve. I lucked out and nailed it with the 8/0 flashy swimmer. The 6/0 just gets completely lost. 

 

The 4.8" Keitech on the 5/0 flashy swimmer was a little more . . . . 'bite size', so it might be a little more consistent. I caught fish on the Deps Frilled Shad and the Megabass Spark Shad on the Flashy Swimmer too.

 

If I had to rate them, it would go like this:

 

1) 4.8" Keitech Swing Impact w/5/0 Flashy Swimmer

Goes through cover pretty well, especially if you are adept at pulling through without burying the hook before you realize it's hung up.

 

2) Little Creeper Sunfish w/8/0 Flashy Swimmer

Also goes through cover pretty well and was fairly durable, however they are not cheap. I will buy more as soon as they are available locally.

 

3) Deps Frilled Shad with either 5/0 or 3/0 Flashy Swimmer

In spite of having that. . . thing on the top, it was not quite as weedless as the Keitech or the Little Creeper. And I definitely got bit more in and around the tules with all of these baits, and not so much in open water. The Deps definitely caught fish though.

 

4) Megabass Spark Shad in both 3" and 4" (4" was better than the 3")

These caught fish, but not quite as well as the others. One thing I liked about them is that with the flat top, I cut out a trench with a cautery pen so that the hook point sat in the trench except for the 1/8" at the point that stuck into the plastic at the front of the trench which made it pretty resistant to getting hung up.

 

 

On 9/19/2023 at 7:19 PM, Big Hands said:

 

There is a 'trash fish' and a 'sunfish' and I was using the sunfish, which has a taller profile. My local tackle store is currently out, and has been for months, but they promised to let me know when they are back in and available. That one worked best on an 8/0 beast hook flashy swimmer, and it was tricky to rig as I had to use my imagination to keep the hook somewhat weedless. Caught a 4+ on my first cast with it dragging it though some relatively sparse tules in the same spot where I was killing it with the Keitech. 

 

The little creeper sunfish is more of the shape of an actual bluegill/sunfish that most other soft plastics for better or worse. The worse part is that rigging baits like that is tricky, but it actually came out great and swam perfectly with a very slow retrieve. I lucked out and nailed it with the 8/0 flashy swimmer. The 6/0 just gets completely lost. 

 

The 4.8" Keitech on the 5/0 flashy swimmer was a little more . . . . 'bite size', so it might be a little more consistent. I caught fish on the Deps Frilled Shad and the Megabass Spark Shad on the Flashy Swimmer too.

 

If I had to rate them, it would go like this:

 

1) 4.8" Keitech Swing Impact w/5/0 Flashy Swimmer

Goes through cover pretty well, especially if you are adept at pulling through without burying the hook before you realize it's hung up.

 

2) Little Creeper Sunfish w/8/0 Flashy Swimmer

Also goes through cover pretty well and was fairly durable, however they are not cheap. I will buy more as soon as they are available locally.

 

3) Deps Frilled Shad with either 5/0 or 3/0 Flashy Swimmer

In spite of having that. . . thing on the top, it was not quite as weedless as the Keitech or the Little Creeper. And I definitely got bit more in and around the tules with all of these baits, and not so much in open water. The Deps definitely caught fish though.

 

4) Megabass Spark Shad in both 3" and 4" (4" was better than the 3")

These caught fish, but not quite as well as the others. One thing I liked about them is that with the flat top, I cut out a trench with a cautery pen so that the hook point sat in the trench except for the 1/8" at the point that stuck into the plastic at the front of the trench which made it pretty resistant to getting hung up.

 

 

Thanks! It's the sunfish I had. I also bought the trokar hooks with them since they said they fit properly. Not a fan of the cutting point. Will also see if I can get a 6/0 flashy swimmer on it. 

But based on your reviews it looks like I'll end up back at the keitech anyway. 

 

2 hours ago, txchaser said:

Thanks! It's the sunfish I had. I also bought the trokar hooks with them since they said they fit properly. Not a fan of the cutting point. Will also see if I can get a 6/0 flashy swimmer on it. 

But based on your reviews it looks like I'll end up back at the keitech anyway. 

 

 

I tried the 6/0 with the sunfish and I just couldn't get it rigged where it looked like it had a chance to bury a hookset if it got bit. But, maybe you can figure something out.

On 10/3/2023 at 11:18 PM, Big Hands said:

 

I tried the 6/0 with the sunfish and I just couldn't get it rigged where it looked like it had a chance to bury a hookset if it got bit. But, maybe you can figure something out.

Thanks. I think I might have some 7/0 6th sense hooks too. I bought them for the Sweep. BTW their Sweep is legit and catches big fish. At 6" it's a pretty big presentation though. 

On 10/3/2023 at 11:18 PM, Big Hands said:

 

I tried the 6/0 with the sunfish and I just couldn't get it rigged where it looked like it had a chance to bury a hookset if it got bit. But, maybe you can figure something out.

Oh were you using the beast flashy 6/0 (I think one exists, I know there's a weighted beast 6/0) or the regular flashy swimmer 6/0?

On 9/13/2023 at 8:52 PM, Mike L said:

Check out the Gambler Duz-It Swim Bait hook.

I like the style/design of the Gambler Duz It (not the name so much lol). I don’t understand why they only sell it in 6/0 and 7/0. That's way too big for me. I’ve got keel-weighted hooks that I like, I guess I just need to get some blades, swivels and tubing.

 

@ol'crickety what did you end up using? You seem to have gotten the problem worked out this year, to say the least. Did you replace the long thin wire with the Owner Flashy Accent Trailer Blade?

2 hours ago, fin said:

I like the style/design of the Gambler Duz It (not the name so much lol). I don’t understand why they only sell it in 6/0 and 7/0. That's way too big for me. I’ve got keel-weighted hooks that I like, I guess I just need to get some blades, swivels and tubing.

 

@ol'crickety what did you end up using? You seem to have gotten the problem worked out this year, to say the least. Did you replace the long thin wire with the Owner Flashy Accent Trailer Blade?

 

I bought a bunch of spinner baits made out of titanium. Fingers crossed that they last longer than the stainless steel ones.

55 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I bought a bunch of spinner baits made out of titanium.

So you replaced your underspins with spinnerbaits?

9 hours ago, fin said:

So you replaced your underspins with spinnerbaits?

 

Nope, I fish them both. The underspin is the best with weeds. 

Not sure if this is helpful for anyone, but Decoy makes weights that allow any hook to be made into a Flashy Swimmer; the weight has a place to attach spinners.

I should also point out that these weights allow you to "tune" the drop on the reel pause by either pushing the weight more forward or back.

Katie I have had good luck with these. They held up well at Lake Baccarac. 

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Hog_Farmer_Baits_HD_Underspin/descpage-HFW.html