4 hours ago, rboat said:

If anyone can help me, please let me know what swimbaits/glidebaits in the 6 inch range work the best? I already purchased a magdraft and a trickshad. What would you purchase next? Thanks

I love the 2 you have already. i would also get a couple huddleston 68 specials (rof 12), 6" bull gill and a couple s-wavers in 168 and 200 size.

10 hours ago, rboat said:

If anyone can help me, please let me know what swimbaits/glidebaits in the 6 inch range work the best? I already purchased a magdraft and a trickshad. What would you purchase next? Thanks

Definitely get a wake bait like a slammer or bullshad wake and a hudd 68

10 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

The big baits are strangely popular in MA. Biggest I own are the Deps 250, Cl8 Baby Possum, 12" Slammer, and a Real Prey 10" Trout. I toss the Possum a good amount but there's a specific use case I like it for that I don't get to take advantage of much because of how prevalent weeds are in my lakes. I like cranking it into deeper laydowns I get some good bites deflecting it off wood. The Deps I should commit to more I'm just not really a glidebait guy. The Real Prey Trout, never seriously thrown it. But the first time I tried it I just wanted to see what it looked like swimming so I threw it without hooks, and there was QUITE the shadow following it back down below. That thing is heavy though, probably the only bait I own that makes my 867 feel a bit underpowered. The 12" slammer gets the most love out of my bigger baits.

But most of the time my big bait fishing is 9" slammers, Psycho Gill/Trout, Monka Crawler, 6-8" softbaits, 6" crankdowns like MDC or bullshad, the Gill and Shiner Real Prey baits.

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 new to the bigger swimbait/glidebait game. I have a couple 5” Savage jointed and decided to try a bit bigger this year.

Bought a new Edge 708 H/Moderate (>2oz) rod paired with my old Curado cu200 reel and 20# fluro.

I just purchased a couple 6 & 7” Bait Mafia Daingeros Unloaded swmbaits, 6” Bucca Trick Shad, 6th Sense 6” Judo Ghost and 5” Trace for starters.

Don’t know if these are “proper” big(er) baits but for where I fish seemed appropriate for the gear setup and just getting started.

Pretty excited to give them a go.

Following this thread for recommendations on other baits. Wanting to stay in the 5-7” range up to about 2oz.

12 hours ago, gim said:

Try muskie fishing with big baits then we'll talk. Your arms, back, and shoulders will suffer for hours on end.

Try it when you're 75. It takes me a week to recover from half a day outing.

Speaking of muskie baits.........I've caught my share of LM on muskie baits. I've even used them strictly for bass fishing on more than one occasion.

As of recent years, I feel like smaller lures have started to dominate the market. To be honest, I don’t see a whole lot of fisherman in my area throwing anything big

I’m interested in trying out some big lures now though

11 hours ago, Swimbaitstud said:

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

The TK is another favorite for sure, gets more love from me in the Fall but I used them pretty interchangeably with jerkbaits.

On 1/30/2026 at 9:54 PM, Swimbaitstud said:

Was wondering who here lives the big baits?

All told, between my brother and me, we have an obscene amount of swimbaits. A wall full, with many duplicates. I blew up my shoulder in '22. Rehab'd it successfully but I rarely throw anything above 3 ozs anymore. More like 2ozs typically. My brother needs shoulder surgery, so he's not throwing anything much more than a Toxic Trucha Masu and that's a bit of a struggle and not often.

The lakes where we have ready access to are mostly very shallow and all choke out and, in many cases, top out or nearly top out, so wakes, crank-down wakes, and floaters are really the only practical baits we can throw past June until ice knocks down the grass.

At this point, my top 10 fish between 6-8 lbs have all come on conventional baits like 4"-5" soft swimmers, flukes, bladed jigs, and big worms except for one 6lber I nabbed on a G2. The Shellcracker is by far my most successful of the types I throw, but I've whacked 'em pretty good on the lowly Gantarel Jr too, just not in the PB territory just yet. My brother does quite well on Wade Hoggs even though he throws huge Gill type wakes, slammers, Bucca 4X4s, etc. Still, his best fish have all come on jigs. Neither of us are discouraged though. He's really all-in at this point with bigger baits going forward whereas I'm dipping into BFS and will remain a middle-grounder.

Once he retires in a few years and gets his shoulder repaired, we'll hit real lakes north of this island where we can take advantage of these investments instead of these millponds we call lakes around here.

Catching big fish on anything is a rush, but catching one on a bigger bait is definitely something extra, ya know? You know.

I don't have any real magnum baits anymore, mostly because I've found that the 6-7 inch range baits seem to be the sweet spot for what I like to fish and what our fish eat best.

When I first got into it, I fished a 7" Slammer a lot, caught a ton of fish including what is still my biggest swimbait fish by weight. I had several Shine Glides and caught a lot of fish on them, one of them is still one of my top 3 biggest swimbait fish. Now I fish a Clutch Glide and Eco a lot, plus I just got a Baby Boss last fall. I've had some really good days with the KGB Chad Shad. I've got a KGB Crappie but I can only ever get them to follow and swipe at it. I picked up one of Edwin's baits last year from Legal Dope. Can't remember the name of it but it's a heavy, fat crankdown that looks like a crappie that I've caught a few with. I've been trying to get more comfortable with the soft baits but I have a hard time being patient with them. The Bass Mafia Daingerous, Magdraft 6 and 8 inch, Burrito, all look good but I don't know if I've caught a fish on any of them. I know I'm 0-3 on bites with the 8" Magdraft. Bucca's baits catch me a lot of fish but I haven't caught any real big ones on them. The Bullwake gets lots of bites and a 5" fast sink Bull Shad is one of my favorite smallmouth baits.

I enjoy fishing them, but I'm not a full time big bait fisherman. I do try to dedicate some time about every trip to them though. It's always surprising how often they won't react to regular stuff but then violently strike the big baits.

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 🤣

7 minutes ago, Swimbaitstud said:

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 🤣

Now that's an addiction.

@Swimbaitstud That's an incredible collection.

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

57 minutes ago, Swimbaitstud said:

Thanks guys. A lot of slammers lol. Maybe 225 or so. A lot of shellcrackers and hudds. Tk’s and knockoff tks.

Hey, you can never be too ready for the apocalypse.😁

yoooo what’s up Jesse. You already know about me bro.

Ladies and gents. Swimbait stud helped me get into the Swimbaits here in MA 10 years ago. Slammer is my OG Swimbait but don’t nearly use them as much as I used to. Still got like 20 of them. The DS baits have been my number one baits recently. Love the glides, the freestyle 3 piece, the ninja wake and crawler. Real preys always my number 1 soft bait. The psycho gill has been great. Haven’t been throwing the big baits nearly as much as I used too. Took a step back from it. Focused mostly on just catching fish. I need to get back at it. Fish hard again

3 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

yoooo what’s up Jesse. You already know about me bro.

Ladies and gents. Swimbait stud helped me get into the Swimbaits here in MA 10 years ago. Slammer is my OG Swimbait but don’t nearly use them as much as I used to. Still got like 20 of them. The DS baits have been my number one baits recently. Love the glides, the freestyle 3 piece, the ninja wake and crawler. Real preys always my number 1 soft bait. The psycho gill has been great. Haven’t been throwing the big baits nearly as much as I used too. Took a step back from it. Focused mostly on just catching fish. I need to get back at it. Fish hard again

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!

On 2/3/2026 at 9:07 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

Now I fish a Clutch Glide and Eco a lot, plus I just got a Baby Boss last fall.

How are you liking the Baby Boss?

I've only thrown mine a few times with no luck.

I literally just tried getting a Micro Boss about 10 minutes ago but I hopped on too late, all sold out.

I need to head out some day and only bring my swimbait rod. Otherwise I try it some, don't get any hits, and then switch back to the "regular stuff".

11 hours ago, Swimbaitstud said:

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!

Hell yea dude! Been on here for a few years. Good place tons of info. Conventional stuff is fun and can be just as good. Had a 20lb bag of winter bass flipping jigs to trees a few years ago. Probably couldn’t have done that fishing a swimbait. That’s the way I look at it! Just another tool in the box. But I can’t get bit on a herring bite without fishing a big bait

3 hours ago, HawkeyeSmallie said:

...I need to head out some day and only bring my swimbait rod. Otherwise I try it some, don't get any hits, and then switch back to the "regular stuff".

I did this several years ago and it was all over for me. Now i struggle to bring anything smaller than an spro King Daddy

I throw a lot of 8-10" glides. I have noticed my size doesn't go up when I throw something 12" and my catch rates fall off drastically.

I mainly throw custom resin glides and 4-5 oz wakes.

Mass yak. I got a CL8 possum haven’t gotten bit on it yet! Any tips?

My fav big bass lure is an actual musky lure. The Bucher Topraider, and the Super Topraider. I don't know why these aren't popular with bass fisherman, these baits are amazing.

4 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

Mass yak. I got a CL8 possum haven’t gotten bit on it yet! Any tips?

I've really only used mine in the fall, once the weeds die back I'll target big laydowns in transition areas and try to crank it as deep as I can to get it to deflect off the wood.

11 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

Mass yak. I got a CL8 possum haven’t gotten bit on it yet! Any tips?

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

12 hours ago, Swimbaitstud said:

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

Yea I should specify I only throw the baby one. The adult is a tank.

10 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

Yea I should specify I only throw the baby one. The adult is a tank.

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