1 hour ago, PhishLI said:

Last night just before I went out, I decided to rig this bait on a short 25lb Big Game leader to a swivel. Good thing as this Pickeral choked the bait. The top hook was deep in the roof of its mouth. The leader was shredded, but it held up.

Nice gator. I’ve got pickerel that stole my lure. Had a pick broke off a t rig. Next cast got the pick

I forgot about this one…..the bait was not mine per se. But I had a guy who wanted me to find him a Drt frenzy when they were first released in Japan. For anyone who doesn’t know, it’s basically a 16.9” klash. There’s were only a few at this time that had made their way to the U.S. and this guy wanted one bad. In the end, he gave me $1,050 for the one I was able to import. I’m not sure where I draw my line on a bait, but it’s definitely less than that lol

I have several glide/swim baits over $100. They definitely have more action than the "cheaper" baits like Savage Gear. Are they better? Well, those baits are kinda in a league of their own, so it's hard to say. I think they're built better though.

I have too many "expensive" hard and soft baits to mention - Evergreen, Megabass, Nishine, Deps, RAID, Gan Craft, etc. I like the JDM baits. They align with the "you get what you pay for" in terms of quality. But are they "better"? Like any bait, there's a time and place when they're best used; and then "yes", they are "better".

35 minutes ago, Glenn said:

"yes", they are "better".

You just made the Bait Monkey very happy.

You know, I used to look at the price of a bladed jig and laugh, "I'll stick with my 5 dollar Originals," I would say. Now I have a 3700 box full of them. Looked at the price of Vision 110s and said the same thing, pushing a couple dozen of them now....

Fingers crossed I don't follow that pattern with the big swimbaits.

13 hours ago, Aaron_H said:

You know, I used to look at the price of a bladed jig and laugh, "I'll stick with my 5 dollar Originals," I would say. Now I have a 3700 box full of them. Looked at the price of Vision 110s and said the same thing, pushing a couple dozen of them now....

Fingers crossed I don't follow that pattern with the big swimbaits.

It’s a slippery slope. One you’re griping about $50 spro Chad shad and then one day you wake and your garage looks like this 🤣

18 minutes ago, Swimbaitstud said:

It’s a slippery slope. One you’re griping about $50 spro Chad shad and then one day you wake and your garage looks like this 🤣

That is my dream garage. All tackle, and no car.

1 hour ago, king fisher said:

That is my dream garage. All tackle, and no car.

Haha for real. The boat uses it through winter haha

My too big spro rat is actually the 50 and I have been using the 40. Bass up here usually top out at 5 lbs.

My current most expensive bait is the fish everything fe12 which cost me 150 for a blank. This bait as far as I know is the lightest 12” glide on the market coming in at only 6.7oz, pretty remarkable considering most glides in that class weigh from 9-11oz. Makes it easy to fish all day while still having massive draw power.

I’ve owned more expensive baits in the past which I can say 100% were not worth it.

On 3/22/2026 at 8:25 PM, Cdn Angler said:

My too big spro rat is actually the 50 and I have been using the 40. Bass up here usually top out at 5 lbs.

I have caught dozens of fish between 1-2lbs on the 50 size. Further, I’ve caught HUNDREDS of fish on baits twice that size. Don’t be fooled by what you might think of preferred meal size of a bass. Typically, I don’t fish a spro 50 cuz it’s too small. I do much better on wakes much bigger. For size AND numbers!

I’m a soft plastic guy for the most part, starting to dig into Crankbaits though.

I may be one of the few, but I don’t spend over 10-15 dollars for lures, if it’s any higher than that, I won’t buy it.

8" Triple Trout. Never threw the thing (like most my big swimbaits). Sold it to a buddy's Dad. I think he hung it up in his man cave. Haha. Most expensive bait I throw regularly is probably an Ito Vision 110.