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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to the whole community May we all be well and break PBs in '22

Started throwing swim baits at the beginning of this year when I moved to a house with a river full of striper in the back yard. Had a goal to catch a 40 pounder but didn’t expect it to happen so soon. The sneaky Pete has caught me countless 10-15 pounders but this big girl ate the megadog back in august. She was 47” long with a 27” girth. Any advice one weighing fish of this size is greatly appreciated. I didn’t want to hang her off a hook so I weighed her in a net. She was released strong and healthy. My net weighed 1.9 pounds

Super stoked to stick some fish on the Wildbeat and ol reliable produces as always.

Baby possum all the way if you’re set up can handle it. Weighs 4.5oz and is one of the bigger rats around. It has a unique “squeak” from the joint hardware and reverse cut. a lot of people complain that the bait has a lot of “drag” and feels heavier than it is. I don’t feel that way. the bait is pretty much a New England staple (or it was at one point) the crankdown version was a dsouth idea and that bait also gets chewed his wake model wakes and maybe gets down 2’ on a faster start up. The crankdown runs 3-4’ but he also makes an extra deep that gets down to 8’

There is no swimbait fishing in NJ - LOL. Like others have said color isn’t that critical - rat baits generally push a lot of water so god knows what he fish are seeing. I crushed this year on the Mischief Rat from @SacPig916 - my best NJ fish came in at 5 and half pounds on the rat.

Got one to go on what's more than likely my last time out this year. Nothing to write home about, but it felt good to set the hook on something and it still be there lol tight lines and merry Christmas boys.

Parents hit a home run this year!

Looks like butch liked his present!

color doesn't really matter...if you think about how fish are looking at the bait, they're looking at it from the bottom with more light above it, making it just a black silhouette...so really, the pattern that gives you the most confidence is all that really matters

It’s the end of the year so per usual here’s my bloopers video… audio is raw so it’s pretty rough at times. The end clip of me falling in actually happened in Feb so the water was 44 degrees… not a fun ride to the boat ramp. Lol. Thanks for taking the time to watch and any likes or comments are super appreciated as well as any new subs…

Merry Christmas everyone. Kid and I made a gingerbread Lambeau Field, ready for the Packers game!

Merry Christmas! Hope you all get some great baits and stick giants with them! My family nailed it!

I live in Arkansas, so my 2 cents may not be as applicable to your waters. The animals that swim around here (rats, nutrea, muskrat, etc) if you chase them in your boat or kayak they dive when you get close. I think this is common for animals evading a predator. If you pay attention to bass behavior, when something flees or changes course quickly, it can create a reaction strike. I think the cranking of rat baits can imitate the fleeing animals well and get you strikes. As to the Cl8, the one I had seemed to be a more subtle rat. There are some rats that are much wider and noisy. I use to follow the theory that loud and noisy top water was the way to go. This was because I wanted to imitate an animal that was struggling in the water. The more time I spend on the water the more I just see animals swimming around regularly and not struggling at all. I think I will personally pick up another baby possum in the spring to imitate a more subtle swimming animal. IDK if any of this helps lol

And a stones throw from my house!! It was a riot!! Might have to trade in the old ranger for a river boat to keep chasing those stripes!! Merry Christmas Everyone!!

That’s the correct way for a Spiral wrap set up. the guides should turn the opposite way as the side of the reel handle 90-95% of the guys are fishing the wrong way. it’s a gimmick and more of a visual thing on swimbait rods, it was originally designed for short stout rods think stand up fighting boat rods (6’ and under boat/tuna rods) paired with super heavy reels (penn 100-500 size reels) basically makes no difference on rods over 6-6.5’ feet. there’s some great YouTube videos showing how it works side by side on some heavy gear. fishing a spiral wrapped right rod with a right handled reel completely removes any advantages of a spiral wrap it’s popular in the swimbait world cause of certain builders and guys are use to it and it’s the norm now

merry christmas su fam. It’s been a blessing being a part of the community and meeting so many good people/ friends.

Thank you @Rogervang! This thing is bad ass and will definitely be using!

Congrats to @119bowhunteron winning the December SUB tournament. Please contact @swimbaitundergroundfor you prize pack

Found my crank down . Merry Christmas SU!

I like the split ring/solid ring combo! I do use some snaps as well. And I’ve never had a piece of terminal tackle fail, or even come close. Just my knots!

Got some trout going...

My go to color on the cl8 crankdown baby possum Is chipmunk and wake it’s light pink. like others said pick what you want and fish it. The more you like it and keep it tied on and throw it the more it will get bit

Confidence is key with throwing swimbaits. If you have confidence in a color or bait you will throw it longer and it will get bit more. Just pick the color you like best. If you want to throw a hot pink rat it won't matter much to the fish. The rat you have picked out gets bit. It is a good, proven bait. Just pick the color you like to look at and will throw the most. If the rats you see are mostly brown, go brown.

Got my lead pot and weighted the bait. It’s just over 3oz. Actually had decent action with rod twitches and reel bumps and that’s how I like a bait to react. Could be a little heavier to help it get down and it’s a bit nose heavy but I think it’ll actually get bit for me .Now I have to make a tail and maybe add some detail but honestly my goal was to get a bait not to flop over and be a complete disaster lol. So, this is a small win for me. IMG_0004.MOV

Oh my

The grind for a slot snook continues extremely aggressive eats and amazing fighters definitely my favorite fish to target with swimbaits.

Added to the krr collection

Couple new UFO’s to the lineup.

Here it is with all the spice. Dropped it in a bucket to see how it would float, It really likes to float and sit on its side. I feel like it gonna take a lot of lead to get to a sink rate.