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She was up tight in 2 FOW on a wind battered bank.

The @Jinxd12 wake got me a great fish to start the Battle. Unfortunately, that was the best I could do. Congratulations to @119bowhunter on the win! jinxdWake2ForIG.mp4

Thanks everyone! I had to do my best Matt Peters impression to pull it off, but awesome that a Carolina fish was able to win it. It was a ton of fun competing against everyone, thanks again to the SU crew for putting this on and can’t wait to try and make it back in next year!

Caught another good taco fish today. Also caught a 13" fish that was nearly 2 and a half pounds. These fish are eating good lol

We don't have trout here in FL but our fish destroy a Huddleston just fine. I think they mimic catfish and mudfish perfectly. I would start there and some sunfish imitations as well.

congrats @119bowhunter for winning the 2022 Battle for the Underground! Please contact @swimbaitunderground for your prize pack!

I’ve caught bass here on trout colored glides, wakes and soft baits…we have no trout here. That said, the one color I’ve always had success with on any lake I’ve ever fished (I’ve fished a lot) is a Shad color. In cold water, I’ve found bait size and retrieve speed to be the primary key to catching bass on soft baits.

Looks like the savage gear hook

If you wanna talk real value economics It comes down to willingness to pay. There is not a set value as the utility of this object is limited to fishing, which for most of us amounts to a leisure activity. There are also a number of substitutes for one specific bait so the question becomes how rational are the consumers that you are marketing? An irrational consumer will pay whatever they perceive the value to be as an individual. A rational consumer will realize that it’s just a fishing lure and they can probably use something to similar effect at a lower price point. So post it for whatever price you want but anybody that buys fishing lures and expects to sell them to someone else for a profit is effectively playing a greater fool’s game, aka finding a greater fool to pawn it off on. This is why you see dudes posting baits for hundreds of dollars, cause depending on the “hype” someone may be willing to pay far more than it’s utility warrants. But as far as inherent value, can’t really set a price on it other than what the manufacturer has priced it at based on the cost of materials/time/distribution costs. Again this is subjective because one builder may value his time more than another, and others will simply price gouge if they think the market has the correct willingness to pay. one of the reasons you’re seeing the black market slowing down is because of the current situation in the economy, people are are starting to realize that they don’t have the extra money to throw at unnecessary commodities, opting instead to save their money for essentials like food and fuel. In other words people are becoming more rational as their life situations get tighter financially.

I’ve wanted to catch a muskie for as long as I’ve been fishing. Here in MD muskies are quite rare outside the Potomac river. I’ve seen them either washed up dead or very rarely swimming around. I even had a follow from one that I estimate was in the upper 40s earlier this spring but no commits. Well today it finally happened. I hooked this beautiful fish on the 86 Doomrider in a current seam. The fish put up a great fight with multiple runs and jumps. I found myself loosening the drag and praying my 17lb fluorocarbon would hold. Fish taped at 40.5” and swam off strong.

Hey guys, new here. Wanted to post my first homemade swimbait, a wake gill. I currently have a bull frog wake in the works and will post that when it is finished. looking for any and all feedback especially from experienced makers. Seem to have the only trouble in process with the last/ final coat (epoxy) what do you suggest for final coat? looking for something that sets fairly quick but still goes on easy, getting inconsistencies in this last step.

Working on a smaller version of the mullet glide. The original version was 9", swam well, but I wanted to add a couple of things to this 6" version to change up look and improve swim action, including a lexan tail and dorsal fin. I went with poplar wood, as with most prototypes. I save cypress wood for the final drafts. I plan to paint it up tonight, so more pics to come!

https://www.dockratlures.com/products

Pig

phoney shad, but buy it second hand

Yes sir! This bait got bit by big fish for me as soon as I started fishing it. See my June 2022 SUB win. That catch was about 10 minutes of fishing the bait for the first time!

Trout trout and trout lol maybe try something different with a gill style but in the colder months most of the gills are gonna go deeper and hold on structure while the trout start to roam the shallows as the water cools & don't forget all the trout plants are about to start in most of the nor cal lakes . Believe Reese or Newman won a classic on clear lake with a trout color hudd clear lake has zero trout .

I have zero trout in my home waters. But do have a lot of panfish. I will throw trout styles baits. However, If given the option, I will opt for perch, silver or green patterned baits. I’m not even sure if color matters to the bass, but it gives me confidence I’m trying to match the forage species. I think the subtle action is more important, especially when going slow and low.

Great job. Congrats

Congrats dude. Solid fish

Thank you sir

My fish are up shallow feasting rn so it's perfect because I can keep it up.

Lunch break update #2: started rough cutting the lateral profile…still a long way to go with the blade

That bait is gone...

7/0, no center pin, sounds like a Trokar

Gamakatsu Weighted Superline Spring Lock Hook 4pk

Berkley Fusion19 Hooks Weighted Swimbait 4pk

Most brands screw lock don’t have the center pin. Trokar does make a 7/0 in a different style other than those @pschueller posted. Just go to tackle warehouse and look at swimbait hooks and scroll down to the weighted hooks. You will recognize the profile much easier than we can. Best of luck.

I didn't watch your video, but could they be Trokar? https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Lazer_Trokar_Weighted_Mag_Swimbait_HookKelp_Trick/descpage-TMSW.html

LowSpinner ...right on the money. These handles & knobs are alot easier/simple than any I know of. Very strong & smooth. You gonna love em.

The way I would go about the eye screws really depends to me on how the eye screw is going to be used. If your using it for the joint with a pin, I just buy closed stainless eye screws from one of the lure part suppliers like lure parts online/barlows/Janns Netcraft. I use .072" and .092" around 1.5-2" depending on the bait. Mostly the .072". For the pin I just buy stainless finishing nails from the hardware store. Pre drill small pilot holes before screwing stuff in to not crack stuff out. If you are building a joint with two connected eye screws and no pin, I would buy stainless leader wire (get it from the the same lure part suppliers) and twist my own with a drill. Twist one, run your next wire through the loop and twist it and you have two connected eye screws that aren't going to open up once anchored. There are plenty youtube videos on that. Just need to make sure you anchor them straight and not crooked so you don't end up with a quirky hinge that swims weird. I don't do these style eye screws for a joint with a pin, because that style joint I pull the pin and tune and prefer the straight prefabbed eye screws for a joint I'm going to tune. These twisted eye screws normally have a slight bend to them when you build your own, but that gets anchored in the bait. Because of the slight bend they don't work as well for tuning a joint, but for this style joint you are just going to more or less set and forget, twisting your own works well. A lot of times you can get a tighter joint with smaller twisted loops and they are super strong, not going to open up and the "threads" you create have a lot better holding power and surface area. You don't have to go super heavy on your wire twisting your own. Really .035-.041" does the trick for me, the wire gets a lot harder to manage heavier than that. If you want to go bigger diameter, you'd want to source a wire material that is more malleable than the leader wire. I just trust that stuff to not rust and use it already in various other things. For use for hook hangers or one piece baits without a joint, I use a mixture of both that I mentioned above. Smaller baits I twist my own for a few reasons. One they are smaller loops and wire diameter, so they fit smaller split rings better without opening them up much. Better holding power in a shorter distance anchoring in the bait so I don't have to worry about needing a longer screw in a smaller bait. They are lighter. I don't have to worry about added weight in my eye screws in places I may not want the weight, I can do it all with my ballast. In big baits, I just roll with the prefabbed eye screws in like .072" and then I'm running a big enough split ring that opening it up that big to attach it isn't going to weaken it as bad as a smaller spilt ring. Also in smaller baits you could buy belly weighted hook hangers if you need to weight the bait where your hook also needs to go. I also build with swivel hook hangers too, but that's not a good place to start for a beginner. If you want something along those lines, just start out with eye screws and use soft split rings or swivel hooks and save the swivel hook hangers for a later day after you get a few more baits under your belt. I'm not sure what tools you have to cut with, but lets say you have a band saw. cut your bill slot while your wood is still square and circuit board bills fit the width of a bill slot cut by a band saw well. If you cut the bill slot on a table saw, lexan is going to fit better. You can cut your own either way or buy them in the shape and size you want already. I wouldn't cut my own unless i had a belt/disc sander to do my final shaping of the bill. If you're just getting started, I'd just buy them cut already. I would seal the wood with extra thin super glue (lots of fumes off that, so good ventilation and wear a mask). Then go over that again with a good self leveling 30 minute epoxy. That will seal the bait rock hard and give you a smooth surface if you decide to paint it. If you paint it, scuff the epoxy a little with like 220-320 sandpaper first. From there its a toss up on what everyone uses for primers, adhesion promoters, and paint. Dependent on what you use, each stuff has its own compatibility. The epoxy can also be used for your clear coat. I use BSI (bob smith industries) 30 minute epoxy. It self levels for me well without needing a turner, but you might need to depending on you heat and humidity, a lot of epoxies do. For me it works well for sealing and clearing. I'm sure some will mention KBS and maybe they can offer more insight with better luck, but I haven't been impressed with it. Also if your dealing over wood, the epoxy is a thicker added layer of protection to the wood itself. And the epoxy is probably a little safer to work with and easier to store. Aerosol clears just aren't going to provide the protection I'm looking for unless you go to like and automotive clear in an aerosol can like spray max 2k... but its pricey and really once you use it, you don't have long to use the can, you really need a lot of baits ready for clear to get your use out of it. There's other automotive clears out there to spray through a gun, but that and the spray max, it's pretty rough stuff. I'd avoid that at all costs. It's not stuff to casually mess around with. "Good ventilation" isn't adequate with it, you really have to be set up with the right spray booth to do that stuff safe. We aren't just talking wearing a mask... You need a vented set up pulling that stuff away, an air supplied mask bringing you fresh air from another area, and really a suit to cover your skin. Solvents in those automotive clears will absorb through skin, so its more that just ventilation. I'd high recommend not taking automotive clear as a recommendation, and sticking to something safer.

Ouch! Nice catch on the fish, not so nice on the hand! Way to go though.