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Got to fish this pond when I was a kid and never thought I’d be able to fish it again after the owners moved out. Fast forward about 15 years, pretty cool to catch a decent fish from the same pond I caught my first fish ever. A super skinny 6.12, but haven’t caught a fish with a head this big in a while now. Sly gill continues to put in work

They all work pretty good. It’s good insurance and gives you an advantage to recovering some of the more expensive baits we all use these days. Having a background in metalworking and fabrication, I started making them out of a necessity, when I realized I needed one. The design principles of all “bait knocker” or “lure retriever” are pretty simple: the device hooks on the line, slides down the line, hopefully it knocks the bait free. If that doesn’t happen to work, the second thing a person can do is to work the retriever, and try and get the hooks snagged in the chains. Which you can untimely bend out and recover the bait. This particular one comes in about 1.5lbs. The head is tapered to deflect as you pull it up. The chain is removable is so desired to use it as a knocker only. Disclaimer: I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel here. It’s a simple basic tool to aid the angler in recovering baits.

Finally got out to visit my grandparents out in connecticut, a yearly tradition I haven't gotten to do since 2018 thanks to the pandemic and all sorts of other drama. Fish weren't nearly as active as we've seen them in the past, but we found a few groups of feeding fish over a three day period and absolutely POUNDED them on big baits. My grandfather is a fly fishing purist, and usually anchovy and squid pattern flies are the modus operandi on his boat. This time I brought some swimbait gear to see how the salty bass felt about the tackle I throw at little largies. Initially my grandfather was pretty skeptical of the big bait's effectiveness "oh you gotta put that sh*t down an pick up the 8wt, they're eating squid, they won't touch that sh*t" but after we got the fish dialed in he became convinced that any cast that didn't produce a fish was indicative of a lack of fish in the area and we'd move spots. Really need to put a swimbait bag together just for doing stripers, this was one of the best big fish trips I've ever had, usually the bulk of the fish we catch are 20" schoolies but I managed to completely avoid those fish while my grandpa had to sort through schoolie after schoolie on the fly. The big striper, while not measured or weighed, certainly blows my old PB out of the water. In my 12 year old memory the fish in that polaroid was twice as big as the biggest striper of this trip. Sadly I lost an even bigger fish on the punker since I had it rigged with owner ST-36s which all got straightened out while trying to back the fish away from some lobster pots.

Got this little guy slow swimming the mattlures gill... Hungry guy thought he was getting a tbone steak meal lol

These are the 2 I received. The smaller one is perfect for a backpacker, but definitely nice for a boat guy also.

@Mossyback Anglerhas a nice lure retriever he’s been making. Got a small and large one from him. Thankfully not used yet, but there will definitely be a time I don’t want to swim!

I grabbed a 44 Mag knocker from Tackle Warehouse. Thing works like a charm!

Toothyfisherman on Facebook (I think) makes a solid retriever…100% success rate so far from a kayak

I will start by saying that I do not have the H. I opted to go with the MH and the XH as the overlap between those two works well for me and the H seemed a bit redundant for my needs. I have thrown the 250 on my XH and it seemed like it was right in that rods sweet spot, so it very well may be too much for the H, but I could certainly be wrong on that and welcome H owners to chime in regarding that speculation. Onto your question regarding the MH. That is a subject near and dear to me since I bought the MH SPECIFICALLY to throw the Chad Shad and other similar baits. That rod is absolutely PERFECT for that bait as well as baits like the Tiny Klash paired with a fast reel (I got the Conquest 200XG from Japan). Having said all of that, with there being so much overlap in the Omega line, the H very well may be their sort of do-it-all rod that can go from the Chad to the 250 if you’re trying to stick to one.

C2C on a 23” 5-3 string bean. Wish I caught this fish during prespawn. A few others to go with it.

Not stainless. No need for the extra cost for the material in my personal opinion. To me it’s a tool. You don’t leave a high end bait to sit in damp conditions, so this should be no different. If corrosion is a concern, they can be painted or even coated with Zinc-It. Which is a cold zinc material. But it dries to look like gray primer.

Awesome fish! Stripers on big baits is a great time

So sick. Nice fish man.

I currently have a pole lure retriever I use for a shallow reservoir that works well. I also need to purchase one for the large, deep lakes though. Very interested to hear what works best.

I completely understand that! I did the same (with another brand) when I first decided to get into swim baits and it worked great for a good while, but I found that I was trying to put a square peg through a round hole when it came to my lighter AND heavier end of the spectrum baits and came to the conclusion that for my needs and the baits that I like to throw, I really needed to branch out a bit with my rods. If you have a certain weight range that you know you like to stay in, there is a lot to be said about keeping it simple and having one rod that can handle those baits effectively and efficiently. I’m just too all over the place for my own good haha!

Just like any other top water lowlight conditions do nest but there's guys who smash on wakes middle of the day if it's super hot

I don't normally target smallies since there aren't many places for them around me, so this could be different for you. But one thing I would recommend is to try a super slow retrieve. Just enough to get some action in the bait. I get lots of bites on that slow retrieve.

Nice! Bet you called the shot on that one.

Crawlers!

Struggling to get quality bites during the day right now… Finally made some time to hit the night shift and it payed off 7lbs 2oz IMG_3285.mov

Upgraded with the Ocmulgee Lures Souix Shad crankdown made by @SouthenSwimbait right before a storm rolled in. 20230717_114303.mp4

The @Jinxd12 gill does it again! It should have weighed so much more... GH010937.MP4