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NOPE. No one holds a steak in front of my face when I'm railing my wife.

Idk about ethical, but probably not conservational. Wanna ensure bass get a good spawn each year? Don’t catch ‘em all off their beds. Dont even get me started on the guys who brag about their huge PB they caught off a bed….

Word, I've got an glide made from a master I have molded, I've never gifted or sold ( I don't really sell anything lol) any glides so it's technically unreleased lol 20240507_161012.mp4

Well , I had pictures of everything from scratch. Ended up switching phones in the middle of it. Going to be dipping tomorrow or in the next few days!! 20240507_120944.mp4

Bought the Leviathan XH to essentially replace my dobyns 867. I honestly was so tired of transporting the super long 867 and it just felt cumbersome. If there’s anyone out there considering doing the same thing… just do it. The Leviathan feels like it was built for me even though it’s a production model. Super light, chucks a 250 like nothing, and has a really nice action for hard baits. I’m very impressed

Like swimbaitstud said, as long as you don’t brag about a bed fish I don’t have a problem. I don’t agree with putting them in live wells for tourneys, definitely isn’t on the side of conservation. If I see a giant on a bed I’m still gonna take a couple casts though lol

Fished a little lake I usually do with glide on. Not sure if it was fishing pressure or bite just off but they wanted the hudd. Using the ROF 5 top hook. Ended up with 5 for 25lbs.

Chesty connected to a battery bank in my pocket.

I don't judge anyone for bedfishing. It does bother me when there are tournaments though, and they get taken off their beds and released a mile away from their bed after weigh ins. I rarely bedfish myself though. Can probably count on one hand how many bedfish I've caught. And I'd never count a dd or mount it if I plucked it off a bed. Jmo

Bed fishing is lame and unethical. however, C&R fishing is not ethical Either. Popping a hole in a bass' mouth to take a pic and then release is ridiculous. Keeping fish in a live well stressed out for hours is ridiculous. Causing unnecessary stress in a fish while fighting it for our pleasure is ridiculous. The whole industry is built around egos and trophies. There is nothing sporting about our hobby, no matter how we present it. I stopped fishing greenbass and started chasing saltbass for this reason. I can't bring myself to rip another hole in a fish I do not intend to kill and eat. I do not care what others do, but I laugh anytime I hear a c&r guy give someone ish over bedfishing.

Please give any other feed back if you want.

Decided this year I’d get into the big bait/swimbait game. I’ve been buying and testing out a bunch of new baits and equipment for the last two months and having a blast. Things are slowly coming together. Last night I got home from work and had a package from DRT waiting for me. I threw the different TK lips and tails in my bag and jumped on the huffy to hit the local reservoir to do some more testing. I’ve been liking the no lip, mode B so I figured I’d throw on a V tail and see how that looks. I was practicing dead sticking in the main part of the lake when this fella smashed it. Had both hooks buried. Safe to say I’m becoming a big believer in the Tiny Klash. This catch was from a few weeks ago. She was back shallow in a cove and curious but didn’t intend to eat it just bumped it to see what it was but as she slowly backed away so did my lure so I set the hook! A little over 2.5 pounds. First two fish of the year. Both were caught on the Daiwa Kyohga spooled with 15lb Yo Zuri Hybrid mounted on a MB Valkyrie World Expedition 7’8”H.

Usually, I hate pickerel. They ruin my softbaits, recently they took the tail off my yunique gill. Yesterday however I landed these freaking beast of a slime missile. Came off a tk dead walking. Massive hit, barely any fight. As for measurements easily above 5 pounds. I didn't wanna get my scale out, its freakin pickerel at the end of the day

In

I do not tighten the wing bracket screws fully. My brackets actually have a little play in them. If you have Instagram go to @ develop mental baits and there is a tuning video

I’ve been filming with a go pro 11 on a chesty. I think it’s the best view from your body. I tried filming with a camera on my hat but I look around too much while I’m fishing. I do not recommend this camera. It over heats with the internal battery within an hour and shuts the camera off. The only way I’ve found to beable to film for any length of time is to use an external battery but that creates its own problems as the camera is designed to run with the internal battery in the camera.

Can somone explain the process here, I said "in" earlier, but I'm a little confused on how we receive the code, and what counts as a swimbait, like would a crawler count? or DRT Joker?

I turn mine slightly forward until I barely can see through the eye. I do both the same short cast and go from there.

Only been throwing swim baits for about a month and the fish keep getting bigger! Caught this 6 pounder this afternoon on the Spro chad shad. First time throwing this bait too! Also caught a 4.5 & a 4 last weekend on the Megabass I-Slide 187. Safe to say I'm hooked!

Beautiful catch. Persistence will pay off and that Florida DD will come sooner than expected.

You’re gonna wanna bend the screw eyes that sit behind the wing slightly forward so they are not perpendicular to the bait, not like a full 45 degrees but you want them angled forward slightly. Then your gonna want to grab the wing itself and twist those slightly forward as well so they sit with the cupped side facing slightly down towards the water, again these are slight angles nothing too exaggerated. This is the best tune for the fpj imo. The more perpendicular wing angle like you have it works better on the one piece monkas I’ve found but I mostly fish the two piece. Last note if the wing is sticking halfway you may need to tighten/loosen the bracket that holds the wing to the bait since it’s probably catching somewhere on that inner edge of the wing that rubs on the body from being too tight or creating a binding point in the joint itself from being too loose

Actually there is a reasonable way to give the species a chance to procreate in some bodies of waters that could support it: On my home waters there is an off limit, restricted area to any and all anglers from fishing. When they designed this reservoir, fisheries management took into the consideration the angling pressure this resevoir would receive. So there is a good sized area , that was created with the natural surroundings that were flooded to create a habit for bass to breed without angler pressure. Can I say it works with scientific backing? No, I’m no biologist. What I can tell from an anglers perspective is this body of water has a healthy population of quality large and smallmouth bass. So instead of a “closed season”, I think this is a great alternative. This is by no means a perfect solution. Anglers still fish outside edges of the area trying to catch them coming or going depending on the time of year. But it at least gives those fish who bed down, a chance to breed, and go through the natural process of procreation without being disturbed.

This is probably an unpopular opinion but it is kind of how I see it too. I do catch and release but I see alot of people so proud of catch and release like they are being so nice and caring to the fish or that they are a savior for the fish from death and I’m thinking “did you forget you are the one that put the fish in a life threatening position to begin with”? You hooked a fish in the mouth, possibly the gills, drug it through the water lifted it out of the water by its mouth, held it by its mouth. Kept it out of the water where it can’t breath to take pictures of it. Put the fish through all of this including a good chance of death for your enjoyment but yet you are nice and caring for the fish because you released it. I love fishing but people need to be honest with themselves about this “caring for the fish stuff”

Been using GoPros since they came out till now, I use the Insta360 with invisible selfie stick Costco bundle, here’s a c2c video: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6V1PRXL1n3/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== Works amazing, can make drone like footage, and instead of having a ton of batteries I run it via usb to a power source and use a 256gb memory card and run it all day with no issues

The whole "nobody tries to catch me when I'm f'n my wife" thing always confuses me... Like, are people putting treble hooks in your meals? Because if not, you probably shouldn't be fishing at all by that line of reasoning. When my buddy's kid is on the boat we're definitely searching for beds up here... Great fun.

That thing is sweet

30 lb shooter or 25 lb CXX for me I'm also not fishing super clear water, so diameter is not as big of an issue for me

The XH is killer. Feels like a lighter rod and tosses bigger baits to the moon! I use it for smaller soft baits as well and has the muscle to bury beast hooks just fine.

I’d take that any day.

Reason for the post... A few days ago, I broke my PB! The fish was hiding in a submerged tree/bush that was under 3-4' of water. The water was very dirty and only had about 1-2' of visibility. I caught the fish with a BPS Swerve glide bait. The Swerve has rattles and makes sound. My current favorite trout profile glide bait is the Baitsanity Antidote. The Baitsanity Antidote is a silent bait. The only sound you get is a 'clack' from the joint. I had previously worked the same spot with the Baitsanity Antidote and did not get any bites. I live in Cali and we had a pretty good winter this past year and last year. The reservoirs/lakes are at full capacity and they are actually releasing water. I noticed that this lake where I caught my PB was at full capacity and quite the opposite from what I am used to seeing the past couple of years with the CA droughts that we had. It was the first time I ever seen the lake having water spilling over the dam and into the river. I also went up river to the inlet and I noticed that there was a constant flow of dirty water from the lake above it and that made the upper half of the lake very dirty and muddy. Prior to all of this, I had been fishing the Baitsanity Antidote for close to a year. I noticed that I never got bit on the Baitsanity Antidote in dirty water from a few inches to 1' visibility. The only times I got bit were in clean water of 3' or more. There were times where I got bit in dirty water with 1' of visibility or less, but it was only because I was working the bait right over a spawning bed or close to a piece of cover I knew that was holding a fish. Prior to all of this, it never really crossed my mind to make sure I was fishing a bait with rattles/sound when fishing dirty water. I would just throw whatever I felt like throwing that day, regardless of water clarity and regardless if the bait had rattles/sound or not because I still consider myself a progressing swimbaiter and therefore, I felt I needed the experience and time on the water, regardless if the water is dirty or clean and regardless if the bait had rattles/sound or not. After catching my PB, I had a 'light bulb' moment and an epiphany and it finally made me realize that I should start fishing baits with rattles/sound in dirty water, since previously I never really cared and never gave it a thought. With all of that said, I am now in 'PANIC MODE' !!! I want to scoop up as many glide baits with rattles/sound as I can and try to capitalize on the high dirty water at this lake before spring ends! I want to BREAK my PB again! LOL! Sorry for the long reply/story.

20lb abrazx and let your line sink too. Wait a few seconds after the bait hits the bottom.

Master one bait before you buy the next, lol but i'm a hypocrite. I think tacticalbassin did a video for people that want to start swimbaiting, about the mentality, ect. I vaguely remember it being pretty helpful.

Don't waste your money on expensive glides. Just buy a Savage gear shine glide. One of the best glide bait out there that produces. If you're not catching fish on them, then you're doing something wrong.

Honestly man you’re probably better off just getting out there and fishing with what you’ve got so far. See what you can catch and what the fish in your area like. There’s a million different baits out there and you can only throw 1 at a time. You’ll spend thousands of dollars trying to buy the baits people recommend, probably best to just find what works for you and buy a couple of them. With that being said, If I had to say 1 bait an Illude rat either a rad 10 or a triple double, rats get bit and Illude rats are probably the best on the market. That’s just my 2 cents.

Have you spent time throwing the 300 sized reels? I really don’t think you need big hands at all for them to be comfortable. That being said, the revo beast is somewhere in between a 200 and 300 sized reel. According to @TTCal on tackle tour the line cap is 14/205. I recommend you read his review, particularly the design & ergonomics section. https://www.tackletour.com/reviewabugarciarevo4beast.html

Swimbait Review: Illude/Lunker Fighter Diesel Lizard and Diesel XL The Diesel Lizard from Lunker Fighters is a one piece billed wake and crank. The bait features a small lean bill, nice paint schemes, and a replaceable soft plastic tail. The Diesel comes in at 5" of body, 10 in full length, and 2 oz of resin. It's big brother, the Diesel XL is constructed as a 2 pc Lizard, and is a noticeably larger profile. The Diesel XL comes in at 6" of body 11.5 in full length, and 3.5 oz of resin. At a moderate/slow retrieve, The smaller Diesel Lizard swims in a waking fashion, with a wide back and forth head hunt. The bait seems to pivot on an imaginary axis right in the middle of the bait, with the rear section and tail swaying back and forth in opposition to the head. A slight amount of body roll is also present. The bill creates a subtle surface wake as it moves back and forth, staying up on the surface at these slower speeds. Increasing speed to moderate allows the bait to crank down a foot or 2, with similar but slightly wider hunting action. The bait maintains its controlled back and forth motion, again with the tail swaying along behind. Increasing the speed beyond moderate causes the bait to loose its consistent action, and cranks more like a hunting-style crankbait, kicking out randomly along its retrieve path. Walking the Diesel is quite easy, but it does not accept the traditional rod tip snaps as other similar baits might. Instead, easier rod tip pulls are what you are looking for, which will allow the bait to turn back and forth 180 degrees. Using a rod with a slower and more moderate tip also helps guide the bait along. Think about gentle, slow, and short impacts, as opposed to sudden hits. You can however add some gusto to your pulls, and the bait acts more like a surface popper, with the bill throwing water, and the bait will randomly dart out to one side or the other. Using forceful twitches will cause the bait to jump out of the water, so again think about pulls rather than twitches. It's bigger brother, the Diesel XL, follows the pattern of being a bait that excels in slow easy retrieve styles. The straight wake is achieved with a moderate/slow straight retrieve, producing a more fluid swimming style. As opposed to a hard bobbing head, the head and bill stays closer to center, and produces it swim with more of a roll than a back and forth. The swim is almost snake-like, with the soft plastic tail swimming behind the rear section. Slow and easy is the key, as I did not have success with faster retrieves or crankdown. Following suite, rod pulls allows the XL to walk in place, turning back and forth in 180 degree sashays. A surface commotion and slight splash is present, with the bait staying very horizontal on the surface. The illude tails in general have lots of action, and their floating ability tends to keep the baits level and upright along the retrieve. Adding speed is difficult, but as you gain a feel for the rod pulls, it can certainly be achieved. I threw the Diesel on a custom 7 ft 9 Heavy Levaithan and Curado 300E, and it's bigger XL brother on a standard Leviathan Heavy paired with a Tranx 400. Both setups were spooled up with 20 lb Copoly, although a mono would be just fine. I would hesitate to use braid, as the no-stretch may overwork the bait. I hope you have a wonderful Sunday, and have had a great summer thus far. Get out there and stick a few fish for me! See ya next Sunday.