deep

Thank You Mickey! I will send an email later today! That's very nice of you Mr. Ellis. Any chance of a bluegill wake jr in the future?

One of those. Or a Revo Toro 51. Plenty of reels to choose from, but a 300 size works better than a standard lo-pro 200 reel.

My b. Didn't mean to come across like that. Sorry. I didn't know you were fishing for muskies and pike. They hold up well enough to bass..

Durability was suspect? I fished one slow-sink hardgill throughout the last year, caught dozens of fish, and didn't have any of the issues you speak off. Broken fins? Really? If you don't trust his baits, don't buy them. As far as I'm concerned, he made the best bluegill baits. EVER. And he made it even better. (Go ahead and flame me on that *best bluegill bait* thingy, I don't care.) Even if you have a broken fin or something, all you need to do is drop a line to Matt, and he'll take care of it. His customer service is awesome. No, I haven't fished his newer hard-gill. I do have one, but haven't got the chance to wet it.

ROF12 weedless hudd is one of my main baits, and I can tell you that 80 lb samurai with a 25 lb leader is the real deal for it. I use a Mattlures MH rod with a Toro winch 51 on it.

I have two 300 size lo-pro reels for my smaller swimbaits (curado301E, toro winch 51). I know lots of folks use and are happy with 200 size reels, but I won't consider using any of them for swimbaits. My Curado (6.3:1, 28 IPT) is spooled with 15 lb Yo-Zuri hybrid. I mostly use it for hardbaits. The Wake- Jr is the biggest bait I throw on this. The Toro Winch 51 (4.6:1, 22 IPT) is spooled with 80 lb Daiwa Samurai + 20/25 lb test leader. I use it for weedless hudds and hudd 68s, and other soft baits like mattlures tourney series, matt's bluegills, rising son, osprey talons etc. I'm a Shimano guy through and through. But the Curado has too fast a gear ratio IMO for slow-rolling big baits, although it can be done. The Toro Winch though has (very pleasantly) surprised me. I'm leery of Abu Garcia reels in general, but this one is a gem. It's actually difficult to backlash on this reel; always a factor if you're using braid. P.S. I have thrown 8" hudds on the Toro, and it works well. However, I prefer my Cardiff 401A for the proper big baits.

15 lb dia (20 lb test) yo-zuri hybrid works fine for me in open water. I read somewhere that heavy line (over 20 lb) deadens the action.. I retie a lot though, even when I'm not catching fish.

We did something like this on another forum. The guy with "the biggest percentage of his state record" won bragging rights.

That's a pretty neat trick. I'll have to get both baits I guess lol.

Sounds good! Thanks.

I've never fished one, so I'd like some ideas please. I recently bought one of Matt's floating U2 flat-tails. I'm thinking about deadsticking it in likely locations when other baits fail. Or put it over a bass in a bed. Does that sound about right? Do floating soft baits work well as follow-up baits? Say I see a follower on a wake-bait that doesn't commit. Do you go back after a while to the location and deadstick a ROF 0 hudd or something like that? What are the usual (weather) conditions when you like to fish such baits? Do you ever actually swim/ work a ROF 0 hudd, as in slow-rolling it? Last question, I'm looking to get a floating trout soft bait. Would you recommend a 8" ROF 0 hudd or a Mattlures 7" flat tail trout? Matt's bait, as is the norm, looks absolutely sick. And I'm a big fan of Matt. Thanks a lot.