RJOE

I spend time every week building baits for orders, developing new baits and testing baits. Some bait makers have gone to the release date system and I don't know much about this way of doing things but it does seem to create a certain anticipation factor. I am more comfortable getting orders in and shipping baits out on a more consistent basis. Joe

From A baitmakers perspective (Real Prey Swimbaits ) Almost all the baits are custom made one at a time as the orders come in. There are far to many models, sink rates and color combinations to try to have an inventory of each. The cost of the materials I use along with the time it takes to make and paint the baits also makes it tough to hold an inventory. If I charged any less than I do know my own pay rate would drop below minimum wage. Most of the reward for me comes in the stories, pictures and phone calls I receive from customers who almost always end up as friends. If any bait makers are getting wealthy doing this I can tell you I'm not one of them. Joe

I try to use straight braid as often as possible. I also tend to use lighter braid than most.

A little more carp trivia, Carp, mirror carp and koi are all the same species of fish. The koi were just bread for color. Just the same as all dog breeds are the same species. Given enough generations koi will go back to looking like regular carp. Goldfish are a closely related but different species.

After spawn bass will take a little while to recover but remember on any given body of water not all the bass are spawning at exactly the same time. It can spread out a month or more. Actively feeding fish can almost always be found. Murphys book is my favorite Joe

Nice fish Chuck, Not only raining but kind of cold out that day.

Sounds like these fish are just very aware of whats going on around them. You may find that switching to a drop shot doesn't help at all. I think what will get you these fish is fishing when most others won't, in the rain,wind,cold and dark.

Always nice largemouth and smallmouth as well as pike Dan. No ice fishing allowed, closes Oct 15. Always interesting to fish but gets busy in the summer with boaters. Joe

Urban raised some interesting questions about the 10 inch size baits and why other manufacturers don't offer them any more or are unwilling to start making them. What I found after talking to other bait makers and researching it myself is that the market for these baits is probably a lot smaller than you might think. There is a die hard group of guys that will throw a bait of this size but it is a small number compared with the amount of people who talk about it but are unwilling to commit. People get discouraged by the need for heavier gear, the physical effort involved, The patience needed to wait out the big bite and the cost of buying the bait. This does not mean there isn't a market just that time is better spent making baits that everyone will buy. To some extent the smaller market works for me. Because of the materials I chose to make my baits out of I am limited to the amount of baits I can produce anyways. Time has shown a lot of these guys what is worth making and what is not and from a business survival standpoint they do what makes the most sense. Also the investment to make larger baits is far greater than making smaller ones and mistakes are more costly and time consuming.

I suspect you may have gotten an early release prototype that was given out for free. These 10 inch baits run very true at any speed and kick at the slowest of speeds. Of course the balance of any bait can be thrown off if to much weight is added to the top. Send me a pic at realpreyswimbaits@yahoo.com and I will see if I can tell anything about the bait. Joe