MarkH024

I have been reading this site a lot longer, as well as others. I have been fishing Dobyns for a few years now. I have never heard of the guides being squeaky or seen anyone post that. I'm sure there's a chance I've overlooked those statements, after all it is the internet. I am completely aware of the Kigan issue with inserts falling out. None of mine have done that to this day.

Just curious, where do you "hear" all these things you write about?

Get the Xp. Its the newer updated line. As stated the guides are different. The old Kigan guides have had a number of insert problems and they were replacing them left and right. I wouldnt hesitate to take the regular model at discount though. All my kigan guides are holding up fine.

Congrats Man. That's awesome!

Xray and Glitter Carp

D. You need some more line man.

Doesn't sound really good. There are a few Japan ebay accounts I buy from with all having hundreds to thousands of feed back with 5 stars. I have ordered a number of baits from ebay/Japan without any incidents. Best of luck with your issue, hopefully ebay can resolve it and get yoru money back. Open a claim immediately to get a refund. Forget about the bait, that's easier to come by .

For those that play in the waters where hypothermia can take place within minutes, there is no gear or lure worth risking your life over. Don't be foolish. You should read about the stories of guys ice fishing on the great lakes or huge inland lakes up here. Those guys have balls of plutonium from a different dimension. Driving their heavy duty trucks out when conditions are "iffy". No thanks...... That said, I've been pretty fortunate and haven't had to swim for anything. Gone in a few times up to my waist/chest. Lure retriever and using 65/80# braid have saved me most of the time.

I only use grease on my gears and drag if it's not carbontex or alike. A drop of oil goes every where else. Try it and i think you will be pleasantly surprised.

If Matt doesn't respond here which he probably will at some point, you could always email him and ask. I have all SS models and like Brian said a Rof3 or so. When the water is really warm and dense it's easy to keep a SS at subsurface or a burning wake.

I like mine. It's a cranking rat or a SUPER slow waking rat. It swims awesome in the water. I use other baits for waking but ill always hang on to my MattRat. I think most guys who want/buy rats are purely looking for a wake bait that stays up on the entire retrieve. This is not that bait.

It's JDM pricing. They're legit. The US price on that bait is a stretch. I had one and while I thought I loved it to begin with, I slowly started to shelve it to throw other baits that i felt perform better for me. I sold mine.

Happy Thanksgiving SU!

I agree. Love those Shads.

No matter what, using a heavy leader of any sort is going to hinder the action of a glide bait. You either have to play it safe and sacrifice the lures true potential using leaders or you fish them as intended and risk the bite offs. I fish similar waters and I play both sides. You just need to pick and choose your battles.

Like many of these guys, I fish from boat and shore. Just last year I moved to a new home and have a nice 7-8 acre pond right out my door so naturally I shore pound a lot just to get my fix. One thing you need to understand equally as your bait selection is to approach your banks with extreme stealth. Wear darker color clothing to blend in with the brush if you have growth around the edges. Those fish that are tight to the shore, can feel and see you walking up on them. You need to be off the bank at least until you know the first few feet you're working around didn't get the spooks. I can't tell you how many times I scared off bigger fish sitting in 10-12" of water. Once you spook them it will take quite some time for them to return. Your casts should be parallel to the bank first and work your way out changing 10-15 degrees each cast. The "fan" method. The only time I cast straight out from me is if I'm targeting a vegetation spot or somethign else I know that is directly in front, otherwise I'm always casting at an angle. Try to fish at peak hours and low light. Sun up, sun down...or even at night. I fish a lot of bluegill baits because that is what the primary forage is in my pond. But, I've caught them on rats, trout baits, shad, jerkbaits etc.. If you put something in their face, they will eat it. Bass are glutenous and will eat easy prey. The other thing to do is bring out a jig rod or something you can feel the bottom and get a gauge on the structure of the bottom. Not a lot of ponds have "great" structure, at least not around me. They usually have big flats on one end or both and somewhere in the middle they'll have deep spots due to a pipe or if it's natural, perhaps a spring. If you find isolated vegetation, fish over it, on teh sides or through it. Disect that spot because you WILL find fish there. Maybe not every time but more so than not. Occasionally I'll pick up 1-3 fish in one clump of vegetation no bigger than a six foot fold out table. Good luck and show us the results. I had ice on my guides Sunday, so my season is just about a wrap.

They no longer have landline telephone lines in Japan.

Nice. I was out yesterday, had ice forming on all my guides. Couldn't get a sniff on anything I threw.

Cool tribute to Lemmy! https://youtu.be/2Mkq6GFLIsk

Love that skull frog. Going to need one