NEbucketmouth19

I've got one of the wakes in a trout pattern. I'm not sure if I need to play with hooks or what but mine is a bit finicky with retrieve speeds. Blows out easily it seems. But at the right speed man that thing looks sick. That and just twitching it or doing little half handle turns. I think it's worth it personally.

Love the stock hooks. I started using that hook in various sizes on other baits as well. They're stupid sharp and I haven't had issues with them bending.

Decoy quad size 2 I believe is what is on mine

150 is my current cap, and over 50 for a softbait just isn't worth it to me with all the toothy critters around.

I don't go below size 4 decoys personally for any swimbaits, I'm sure a 3 would be fine though.

That was my plan for hardware as well. I'm a big fan of the STY-35s.

Decided to jump on the crawler train and got a battlewing III and a monster crawler. The Battlewing is no joke, I was surprised at it's size even though I knew the weight. I will probably be upgrading the hooks as well, the back one especially on the Monster seems tiny, like I'd straighten it out on my swimbait gear easily. I was also a little sketched out by the hook hangers, most of my conventional crankbaits have heavier hook hangers than these baits? Has anyone ever had any issues?

It's a real shame, dude has legit talent but I'd never do business with him after all the horror stories I've seen on here.

His videos are infectious. Just to hear someone who's gone so far down the rabbit hole chasing this dream makes me want to get back on the water. He has a good point though. You can have all the best tackle, spend all the time on the water, do all the research but just be missing a key element keeping you from consistent success. At the same time though all you can really do is put all the odds in your favor, and then start to examine what other things you might be missing. I obsess over tackle and gear because gear failures kill me. I missed a big one this spring from line breaking and while it's very rare because u am so diligent, it makes it that much worse that it did happen. Everything lines up and the simplest thing you thought was a given at this point burns you.

Which crawlers do you guys like when there's a little chop on the water? I love my Monka but anything more than slight breeze seems to mess with the action. Are there certain baits you feel perform better or do you go to more traditional wakes?

Yea April is game time as far as getting into some good prespawn fish. But I might go if the weather is garbage.

Curious what baits you'd plan to fish on it? I haven't found a need for 18/0, maybe a 14/0.

Yea I'd buy one as a collectible if I was rich... I am not rich.

This is part of the reason I don't put a single sticker or decal on my car. Never had an issue thankfully but no need to broadcast that I have thousands of dollars of gear in my car.

I fish it on a dobyns 795. It works fine and I'm not made of money to buy a dedicated TK setup. If I waaaaas...I'd probably go with a shorter rod maybe 7'4, fast action but less power so it still loads up. Basically an oversized jerkbait rod. Something that could also fish like a megabass Kanata as well.

Man that picture has me dreaming of fall lol.

A modest 6-4 on a PB rat

You didn't already post them for sale dude? That's the name of the game now. Sell them before you even get them lmao.

Same here. I was gonna try snagging a pack of militia and liberty but just stuck with one.

aaaaaaand gone lol That didn't take long either. With the whole "4 packs per household per color" I thought there might be a massive drop this time. And maybe it was and they're just that popular. But looked like about 2 minutes for them to all go. "Militia" looked like it was the first gone.

Maybe others have success other ways but I have the best luck with my possum deflecting it off stuff. I've tried just cranking weedlines with it and maybe I haven't done it enough but I didn't have much luck. It was only when I found hard cover and could crank it down and bounce it off that I would get bit.

A few good catches from respected dudes, add a killer paint job, release small batches that instantly sell out and boom. Hype bait. The real driver is supply is way less than demand. Guys like Bucca make insane baits but pump out so many you can actually get them.

I don't have any, but sometimes bold works. This bright weird looking thing flies in front of their face and they just have to be curious sometimes. Smallies it can work very well sometimes. I might try and get a pink or bright yellow triple trout one of these days.

Yea it's unfortunate. I don't blame him for trying to switch it up and reduce the flippers it's just frustrating. I had a string of luck for a couple months a while back where I hit on some drops but I've been striking out for a while since. Luckily I haven't lost any yet lol. Gonna be painful the day I do trying to replace them.

The old way I felt like I had a chance, not a good chance, but I've gotten a few baits here and there. Now it feels like there's no point to even try. Idk, what do you guys think? Is this more "fair" or just making an already stressful checkout process even more stressful?