NEbucketmouth19

Lol I went from planning ice fishing trips for the next couple weekends to wondering if I can get out on open water the first weekend of March. I think March 8 was my first time out last year.

Lmfao I have a hard enough time getting a good hookup ratio on normal frogs. I can't imagine the rush and subsequent heartbreak using these things lol.

The problem I have is this. You have hundreds of bait makers. Some are just trying to create a specific action for a lure type, I can understand where there are cases of clear copying. But then you have the guys that either straight up molded a real fish or are doing their best to copy a real fish directly. Of course they're going to be similar, they're basing it off the same thing. You can't claim uniqueness if your goal is basically to slap hook on a piece of taxidermy. That's an over simplification and I'm not taking anything away from these amazing bait makers. But the reason sly is so good is he has an amazing skill in painting and the lures swim well. But there's nothing intrinsically unique about what he does IMO. He's just the best at it. Should he be the only one allowed to mold and paint baits like real fish? Not trying to start anything I'm just curious what specifically people have an issue with.

Well there's the fish on my "that'd be cool to catch" list and what I'm realistically pursuing. I'd love to catch a massive Well's catfish, Arapaima, snakehead, Musky, Laker and many others. But my current "goal" fish really only consist of a 10lb Northern Strain Largemouth, and a 20+lb Pike.

I use the 300 size for those baits but I don't think the 400 would feel like its too much for 8 inch hudds. Maybe for the 68s you might lose some casting distance but on the right rod a 400 size reel should be fine.

Yea I don't get how you can post them for sale and not expect people to instantly buy them. Most of these drops sell out in 2 minutes and people are gonna click checkout the second they see them go up, cause usually if you hesitate at all you're not getting a bait.

I fish braid to leader for softbaits. Usually 65lb braid to 25lb mono. I usually run a 7 ft leader. Blood knot is my go to connection knot for bigger lines. I like Alberto for conventional setups.

Yea not sure where this is coming from

They're not cheap but titanium wire is nice stuff. You can make a 12 to 18 inch leader of it. It won't kink and is much more stealthy than braided steel.

Personally I think the best way is to do a monthly drop, and then maybe trice a year do a short list where people have maybe 30 minutes to get on it. Both should be announced well in advance so they're known. That way the bait maker isn't swamped with constant dms to get on a list but also people who can't hit the drops for whatever reason still have a chance. Just my two cents.

I've been pretty happy with mine. I have it paired with an 867 so maybe it's more how well the rod loads than the reel but I mostly toss like 3-5oz baits on that setup and it SENDS them.

Agreed, I've had good luck with slammers in the 40s. But I think 40s for Northern strain is probably different than 40s for FL strain. Some of the most aggressive feeding in the Fall up north happens in the 40s.

I use the 4 and 5 size on most of my hard baits. Never had an issue but you've got me a little cautious going forward.

Bullshad for sure

Just picked up my first line through gill. What hook and size are you guys rigging these with? I was thinking of picking up some st-56's. I was playing around with some of the hooks I currently have and it seems like you'd need to go to a fairly small hook to get the points close enough together to stick into the little nubs he molds into the baits. Do you just bend the tips of the hooks in or do you just go down to like a size 2 or something?

I typed a very long response but I wasn't satisfied with it. This sums it up pretty well. I have hobbies, and then I have fishing. I HAVE to go, no matter how bad the weather is, how bad or good I did last time, how I feel...I just HAVE to go. It's a passion, simple as that. I think a lot of people have hobbies that they just don't fully engage with, I know I do. I'd trade every one of my other hobbies combined for fishing in a heartbeat. Fishing is just more for me, I can't explain why. I don't think everyone has that, people are just wired differently I think.

Damn I'm in VT, I dont sell too much but good to keep in mind lol.

Never swam yet. I was seconds away from climbing 15 feet up a tree though for a Psycho Gill this fall. Managed to do some magic with the line to free it

Its very nice, especially on mobile.