Angryjohn

So i have to wait for my next bait to be built and there are some staple baits out there that i have yet to try. Looking to pick up a 175 slide swimmer or a jointed jointed claw 178. Which one would you choose as i may pick up the other as the season progresses...

Can I see a picture. Use owners and this sounds great

Oh great. Want to try one but the last ones I saw posted were for ten. That's a lot of commitment to try something.

Color me intrested but I go to there website and all I can find is apparel but no shads fore sale. Am I missing something, or do I just need to go play with my strawberry windex some more.

Don't know if you can say labeled and marketed but the musky line is very capable. Think people get to caught up in marketing and don't just find a good tool and roll with it.

Got my big one today just hopING it's not to cold already. With the lack of bites in the winter might as well go big or go home.

So to follow up on the 168 issue it took 4 calls with leaving my name and number one voice mail and 3 facebook IM's to get there customer service on the line to work with me. The guy said that the most likely issue was paint in the joint and had me send pictures of the entire bait and the hinges. I dont see any paint or other debris in the hinges but i may try and find a way to get a closer look. The guy was very friendly and there was discussion in sending in the bait for inspection. Mailing it in can easily start costing more than the bait is worth, might be more interested if it was a 200 that i was having an issue with due to the additional cost. A direct number to customer service is 707-455-7950 if that helps anyone save time....

They run more powerful than their rating IME also. I have not had any issues running rods over their lure rating and them not acting overloaded.

I use there 7'4" heavy for throwing swaivers and Hard gills. They have a blank for almost everything so i am sure there are custom builds out there with croix blanks. I have hoped that they would make or i could locate a 1-5 ounce Moderate fast rod 7'6" but most of their blanks for heavier baits are longer. I am currently eyeing the 7'9" blank http://www.mudhole.com/custom-rod-building-blanks/st-croix-fishing-rod-blanks/SCIV-Series-Rod-Blanks/SCIV-Musky-Pike-Fishing-Rod-Blanks

Checked out the youtube videos on wider glide modifications. Seems like a good idea and something I would have tried on the 120 as it's s was so small and tight. I played with the 168 I have and it's binding in the hinge on full swing to the left as you looking at the bait. I sent a message on fb and they just sent me an email adress. I will call on Monday and will see how helpful they are and how it all turns out.

2. The 168 has been my bread and butter so far. I have had the original bluegill, the I know it, and the warden hitch. So far the gill has a 3 and 6 to its credit and now lives with my fishing partner. The I know it was my favorite and has accounted for my best big bass day yet with two 5+. Unfortunately it met with a rock and the tail is gone. Took off the hooks and it's now hanging on my Christmas tree. That leaves the warden hitch my only one right now and it is having issues. This lure is what I beleven to be one of the not good swimmers. It swims and then the tail seems to get stuck to one side. Is this something that will go away after a while by wearing in or just a bum lure? I ask because I plan to contact the company and see how they deal with it. I have more than a few R2S lures and so far there all good. Two more in the mail of this size so I can get back in the game. More information as I continue to Lear and develop my waiver game.

So I have jumed into the swimbait game and this is the bait that I plan on figuring out first. Seems as though there is some information out there but as always you find out stuff along the way that may help others. I had a 168 sitting in my box for over a year before I got around to fishing it. The primary motivation was that the lakes around me have very shallow shorelines with little to no hard structure to work with. I needed a good open water presentation and this seems to fit the bill. I have tried twould of the three sizes with the largest 200 in the mail. 1. The 120 is very small by glidebait standards and I don't feel like it's all that great. The reason I feel that way is because it has very little presents, does not move very much water and the s patern is very small. The smallest version does just what the bigger ones do, so that's good but the pattern for attracting is a bigger bass form and the little bait for me just struck out. The color I was fishing was terminator because of its smaller form I wanted some flash. Never had a hit or follower. I lost it on a piece of wood today and will not get another. I hope someone is killing it on this bait and can tell me I am full of crap.

Is there a water temp I should change to a twitch type retrieve. Just tossing and cranking for best effect right now. Nothing when I twitch or 180 the bait.

Looking for a multi purpose rod for small treble hardbaits and big cranks like the 10xd. This rod is rated .5-3oz. Eying some hard gills and maybe trying an swaiver on it also. I would have this rod built as a 9 inch handle is just stupid. Looking going 12 inch on the handle or even 14.

If I could I would invite you to go to the owner website and look at the range of hooks. My choice comes from experience in topwater baits that I got so fustratated in always loosing fish. I could get them to bite even take in the entire lure and still get off. The ewg style wit the slight pointed in tips worked really well for me. The st-36 is a round bend also a great hook. In larger baits where it is unlikely that the entire bait is eaten it may be the best choice for hookups. With largr baits I don't intend to play the fish due to all the leverage the fish has to throw the hook. A 2x gets the job done for me so far but I have yet to battle a double digit fish. There are wrong choices but also lots of good ones.

I use a lot of owner st-41's and they are a 2x. Nasty sharp and not supper expensive IMO.

Some cheaper baits are just that good. I feel the swaiver is in this category and will use them when i am bound to shore. Not going to risk an HPH or hinkle getting caught up when i am shore bound...

I fish a lot of small ponds and just had my best day ever on a 168. They seemed to enjoy a slow steady retrieve in my area right now. Tactical bassen has some great instructional video's on fishing just the swaivers you may want to check out. I have watched them several times and trying to copy what has worked for them...

So i have just started using glides and i see that most of the manufactures all sell a float or a slow sink version of thier baits. If you go to some of the custom builders you can basically get any sink rate you want. Is something other than a floater or slow sink a special purpose bait that fills a small need, or is it an area type thing where if you have deep clear water you want somehting that gets down fast. I always thought it was a top or near surface technique which used size and water displacement to draw the fish up and or out of cover. Do i have the glide thing all twisted. School me please....

Caught my 2nd and 3rd largest fish today on a 168 waiver. Best 3 are all out of the same pond here in Memphis. New to the swimbait and glide game but I thing I am figuring it out. 1st was 5,12 second was 5,9.

I had a double prop hard bait made by R2S that the rear treble always hung up on the rear prop. I did make the switch on that bait and i got a lot more action out of the bait because it was not messed up every other cast. Fish always seemed to hit the front hook so it was no big deal. To this day i dont think i have had a fish on just the rear hook. I will not be changing them on my baits but i will use them as a tool to fix problems if need be.