jkarol24

The BGC9 is a great option, and one I fish quite a bit... It's got a wide and stable swim and excels on long casts.

Swimbait Review: KGB Frog Hanging out with the family on this 4th of July weekend. Figured I'd give you something cool for my favorite holiday. Gonna let this one speak for itself, don't have time to write a review. The KGB Frog is a beast. Easily a foot long, maybe more. Probably 9 or 10 oz if I were to guess. Legs are triple jointed, and has a big circular lip under the chin. Definitely a cool opportunity to play with this bait, and I am stoked to be one of a very few people to ever cast this giant of a bait. Otherwise, enjoy! Have a great rest of the long weekend!

I love my 734. Killer finesse glide and swimmer rod. I have it paired with a Bantam XG and 15 fluro. Throw things like hph6, smaller swimmers, s waver 168, pretty much anything under about 2.5 ounces it will throw. It's also a great keitech and underspin rod... I've also thrown smaller swimbaits on the 736cb which is their mag chatterbox rod. It's a lot more forgiving, slow tip. Working glides isn't super easy with it, but it's awesome for swimmers.

Swimbait Review: Taddo Designs Eon Glide The Eon Glide by Taddo Designs is a small 2 pc Glide bait, featuring smooth sides, a soft tail, and solid hardware as stock. The bait is 7" in length, and 2.5 ounces of resin. Let's see how it swims! One tip before we begin: This bait is essentially a suspend. Actually, at first cast, it barely floats. However, leave it in the water for a few minutes and it will begin to xxs sink. Let it acclimate, and you will find that the bait fishes more predictably. Anyways.... On our standard straight retrieve, a wide and fluid swim is apparent, staying just under the surface of the water. The swim is halfway between a hard and choppy swim, and the more lazy slalom action. You can feel the bait thump back to the rod as the head turns from one side to the other, and otherwise maintains a level and stable swim. Next, I burned the bait (really burned, fishing this one on an 8:1 ratio reel), and found no issues. The bait maintained stability and depth, the thump was increased, and I did not notice any body or axis roll. A hard pause also caused the bait to shoot out to one side. I then crawled the bait, and due to the sink rate, the Eon swims right at the surface and creates a sort of waking presentation. Often, a glide at the surface will want to roll over on its side, but I did not notice this, and the bait maintained an easy back and forth swim. Now for the fun part. I started with long and easy reel bumps, think half turns of the handle, and allowed the bait to wide glide. The Eon will glide twice its body length without much effort, and is smooth on the transitions. Again, the bait stays near the surface, but i did not have any issues with nosing up etc. Body roll is minimal, and the bait straightens out quickly after turning. I also expiramented with some fast and choppy inputs, both with reel and rod. The reel chops produced a hard cutting, fast action swim, maintaining stability and depth, while being relatively easy to control. You certainly lose a bit of length on the glides, but make up for it with speed and flash. The rod tip bumps create an even more narrow swim, as the bait basically turns on itself in a fast but consistent manner. I did notice a slight amount of axis roll if I really got crazy with the inputs, but it was not a major issue. I chose to film this video while using my go-to finesse swimbait setup, which is actually a conventional rod and reel. This setup is comprised of a Dobyns 734, paired with a Metanium HG spooled with 15 lb fluro. I did throw the bait on more standard swimbait gear, but found the bait had better action and was more controllable with the lighter line and setup. Fluro definitely also helped keep the bait down, as the sink rate is ultra slow. I'd probably hesitate to use braid or mono for this reason, but did throw it on Copoly and had no issues. Have yourself a great rest of the weekend, and I will get another video up soon. Thanks as always for the support.

Swimbait Review: Lanciotti Lures Psycho Trout 2 Pc The new style 2 pc Psycho Trout by Lanciotti Lures is a single joint resin Wake n Crank style bait, featuring a lexan bill and soft plastic tail. The new version has been refined with the help of Row Innovations, and comes in at 3.2 ounces and 6.75" in length. I start off with a medium-slow retrieve, which allows the bait to stay on the surface and display a waking-style action. This action is defined by a hard back and forth head hunt, which causes the rear of the back to swing back and forth, while rotating slightly. The rear of the bait gains further action due to a super soft tail, which kicks and sways in a natural action that disturbs the surface of the water. A defined wake is seen, as the head pushes water creating a bulge along with the V wake trailing the bait. As well, I noticed some resin clicking noise as the two halfs of the joint collide. I then slowed down to a crawl, and the Psycho Trout continued to maintain its head hunt and tail kick, albeit slightly more subtle and tight. Because the tail is oversized and floppy, it has a good bit of drag, which results in the tighter action. The crawl certainly produces a subtle action, with less of that defined wake, but both are still present. I had no issue maintaining this action at a snails pace, and noticed that the bait transitioned easily between the faster and slower retrieve. I then walked the bait, and found that slightly easier inputs produced the most consistent back and forth action. On harder hits, the bill tends to catch a bit too much water, and this results in less consistency. However, the easier rod tip bumps will get the Psycho Trout turning back and forth in 180 degree intervals without much practice. I was also able to increase my cadence and move the bait along at a quicker pace, so long as I was mindful of the power behind those short and fast bumps. The walk itself is full of action, but the presence on the surface is subtle, with minimal splash and commotion. Last, I cranked the Psycho Trout down. First, I utilized a medium retrieve, and then I also burned the bait. These faster retrieves cause the bait to crank down approx 3 ft. At both speeds, I noticed that the head hunt became even more aggressive, with a fast back and forth action with minimal roll. You can feel a thump all the way back to the rod, and that head action really throws the rear of the bait. Again, the soft tail provides a natural kicking action, and the overall action is as wide as the wake, if not even a little wider. I was able to burn the bait without any issue, and the Psycho Trout maintained stability, without and blowouts, leaning, or pulling to one side. I chose a Levaithan Heavy, paired with a Curado 300E and 20 lb Copoly. If you intend to only crank down, fluro would be a nice option, and you may get another foot or two of depth as well. Mono would certainly be fine as well, especially if you're working the bait close to the surface. Braid would also be fine, just be mindful of not overworking the bait on the walking retrieves. Thanks for joining, and I hope you enjoy the video! More reviews coming soon!

Swimbait Review: Thrash YK Rat Thrash is a JDM swimbait builder, producing wooden glides, wakes, crankdowns, and Rats. The YK Rat has become more and more prevalent here in the US, and was able to borrow a buddies to get it on film. The YK Rat us a 2 piece billed bait with a soft plastic tail (creme worm or similar), and comes in at 70 grams (approx 2.5 oz) and 135 mm body (approx 5.5 inches). I chose to fish the YK on a snap. On a straight medium-slow retrieve, the YK provides a classic waking action, with a back and forth head hunt that causes the rear section to follow along. As the two halves collide, there is an audible wooden Clack, and the rear body section causes a wide swim of the pliable soft plastic tail. A noticeable surface wake is produced, and I found the action to be consistent without any misses or hesitation. As we slow it down to a crawl, the bait loses a bit of that head hunt, but the action is supplemented by more roll of the rear section, which keeps that soft plastic tail moving back and forth. The overall action is tighter and less obtrusive, but the bait can certainly be fished at this slow speed.You do also lose the audible Clack, as the bait becomes overall more finesse. Next, I walked the YK in two fashions. The bait excelled with the slow rod tip bumps, turning back and forth 180 degrees with ease. The nose of the bait dives slightly, and the rear pivots around that axis. Due to the high flotation of the bait, the YK stays on the surface, and overcomes that slight head dive. I found the easy walk to be less obtrusive and finesse, with limited noise and water splash. The tail does whip as expected, but the overall action is more subtle than other rats. You can certainly change this by adding more firm inputs at a faster cadence, and get the bait turning back and forth quickly on the surface. This speed increase adds a noticeable amount of Clack and water splash, but I did find the action to be less consistent than the slower and easy walk. Last, I was able to crank down the bait utilizing a medium speed and rod tip down. The YK definitely does not like inputs faster than about medium, but at that medium speed, I was able to get the bait down approx 1.5 ft. I found the action to be even wider than the wake, with a noticeable head hunt, which threw the rear section and tail even wider. The bait stayed level and upright, with a very consistent swimming action. I fished the YK Rat on a Leviathan Heavy, paired with an old Curado 300E, and 20 lb copoly. If fishing in heavy cover, I feel confident that you could bump up to a heavier rod and line selection, and acheive similar swimming action. Copoly and mono would both be nice choices. Braid would also be fine, but just be mindful that it may make walking slightly more inconsistent on those faster walking cadences. Thanks for joining! Another swim vid coming next week!

Mostly drops on IG. They aren't pricey, like $100 ish if you can get em at retail. But they sell instantly. This builder doesn't pump out alot of baits, just doesn't have the time. Second hand, these will bring 200++ unfortunately.

Swimbait Review: TrashyBass Shad Glide Josh, the man behind Trashy Bass Swimbaits, has been continually building and refining his craft, and the new Shad Glide is one of his latest additions to the lineup. The Shad Glide a 8.25" in length, including a firm rubber tail, and weighs in at 2.9 ounces of resin. The bait is an XSS (95% are, there are a few SS version out there). The paint is also done in house, and swiveling hook hangers round out the feature set. Starting with the standard straight retrieve, the Shad Glide shows off a hard thumping style retrieve, as the head turns approx 45 degrees off center, and delivers feedback all the way to the rod. The bait stays extremely upright and balanced, and also maintains depth well. You can also add some pauses, and the bait will glide off to one side and hang out, due to its XSS sink rate. Sticking to straight retrieves, incorporating a burn shows off the baits stability, as it handles speed with no issues. Again, the bait stays upright and maintains depth well, while continuing that same thumping retrieve, albeit slightly tighter. On the opposite end, I also crawled the bait along. I found that the bait continued to swim back and forth at even the slowest speeds, and also picked up a little distance and widened the swim. Now for the fun part! I started off with slow and easy reel bumps, and tried to get max distance out of the glides. I noticed that the bait turns very sharply on the transitions, which normally lends itself to a tighter Glide. However, after that tight turn, the bait straightens out very quickly, carries its speed from the transition, and glides approx 2 body lengths in either direction. As with the straight retrieves, I noticed that the bait maintained its upright position, and also stayed horizontal in the water column throughout the glide. Getting slightly more aggressive, I then utilized some reel chops (short and firm reel inputs). The Shad Glide turned faster and sharper than before, with slightly less Glide distance. However, if you chop on the reel and then throw a little slack, you can also get the bait to shoot close to the same distance as the slower deliberate inputs. The bait picks up a little more flash, but again without any noticeable body or axis roll. Next, we utilized rod tip inputs to acheive the most aggressive style retrieve. The rod tip snaps were downward, fast, and short, and the bait essentially turns on itself. It's as if the bait goes from transition to transition, without the glide in the middle. On this input the bait doesn't straighten out, and instead just turns in place, while giving some flash. Last, I gave a mixed sort of retrieve, combining reel chops and rod tip bumps, along with short pauses. The bait followed my inputs well, and alternated between the various inputs without skipping a beat. I threw the TrashyBass on a KGB Heavy, paired with a Curado 300E and 20 lb copoly. I'd imagine the bait will also fish similar using fluro or mono (maybe slightly less aggressive on mono), and more aggressive with less Glide distance if you choose braided line. Hope you enjoyed Today's Review. I will be traveling next weekend, so I believe I will post up the next review sometime next week! Enjoy the weekend, spend time with family, and get out there and stick a big one!

Swimbait Review: Expedition Baits Scrambler Haven't posted in a few weeks, life has been crazy. Figured I'd drop a kid week video for ya, and hopefully get back to a more normal schedule here in the future. Today's offering is from Eli over at Expedition Baits, and it is called the Scrambler. The bait is a single piece wooded body, with a short and steep lexan bill and a senko-like tail. Specs are 2.5” body, 3” tail, and 1.75 ounces. Starting with a straight retrieve at moderate slow speed, the Scrambler shows a subtle head hunt and noticeable tail kick, with a slight rock as well. Even though the action is tight, a defined wake is present behind the bait. You can wake the Scramber up to about a medium speed, and will become a crank down any faster with the rod tip down. However, I was able to get an aggressive wake at faster speeds by holding the rod tip up. The head of the bait gained more lateral movement, and the tail kicks around in an aggressive manner. As expected, the wake also becomes larger and more apparent on the surface. On the faster speeds with the rod rip down, the bait is a crankdown, and will burn with relative ease. The action on this retrieve is similar to a conventional crankbait, with a tight, high cadence action like an old school balsa bait. You can also crank at about a moderate pace, and the crank down displays that subtle head action, with the tail whipped back and forth underwater. Last, I walked the Scrambler, and found it to be a very easy bait to turn back and forth in place, while also throwing a decent amount of water and splash in relation to the size of the bait. The walk can be either fast or slow, utilizing downward rod pulls or twitches. The Scrambler stays upright, and pivots easily, as the tail stays near the surface and throws water as the bait turns. I chose to throw the Scrambler on a Leviathan Heavy, which is significant overkill for the bait. Your favorite heavy conventional combo would be an ideal choice, paired with 15-20 lb mono, copoly, or braid. If you're purely cranking, then a softer rod and fluro would make a solid choice. Either way, the Bait is very accessible, and would be fun to throw at the local pond, creek, river, or lake. Hope you enjoyed Today's Review. Shoutout to Eli for following his passions, always love to support young dudes who are bitten by the swimbait bug! See ya see for another review.

Swimbait Review: 86 Baits Tempest Gill The Tempest Gill is the latest offering from 86 Swimbaits, and is a continuation of the doomrider shad glide concept. The Tempest Gill provides a similar action as the Doomrider, albeit slightly shorter and taller. The bait features a lifelike printed "paint" scheme, along with anatomically correct soft side and top fins. The Tempest comes in at 3.3 oz of resin, and is 6.75" in total length. You will notice the addition of a tracer for your viewing pleasures. The Tempest carries a retail price of $225 plus tax/shipping. Starting with a straight retrieve, the Tempest swims back and forth in a relatively wide and sweeping manner, as the bait turns nearly 180 degrees back and forth. The bait stays level and upright at slower speeds, but does display some body roll as speeds increase past about a moderate retrieve. As will be a theme with this bait (and also generally with the previously-reviewed Doomrider), the bait was designed to be fished slow, and can certainly lose its stability with fast or firm inputs. The swim is fluid, and the transitions are tight but not choppy, kind of has that in-between turning action. The bait also maintains depth well, and didn't show signs of rising unless the rod tip was held up. I neglected to show on video, but the Tempest will also swim with plenty of action on a slow crawl. Next, we began to add some easy reel inputs, and I was able to Glide the bait approx a foot in either direction. Again, slow and easy was key, and even though the reel inputs were slow, the Tempest carried some speed through the glide. It doesn't take much to get the bait moving side to side, and less is definitely more. Stability was good on the slower inputs, and the bait stayed horizontal through the transitions. As I added a bit more gusto to the inputs, I found the bait would get slightly wider than previous, and would certainly carry more speed. As before, the transitions were smooth and easy. I did notice that there was a fine line, and crossing that line resulted in body roll on the transitions, and a glide that finishes with a nose up attitude. However, the action of the bait was predictable, and I was able to learn where that line was, and live right on the edge. I also found that a rod with a soft tip allowed the bait to accept firmer inputs, and carry a bit more distance on the glides as a result. I also expiramented with and introduction of some rod tip pulls, and was able to tighten up the glide to acheive more of a turn and flash, with limited glide distance. I was able to keep the bait generally in one place, while causing some attention that may be suited for close-to-cover applications. Last, I tried some different tod positions, and found that I could fish the bait as a surface glide with the rod tip up. Speed was key, and slower was better. As well, I slowly dropped the rod tip as the bait came close to me. The result is that the Tempest would swim/glide on the surface, and produce a pronounced wake pushed from the forehead and top fin of the bait. Slow speeds caused the bait to Glide wider, and faster speeds tightened up the action, and almost swam like you'd expect a 2 pc billed wake to swim. Always fun to expirament! I threw the Tempest on both the Levaithan Heavy (on video) and the KGB Heavy. I went with the Leviathan for video as it was easier to control the bait with the rod tip, but I did find that if I was only gliding the bait, that the KGB stick was a bit more forgiving as it has softer/slower tip and mid section. Both rods are paired with Curado 300Es spooled with 20 Lb copoly. Fluro or mono would be just fine, but I would hesitate with braid knowing that the bait doesn't love the firm inputs. Enjoy your holiday weekend, and spend some time with the family if possible. Thanks for joining, and have a great Sunday. I shot a bunch of videos in the past 2 weeks, so there will be some more consistent content coming out weekly unless I am traveling/working, which seems to have been a common theme lately....

Swimbait Review: Illude/Lunker Fighters Zombie Rat 1 PC The single piece Zombie Rat is the latest addition to the Resin Rat line for Lunker Fighters. This 1 piece design offers a unique swim compated to the 2 or 3 piece varieties, and presents a smaller overall package. The 1 pc Zombie comes in at 5" of body, and 2.5 oz of resin. Let's see how she swims! The standard straight retrieve produces an accentuated back and forth head turn and hunt, creating a wake on the surface as the head pushes water. The rear of the bait stays higher, and turns and rolls along the surface while throwing the soft tail behind it. The bait will stay on the surface at moderate slow with rod tip down, and you will need to lift the rod tip if youd like to wake at higher speeds. The bait in general doesn't love speed or hard inputs, but a wake at a medium retrieve speed with rod tip up is achievable. In any case, the wake causes a decent bit of surface commotion and swirling effect, but with limited noise and splash. Keeping the rod tip down and increasing retrieve speed causes the 1 pc Zombie to dive approximately a foot to 1.5 ft. The action stays consistent with the wake, possibly with an even wider head turn and roll. The bait will just about turn fully on its side before the head turns and rolls the bait to the other direction, again working the soft tail behind it. Due to the hard rolling action, the bait again doesn't accept greater speeds. About medium speed is the max. Last, I walked the bait a few different ways. The key is to be soft and short with the inputs. If you hit the bait too firm, the head wants to dive and limits the walk. But once you get the feel of it, the bait will walk 180 degrees on the surface without any issue. You can even pick up the speed and fast walk it on the surface, as long as you are mindful of your inputs. I threw the 1 pc Zombie on a Leviathan Heavy, Curado 300, and 20 lb copoly. You certainly do not need an ultra specialized rod for this type of bait, and at only 2.5 oz, you could probably throw it on heavy conventional if desired. Any mono or braid would be just fine, and fluro might be a consideration if you plan on cranking down only. Have a good week, and happy Sunday. Thanks for the support.