Jerkbait22

I’ve had success on it with a slow steady retrieve and also letting it glide out and hang with reel bumps.

Flag 170 has been a good smallmouth bait for me

$150 for abs is steep. Apparently it’s a knock off of another well known bait

I would try a klash 9 in glide mode fished tight to the rock walls. You can work it pretty fast and it’s a little more erratic than a standard glide bait so it’s good at generating reaction strikes. Work it fast and don’t give them time to think about whether they want to eat or not. I have a lot of confidence in this bait so it would be my first choice. I have no confidence in this bait but you could also try a balam burned down the rock walls especially if there is wind. There are videos from optimum on YouTube that show exactly how to do this, along with the 8 trap method when you get followers to the boat. the other thing you could try is a soft bait counted down fished just above the bottom to avoid the algae.

We don’t have Shad on the lakes I fish in the northeast but I catch on Shad glidebaits all the time. I don’t think it really matters.

If you do decide to get a leviathan omega there should be discount codes out there just search the forum

To be honest with you I don’t own a Deps 250 but have thrown up to the phoney on it which is around 5 I believe and it did fine. There is a video review of it through the hookup tackle and I thought that Geoff said it will throw a 250 but I could be mistaken. It’s not as parabolic as the leviathan rods which are like big crankbait rods but it’s definitely more a treble hook bait rod IMO. I throw fluoro and copoly and it’s perfect for that. It can definitely throw the tiny klash and down to about 1/1.5oz but it’s not ideal or in the sweet spot. I can’t really comment on how it will do with braid since I’ve never fished it with braid and only throw straight fluoro or copoly. you’ll want a different rod for the tk vs Deps 250. I would also consider the leviathan XH if you have the cash which is slightly more parabolic and lighter in weight but more money. I don’t really throw my levante leviathan anymore now that I have the leviathan omega rods. I have the heavy and the extra heavy. The heavy is great for 2-4oz and extra heavy can do 3-6. The leviathan heavy is rated 2-6 but I wouldn’t go over 4.5/5oz on it.

The sweet spot is about 3-6oz. I would say the guides are average size. For 2-4oz glides I prefer my leviathan omega heavy. Rod pairs well with a 300 size reel. I fished the tranx 300 on mine and primarily used it as a wakebait rod. The megabass is a good value do it all rod at that price point.

Thought this was gonna be a post about what baits to use in these conditions. I use the weather channel app. It seems to work okay. Nothing is ever going to be 100% accurate.

Nice. Whatcha get them on?

This. It takes time to learn the inputs to make the bait do what you want it to. It’s a very effective bait once you learn how to fish it. Watch some of the videos on it on YouTube and pay attention to reel inputs / rate of retrieve and how they are working the rod.

Most productive method for me is dead walking. Either standard lip or minnow lip and v tail. Minnow lip goes about 2-3 feet. Standard lip about 4-5. This is all with fluorocarbon line. If you’re going to glide it then you typically have to fish it fairly fast to avoid it turning and fouling in the line in my experience. Like Baker said, the K9 is the much better glide bait.

How do you like the bait I was thinking about getting one.

I thought I had a problem with the first one I got too until I started doing what drew said. Crisp inputs and rod twitches are key to get it going back and forth. It helps to add a 1 G board weight in front of the front hook hanger and fish it with a snap. I always fish glide mode with the tail tips pointing down. I think you have that mixed up which could also be making your life more difficult.