frankthedog

How’s she lookin?

i wing 135 came in the mail, next day onto the lake. Second or third cast...first 15 minutes of the day this 4 plus pounder hit it on the pause.

Was just looking at this on TW...fishing Smallies 99% of the time...bet they would smash it too eh

Chunk

Getting out tomorrow in a Jon boat for the first time in a long while. So far have only fished swimbaits outta my yak...pretty stoked to try it out and see the difference being able to stand up. Is fishing swimbaits out of a yak vs a boat much more difficult? I imagine being able to see the baits better and having more hook set power standing up in the boat. Thoughts from the experienced?

I was in Cabelas the other day and they actually had Maxscent Flatworms in stock...three bags left. I snatched em up as soon as I seen em. Then I stood there with the hardest to find dropshot bait ever...thinking "man I dont need these fuckin things, I don't even want them" and put em back for someone else. A year ago dropshot and ned rigging was my jam. I actually enjoyed finesse fishing over anything else. That was how I started bass fishing in 2019. Now into throwing swimbaits there is nothing else I wanna do...admittedly though only after gaining confidence in the baits and breaking the PB while doing it. Need more confidence in hard baits still. A 6" trout profile on bottom is my ned rig now. Even got bit deadsticking a 6" Hudd lol, watched the line jump n everything.

Haha yea my fav name for sure, forget where I heard it first...somewhere on youtube...I was thinkin the bait had to be even deeper before the hookset as well? I wonder how much a bait moves before catching in the mouth sometimes...

Looks dope

I agree. I am on Vancouver Island and fish for Smallmouth 99% of the time. You do not need stingers on a 6" bait with a trout profile. The fish you really want will inhale a bait that size.

I go fishing when I can and try to keep note of catch times best I can. I look at the moon phases AFTER fishing. Looking back at the notes and correlating moon phases to notable catches...it seems to be all over the place. Have caught good fish when it was supposed to be ish, have zeroed on what should have been the best days. PB was caught at between 7 and 8 AM the morning following a 100% full moon. Interesting stuff for sure. Looking forward to lotsa night time ninja missions this summer.

Pretty new to the swimbait game myself. Targeting Smallmouth 98% of the time. Have been throwing the 6" Savage Gear RTF and the 6" Huddleston Deluxe and gained confidence in both recently. The Savage Gear comes with a stinger setup, the Hudd is a straight jig hook. Hookup to bite ratio is higher with the stingers. Fish in the net ratio is higher with the stingers as well. From what I have seen anyways. That being said, when my PB hit the Savage Gear RTF all the way to the jig hook and I got her in the net...all I could think was ""Not Allowed" I hope that stinger is not in her gills". They were not, she was fine. But it would have completely ruined the experience if I ended up killing that fish. After that, I retired that bait and started throwing the Hudd. I found I lost more fish, but I was never worried about sticking them in the gills either. I agree now that the fish you are truly after will not require stingers, just a solid hook set, all the skill you have and a bit of luck. The Savage Gear is still a sick bait, could totally clip the stinger wire and fish it with just the jig hook, easy enough to add it back if you feel it is necessary.

Caught a few nice fish yesterday on my birthday...and lost a giant right at the yak. I knew it was my PB gone. For some reason I wasn't that tore up about it, landed more swimbait fish than I ever had and learned alot that day. Went back to the zone this morning and she absolutely choked it. New PB smalljaw on the Savage Gear 6" RTF Trout.

Those are some sick lookin smalljaw man good job

Confidence attained. First smalljaw on a swimbait. 4 plus an oz on the Savage Gear RTF 6" trout. Not a PB but maybe when we start throwing the 8".