ctbrahan

Throwing a crawler at night is one of my favorite bites. Sometimes the crawler can catch them on blue bird days. When the song birds start nesting and hangout on the lake side bushes and trees, it is time to throw a crawler.

It’s a knock of version of the deja dodge that a painted up. Catches the crap out of fish this time of year. Had a 15 bass day on it last week throwing the bait under bushes.

Couldn’t connect with the hits from bass, but somehow caught this.

I don't know if that product will work. Spray on clear coats have always seemed to lack durability for me. I would recommend getting some 2 ton 30 minute epoxy. Its durable pretty easy to apply and mix. Just make sure you rotate the bait until the epoxy sets up (you can do this by hand by rotating the bait every 5 minutes while hanging). Don't get any epoxy in the joints. Good way to ruin a bait.

Thats a solid fish! Now I have to catch a casual NH postspawn 7 pounder....

Is this the one I need?

5 pounds 1 ounce NH IMG_7757.MOV IMG_7756.MOV

Got some good ones, non of the caliber needed.

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I truly think that many influencers "glamify" swimbaiting. Many young kids see swimbaiting as a way to catch an easy giant. Most new guys to the sport will always have a swimbait rigged up, but will stop using it after they don't get a bite for an hour. I know many people like this. There is also a lack of people from what I have seen who show all the days they didn't catch fish on swimbaits or the hard work that lead to big catches. I am not "swimbait shaming" as I was extremely guilty when I was younger of doing these things. I would take 5 cast with a swimbait not get any hits and go back to whatever conventional rods I had rigged up. Throwing a big baits is an easy type of fishing to get into because money is your way in, but is a hard one to stick with for many people because time is the only way you can improve. Just my 2 cents.

While home from college I decided that this was the year I was going to finally finish some wooden baits I had been procrastinating on. The first bait that I made 3 years ago was to sort of imitate a MsSlammer, my dream bait as a kid. The overall design was quite crude and despite being around an ounce and a half, I thought the bait was way too big for NH Bass. It took about two years to get this bait from an idea to an actual bait with hooks. When I completed this bait with a quick paint job in 2021 I kept it in my tackle box almost as a joke until I threw it for the first time in 2022 in the springtime in Maine. That day I landed my only two largemouth of the trip on the bait in 42 degree water. One waking it, the other walking it. I later lost the bait in a tree after missing a hookset and was inspired to build more baits this winter. The first bait to finish was a smaller rat I had started the carving on in 2020 and never finished. I played around with some new paints, got the bait clear coated and ended up with this rat. 1.75 ounces and 4 inches long without the tail. 1 After completing this bait and being happy with the results (has a great controlled wake in the water) for not having any power tools I spent way too much time sawing, sanding, and filing for the next and more ambitious bait, a three piece wake out of poplar. After spending 10 hours on this bait I now that was way too much time to spend on a single bait that lacked detail (3.25 ounces 5 inches). I am quite happy with how the joint turned out though, I used single eye screws and pins for both joints creating more of a "wobble" in the bait. While it does not wake at lower speeds, it has a hard thump and loud knock when reeled at medium speeds and does not burn out at fast speeds. I think a larger lip and weighting the belly would help better next time with the bait moving at lower speeds. A couple questions for other bait makers out there, does anybody laminate two different types of wood (one denser and one more buoyant) together to lower the center of mass in the bait? Also what do other people use to cut the lip slot besides power tools? It is quite difficult to get an even cut with the pull saw I currently use. Also a post will be coming soon on my progression on airbrushing KO swimbait blanks. Thanks to all that have read this far! Tight lines and sharp saws!

The simplicity of that paint scheme is great. Many times with swimbait painting less is more.

That bait is purely beautiful. The skill and precision that goes into building a bait like that must take quite some time to perfect.

Love the color of the raw wood. What type of oak is that. I tried using red oak in the past and found that the topwater baits I made with it sank.

Absolute Stud Largemouth