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Figured i'd get out this morning and see if i could get a fish on my new Leviathan Omega XH. Twas a full moon so I got in my spot at 4:30 and fished until 9:00 without a bite. Everything was looking slow until I put my 250 on a rock and as I popped it off, this 26 pounder smoked me. After a good fight and some pics, she swam away to hopefully make someone else's week in the future. E964F481-B665-4C85-9590-779700DA3161.heic

Hey SU fam. Just wanted to start off by saying that although I’m not new to swimbaiting, I am new to swimbait underground and have been continually surprised by the amazing community and supporting nature of this team. I wanted to just tell bait making story to not only encourage new bait makers like myself, but also get some advice on the bait making process it self. I started my first hand carved bait about five weeks ago, the process for me was printing off pictures of trout from safari and trying to carve an exact replica. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as easy as I had thought it might be, and so I went through about five blanks of bass wood before I had a carving that I felt could be perfected. After carving the bait I cut the joint and added my weight. After I felt good about the sink rate (slow float) I started the painting process which was quite an ordeal considering I do not have an airbrush and was using a combination of stencils and spray paint. After two coats of epoxy, added brush fins and tail, I thought my bait was ready to test. I decided to take it to a place that I have continually seem large striper and big bass, after loading my kayak and rigging my bait I was ready. I started my kayak trip at around 4:45 in the morning paddling around 4 miles to where I had a suspicion I could connect with a fish. The fist cast with the bait consisted of an awkward one sided swim but after retuning the bait I got a wide constant glide. I was encouraged by the action and decided to sling my bait for the rest of the day. At exactly 8:46 I made a cast to an undercut bank that looked like it could be holding a fish. The bait splashed down a little off from the target but I figured I’d give it a try anyway. Halfway back to my kayak, my bait was engulfed by the largest striped bass that I have yet to see. Instead of slapping at my bait, he just swallowed it. After a long fight (light drag because who knows if my skew eyes would pull) I finally reached my hand into the fishes mouth and heaved him into my kayak. I parked on a dock, quickly snapped some pictures and got a weight (31lbs) and slid the fish back into the water. After a healthy release I paddled back to my car and decided that the river had been good enough to me for one day. I wanted to tell this story to not only encourage beginners like myself that even though it is a long process of mastering the build, it is possible to catch a trophy on your first try. As well as ask the veterans what I did wrong. My bait after being viscously attacked split on the hinge and will no longer glide fluidly, I’m not sure what the solution is for soft wood baits, any help there? Also , I struggled with my clear coat of epoxy and wondered if there was anything better on the market for you guys? hope this encouraging, also sorry for the long windedness. Prolly the most significant catch of my life and I wanted to document it properly. blessings, Asa

Some action from the past couple of weeks on the 250. Lots of active aggressive trout eaters. Finally caught 1 and it came in at 8.5 lbs roughly. Wouldn't mind catching more of these guys

So I decided to make my own bait a few weeks ago. This is my first and is pretty rough. I’m going to test the action tomorrow. It swam pretty good in my pool. I just need more space for testing. Any constructive criticism is appreciated. Thanks SU!

My goal this year was to make it to the 30 lb club and this big girl made it happen! The stoke is real! Im gonna be smiling for days!

https://youtu.be/gpRibNt9tA8 Caught in the dark . Kept following but didn’t bite until dark . It could probably see me . Super clear water Cast 2 Catch Striper Balam 300

Baits I've made with realistic wraps

Hello SU, I went out in the smoke for a bit of striper fishin. I spent a lot of time learning the in's and out's of the OG Deps 250, recently purchased for JoshPerkins802. Found out it swims way better than the new bait. I started to come up with a good pattern with the bait and started getting followers. She only came in at 5.51. I was thoroughly impressed with this fishes attempt at eating this big bait. Thank you for your interest. Glidepride

This is my first lake striper and it went for 26lbs! I caught her on a new style BB trout 250. My set up was a tranx 300 with 30lb mono and a XXH savage gear browser rod. I changed the stock hooks out for VMC 2/0 4X hooks. This was truly an amazing fight and was even more happy to see him swim away. Hard work paid off.

Got this on the New Deps 250

Hiro 8.5 Kokanee LDC XXH Conquest 400 25# Abrazx While casting towards shore chasing largies I heard what sound like a toilet bowl flushing about 50yards behind me towards deeper water. Wasn’t a Bird wasn’t a dink. Hit the trolling motor got within casting distance and sent a long cast past the “toiletâ€. Twitch twitch twitch all the way back to the boat. 100% did not plan on making a second cast into open water, God I’m glad I did! Second twitch pause and BOOM! Released to fight another day! She went 35 inches and 16.4 pounds. Couldn’t be happier to stick a land locked stripe like this for the first fish on the newest combo.

(Already did a search) So we have a killer inshore striper bite in New Hampshire and this year I would love to throw big glides and swimbaits for these fish. I have never EVER had luck on paddle tail baits in years of rock hopping and beach fishing but apparently they work. Here is the question, I have had problems with freshwater hartbaits becoming useless due to buoyancy and current. How would you add weight to deps 175s and other glides specifically for salt water? Lead tape? Suspend dots? I really don't need to get all new fast sink baits. Thanks. Nothing like catching a 40" fish from shore!

I was thinking about picking up a few ms slammers to target stripers in trout stocked lakes. I know that they are tried and true lmb baits but was unsure of their striper catching abilities. Am I wrong to think they are good striper baits? Also, if you do recommend them for stripers, have you found better success with the 2 or 3 piece slammers?