Slammer question

[pondbeater]

I had a brand new 9 inch slammer dated 1/18. To be honest it swam pretty bad. Wondering if this was a fluke and how do u guys like the swim on slammers? Do u fish them with snaps?

[Mossypumpkin]

No snap. Tie direct. Most slammers don’t swim great out of the package. You’ll need to tune it with a pair of pliers. You’re going to bend the line tie to the opposite side that it’s running to. If your slammer tracks to the left, bend the tie to the right. You’re bending it, not twisting it as to screw in or out. Only had one slammer I couldn’t tune out of well over a hundred. The perfect tune will allow the bait to track at least fairly well on a wake as well as cranking it down. Nice thing about slammers is that it doesn’t need to swim perfect. It’s going to get bit well no matter how it swims. 

[Loganodum38]

14 minutes ago, Mossypumpkin said:

No snap. Tie direct. Most slammers don’t swim great out of the package. You’ll need to tune it with a pair of pliers. You’re going to bend the line tie to the opposite side that it’s running to. If your slammer tracks to the left, bend the tie to the right. You’re bending it, not twisting it as to screw in or out. Only had one slammer I couldn’t tune out of well over a hundred. The perfect tune will allow the bait to track at least fairly well on a wake as well as cranking it down. Nice thing about slammers is that it doesn’t need to swim perfect. It’s going to get bit well no matter how it swims. 

When you say bend it left and right. Do you mean when you are looking at the bait straight on in the eyes with the line tie facing you? Or is it the opposite?

[MA Frog Man]

No snap for me. I just leave them be as far as how they swim. If it wakes like ish than thats a twitch bait for me. 

[Mossypumpkin]

20 minutes ago, Loganodum38 said:

When you say bend it left and right. Do you mean when you are looking at the bait straight on in the eyes with the line tie facing you? Or is it the opposite?

Correct, line tie facing you just as you’d be looking at it coming toward you in the water

[Wes Peart]

Slammers vary a lot. I have one that is noticeably heavier than all my other ones and it has a longer bill. Will run 5-6 feet feet on a steady retrieve with 25lb mono. It's not marked as a deep crank model. I have another slammer that won't dive. At all. If you try to crank it faster than a wake it rolls over.

Edited July 23, 2019 by Wes Peart

[chefchris]

always fished mine with a snap, never had an issue, this is a personally thing, both methods work and guys usually have their preferred way. 

sometimes tying direct will help the swim so try it both ways. 

like others have said bend the line tie to the opposite side its swimming/leaning towards, a little at a time. 

also cast it out and retrieve it when you tune it, a lot of guys will do it with like only a few feet of line out or along the side of the boat, which wont give you the best idea of how the bait will swim on an actual cast, you want to tune it how you'll fish it. 

if you plan on fishing it with a snap, then tune it with that same snap, tying direct then tune it that way. 

[CaliBassin]

Mine was running to the left quite a bit so I added a snap just to see if it would help and it swam perfect. There is a video on YouTube of mike showing how to tune it. Exactly what @Mossypumpkin said

[Willluvstafish]

Always a snap or good size split ring. I've always felt that pivoting ring to tie the line to adds a touch more action. Don't over think the action. It will catch. It's a whole combination of the wood clacking, the wiggle and the tail. It's a magical thing. I thought the exact same thing on my first Slammer. Just toss it

[SethMuffinson]

Slammers can just be weird. Messing with the line tie works great. Just like tuning a crankbait. However I have a slammer that will only crankdown, wont wake at all. Just rolls to side unless im cranking it down. Just gota mess with it. Hope you get her figured out!