Mattlures

You want to try and pull the bait out of the fishes mouth! That means the bait is actualy moving and you can bury the hook. Bass can get a heck of a grip on a big piece of rubber. Forbizz is correct but it is possible that you are not lubing your bait which makes it much harder to get a good swimbait hook set. FishChris is the only succsesfull guy on the planit to use braid and catch big swimbait bass. His numbers would probably greatly increase if he switched to fluoro or mono. Braid is the worst for swimbaits!

I am currently overwhelmed with those stupid minnows! I sent samples to 2 stores and they bought 4 months worth of production before I realy started to produce them so I cant even take orders from other stores right now. I realy like Green top, they are a great account but for now until I get caught up I am not showing any of my stores. Help is coming soon though!

you should see my cue collection! I used to play.

You can fish my gills and bass on a heavy flippin stick you most certainly wont need anything more than a 6'6 medium hvy for the little shad

The shad are much more labor and will cost more but not a lot more. BTW Biz I have not forgotten about you. Eventualy when I have a working proto I will get one to you

Read Randall's post, he shows it the same way I like it rigged but with a difernt hook. It is verry similar though. Here is a pic of how the bait looks rigged with a Falcon 4/0 with a 1/4 ounce weight. Notice how you dont see much hook or weight, its all hidden and the bait is weedless.

the minnows will never be pre rigged. They are designed for the fisherman to rig them how ever they want to. I do however recomend a weighted 4/0 falcon hook in 1/8th -1/4th ounce. However you can rig them however you like but if you want to swim them they will need at least an 1/8 ounce of weight. I had some prototype shad NOT MINNOWS, BUT SHAD that look just like little thredfin shad. I brought some to the bass-a-thon but they were a little rough. Perfectly functional but not perfecty clean. I will be working to get them nice and pretty and then I will oficialy release them. THEY ARE THE SHAD THAT COME PRERIGGED. I am not mentioning this to advertise. I only bring this up to clear up the confusion. There are 2 diferent baits, shads and minnows. The Minnows will NEVER come prerigged and the shad will have the internal leadhead with the belly loop for an added treble hook. Two totaly diferent baits that do not look the same.

not the minnows. They have a belly slit so a weighted hook will fit up inside and the bait can be rigged weedles and you hardley see any hook. It just looks like a little fish swimming

Thanks guys. TW will get them in a couple days. I just brought the boxes to the post office today. I recomend using a weighted falcon hook. The 4/0 1/8th or 1/4ounce are perfect. BTW they are called the Mattlures Minnows not shad, but you guys can call them what ever you want as long as your fishing them. and NO I would not use them with out weight, unless your splashing them accross the surface, or your going to dropshot. If you want to swim them they will need the weighted hook or leadhead etc.

Basswestusa all the othetr mags seem to be a little behind

That guy in the boat is not just any angler. He is arguably one of the best sight fisherman in the world. His name is John Kerr and he is Best friends with Mike Long. Friends of mine, they know thier stuff. I have known the techniques they use in that article for years. you guys should read it a few more times. BTW that little 3lber in my avitar came from that lake

It sounds like the problem is not with the epoxy. As you stated the epoxy ealer coat is good and intact, soooooooo...... lets back track. Is the primer that is over the first epoxy caot still good? If not than the primer is not bonding with the epoxy. If the primer is still good than its the paint. Either its not bonding to the primer or the finished epoxy is not bonding to the paint. My guess is, somehow its the paint. I might also let the bait cure for a week before I realy tried to fish it. I am not a paint/clearcoat expert soo I do recomend going on to the harbait section of tackleundergrouns and posting your question. You should have came down to the show with Matt!

I am going

Fourbizzle you might want to save a little bait money for a ring.

I wanna see pics of the finger!!!

what an awsome fish. I think it would be SOOOO UNCOOL to sell it. First off it doesnt belong to the fisherman. It is most likely a private pond. Second off catching that thing and releasing it ir worth more than $500. Good job on that beautiful koi!

Cart is just being funny, or at least trying to I am sure they will invite the Trew's. After all she released that WR after her one picture. I know it only looked 15lbs even after it had a 5lb weight in its gut but I'll who am I to judge! ;D

Oh I am sure mr Zimmerlee will not be invited, especialy since several fisherman reported seeing him scoop the already dead fish out of the water with a net. Strange how no big fish have been reported from him before or after that 20 :

Randall you have knowledge of big bass. You would have to adjust but I think you could. Plus more than likely you would be doing something a little diferent than the rest of the field wich could either give you no chance at all or it could be an edge. I do know one thing, the regulare tournament guys who think they have a chance at getting lucky are in for a reality check. I could probably still get in but that lake is LOOOOONG drive for me and I have never fished it before. who knows maybe if I can make the time.

Just so you know I always have a rod in my boat rigged with a jig. They work and they work well but it is a diferent aplication. I dont throw thwm nearly as much as my swimbaits but I do throw them. I NEVER throw spinnerbaits or cranks. I will dropshot but only when I have previously decided that I am going fun fishing for a change of pace. I probably own 100 spinnerbaits and 300 verious cranks and jerk baits etc. I have giant boxes full of stuff but when it comes down to it I realy only fish a very small percenatge of. I am sure this sounds familiar

Matt, Ken Huddleston is the major sponsor. You can get all the info of of his website.

Raul I agree with your whole statement but..............I believe the swimbait has proven to be the #1 big bass catcher and the jig has been dethrowned. Granted the jig has been around forever so it would have a larger overall number of big bass but if you just looked at the last 5 years I think swimbaits would be out catching the jig by 5-1 on bass over 10. Now of cource I have no way of proving this but I believe I am pretty close. As far as USACP proshops and basstrix go. they did the tackle matching thing to keep the ebay scalpers from getting rediculous prices. I understand why they are doing it. I dont think its perfect but I dont think its bad either.

Yeah something is not rightm Maybe you had your jigs right next to the heat sorce instead of the center of the oven? I also use my kitchen oven and have never had a problem. I believe I baked them for about 20 minutes. MY LEAD NEVER MELTED!!!! I properly cured jig shouldnt drip at all. When it cures the powder coat gets a super shinny gloss to it . Something definatly went wrong in your oven

Ok they are putting together a trophy hunting tournament trail just for guys who catch big bass. The first event will be held at lake Casitas in Ca. its a $200 entry 100% payback and winner take all, one big fish Tourny!!! How cool is that. To even make it better they have limited the amount of anglers to 50 with 25 spots reserved for invite only. Those spots will be the who's who of the big bass world!!! This is going to be awsome. The other 25 spots will be filled up at the Bass-a-thon. The funny thing is you should hear all the regular tournament guys whinning about how they should be on thelist because of there previous tournament wins, when very few of them have ever caught a big bass and if they have its an extreme rarety. I have also heard how anybody could win with one "lucky" big bite. Man are those poor guys oblivious. If they actualy get in they think they have a chance against 25 of the best big bass fisherman in the world. This should be an eye opener. I dont know who is on the list, but I am sure Fish Chris and SuperMat got an invite and if I would have got involved earlier I would have pleaded my case for Randall. I was not invited :'( and rightfully so, there are some increadble sticks that will be there. I sure would love to see KVD or any of those guys show up and donate. Ha Ha. Now Ike on the other hand is a diferent storry. He has come out to Casitas and thrown big swimbaits and killed them. I bet he got an invite to. I am sure some of you arent that impressed and thats ok its your opinion. This T just suits my kind of fishing so for me its the best one ever!! Any chance this wont be won on a swimbait

Brokejew the reason I guessed high is because I dont normaly see bass that small. I mean it looks just like a bass....only smaller!! I was definatley out of my element in guessing the weight of that fingerling. I just assumed that all bass caught are a least 4.75. I mean why even bother catching them if they arent. CERTAINLY nobody would ever take an embarrasing picture of it. Now you understand my reasoning? 8-)