Mattlures

Dan I would contact the company. Maybe they could fix it for you. I have had mine for a while now and love it. I would definatley be upset if it died

FC whats even worse is when we got out of the truck I took out all the stuff that I didnt think I would need from my backpack including my salter scale witch is pretty big. I am not worried about it, They look bigger than they actualy were although they werent small . I am sure none of them were teen fish(maybe close). They just didnt have the length. Yeah I have to get back out there but I have soo much work to do I cant justify another trip untill I get some more stuff done. Plus I realy dont want to go durring the weekend. Another interesting thing is this is the time out here were most guys hang up thier swimbait gear untill next year. Well I dont put my swimbaits away I just adjust. I foccus less on the trout baits and more on the other prey species. Thats not to say the bass wont still hit the tout baits because they will but there are definatly times when they are not the best choices. BTW I always have some kinda trout bait tied up even durring the summer but when I see busting shad I know what I am throwing at them. I figured out the key was to not stick the first bump and let the bait sink through them a little and swing on the deeper bites. I know that sounds rediculous but when we figured it out we were not catching the little ones anymore.

I decided to go fishing today since I have been working nonstop 12-14 hr days for the last two weeks. I didn't really expect much I just had to get out and away from work. We got to the lake around 10. These fish were huge. I had no idea this lake had fish like this. I have hiked in there before but only caught dinks. We ended up with around 20-25 with our top 5 around 40-45lbs. And almost all of them were over 4lbs. I got two real big ones and Mike got one. We both caught a ton. I took a bunch of pictures but honestly I am not sure witch fish are witch. I know the last one I got was the biggest but of course I didn't bring a scale cause I had to carry a back pack all day and only carried the essentials like water and lures and a camera but my dumb #### figured I wouldn't need a scale there. Oh well at least I have the pics. Enjoy

Ok that pic helps alot. Just so you know that first pic is COMPLETLY diferent. not only in rigging but function. Ok to start Kenedy was fishing Hudds ans Basstrix. Basstrix are verry slim and hollow like a tube. They can take a weighted worm hook and still be efective. Your bait is to thick and You probably would have a hard time sticking anything with that hook. I might slit the belly like a bass assasin and rig a large ewg worm hook in it and rig it like a texas worm complete with the worm weight. You could also hook a jig head through it like it is or cut the head off and use a jig head. To be honest the bait you have is a poor choice because it is not easily, efectivly rigged. If you use a jig head it takes away from any realism that bait had. You could slit the bait from the throat to the belly and remove some plastic where an internal jig head would go, the put a jig head in there and glue it all up. You could dropshot them. Personaly I wouldnt use them. The first bait you showed is a much better choice. It actualy swims ok with a nice little wake but it is verry tempramental and like to roll easily. If you like the style of bait that you have get an optima, if you like the first one pictured get a Baby E. Those are much better choices

Rig it just like the picture except embed one of the hook on the treble into the belly. That bait is meant to be fished as slowly as possible while keeping it just under the surface creating a wake

If more people thought like you, there would be more big bass to catch You are doing that pond a service

I think I am using a size 4 2x owner with a heavy splitring. Gammies will bend out on big fish. I dont trust them. I also dont like a big oll hook on the bottom. It gets snagged more and it takes away from the realism. I also embed on of the trebles into the belly so the hook is not hanging

All of you guys will come to the realization tha RW is right. The problem is by the time you figure this out you will have already collected a ton of stuff you will never use. I used to buy anything that was decent and cheap. Now I only use high end gear. Is a $200 reel worth that much more than a $50 one? actualy its worth about $2000 if you compare it like that. I wouldnt trade any of my good reels for a hundred Abus. Will thay catch more fish? No. Will you get more distance and less backlashes? Maybe but most likley it wont matter too much. Then what makes a high priced reel worth it? The experience!!! It just feels good. They are so much more enjoyeble to use. They are so much smoother and they feel like $200. A $50 reel feels like one. I bet in "regular" fishing I would catch the same amount of fish with a cheap rod and reel as I would with good gear but I wouldnt enjoy the trip as much. There are some actual advantages to higherpriced gear especialy reels. The DRAG is usualy the most noticable upgade. It may never come into play for you but if it ever does you will be sorry you bought that cheap reel. If your drag is just a little sticky and you loose a monster because of it you will hate your prized reel that you got such a great bargin on. Also since I fish a lot of big swimbaits and saltwater I can tell you that the lesser reels cant take the same abuse. There is a reason people always say " you get what you pay for" cause its true. The real bargin is to buy it right the first time and you wont need to upgrade. Now with all that said ther are definatly bargins out there. I own 2 calias and 2 calcutta te's. I paid $200 or less for each one. 3 of them I bought from board members in the clasified section on my home board. the 4th I bought on Ebay. I actualy had to send that one to Shimano but now ita as good as new. wait for a sale or a deal on Qaulity gear and you will save money.

Bighead ist about playing the percentages and increasing your odds. That giant caught on a little shinner was a fluke. Heck some monsters are caught in Cali off of powerbait. Yes big baits will catch little bass and little baits will catch big bass. Catt hit the nail on the head. If you keep doing what you have always done than you will catch the same sized fish. Its not all in the baits. Its about targeting big bass. think of them as a diferent species. kinda like targeting smallmouth when they live in the same lake as largies. They are both bass but they have diferent habits. Well so do big bass. I fished for probably 20 years before I caught my first big bass. Up untill that point I hade caught many bass between 5-8lbs but only a few bigger than that and none over 10. I had to change my entire mindset and only specificly target big bass. It also took me 2 years of half a$$ed swimbait fishing to finaly catch one on it. After that I used swimbaits religously and actualy learned how and when and where to fish them. Heck I even figured out how to make them . The single biggest adjustment I made was to spend more time fishing lakes that kicked out the big fish. this was hard to do because where I live the smaller super clear deep lakes have the biggest fish. These lakes are brutaly hard to catch any bass let alone a big one. But I instantly increased my odds. I had to leave my favorite lakes where 20lb bags were common for me. I made up my mind that I was going to do what ever it took to get a 10lber.

In all honesty this is one of my tricks and I am suprised I shared it. I like to help but I do like to keep a few secrets to my self. I do have alterior motives though. The scent thing does work and it works well so it should help you guys get more fish on my baits wich helps me. Right now I am almost regretting giving it up but I dont hardley fish anymore so sombody else might be able to catch them. No you cant release the bluegill after you deslime and scale them. They will die almost instantly.

Actualy Burley you just stumbled onto one of my tricks. Alright I'll give it up because I am such a nice guy. Disclamer: this might not be legal So hypotheicly if you want to make a GREAT gill scent you would catch a halfdozzen gills and scrape off all thier slime and scales and put that in a babyfood jar. Next you would add a couple heaping tablespoons of petrolium jelly(vasaline) add about a teaspoon or 2 of salt and mix really well. This lube scent will stay on for a long time and smell just like a gill. The salt will keep it from spoiling. No need to chop up the gills becuase thats a difernt smell than the outer slime. The scales will fall off in the water especialy when you get a bite and this is one trick that turnes followers into biters. Plus you can eat the gills when your done DONT add any kind of solvent. you will never get rid of that smell and your scent would probably repell the bass

I would use vasaline over nothing at all but that is basicaly what the base in megastrike or the procure butters are. I would rather use the stuff that smells like prey but if all you got is vasaline, well its better than nothing

One tube will last a long time. The stuff stays on the bait for a while. I also like Pro Cure scents in thier butter formulas. One of the biggest mistakes I see beginners doing is reeling in the bait to fast. 90% of my bites come from a slow steady retreive. I might throw in a fall or jerk when I hit something or swim past something. When I say slow I mean just fast enought to make the tail swim. Fast techniques are for small fish.

It makes all the diference. Not the smell the LUBE. When a bass hits a bigg rubber bait, its little teath dig into the bait. They get a real good grip. So you swing and the hook doeas not penatrate. Then they open thier mouths and out pops the bait. If the bait is lubed they dont have a good grip and the bait will slide when you swing causing the hook to burry itself into the fish. VERY VERY VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats Avid. I knew if you kept throwing it you would get a good one. Now you gotta get a 10

Not to bash Storm(even though I hate them) but they are probably the stinkiest baits made but like I said just let them air out. I would hang them by paperclips by thier hook eyes outside out of the sun for a week. That should take away most if not all the smell

Biz I know Matt uses the Redingtons but you gotta check out the 7"11 okumas they are extremly nice

All that smell will go away. I assume you are referring to storm baits or some other chinese made bait. Its the plastic they use. If you just let them air out the smell will go away in a few days and THEN you cover them in scent

Randall I sent you a PM I have contacted BassWestUSA Magazine and they want to do a story on you guys. I need you Pnone #

Randall you are my new best friend! Dont worry Adam I like you to. Man you guys are on fire. Its guys like you that make it worth all the work to make baits. You made my week. Thank you. I definatly apreciate you posting all these big fish you two kkep catching on my gills. I am going to send out a couple( I only have a couple) of my Mattshads for you guys to play with. The colors arent perfect yet but they are close. CONGRATS on an absolute monster OH YEAH I JUST YESTERDAY PREDICTED THAT YOU WOULD GET YOUR 15LBER. HOLY CRAP I THINK I NEED TO GO BUY A LOTTERY TICKET !!!!!!!!!!!!

Murphy and Crupi and kodata were the first but these guys have been doing this consistantly for the last 20 years

Nope. I dont realy sponser anybody. I might give out a few baits here and there to guys who have helped me out or gotten my a new account but I do not have a sponser program. Usualy when a top BASS or FLW guy wants some baits I Give a good discount. If they mention my baits on TV or in a magazine I always thank them with some freebees or when I am testing some prototypes I remember Guys like Randall who posts up big fish with my baits. I will be sending him some prototype Mattshad swimbaits in the near future to get his thoughts and as a thank you.

Randall you are a stud! I love reading your reports. I think you you will get your 15 this year.

With the proper gear you can throw a swimbait a mile. Serously I can probably throw a hudd sized bait 100 yards. If I am casting in open water I dont care about the big splash. I was watching Mike Long one day working a shoreline with trees and he was able to side arm his hudd right under the trees from about 40yards with no splash. It was very impresive. I tried but I could not do it. I have also seen othe big names like Butch Brown hucking the Hudd as far as he could and making big splashes with the bait. So dont wory about the splash unless you are specificaly targeting a small peice of cover and you cant cast past it. Also the right rod and reel will make all the diferenc in the world. You will be much more comfortable and you will hook a lot more of those missed bites.

I agree with RW. The sad thing is the design is good