Randall

Its the best bluegill bait made . I have fished them in GA where we have plenty of big fish and in the mountains of Western NC where the fish on the average are much smaller. As long as you have bass and panfish they will work. I have won several tournaments fishing them and my biggest bass weighing 15lbs 12oz was caught on one last year. I fish them by swimming them and by using them like a jig on the bottom. I consider them very affordable for a quality made swimbait.

Good to hear. How did the action of the rod behave? Was it more F, or hopefully a bit more moderate? It's a fast but still has enough flex in the tip to be an ok small swimbait rod. I went back to Bass Pro today and played with a few more rods trying to decide what I want. I am leaning toward more of a fast action with a bend in the top 1/3 for my swimbaits now getting away from heavy moderate rods that had a bend farther down. I have that inshore rod that I have lost zero fish on and it has a fast action so I think I am going to go more in that direction now until I lose some fish. ;D I think a couple of the more moderate rods I was using was giving to the really big fish to much allowing them to shake their head more on top and causing me to lose a couple of teen size fish that I should have caught. I am thinking about the Extreme for the KM and Mattlures and using braid more often insted of the fluro to bring the fish in faster.

I don't clean it. Straight to the garbage with it.

Chris, That should be fine for smaller swimbaits. I borrowed one today to try out since I knew they were on sale on line and threw an eight inch triple trout (over two ounces) on it with no problem. I am thinking about getting a couple for the same reason you are. Its just hard to put a seven and one-half to eight foot rod in my boat without it getting in the way sometimes when there are three people in there. The butt section going in the handle saves some extra space. It's in no way the best rod for the job but it will work in limited space. I also have a seven foot inshore rod I use for the bigger baits that works on saving space but forces me to make much shorter casts than I would like to.

I just brush it on straight out of the package. If you get it on too thick it will run and bunch up in one spot but I never have had a problem as long as I spread it out thin as I can with a good brush with lots of small fibers in it.

I use a Dremel tool with sanding attachments, devcon 2 ton with the long drying time and white nail polish. Sand paper might be better than the dremel tool since if you mess up with the dremel tool it can do some damage. I use a dremel alot making baits and doing bait mods and I still mess some baits up but it is so much faster than hand sanding. If you want to add glitter get the smallest finest glitter you can find for the best results and mix it into the epoxy as you mix it then paint it on.

First you need to sand back the lower lip on the Pop-R to more of the shape like the lures you want it to imitate. All are a little different but my best modified Pop-R and the only one that has ever caught a ten pounder is the one in the photo so if you can get the lip looking like this one it will work. Its the one I try to copy everytime I start doing mods on POP-Rs. The lure in the photo is a Super Pop-R which is longer and slimmer than the Regular Pop-R. It needs nothing but the lip sanded down and face painted white. Then a little Devcon 2-ton epoxy brushed back over the face of the Pop-R to seal it back so it doesn't leak around the line tie or have the paint come off. The reason for painting the face white is so the fish sees a flash of white everytime you pull it and the face goes under. Red that comes on the lure face doesn't make a good flash. You should also replace the rear hook with one tied with chicken feathers, the smallest flashabou or both. These have better action in the water both when moving the bait and most important at rest You can get both feathers and the flashabou in a fly fishing store and learn to tie your own rear hooks pretty easily. On a regular Pop-R you also need to sand down the sides of the bait flat so the bait is slimmer and lighter. The slimmer lighter bait comes through the water with less resistance (slimmer and floats higher) and looks more like a bait fish shape. The idea bait is sanded down as thin as you can get it without the bait breaking. I also like to find the lightest hooks I can find that are still strong enough to hold the fish to make the bait lighter to float higher. Other things you can do is add glitter into the clear coat to make more flash and help break up the solid outline of the bait. (Works like camo on the surface) And find one that is clear under the paint and sand everything off in the process then clear coat it to make a clear bait for bright sunny days when the fish usually sees a painted bait to well.

I have been trying to get in touch with him for more than a month. No response.

Time of year is real important in where you go. Some lakes topwater bites peak at different times and if it were me here is where I would go and when I would go if I were going with a guide. If you want to topwater fish in late spring /early summer I would call Ryan Coleman at Lanier Spots (www.lanierspots.com) and tell him you just want topwater fish and ask him when the best time is to go just for topwater. Lanier is probably the best topwater lake in the country when the time is right and Ryan is a great guide. Since I was recomended my best topwater fishing is during mid Summer often in the middle of the day (keep in mind it's usually HOT) on two different lakes just South of Atlanta. One lake is a numbers lake (lots of one and two pounders) and the other is good for big topwater fish in the four to seven pound range but usually fewer bites. In the fall I would go to Guntersville and I would suggest Troy Jens for a guide as well and that seems to be when the topwater bite is best there. Also, keep in mind no matter who you go with that there is no guide that can get the conditions for a good topwater bite everyday and you need to let the guide know in advance what you are looking for in a trip but also have realistic expectations and know that sometimes to get the fish to bite you may have to do something else.

I have some giant cranks (Musky and Saltwater) that I use for big fish in a stumpfields but rarely use them anymore. Storm Kickin' Minnow (six inch)started outfishing them all in the stumps for big fish. The bill on it lets it deflect off stumps like a crank and it catches way more fish than the cranks ever did. I still use the cranks to get down better deep on fast retrieves sometimes but prefer the Kickin' Minnow on medium and slow retrieves.

Braid will cut like butter on rocks but is great in grass :-/if you need that much force to get the fish out. Braid is less sensitive when the line is slack but most sensitive when it is pullled tight :-/. I like fluro myself and consider it the best jigging line since it is the all around most sensitive and abraision resistant line but will use braid in really thick grass where the fluro will break off more. I haven't seen Brent's but that curly thing is a spring that you screw the bait onto I think. I like Gmans jigs too but he don't make 1/16 or 1/8 oz :(which is what everybody including me uses around here where I fish.

I got another one as well. Got these just a couple of days back. If you are like me and want to horse the fish in sometimes this hook is made with a Mustad Ultra Point just like on a flipping jig. Most jigheads have lighter hooks but not this one. It isn't the best grass jig since it catches some grass but it has a great 5/0 flipping hook on 1/8oz and up jigheads. I couldn't find a 5/0 anywhere on an 1/8 oz jighead until they sent me some samples to try. It has dimples in the head and they took the lead from the dimples to make a larger diameter head for better feel and to come through rocks and skip better. It has a great keeper that won't let the bait slide without the springs etc. that take up part of the hook gap and interfere with a good hookset. This may end up being my head for flipping in heavy wood cover and rocks with brushhogs where I would normaly have to use a skirted jig for the bigger hook. Its made by Git-Bit baits here in GA. They don't have a website finished yet but have a number on it to call and are just starting out but this is a good jighead and their first product.

For grass and rocks and pretty heavy line and a medium heavy rod this is the best I have found. It has a football shaped head that comes through rocks and a unique hook that helps it come through grass as well. Its made by Strike Zone Lures and is called "The perfect jighead"I believe. The keeper doesn't get in the way of the hookset like on most jigheads and the hook is big enough for brushhogs. It looks different but it works.

When the water hits 55 we start seeing beds in the South too. Most fishermen also believe the spawn is almost over when the water gets to 65 and up down here also. In clear water the fish spawn deeper as the water warms deeper. I am still catching big fish off beds in mid May when surface temps are way up in the seventies down here. Most fishermen are just looking shallow for spawners and since they don't see any in one to two feet of water they believe they are done when most are still spawning. Also, there are way too many myths and lack of knowledge among fishermen about spawning fish to have this type of conversation and get much real factual info or an agreement. From my experience everyones view is based on what they have heard, read, or seen and much of that info is misleading or just isn't true. It is my judgement based on studying and catching spawning fish everyday for three months of the year for the last five years that it may even help lakes like I fish in the South. If I came North to your state I may not fish for bedding fish the way I do now based on the fact that you may not have the same conditions for the fish that I do here. As for your question, if that female is about to drop her eggs any second or is dropping them and you put her in a livewell then she usually will still drop her eggs in the livewell so those eggs are gone. If you take that same fish to the ramp and release it then it will find its way back to its home range/area and may spawn again a little later on the same bed or another bed in that same area. If the eggs are not dropped in your livewell or in the water on the way into the boat then it may drop them on the way back to its home area in the water without putting them on a nest. This is all based on things I have personally seen from years of fishing for and watching spawning fish.

Muddy, what are you looking for in a jighead? All jigheads are different and some are better at different things. What line you use, what rod you use, what type of cover etc. all makes a difference in which jighead is best. How you like to fish it makes a big difference. Many jigheads to me are just a gimmick designed to catch fishermen instead of fish but some are well thought out and work for what they are designed for. None that I have tried yet work best for everything. Since it is something I use a lot in different situations I am in the process of trying some different ones from a few different small companies that really understand what really makes a jighead work and are unique and different from most of what is out there to use in different situations. I did this because most companies didn't make what I was looking for and it limited when I could use a jighead. Often, I had to use something different than a jighead like a skirted jig because nobody made a good BARE NAKED JIGHEAD that did what I wanted it to do. So far I have found one for all but one situation which is pitching to heavy grass like hydrilla on heavy line and I am still looking for a company or person that can make this jighead for me. I have found some that were OK but not a perfect one yet and I still have one or two to try a little more. But since I have tested a bunch and went out looking for different ones I bet I can probably give you a good example to use for what you want it to do. So, what do you want to use it for?

Great fish and photos. ;D Looks like you had fun out there.

Matt's Bluegill is the bait you need. They will chase it just like the live bluegill you hooked if you swim it since it swims back at a slow speed. I fished for an eight pounder for four hours last year and the fish wouldn't move from the bed but wouldn't react to a bait either until I pulled the Matt's bluegill by the fish one time. It followed it all the way back to the boat on the first cast and I had the bait sitting in the bed before it got back to the bed on the second cast. It hit it as soon as it got back to the bed and saw the bluegill just sitting there and not moving. The bait will sit on the nest upright and not fall over just like it is feeding on the eggs. There are photos on Matt's websight that shows it sitting on the bottom if you want to see how it sits. His website is www.mattlures.com. If the small bass has a hard time eating the bait then use the Mattlures Bluegill to get him agressive then throw a smaller bait back to catch it.

Thanks for the mention from the all the guys that mentioned me as a guide in GA in this post. But, I may not have any water to fish next spring if we don't get rain so I couldn't book you for a trip if you are making your plans soon. Right now my best two big fish lakes are closed and I have had to go get a job for a while and just guide part time on weekends vs. full time. :'( As a guide I get the chance to fish with a lot of people who use other guides all over the US and Mexico and many of my clients have fished with both Tom Redington, George Welcome and have taken trips to Mexico. I have never heard anything but good things about Tom and George but have heard some disapointment from those that have fished Mexico. I have fished with neither Tom or George but could recomend both since I have never heard nothing but good things about them from a bunch of different people who have. If you want just big largemouth that would be my picks for guides and lakes for what you are wanting. If you really want big Smallmouth in the mix then you need to go to Alabama and book a trip for one day with a guy named Steve Hacker for smallmouth and another one with one of the Gunterville guides for largemouth. There are a bunch of good guides on Guntersville and Steve Hacker is another one of those guides that many of my clients have used with nothing but good things to say about him. If you decide to go to Alabama PM me and I can get you some info as to which guides I would suggest.

Doghouse who is a member here and my tournament partner has one and has thrown his Mattlures on it and has caught some over ten pounds with no problems. It handles the bait no problem. The rod is over kill for the shad baits though and I would go with a lighter rated rod for those. Doghouse hasn't been on here much lately but you can PM him and maybe he can tell you more than I can about it. All I know is he has caught some big fish caught on that rod and the bluegill.

I have one Classic series casting rod I use for swimbaits. Great rod for the price. Mine was only $45. I am not familar with the trophy series but remember them looking more like a pure saltwater type rod that I didn't think would fit my needs in freshwater so I went with the Classic series.

It's what I use. Its worked great with all day use almost everyday for two years with no problems. If you watch online for bass pro to put it on sale you can get it for less. I would suggest the portable for what you are using it for.

I use them in GA all year long and know people who have caught fish on them as far North as Michigan. I caught my biggest bass on one back in April that weighed fifteen pounds twelve ounces but have also caught two pounders on them. I can't see why they wouldn't work anywhere there are bass and sunfish. Use the search feature on this website since there are a bunch of posts about them. Also, the owner of Mattlures is a well respected long time member here on this website.

There have been lures like this around for years but people have been real good at keeping quiet. Also many people have been making them just for personal use. First ones I can remember seeing were in a small tackle shop in South Carolina back during the eighties. I know some guys have won tournaments on other homemade versions on the same chain of lakes the Classic is being fished on next year at that time of year. If Aaron or someone else wins the classic using it or a version of it you can bet the demand will be high for them over the next year. They might be selling on E-Bay for $50 for a two pack next year so get them while you can. ;D They work best with a flat fluke type bait made more like a Banjo Minnow than a regular super fluke. I have a bunch of big flat flukes like this that are no longer made that I use on them.

Something else to think about when getting a widebeam finder for shallow water is that you will miss many things that a narrow beam finder will show. For example if your beam is hitting in the middle and on the edges of a small creek channel you depth finder may not show the actual depth of the creek and breakline or even show the channel at all but show an average of everything the beam is hitting making a well defined narrow creek channel with a big drop off look much different than what is actualy there. In shallow water I want a low power unit with a narrow beam to get the most detail of the bottom. I know guys who get old low power depthfinders that havent been made in years just because they give a better picture of whats down there in shallow water. I am not familiar with quad beams, duel beams etc. but from what I have heard they do much the same thing and take an average of what is under the boat from all the beams giving more bottom coverage but with much less of what is actually there.

I use braid :-? but sometimes use fluro and keep my rod pointing toward the bait as I fish it. When I feel or see the strike I sweep the rod as far as I can while reeling and almost never let the fish stop or slow down on its way to the boat. I feel I can move the bait better in the mouth of the fish with braid and keep it coming toward the boat better without fear of broken line.