primetime

Skirts work in front of swimbaits also...Try a clear with red flake to mimic gills in clear water...I just learned this trick and so far I like it, just a few strands. You can make a hub to tie the skirt on out of anything, the silicone "Hubs" from quick change skirts sold by Companies as punch skirts like lure parts online has, are identical to the grommets used in Tattoo guns and you can buy 100 for a few bucks. You can also buy tunsten Beads overseas for pennies that work as hubs, but .37 from Lurecraft is good, or just use the rivet from a buzzbait...Easy to be creative. I used to carry tons of colors, now I only carry the major shades and use my trailer to give the color I want, but I like flash in a few...Black/Silver, Black/Gold, my favorite or GP/Gold...Otherwise I use black, Black blue, Shad color with chart, brown with red and gold and orange belly... Some days a skirt helps, some days it will turn them completely off, no understanding of why, but always try both, sometimes they just want a bait under a weight, sometimes they want a skirt. I am starting to really like the star flash skirts since they have a different action than Silicone and different colors and flash. Flash helps in heavy cover and stained water, so does sound so the bead or hub matters, make sure if you use something you make yourself it does not have sharp edges....I also find I like less strands than most people, and more flare. It's all a confidence thing but Punch skirts can be used on any soft bait you use, or just use a Hula Grub?

Gambler swimbaits all day long in weeds since they hold a hook in place and come in 3 sizes, priced well, and awesome color and are just flat out good. Big Ez, EZ, Little EZ...In weeds, I would use any boot tail swimbait I can texas rig and get through, I usually don't worry about detail. Swim Senko's work OK as well....The Havoc Grass Pig is a good bait as well, they all look the same when chucking and winding through grass imo... I save the Keitechs for clearer water, plus they are not as durable and are harder to keep weedless, the Kalins Sizmic Shad is a brute, has a ton of thump, durable, and great for a commotion....BPS Speed shads are good especially if you can go to store and feel them, the texture varies, soft is better imo, but there is no wrong answer. The Rage Menace makes one heck of a swimbait.

With Treble hooks, I wait for the lure to go under, then do a sweep set and once the fish is buttoned for sure, then I give a good swing to burry the trebles. You can make long casts in heavy weeds, you just need to have the rod and line to get her your way and I use the sweep to not pull it away to quickly, but make sure I keep tension on the line. I find you can get away with much heavier line when fishing over weeds or in pads etc. Big Bass often stun prey and come back, it happens with Frogs all the time, but the key is watching the lure and once it goes under then you have to swing and get that head turned, then hopefully it all works out. If the fish gets buried and you can't get her out, use the old "Slack line" trick, and usually she will swim out after a minute or two since she is most likely tangled up as well. Regardless of how heavy your line is etc. you will lose big fish at times, but you have to fish in the nasty spots to have a chance, another trick is if the Bass does not come back around and hit the lure again which often happens, sometimes a few weak "Shakes" sells the "Wounded bait". I use heavy braid as high as 50 or 65lb with treble hook lures over weeds, no leader, and if the water is stained and dark which it usually is in our area, it seems to work fine and if you need buoyancy, 20lb Mono or copoly works. Losing fish hurts, but at least you got to see what you missed, I never feel as bad as long as I get to see the fish, I hate losing big fish I never get to see. The strike alone is worth it imo.

Fish a Floating Rip Bait over the grass, you may need 20lb test mono to keep the bait high, but if you can get a hardbait like a bomber long A, Rapala, Bagleys bang o lure, Red Fin over the weeds, I have always done better with bigger fish over submerged vegetation where fish see flukes and frogs all day long. I like the Long A for long casts, I don't care about color since fish are coming through the weeds to smash it, so I color the back bright pink with nail polish so I can see it and steer it around grass, make sure it is tracking true and not carrying weeds, or if it vanishes then I know it was inhaled. If you get some wind it often works better, I work the bait slow most days in the Summer. Twitch twitch pause....good 5 seconds or more, then barely touch it, and work it slowly. Wake baits work but I find it easier to control a floating Jerkbait, or simply slowly wake it, the Red Fin is good but tough to cast on heavy line and long casts seem to be key many days since fish come from a long way at times to strike. Many tournaments in Florida are won using floating Jerkbaits during the post Spawn and Summer, they don't get talked about much, but Floating Jerkbaits are the most under utilized lures in Bass Fishing and I always end up going back to this technique every year or every tough day, it flat out works and can be used over grass 3" to the surface, or topped out if you clip trebles, use fly fishing line spray for bouyancy and modify lures by sanding off paint etc.... I would use the standard Long A 15 size, and if you want to go Rapala I like the F-13 over heavy weeds since it can handle heavier line, some guys throw the long a on 50lb braid over Hydrilla.

I would buy some shiners and take them out to a lake known for producing a good volume of fish, find a nice area that offer's what Bass need. Cooler water, shade, structure, bait etc... I would free line them on plain old Mono as light as possible. If you can use 10lb test, use 10lb test mono. If you want to use lures, I would get out early or late and fish a plastic worm on light line, light as possible, and use a smaller bait, and smallest hook possible to make it look natural. I love a 4" Berkley Power Worm curly tail or 4" Senko or sluggo fished on a split shot rig and 8lb test. If you get out early or late, even during the day, If you can't get strikes on a Floating Rapala F-9 Size on 6-8lb test then maybe the fish are suspended at the thermocline and not feeding. I would ask for info when buying shiners, you can always get some action on live bait if in the right area....Good luck.

I would buy a Heddon Crazy Crawler instead....Great big fish topwater lure, great at night....For some reason people rarely talk about it, but the Crazy crawler is a good lure that I used to use all the time when I was younger.... With all the weeds in Florida, and for some reason I put it in the "Night box only" I rarely use it anymore. I caught most of my bigger Bass on Long Island at night growing up on the Crazy Crawler, less strikes than other lures, but it always seemed to produce larger fish in general. Personally I would not pay for the Jackall lure, but I am sure it works well, and is quality made....Not sure a blade is worth an extra $20 bill since the lures are very similar from what I remember.

Big Baits can help, but the key imo is timing and putting the bait in the right place with a precise cast. It often takes a long time to figure out a body of water and what the main forrage is etc... Big Baits will catch Big Bass if you fish them with a purpose, slowly and make them look like an easy meal. Big Bass do not move far to feed in the summer unless they are positive they can catch it, and it is worth the energy expended. Find the best looking spots where you would hide if you were a Big Bass, and bait size at that point is not all that important imo...I find the slower I fish the better quality fish I catch, and I also find the nastier the cover, the bigger the fish.... If the Bass in a lake are conditioned to feeding on 2" minnows all day, a large bait may look out of place, but Jigs worked slowly, or big worms seem to catch numbers and big fish if you figure out why they are where they are if that makes sense. Lots of good articles about getting 5 bites online. Big Bass are Big because they are hard to catch. People think that coming to Florida is a guaranteed 10lb bass, it may be if you fish a few private lakes with shiners, but with lures, 10lb bass are not easy to catch, especially land them, they have a way of getting away, but most Big Fish caught are with regular sized Jigs and baits, but caught by someone who puts in time and is fishing with a purpose and not just burning down a shoreline casting to obvious structure (Which I often do since targeting big fish is slow, it helps to have a partner with you.)

Sometimes putting a split shot to increase the fall rate can help some days. I don't buy the weighted wacky hooks, I just crimp a shot on the line or shank...Maybe go with a weightless Texas rig set up and try using a smaller hook slower fall as well...Fall rate, lighter line can often make a huge difference at certain times. I have fished an area with 10lb test leader and a small 4" Sluggo or worm without any strikes and then switch to a 6lb leader with a smaller hook, add a shot, and all of a sudden I start seeing my line moving off to one side..When bass grab soft baits, they rarely let go if you set within a reasonable time frame. I also use Scent when fishing plastics slowly. It could be color, when in doubt, I match the water color to bait color and usually GP with some flake always seems to do the trick....Or just GP or Blk. Color matters when fishing slowly, so try several tones, you don't need 10 colors but I like to have 4-5 shades with me at all times.

Smaller lighter Jigs if possible, and plastics....If I want bigger fish, I use bigger Soft baits, if I want action, I break out the Light Action Spinning rod, 6lb test, and a Floating Rapala or Small Fluke, Grub etc.... I fish the same colors in ponds...Green Pumpkins and Junebug, black and blue since they are almost always stained where I fish...I also try to make casts to spots that other people probably never attempt for fear of losing a lure...That is why plastics are my favorite, if I want a buzzbait, I can fish a Ribbit, Boot tail swimbait or speed worm...I do well with shad body sassy shads on a darter head, or a 4" Sluggo style soft bait instead of a senko. I never use Senko's since everyone else does, just my take, I always figure Fish in ponds see the same baits over and over....I find matching the water color and bait with a bit of flake for flash seems to always work. Green Pumpkin Candy, or some chart on the tips....I have a ton of 4" Exude Slugs which work really well in ponds and lakes, they seem to outfish Senko's for me.

I still like to carolina rig hardbaits like suspending Jerkbaits, Floating Minnow baits, and jointed Minnow baits....Especially in moving water and in saltwater, but if I find hard bottom without weeds, and water is deep, I hate cranking since the lure barely stays in the strike zone...I do better with a square bill or wake bait with a 1/2 egg sinker in front kicking up the bottom. You get snagged if wood is around but sometimes it really works well if everyone is doing the same thing...I use my cheaper lures for this, but a Jointed Bomber Long A can be a big fish bait if worked super slow in summer.... Another thing I have done in ponds when not catching anything is simply casting a heavy carolina rig in a muddy area to stir up the bottom, get algae and scum to float up to the surface and create a small chum slick...Crawfish, shiners, little bluegill, minnows all start coming around...If you stir up the bottom with a big crank that works also, come back 20 minutes later and usually Bass will have moved in to investigate and sometimes it gets the bite started again....It usually only works in ponds when you know fish are in the area, on Big Florida lakes you have no idea if Bass are within miles sometimes, or at least it can feel that way in the summer especially. I spent 6 hours on a lake this weekend for 2 strikes....1 may have been a bass but didn't land it...

I would maybe think it would be good to Highlight those Triple Grips since many crankbaits in the price range of a GYB crankbait come with much cheaper hooks, and KVD triple Grips could be the most popular treble hooks on the market for crankbaits since they are shorter shank and you can use a bigger hook than a regular crank. Those Treble hooks are expensive, I have purchased GYB hardbaits when on sale just for that reason, plus the packaging is awesome looking. Triple Grips = hooking and holding power, plus less snags around weeds if that makes sense. Very few companies use those as stock hooks on a lure in the $5-$8 price range... Dynamite Photo's. They look great..I know GYB loves to push the "Holographic Flash" and the lures do look nice in the water, they do have added flash compared to many others... Good Luck.

Spro, KVD, I have never really had issues with hollow bodies holding up, some tear but then I repair them or just figure they took a few too many good strikes... The most durable is the Panther Martin frog, or Super Frog...I am not sure if it catches fish as well as a Spro or Live target etc. since it has a hook on the bottom and is not as weedless, but it is solid, casts a mile, and if you have sparce cover, it works decent. I never use it but have a buddy who uses them. He just purchased about half dozen since Sports Authority carried them and had a going out of business sale. 70 Fish per frog sounds like a good deal...I would personally never use another frog, but even a Booyah frog can last long, you can always change out hooks, use Glue, I have repaired many frogs that were expensive and had issues filling with water....You tube has some good videos on how to fix them, the key is to make sure they collapse, you don't want all holes closed. If you are going to import frogs from Express, go visit the store that makes Spro, Bass Pro frogs, Viscious and more.....just go to Ali Express and type in Frog Fighter Bass Lure, and you should click on that store....Take a look at the hardbaits if you like Japanese Lures at a discount. Just keep in mind many are color blemishes but a 6 pack of Kermit frogs is $18 shipped in BPS package, Colors are faded on 1 or 2, but it ships E Packet so 10 days....Most of those lures are blemishes but it is hard to find the blemish...If you want to buy the better ones, they cost a bit more, but they are just over stocks. I used to buy them by the 200 MOQ, but now guys are selling Snag Proof American Made Frogs on Ebay for $5...

I used to fish vibrating Jigs like spinnerbaits, keep them near the surface and I would catch fish, I would also do well waking them under the surface etc.. But I have found that slow and steady with slight pauses, or letting it flutter down and then ripping it up can trigger strikes...I often think the trailer makes the most difference since a swimbait vs. fluke gives the bait 2 completely different actions. You can also mess with the weight distribution using suspend dots on the blades to keep them from coming to the surface. I like to fish smaller 3/16 and 1/4 oz in many places on tough days and if you add weight to the blade, they stay down better if you want to use a slow/fast or erratic retrieve. I love experimenting with bladed jigs, I think you can catch fish on them using whatever retrieve you want if you are casting in the right areas. I often get strikes right at the boat as I am getting ready to make another cast, sometimes they miss it but they must have followed it up to the surface, so when that happens I try a yo yo retrieve and the odd thing is some days more strikes come on the way up then on the fall which is usually rare for me with other baits.

I have used the Duck colored Spro Frog which is essentially a bone color and I often wonder if Bass ever hit it because they think it is a baby duck. I have never seen a Bass eat a duck, but I can say one thing for sure. In my community we have 4 Ponds. 1 has really good Bass Fishing, ton of structure, Big Bass (average fish is 19"-4lbs) and 2 ponds have all stunted dinks since I use them to put all the small bass to prevent over crowding. In another pond about 2 acres, it has muddy water that adult ducks use and several big bass over 5lbs, and during the spring when Ducks have babies.... I have never seen a baby duck in the 2 ponds with big bass in them. The ducks use them all year long since none have Gators, but in the spring, they only use the 2 ponds that are full of small bass in the 10" range. Is that a coincidence? I doubt it. Those little Ducks are the same size as a Terminator Frog or the 90mm Spro. with that said, I don't know if I would buy a lure that mimics a duck, it would depend on price, I think a frog does just fine for the size of brain a Bass has.

I would fish it with whatever you would normally use and have the most confidence in. Don't fish what someone else does, the fish in that pond are not different than any other bass. I often make the mistake of using "The Hot Bait" instead of fishing what I am best with. It is hard to beat a 10" worm in summer, and most ponds with big bass have healthy forrage from bluegill to shiners, so stick to colors that mimic both, and I like to use a bigger senko or worms, but try to make casts where it is a great ambush point for a bass. If you see the area water enters the pond or exits, undercut banks, that is where big bass will ambush prey, and bigger fish usually will not move more than a few inches to chase a bait in summer. I find if I fish painfully slow, and make sure I get my baits way back in the cover, I do better, the key is finding cooler water, shade lines, and use the land around the pond to figure out drop offs etc.. If you like to fish a spinnerbait when hitting a lake, then fish a spinnerbait. White and chart is almost always a good color. gold blades in stained seem to help...For CHatterbaits in ponds, I have noticed I do better with slow and smaller baits, smaller trailers less vibration, and also less flash, take a sharpie to a silver blade and paint it on the water, it seems to work better, unless the fish are super active which is rare this time of year. Worms and soft baits are the way to go, and topwater in evening and early. Smaller frogs are awesome early in the summer....

Swim Jigs, Swimming worms, Frogs and toads, Snagless sally rigged with a texas rigged 4" curly tail swimbait over the weeds, I try to use weedless spoons but I just can't get the results I used to get fishing the Jawbreaker or Silver Minnow. Hollow bellies are my first choice as well as buzz worms/toads, texas rigs, but Swim Jigs or bullet style jigs are my favorite since I can swim it, deflect it, change trailer for profile, and easily change colors. I also like to use a punch rig in heavy cover, skirt if looking for bigger bites, but lately I really like a heavy weight and small bait which seems to help my hook up ratio and get more strikes. I barely go during the day anymore unless a storm is coming. I can't take the heat, but my favorite technique in Summer is fishing a Floating Rip bait like a Bagley Bang O lure, Long A, Red Fin, Rapala minnow over the grass instead of a fluke. I paint the tops of a red fin pink so I can see it from far away, same with a long a so I can steer it around grass, I feel bigger fish strike Hardbaits on most days but you get less strikes than on a fluke or soft bait.

Zipper worms make great swim jig trailers...Flat body = great action...I love zipper worms in stained water, would try swimming them behind a swim jig to create a nice bulge, also see what other forrage is in the pond. If Shiners are present, than that is why you have giant bass in a 1 acre pond, that is rare, but baby carp would make great forage. Try to catch one to see the color of it...Carp actually look like golden shiners when little, so Olive/gold, green pumpkin flash, watermelon gold... It sounds like you have a great situation for light line and wake baits, small swimbaits on a jighead, just fish it slowly and walk softly and even though water is stained, don't assume rattles are the way to go, I would try both, Bass learn to find bait in stained water, rattles in 1 acre could be too much unless they are active...Night is always best in summer, not even close imo, just wait an hour after it gets dark.

I fish a bunch of small ponds and if you have stained water and not too many weeds on the surface, try to work a floating Minnow bait on the surface barely moving it...Let it land, wait 10 seconds, twitch, twitch pause...F-9,F-11 Gold and black in stained water is my favorite and if you can use 10lb mono that is the way to go, or 8lb. I catch more fish in ponds both at night and early morning even afternoon on a Floating Rapala, and I will use the Jointed J-9,J-11 gold and black at night or early waked slowly. In Ponds, I truly believe the lightest line possible makes a difference. If water is dark, it is hard to beat a Black worm dipped in Chartruese, and I like a swimming worm like a 9" Ribbon tail, or 6" Curly tail worm and adding a split shot often helps. fish it like normal, but if you have weeds all over the place, I would get a buzzing tail worm like a Zoom Speed worm in Junebug if bluegills are in the pond, and pitch it, buzz it, swim It etc... Try the Rapala steady reeled slowly at night....The Floating Rapala is like the Senko of Hardbaits imo....It needs to be fished on the right line however to get the best action. If you need to go above 12lb test or 10lb braid, I would get a Bomber 14 Long A, they have strong saltwater hooks and many fish hit the lure as soon as it lands. For weeds, just fish a Fluke or Sluggo in a color that matches forage, I find if I can match the color of the bluegills I can do well in any pond on most days. Here in Florida they take a metalic silver body color with dark purple, Not much bright color on them so Junebug, black and blue, Melon Blue works well.. Hope that helps. Try to use a shorter rod fishing ponds so you can skip jigs and worms deep into brush or on undercut banks. Always fish the shade lines, and try to find moving water, especially where it enters the pond. This creates a ditch, or a channel Bass will use to ambush prey that floats into the pond, lizards work well after a rain, or any soft bait since Bass in ponds are usually in the spots you think they would be...Think Like a Big Bass...Where is the water that is cooler, has structure, and provides easy bait passing by where they can ambush without using energy. If you find moving water, the channel will run the length of the pond and you can catch fish after fish just dragging bottom with your favorite plastic, just remember...Most days, Bigger bass will not move more than a few inches to feed, and if you see them, they see you, so try to go by your self so talking is too a minimum. Big bass in ponds learn from bad experiences, I am 100% convinced of this...I have watched big bass pass up shiners for over an hour, but when one would fall off, they would get slurped without the hook....If you really want to find out how many bass are in a pond, and how many we often miss, get some big shiners and live line them, you will be shocked......I have gone 2 hours without a strike, live line a shiner and get bit within a minute in an area I worked with every bait possible.... Ponds are not easy as everyone thinks. Often they are harder and they learn, I can't catch fish over 12" on a senko anymore in most ponds, or on a finesse worm, small jig....Small Chatterbaits work well, not too much flash, black on black is my favorite in the 3/16 or 1/4 size, just sharpen any Z-Man hooks if you can, those little hooks come dull and sometimes they split when sharpening.

KVD strike king Stump Jumper a bit faded....But several companies make a similar frog from same mold but I recognize the eyes and skirt...Good Frog..I like KVD Frogs since they are not too soft, or too hard, and they have good colors.... Good Find...It could be an H2O Frog, they look like Strike King as well, so do some BPS frogs...

Great Post..I have added larger hooks to many of my frogs, especially the Spro Popping Frog in smaller size which comes in 2/0 and seems to be a bit on the small side. I move up to a 4/0 Owner Double frog hook and it works much better. Academy now has a popping from that is a clone of the Spro Frog and they have 3/0 Hooks on them (I have only looked at them online) but I have changed out hooks on all my older Snag proof Frogs which had the thick legs before the Perfect Frog came out. I hate the Wide gap Owner hooks, so I put 5/0 Owner hooks on them, and then take the Wide gap Owners that seem to not do the job and add them to the smaller frogs... I agree that finesse Frogging is a great idea, I often fish the small 45T Live Target Frog on 15lb Big Game or on my Medium Action Spinning Rod with 20lb braid and I have not had problems losing fish, or with hooksets. The Live Target hooks are razor sharp, and I file them after every few strikes, but Tiny frogs like the 3/16 baby Bully Wa, 3/16 Scum Frogs, often work really well. My Buddy throws the 3/16 scum frog which he adds 2 suspend dots on the hooks for weight and flash, and 2 small split shots for added weight, and throws them on a Medium action spinning rod to skip them, and he uses 15lb braid, and often cleans up in water I fished with 40lb braid and the exact same frog....The Tiny Scum Frogs are Fantastic since fish can't really hold it without having the hooks if you trail that short hula popper style skirt. Scum Frogs come with Owner hooks, and if you look at the tiny ones you can see the hooks are desinged for lighter line as they are thin....

Sometimes it is an error at the factory and the company gives them the Ok to just bag them...I have seen this happen with several brands, bag full of salt, worms covered in salt, and yes it washes off, but I am sure they are salt infused as well, and because the texture and color came out well, they probably bagged them and then sold them on sale.... I have only seen this happen when a company has a bogo sale etc...I have purchased seconds like this and I have noticed that the one's that sit out in the heat, or get hot in storage, will turn translucent, extra soft, heavy, and become some of my personal favorites. I had a box of watermelon or green pumpkin candy worms that were covered in salt to the point that a bag of 10 worms would weigh almost 10 ounces. The worms turned Translucent and although not durable, they had a new "Shine" and because they were well made, they held their shape, even though they became almost 14g for a 5" Dinger. Normal Dinger weighs about .10 and even though they tore easily, they seemed to catch fish better than "Perfect worms". I would take a few and let them sit in your tackle bag on a hot day and then take them out after a few hours. The added salt gives them this shiny flash color, I have taken one of my favorite Rage Colors-Falcon Red and dumped extra salt in the bags, and they look awesome, just have not used them yet. They become delicate but I am Ok with Delicate if they produce bites. If you have ever felt a Lunker City Spanky Worm which sags, that is what you get if too much salt sits in the bag and heated, if stored in a cool area it just adds added scent imo....I would not hesitate to buy them or use them.

Believe me, you don't want to be like me..It is a sickness, I get addicted to some type of tackle making each year and now it is custom skirts, and Skirts Unlimited has a way to get you, you have to buy same color to get 40% off, that is 12.00 for 100 tabs which is almost wholesale direct from Vietnam when you add in shipping so I can't just buy 1...I have so many tabs that I now just sell mixes on Ebay and 2-3 times a week I will sell a mix of 50 for $20 so at least I get my money back. I also will sell some punch skirts here and there and now Friends are buying some stuff and it all equals out but I never collect. I just like messing with colors and Luckily I have a few ponds in my complex that have really good bass Fishing (Somehow Bass were stocked in there about the same time I moved in 4 years ago, and whoever put them in did a good job of picking young 2-3lb bass to stock.) Testing lures is fun, and you know right away if your bait is good or not, same with colors... These fish have seen everything, People fish the ponds and they leave because they are almos t impossible to catch on lures plus some guy kept dumping trees and structure in the water at night to make it hard to fish, but If it works in the ponds here, they work better on the lakes... Off Topic, but I am 100% confident that any bass over 3lbs will never strike a Senko, Spinnerbait, or Frog. I throw them all the time to get them conditioned and with so many 12" shiners and crawfish, Tilapia and bluegill, once they hit 3lbs they don't chase anything, I actually think it is harder to catch Florida Strain in ponds that have been caught before than in lakes. They only get sloppy at night after it rains it seems or if you use something very subtle in color and natural...That is how the skirt addiction came about, I wanted to find the best flipping colors for punch skirts and jigs and sure enough, match the water color, and then add the next closest flake, and you are good..Smoke brown purple smoke green, watermelon blue translucents....Black and blue used to work but they learn, I am convinced, or they just hear you coming...who knows, when I grow a legit giant it will be worth it.

I have been having luck using the large blade instead of the standard blade on 3/8 and 1/2...I took a few off a few really old Rad Z Man 3/4 oz flashback shads and those blades are really cheap and thin, but when you put one on a Either the Barlows Arkie, or any swim jig I prefer a bullet style with the line tie similar to above. I also use a standard blade on the 1/4 and it seems to work well, I need to try a few different blades since the Z-man blades are running low. I found a bunch of Rad FLipping Chatterbaits that had a rattle hanging from the body, banana head in chrome, and a keeper to hang your trailer, and then some original old 2004? that had heads similar to the VMC Moon Heads that are thin and round, have the eye, and a barbarian style hook, plus a mono weedguard that comes extra long with a long SK style Skirt. The hooks on those were actually good, and seeing all the versions they have made from the Chatter frog, Chatter Stick Jerkbaits, Flash back shad and minnow, all the new ones, Flipping, Micro etc...It gives you lots of ideas..The Diezel chatterbait is nothing more than the Z-man jigheads you buy over the counter in a pack of 3 I believe, and they are cheap, then just add a blade and you can slide one in without a ring. I bend the blades as well down and up and straight depending on weight and trailer but most times I like it down so it vibrates harder and seems to move a slower speeds which is what I am after. I love it when they are just right and kick out like it ripped out of grass every few feet, I used to use a Magic shad for that now I use a Kropto relax Segmented boot tail swimbait which apparently is the best selling soft bait in Europe for Zander but made here in the States and Exported. I think I spelled it right but at 2.75 and 3.5" they do not cause the bait to get too eratic which a magic shad seems to do, a regular senko is actually a good trailer on the lighter ones 1/8-3/16, or a GYB Tiny Ika. I am hooked on making these things now, I am back in the bladed jig phase this year and trying to find the "Magic Lure" since every company is throwing on a blade to a jig attached all kinds of ways. Do the Bubble blades cause the bait to run more erratic or just harder with more resistance? or would it be less, I was going to try some of those since shipping is free this weekend. Nice job on the jigs..Sometimes buying the skirts is the easiest way to go and when you only pay .30 each it is hard to beat that price unless you buy a ton of the same color on another site. I like the mix and match discount, but Janns has the mix for 17.50 and it is decent.

I will get a couple of pics of different bladed Jigs I have that are all tuned to move erratic, I am not sure if it is the oversized blades I am putting on them, the connection, or the trailer, but instead of just vibrating when reeling slowly, they almost have the action of one of those action discs you can put in front of baits they sold on TV.... I have been trying to get the blade really close to the head and I have been surprised how different the action is if you do the 1 split ring for flat eye, 2 rings for vertical, but oval or spinnerbait wire allows you to manipulate distance, and it seems the longer away they get the harder they are to keep vibrating... I will put some pics together when I get home. I will find out what type of heads they are, they are not anything fancy, I think they may be a Bass Assassin Jig with a long shank, or a DOA saltwater jig...Either way, it looks like the Fastach head the SK is using on the swing jig. Just started fishing bladed jigs after not using them for a year, not sure why I stopped but have the fever again. I noticed that every company in the USA now just takes their swim jig, and then adds a nice Mustad Snap to look strong, and then they have to attach the blade seperate due to the Z-Man Patent. If the company makes the bait outside the USA you can get a blade on the jig without the ring, snap, wire, and the patent doesn't hold up whiich is why guys are paying so much money online for the japanese lures which are not all that great imo. I tried the Jackall one and also one from another company, not sure if it was Lucky Craft or Some new name, it was a defect and paint was chipped but They fished like a standard chatterbait which I like but I hate the hooks on them as they split in half, and are just dull. I can't believe guys pay $10 for a $3 Jig you can buy on TW that only has a blade attached via split ring? Just look at the Swim Jig and vibrating jig and it is pretty easy to see how they just threw them together. The only one that has any unique design imo is the Stanley Hale which I am looking forward to trying soon. The Poison Jig from Strike King is wierd and I like it alot, for a bladed jig I think it is as good as the standard chatterbait with better hooks, and they use a split ring with a recessed eye, that bait is erratic if you put longer trailer on it..Trailer makes a ton of difference... Sorry for the ramble, I type fast and just let my mind go and the last few weeks I have been working on finding the perfect bait and feel I am making progress, many times it is a catch 22 because converting strikes can be tough if your trailer is too big etc.. I will post pics and I wanted to start a thread about ideas, I am curious to see if anyone else is simply using ball bearing swivels that are tiny yet strong, or wire to attach them, or using the large blade on lighter jigs....

*** Jigs and any jig with a flat bottom...Green fish makes a skipping jig and so does pepper that is good...The Stanley wedge head jigs skip well. I find any arkie style jig, pan head, or even a bitsy flip will skip just fine...Never tried the revenge, they look super nice though, pricey but nice....