Savage Gear Line Thru- Review

[Anthony Gooch]

Hadn't given this swimbait a try yet, so I picked myself up a couple in the Slow Sink model about two weeks ago from East County Bait and Tackle in Lakeside, California. I hadn't heard a whole lot about them, and at first glance I was kind of skeptical on how they looked; mainly because I was worried about their durability.

 

Upon first taking these out of the package and checking them out, my opinion started to change. They are very well put together for a soft plastic bait, especially for under $20!!!

Took them out that next day after purchasing them and in the first 30 seconds of use my worries went away and I started to become very confident with this bait. The action is absolutely killer!  I didn't realize how realistic/versatile this bait is in the water, I'm hooked!

 

This bait can do it all. From a moderate slow roll, to pausing it to create a subtle and enticing glide, to burning it and ripping it to mimic a panicked trout fleeing for it's life.

 

Had a few big females slam the slow sink that day but they kept missing the front of the bait ... Bummer.

 

However, about 5 minutes into using this bait I was working a long cast back from the bottom of the lake in about 20 feet of water. I would give 5-10 turns of the handle at various speeds and then pause it for a few seconds to let it glide back down near the bottom. When I was about 15ft. out I did the same thing because I knew it would glide right next to this rockpile that was there. As soon it glided next to the rockpile I feel a tick and swing. I thought I had a new lake record Largemouth for about 10 seconds as I cranked this fish up to the surface. Little did I know, that when the fish reached the surface about 5 feet from shore, I was in for a big surprise... I didn't have an upper teen sized largemouth on... I had a 30+lb channel cat on!! Sadly the big cat made it's first roll there at the surface, and the bait came flying back at me, but it was a great adrenaline rush to start my morning. Not to mention I got some good footage on the GoPro of me jumping up and down yelling some not so nice words when the fish popped off haha.
 

All in all no victims fell to the line thru that day after that, but I gained a lot of confidence in this bait because of that incident.
 

 

I had another oppurtunity to get back out to that lake and throw the Line Thru earlier this week, but the water was way down, and the algae was blooming strong.

I fished it hard for hours varying retrieves with no luck; the conditions just weren't there. Then around the time I was getting ready to leave I made a cast off a rocky point and worked the bait back slow with a stop and go retrieve to keep it down near the rocks, and finally I felt a thump. I swung hard on this fish and started cranking so fast that the fish nearly flew out of the water, I wasn't going to risk losing another monster if I came down to it!

Sadly this fish was not anywhere near the size range I was going for, but nonetheless I was rewarded with a catch for my efforts.

 

Even though this fish was only a couple pounds, It goes to show you that the Savage Gear Line Thru can entice fish of all magnitudes, whether it's a hungry 30lb Channel Cat, or an agressive 2lb Largemouth.

I've seen some good things with this bait after only fishing it twice, I'll have to get myself a fast sink model as well sometime soon...

I am beyond excited to take this baby out on a trout stock day this winter here in Southern California and tear up some teen sized Largemouths!

Thank you Savage Gear for such a high quality, and extremely affordable swimbait. Those of you who haven't given one a toss yet, get on it!

[ghost]

Very good review!

 

I live in Orange County and wanting to try out some San Diego lakes, can you suggest some places?

[Anthony Gooch]

There are a lot of good lakes to try out down here. It depends on whether you have a boat or will be fishing from shore.

From shore my main picks at the moment would be Morena, Poway, Cuyamaca. Murray has a great topwater/reaction bite in the very early hours of the morning or right before close... but it's not a viable option as of right now during most hours of the day because the fish are going deep and into the Tulles.

From a boat my main picks at this moment would be El Cap by far, Lower Otay, Dixon, hodges, miramar.

Check out www.sdfish.com

The freshwater reports can get quiet a little from time to time, but it's probably one of the best places to get up to date information and reports about the lakes down here.

[Bluebasser86]

Any soft swimmer that can stand the abuse of a big cat without being super stiff is a winner in my book! 

[Droppingshot]

Thanks for the review. How's the action on this thing compared to say... A hud 68?

[Anthony Gooch]

Both baits have there time and place. I love the Hudd68's but I'm starting to love this bait as well. The Hudd68 will swim in a straight line with a decent amount of water being moved by the tail thumping, and a little bit of top to bottom body roll, if that makes any sense .

The Line thru will swim in a strait line with a tight S pattern swim style, similar to that of other multi jointed swimbaits. It has a lot more of a side to side wobble as compared to the top to bottom body roll of a Hudd68. It seems to have a tightER s pattern swim style as you increase retrieval speed. One thing I noticed when experimenting with the Line Thru is that when I would burn it and then give it a firm twitch and a momentary pause the bait would dart and roll either downwards or upwards, it seemed to be a little different every time I tried. This has me excited because it looks like a frightened and fleeing stocker trout. That type of retrieve will also do well in clear water lakes when you have a follower that isn't willing to commit right away, sometimes you really have to entice them to strike.

Hope this helps answer your question a little!

[Droppingshot]

That absolutely helps. Thank you for the lengthy explanation.