Latest Tackle Purchase Thread (Bait Monkey Victim Support Group)

[ATA]

1 hour ago, NorthernBasser said:

Those Burikin Swimmers are OILY! Was not expecting that. Been wanting the G.i for a while now. Couldn't pass up the 30% off at The Hookup Tackle. Also looking forward to finally trying out the Bongo, mainly as a swim jig trailer. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love the back of the Teckel packaging. The devil tail on the guy. 

 

 

I have the 2 and 3 piece. Didn't have the nads to get the 4. Then again, I'm not chasing the giants that you are!

I have the three also and I have two piece in my wishlist as well. I am hoping to get a rat bite, I really dont much think of the size, But bigger the better ?

[NorthernBasser]

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I couldn't have a lower opinion than I do of those people, but I'm glad you like the place and have had good experiences there 

 

 

I always appreciate the great detailed pics and gucci variety of your posts ?

I'm definitely not a Gucci kinda guy, but...thanks? ?

[AlabamaSpothunter]

2 minutes ago, NorthernBasser said:

I'm definitely not a Gucci kinda guy, but...thanks? ?

I use the term gucci in tackle to mainly describe JDM baits, anything high end, custom big baits as well.  

 

ATA is in that club posting PB rats, and noisy diks haha.    I wanted the PB rat but settled for the biggest Spro Rat.    

 

I'm gonna buy like 2-3 $150-200 big swimbaits to scratch a very particular Gizzard itch, but I'm really trying to save up for another Bass boat......you know so I can have a bigger pit to dump money into ?

 

 

[ATA]

2 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

ATA is in that club posting PB rats, and noisy diks haha.    I wanted the PB rat but settled for the biggest Spro Rat.    

[NorcalBassin]

Felt a little helpless when I ran out of my favorite wacky jigs. Can't allow myself to ever run out again. Ever. ? Also couldn't pass up trying the ghost Magdraft.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Waited months for this stupid thing, and then I ordered the wrong color lol. 

 

The color is terrible, it's more Rainbow Trout than Threadfin Shad.  The one thing it has going for it in this color for me is that it's "ghosty", it'll have a very natural look to it in the water I'd imagine.  It has typical awesome SPRO Gama hooks though, and it comes with rotating hook hangers.   

 

Outside of the color, it's an amazing looking bait right out of the package.

 

I'm about to fish this bait until the joint wears out, or I lose it which highly likely ?

[ATA]

3 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Waited months for this stupid thing, and then I ordered the wrong color lol. 

 

The color is terrible, it's more Rainbow Trout than Threadfin Shad.  The one thing it has going for it in this color for me is that it's "ghosty", it'll have a very natural look to it in the water I'd imagine.  It has typical awesome SPRO Gama hooks though, and it comes with rotating hook hangers.   

 

Outside of the color, it's an amazing looking bait right out of the package.

 

I'm about to fish this bait until the joint wears out, or I lose it which highly likely ?

That's the same as mine, I think thats the best color. If you want I can do break down the color for you ?. Congratulations.

[Cgolf]

Well I got my big bite order. Expecting to cut the claws off most the craw tubes, but I will try them with first. Water red and tubes is a hard combo to find, but at 38 bucks for 100 baits you can’t go wrong. I am hoping for them to be a larger version of the old trigger x tube I did really well with. 
 

The rest are some swim jig trailers that were on sale, pack  of the smallie smasher that is a great Ned bait, and a couple of line through swimbaits. 
 

I really hope the line through swims suck so I don’t end up going down that path. These were 3.50 each, I can deal with that, but not the pricier options. 
 

A little nervous about the 100 pack lol. I bought a 100 pack Producto tourney grub and have 98 left because they are tough little baits. 
 

 

[ATA]

7'2" Heavy paired with Scorpion MD, This will be very busy bottom fishing combo in summer. So happy about it and very exited and I use scorpion reel to match it with rod. MatchyMatchy ?

This is first monocoque handle for me. Lets see everything they said is true about sensitivity of them.

[Texas Flood]

I spent almost $200 on jerkbaits and yet I'm more excited to try out the Yamatanuki.

[KP Duty]

19 hours ago, Cgolf said:

Well I got my big bite order. Expecting to cut the claws off most the craw tubes, but I will try them with first. Water red and tubes is a hard combo to find, but at 38 bucks for 100 baits you can’t go wrong. I am hoping for them to be a larger version of the old trigger x tube I did really well with. 
 

The rest are some swim jig trailers that were on sale, pack  of the smallie smasher that is a great Ned bait, and a couple of line through swimbaits. 
 

I really hope the line through swims suck so I don’t end up going down that path. These were 3.50 each, I can deal with that, but not the pricier options. 
 

A little nervous about the 100 pack lol. I bought a 100 pack Producto tourney grub and have 98 left because they are tough little baits. 
 

 

Nice.  When Big Bite baits came out in '04 or '05, they debuted at Academy Sports and all baits were $.99 for months before going up to $1.99.  They apparently achieved the market share they desired.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

BOOM SHAKALAKA.....G-G-G-GA-GA-GA-GIANT RAT - Dave Mercer voice 

 

5 little kickers to go with the Giant ?

 

On a sour note I hope that's not rust on the older packaging Flashback Minis.   

[ATA]

4 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

BOOM SHAKALAKA.....G-G-G-GA-GA-GA-GIANT RAT - Dave Mercer voice 

 

5 little kickers to go with the Giant ?

 

On a sour note I hope that's not rust on the older packaging Flashback Minis.   

I think I finally made you LOL, (Sorry for not liking, I had my reaction of the day already).

[Cgolf]

5 hours ago, KP Duty said:

Nice.  When Big Bite baits came out in '04 or '05, they debuted at Academy Sports and all baits were $.99 for months before going up to $1.99.  They apparently achieved the market share they desired.

Yeh I remember that they have come a long way from that as far as branded sales. 38 cents a tube is a pretty good price. 
 

I thought they were and maybe still are a plastic house for other brands and eventually released some under their own brand. I know Uncle Josh outsources to an OEM for their Kalin plastics. 

[gim]

11 hours ago, Texas Flood said:

I spent almost $200 on jerkbaits

Might want to take out a small insurance policy for them. ?

[NorthernBasser]

On 6/5/2023 at 12:51 PM, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Waited months for this stupid thing, and then I ordered the wrong color lol. 

 

The color is terrible, it's more Rainbow Trout than Threadfin Shad.  The one thing it has going for it in this color for me is that it's "ghosty", it'll have a very natural look to it in the water I'd imagine.  It has typical awesome SPRO Gama hooks though, and it comes with rotating hook hangers.   

 

Outside of the color, it's an amazing looking bait right out of the package.

 

I'm about to fish this bait until the joint wears out, or I lose it which highly likely ?

 

I'm loving the ghost perch color. Its also translucent. My goal is to get a giant smallie on it this year. As you said, the fit and finish on this thing seems great out of the box.

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

SPRO Chad Shad review:

 

Total hours fished: 5 solid hours of chunking and chopping 

 

Results:   20+ followers, half of which would have been derby quality fish.   Earlier today I had my first bonified giant swerve it at the boat....6-7lb+ fish.....so frustrating and heartbreaking watching a big girl swim back down to the depths.   Yesterday a couple of the followers were in that 4-5lb range as well.   I'm just not quite doing something right to get these fish to fire on the bait.   Speed seems to be helping, but perhaps these fish are gonna swerve anything.    

 

Missed about half of dozen fish that committed in some manner on the bait.  Almost all of them were when the bait was not observable.   The vast majority of those 20+ followers came all the way to the boat, and at most bumped the tail of the bait.   

 

Caught fish:  4 of which the biggest and smallest are pictured.....if a 1lb Spot, and 2lb LGM will eat it, obviously all size fish are on the table with this bait.   

 

Sink Rate:  I dont own a real Chad Shad, or similar $200+ resin baits however this thing has the best sink rate by a huge margin over the baits I own that are slow sink like S waver, sneaky pete, Trace, BD Shads.   Those baits sink way to fast after fishing this bait.    

 

Action:  This bait will do a ton of things with the right equipment.   With 20lb Sniper fluoro and with some practice you can get this thing to glide out about 2 ft on a long cast.   You can reel it as fast as you can on a 7.1 reel and it won't blow out.   Most importantly for me though is you can chop this bait incredibly well.   You can bring it up to a dock edge or piece of cover and start chopping the bait seemingly in place.      

 

Finish:  From hooks alone, the rash is very minimal, once you catch a fish or two, the actual plastic takes more of a beating than whatever they used to paint the bait with.  The actual paint seems kind of indestructible on it.  

 

Bottom line:   after waiting months for it, having it now being the most expensive single lure I own, I can comfortably say this bait is worth the hype to a couple groups of anglers.....those who are either new, on a budget, curious if big baits are worth it, or even swimbait vets that want a cheaper Chad Shad at 95% effectiveness of the original and that's according to the Kevin Brightwell the designer of the OG and SPRO versions.

 

All those cheaper baits I listed above collect dust, some I've caught a fish or two on, but after using this bait and the Shimano quasi glide-swimmer, I have no reason to ever throw those cheaper baits.    

 

***I had to put a tracer on this bait to better learn it, likely will pull it off down the road.   

 

 

 

 

 

40 minutes ago, NorthernBasser said:

 

I'm loving the ghost perch color. Its also translucent. My goal is to get a giant smallie on it this year. As you said, the fit and finish on this thing seems great out of the box.

 

They're the real deal, seeing that perch color in that pic makes it look a thousand times better.   Got a Golden Shiner look to if you need it to be.   

 

However they painted these things seems indestructible, and the translucent aspect to them is something unique that even the real ones can't achieve.  

[NorthernBasser]

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

SPRO Chad Shad review:

 

Total hours fished: 5 solid hours of chunking and chopping 

 

Results:   20+ followers, half of which would have been derby quality fish.   Earlier today I had my first bonified giant swerve it at the boat....6-7lb+ fish.....so frustrating and heartbreaking watching a big girl swim back down to the depths.   Yesterday a couple of the followers were in that 4-5lb range as well.   I'm just not quite doing something right to get these fish to fire on the bait.   Speed seems to be helping, but perhaps these fish are gonna swerve anything.    

 

Missed about half of dozen fish that committed in some manner on the bait.  Almost all of them were when the bait was not observable.   The vast majority of those 20+ followers came all the way to the boat, and at most bumped the tail of the bait.   

 

Caught fish:  4 of which the biggest and smallest are pictured.....if a 1lb Spot, and 2lb LGM will eat it, obviously all size fish are on the table with this bait.   

 

Sink Rate:  I dont own a real Chad Shad, or similar $200+ resin baits however this thing has the best sink rate by a huge margin over the baits I own that are slow sink like S waver, sneaky pete, Trace, BD Shads.   Those baits sink way to fast after fishing this bait.    

 

Action:  This bait will do a ton of things with the right equipment.   With 20lb Sniper fluoro and with some practice you can get this thing to glide out about 2 ft on a long cast.   You can reel it as fast as you can on a 7.1 reel and it won't blow out.   Most importantly for me though is you can chop this bait incredibly well.   You can bring it up to a dock edge or piece of cover and start chopping the bait seemingly in place.      

 

Finish:  From hooks alone, the rash is very minimal, once you catch a fish or two, the actual plastic takes more of a beating than whatever they used to paint the bait with.  The actual paint seems kind of indestructible on it.  

 

Bottom line:   after waiting months for it, having it now being the most expensive single lure I own, I can comfortably say this bait is worth the hype to a couple groups of anglers.....those who are either new, on a budget, curious if big baits are worth it, or even swimbait vets that want a cheaper Chad Shad at 95% effectiveness of the original and that's according to the Kevin Brightwell the designer of the OG and SPRO versions.

 

All those cheaper baits I listed above collect dust, some I've caught a fish or two on, but after using this bait and the Shimano quasi glide-swimmer, I have no reason to ever throw those cheaper baits.    

 

***I had to put a tracer on this bait to better learn it, likely will pull it off down the road.   

 

 

 

 

 

They're the real deal, seeing that perch color in that pic makes it look a thousand times better.   Got a Golden Shiner look to if you need it to be.   

 

However they painted these things seems indestructible, and the translucent aspect to them is something unique that even the real ones can't achieve.  

 

Nice write-up. Appreciate it.

 

And the perch color looks even better in person than in the pictures. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

1 minute ago, NorthernBasser said:

 

Nice write-up. Appreciate it.

 

And the perch color looks even better in person than in the pictures. 

Thanks buddy, and I was going to throw my freaking arm out until I caught a fish, and then finally 4 came within about 15mins, and then I quit lol.      This thing is going to produce a big fish, that beautiful Perch one is going to yield you a fattie SM ?

 

Somehow the bait actually warrants the cost when compared to half the cost glides.   The sink rate was a huge thing to understand.  I get why people pay good money for that aspect alone.    

 

The Shimano has made me fall in love with the Slow Float stuff.  Now I really am going to have to get a Klash 9.   Maybe this bait will give me more confidence to fish a tad deeper.    

[5by3]

@AlabamaSpothunter whatever you do, don’t reel that bait as fast as you can and burn it. Never works ?

[AlabamaSpothunter]

6 minutes ago, 5by3 said:

@AlabamaSpothunter whatever you do, don’t reel that bait as fast as you can and burn it. Never works ?

Fished it for another two hours earlier.....I'm burning up my right arm at this point ?

 

This was one of three different Spots that tried to eat the bait a few feet from the boat.    Caught one more, had another couple of hits.....but not nearly the amount of followers today.   It's a fun bait, but other baits would have caught them much better the last few days.    You just have to commit to throwing these big ones, occasionally it seems to pay off with the fish you are after.  

 

[gim]

I found these in the bargain bin at a local fleet supply store and bought a pack.  The original price was $1.25 and they were were marked down to 59 cents lol.

 

I've never heard of or seen them, much less used them.  Anyone familiar with these??  If someone chimes in that they are decent, I might just go back there and buy a few more being that they are so dirt cheap.  They had 5 inch green pumpkin and blue/black stick baits and there are 5 to pack.

[Kirtley Howe]

As it says on the package, they basically invented the plastic worm. I have used their products for years and they are as good as any out there. 

[hokiehunter373]

17 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I found these in the bargain bin at a local fleet supply store and bought a pack.  The original price was $1.25 and they were were marked down to 59 cents lol.

 

I've never heard of or seen them, much less used them.  Anyone familiar with these??  If someone chimes in that they are decent, I might just go back there and buy a few more being that they are so dirt cheap.  They had 5 inch green pumpkin and blue/black stick baits and there are 5 to pack.

All I'll say is go buy the rest

[gim]

3 minutes ago, hokiehunter373 said:

All I'll say is go buy the rest

 

Well alright, you talked me into it!