Favorite Wake Baits For Using On Casting Gear? Looking For New Options To Use.

[ChrisD46]

A sleeper wake bait - large size only as the OP noted ...As for replacement hooks - look for Gamakatsu short shank treble hooks and play with the hook sizes (i.e. #2 in the front / #4 in the back ; #4 in the front / #6 in the back) . Work with the rod tip up at about 10 o'clock on #12lb. to #15lb. mono and reel slow & steady until you feel the right "thump" retrieve on the surface - easy bait to work with very good results once the water warms up above 55+ degrees F.

I fish state ponds in the summer months that eventually get so weedy that I have nothing left but to throw frogs.  My favorite baits to throw when there is some open water above the weedbeds are wake baits and my all time favorite is the 5/8 oz BPS 'The Egg'.  It'll wake with the best of them, has a nose down hard wobbling action while diving down to 10'' or so and powers through cover like a super shallow square bill crank.  The neat thing about the bait besides it's square bill esq nature is it's ability to be walked in a surface and sub surface action while also rolling side to side as it floats to the surface flashing it's colors at the fish.  It is a very stable bait which means 2 things:

 

A) it can be fished over weedy cover and have chunks of weeds stuck to the trebles and not effect the action of the bait while others would become unstable and blow out

 

when burned as fast as you can turn the handle it will reach max depth and become unstable but just enough to begin to take on a form of hunting action while refusing to blow out and even when made to blow out it will very quickly recover on the surface and get back to work.

 

There are 4 different ways to fish the bait that I have found will catch fish depending on how they want the bait.

 

1. slow wake

2. powering through cover on a steady retrieve like a big body super shallow square bill

3. walking the bait while transitioning from surface to subsurface in a classic walking motion with longer 'pulls' between pauses (it won't walk surface or subsurface alone)

4. burning the bait as it reaches ever increasing levels of instability at max depth resulting in a side to side hunting esq action

 

The negatives are that the stock hooks suck and are hard to find replacements given the short distance between the hook hangars, although the hooks from an Excalibur XCS 200 square bill fit very well.  Despite BPS' massive color pallet, the colors are limited for whatever reason.  Purple Tiger is a favorite.  The small size The Egg doesn't scale well and is not nearly as good as the big one so give the small one a pass. 

 

Guys in the know are paying good money for custom painted 'The Egg'.  Anytime a $4.29 bait sells for $15+ in custom painted variations is when it is time to take notice.  Just super sayin.

[primetime]

Thanks for the detailed information as learning this about a lure takes a long time but you had me at "it will run with weeds on the hooks" since that is the key for my type of fishing with wake baits and I also use barbless trebles so I crush them down or shave off since they are able to shake weeds easy or pop free for reaction strikes. I fish the smaller Eggs on spinning tackle and mono for shorelines, but I love the idea of the larger size and if they hold the T3 Inline trebles the Xcal Cranks come with that is awesome as they are stout trebles and large as well, so I can use them with braid and horse fish without any bending issues. 

 

Awesome info, I need to get my hands on the larger one's, I also have found that barbless trebles help in the weeds if snapping free or shaking them off for reaction strikes. I crush em down or shave them off, and fly fishing floatation foam in the can added to the line gives you an extra 2" of buoyancy for most baits, I have some Long A's where I melted and bent the lip, pulled of a treble so it has 2, and sanded paint off sides that will work at a decent pace in 3-4" of water no problem, but excited to try out the larger Egg which does have a shape that fish are probably not used too seeing. Thanks again for all the detail, I will try it all out.

 

when burned as fast as you can turn the handle it will reach max depth and become unstable but just enough to begin to take on a form of hunting action while refusing to blow out and even when made to blow out it will very quickly recover on the surface and get back to work.

 

There are 4 different ways to fish the bait that I have found will catch fish depending on how they want the bait.

 

1. slow wake

2. powering through cover on a steady retrieve like a big body super shallow square bill

3. walking the bait while transitioning from surface to subsurface in a classic walking motion with longer 'pulls' between pauses (it won't walk surface or subsurface alone)

4. burning the bait as it reaches ever increasing levels of instability at max depth resulting in a side to side hunting esq action

 

The negatives are that the stock hooks suck and are hard to find replacements given the short distance between the hook hangars, although the hooks from an Excalibur XCS 200 square bill fit very well.  Despite BPS' massive color pallet, the colors are limited for whatever reason.  Purple Tiger is a favorite.  The small size The Egg doesn't scale well and is not nearly as good as the big one so give the small one a pass. 

 

Guys in the know are paying good money for custom painted 'The Egg'.  Anytime a $4.29 bait sells for $15+ in custom painted variations is when it is time to take notice.  Just super sayin.      

[primetime]

I throw them as is. When the Hooks need changed I use the same size Tripple Grips. Sub Warts are getting hard to find. Brian.

Are theynot making subwarts anymore? There is a local shop that has a ton of old tackle and there are a few subwarts on the wall still, I guess I should grab them, I only have a few left. I am sure you can find them on Ebay, just be careful buying from anyone who custom paints lures and throws away the package, or someone who sells other imported items besides just fishing and sells lots of lures in numbers like 31, 18, 42 as the Chinese are making copies of all the older lures that are discontinued. There is a guy selling all fake Whopper Stopper lures, Megabait stuff, and Ebay knows all these guys are selling fake lures "Custom painted" but nobody has 2000 vintage lures to sell out of the blue....I have turned in many sellers on Ebay who are getting $100 for 6 fake lures, send the links to Ebay with the link to the shop overseas selling the fakes for under a $1 and they do nothing. Drives me crazy, I hate people who steal and for some reason nobody cracks down on the online fishing tackle industry. I never buy any Japanese lures on Ebay anymore unless from a legit dealer....Thanks..I will let you know if I find a bunch of Subwarts when I visit my buddies shop....I know there is a bin full of old chug bugs and it used to have subwarts and If so they cost nothing.

[fisherrw]

Lucky craft fat smasher

[Comfortably Numb]

I did really well on the Roumba last year. More of a topwater jitterbug type action. I found it cast great.

 

My favoriye true "wakebait" is the SK Wake Shad. Floats and always stays on surface. I tried the G2 but the SK is far superior action. Bill on the SK is weak tho. This bait really throws alot of water.

 

The THKO works well too.

[War Eagle 44]

I really like the Lucky Craft jointed wake baits

 

 

X2. I change the hooks to Gamakatsu 2X EWG's.

[basshole8190]

G2 shell cracker or ms slammer

[Bluebasser86]

Slammer

[chillson10]

Try the Bass Pro Shops Egg crankbait. It's nice and fat and it stays 1 cm or less below the surface. 

[MrM_vs_Wild]

I have to agree with hookdUP on the black dog shellcracker G2... if the lake you fish has a lot of bluegill and bream its hard to beat this bait.  I am also a big fan of the rapala dt 1 fats.  

[ChrisD46]

Might want to classify wake baits suggested here under two catigories :

 

1 . Those wake baits less $$ than your monthly car payment

2 . Those wake baits more $$ than your monthly car payment

 

C'mon now - any artificial  costing more than about $13 then you might as well just throw out a live shiner !!

[rippin-lips]

Other than the 3:16 bait none of what's mentioned is really that expensive. They're all under $40.

[ChrisD46]

The Slammer I looked up  was $78.99 ea. which resulted in  my response ...I thought , wow - that's getting up there !

[rippin-lips]

The Slammer I looked up was $78.99 ea. which resulted in my response ...I thought , wow - that's getting up there !

Yeah that was the super slammer. The two mentioned in this thread aren't that high though. The wake jr that was brought up runs $99

[ChrisD46]

Boy I sure would hate to lose a $99 lure ... If it goes in a tree then I'm taking a chainsaw to the tree !!

If I break off on a big Bass or due to a professional over run  - then I'm taking the chainsaw to myself !!

[scaleface]

Pico Pop or Rebel chugger {Big Pop R dont know the correct name ]  reeled slowly and steadily  under the surface will push a   wake in front of it. My largest spotted bass was caught on a chugger fished this way . 

[Trey Harpel]

Thanks guys!  The THKO has beeing doing great for a ton of guys....

:respect-059:

[everythingthatswims]

I am loving the mattlures hardgill but it was $75....I like the manns baby 1 minus in terms of a "normal" wakebait.

[Shanes7614]

Live target makes a larger mullet saltwater version that works excellent.

[matuka]

G2 shell cracker or ms slammer

took the words right out of my mouth

[A KGB Operative]

Thanks guys! The THKO has beeing doing great for a ton of guys....

:respect-059:

Where do you live? And what color off of TW do you use?