Tru-Tungsten vs. Spro

[.dsaavedra.]

these baits are obviously competing with each other, i was just wondering which one you would buy.

right now im leaning toward the Tru-Tungsten because both of the baits look nice, but i like the fact that the TT has two trebel hooks and you can adjust the sink rate of the TT.

[fourbizz]

Probably neither. But if I did get one it absolutely would not be the Spro. I have bought the last one of their baits I ever will.....and given it away.

[.dsaavedra.]

was it you that was boycotting SPRO because they coppied Mattlures?

[wisturkeyhunter]

I'd go TT cause I like bluegill, bass, and perch better than shad colors. Also the adjustability of the sinking rates is nice.

[fourbizz]

was it you that was boycotting SPRO because they coppied Mattlures?

One of many.

He (Bill Siemantel) also copied Jerry Rago with the BBZ-1.

[senko_77]

I'm kinda stuck in the middle of this one.  As far as which company to support based on morals and originality then it would be the Tru-Tungsten because ol' Mr. Siemantal's designs are NOT original.  I think the BBZ-1 shad looks better, but the Tru-Tungstens are more versatile.

[Randall]

I will get the TT bait when it comes out but not the Spro. I have just seen and heard enough from Spro that I can't buy or use their baits anymore. I just sold all my Spro baits for cheap to a guy in Florida.

[Mattlures]

You guys should also look at the Castaic rock hard 4in shad. I saw all the baits in person and I thought the Castaic looked the best. They were all fairly close. The action seems to be about the same and as far as the actual fish carving goes the Castaic and the TT look much more realistic. When I saw them in person I thought the castic had a slightly better paint job then the TT. Of course I have no way of knowing if all the baits are built equaly as durable but on the surface I think the Castaic edges out the TT

[fourbizz]

I'm gonna base this solely on my knowledge of the Tru-Tung Trout and the Castaic Rock Hard Trout.

Tru Tung- Decent construction, good looking but fragile paint, versatile

CRH(initial run)-poor construction, fragile paint, some dont even swim

Generally speaking, with swimbaits, you are better off to buy an American built bait, The quality control on a handmade bait is *almost* always better. That being said, there arent really any shad baits of this type available yet. But TT isnt making their baits on anyone else's back, like the BBZ boy is.

[.dsaavedra.]

just googled "castaic rock hard shad" and i got a result with a link to tackle tour, and it showed all of the new castaic rock hard baits.

they look vey cool. i love the baby bass! i may have to hold out on getting a tru tungsten or spro and wait for these castaic baits to come out!

[Cory20]

Matt,

Aren't you coming out with a baby bass of your own?  

Fourbizz,

Are there any hard swimbaits that you would buy that are 50$ or less?  Some of us might be wanting to test the waters before diving in.

thanks

[fourbizz]

There are a few

3:16 Baby Wake.

MS Slammer

AC Plugs Minnow

[Mattlures]

Cory I am playing with a lot of cool stuff right now

I cant argue with Fourbizz. He is correct. Now I am judging the baits based at what I saw at Icast. If you throw reputation into the mix, well...........

Of course I would think Castiac wouldnt make the same mistake twice.

Again I just felt it LOOKED a little better but there is no way of knowing how any of the baits will handle abuse untill they have been tested and fished hard. We will just have to see.

the cosmetics were actualy verry close between the Castaic and the TT.

[Cory20]

Thanks fourbizz, I'll keep those in mind.  The baby wake looks well worth the few extra $$.  

Matt,

I'm excited to see what you have in the works, and I'm sure quite a few other people are too.  I'm sure you're going as fast as you can with the bait still being of mattlures quality at the end.  

At least Castaic is making an effort to improve their lure making process and overall product line.  Hopefully they can be a contender in their part of the market.  The consumer can always appreciate some competition.

[Brad_Coovert]

I'll be buying both.

I like the SPRO's colors and also like the TT weight system.

Nice to see these smaller shad swimbaits hit the market.

Brad

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

Can't go wrong with a slammer

[paul.]

they both look good and i'll probably try both.  if i had to choose though , i'd probably go with the TT just cause i have thier bluegill and i really like it, so i know they build good baits.  the versatile weighting system also gives this bait an edge in my opinion.  my only experience with spro baits has been the aruku shad, a bait which in my opinion did not live up to it's claims and was definitely not worth the price tag.  this bait has been put to shame by my regular old rattle traps which are several dollars cheaper.

but i'm not sure i understand the outrage over whole "copying" thing.  every time i go to the tackle store, i see entire shelves of baits that are "copies" of each other.  everybody has a "senko".  there's a gagillion brands of ribbon tail worms.    same with spinnerbaits and crankbaits for all practical purposes, along with virtually every other category of bait.  the "differences" are barely perceptible, if at all.  isn't it this competition that encourages the free enterprise system and drives prices down benefiting the consumer?  maybe it's somehow different in the world of swimbaits. :-/  

seriously, could someone please enlighten me?  i consider matt to be my friend and a great guy.  his help with swimbaits has been invaluable to me as has jay's and randall's.  (thanks again y'all. )  if somehow bill seimantel and or spro has legitimately ripped matt off, i'd like to know about it and i would not buy any more of their products either.

 

[fourbizz]

I think it has to do with a few things.

A good percentage of big baiters are friends with the guys building baits. Now if you're personal friend made his money off of creating something, by himself, the hard way, one at a time, and somebody started having a copy of it pumped out of a Chinese factory by the thousands, you wouldnt like it either. So when I see Bill's "BBZ-2" Bluegill, all I really see is Bill swiping food off of Matt's table.

It is one thing to make a similar bait. But it is quite another to 3d scan or mold someone else's bait and call it your creation.

That is why I never fish or recommend chinese baits. The only people making advances in big baits right now are the artists in their tiny shop or garage, coming up with the real baits. Keep buying this mass produced crap from overseas and the artists, who are already struggling, will go under. Leaving the knock off artists no one to copy and we won't see new, different, quality baits ever again.

/rant over

[Randall]

they both look good and i'll probably try both. if i had to choose though , i'd probably go with the TT just cause i have thier bluegill and i really like it, so i know they build good baits. the versatile weighting system also gives this bait an edge in my opinion. my only experience with spro baits has been the aruku shad, a bait which in my opinion did not live up to it's claims and was definitely not worth the price tag. this bait has been put to shame by my regular old rattle traps which are several dollars cheaper.

but i'm not sure i understand the outrage over whole "copying" thing. every time i go to the tackle store, i see entire shelves of baits that are "copies" of each other. everybody has a "senko". there's a gagillion brands of ribbon tail worms. same with spinnerbaits and crankbaits for all practical purposes, along with virtually every other category of bait. the "differences" are barely perceptible, if at all. isn't it this competition that encourages the free enterprise system and drives prices down benefiting the consumer? maybe it's somehow different in the world of swimbaits. :-/

seriously, could someone please enlighten me? i consider matt to be my friend and a great guy. his help with swimbaits has been invaluable to me as has jay's and randall's. (thanks again y'all. ) if somehow bill seimantel and or spro has legitimately ripped matt off, i'd like to know about it and i would not buy any more of their products either.

Paul, First living close to Spro here just outside of Atlanta I have just seen some things and heard some things that made me question the company's way of doing things. Then I saw the bluegill bait and how it was made and it made it clear to me that some of the things I had heard were true. Then I feel that both BS and another Spro employee have lied about the way the bait was made.  It's not so much for me that they copied the bait since many company's do. It's the fact that I feel like they try to pass off others hard work as their own and were not honest about it. I have made some baits myself that were copies of others for my own use but I don't go around saying it is all my original design since I copied a bait.  

[paul.]

jay and randall, thanks very much for clearing things up and helping me understand.  i can always count on y'all to tell it the way it is.  i see now that it's not so much that they are coming out with a bait that's similar to matt's, but rather they are coming out with matt's exact bait and putting their name on it.  that's not cool.  nor is lying about  where your ideas come from.  as much as i've learned from matt on here, there's no way i'd wanna see him or his business hurt in any way.  no more spro baits for me.  thanks for your insights as always guys.    

[paul.]

oh and btw, thanks matt for the heads up on the castaic baits.  i'd never known about these if you hadn't said something they do look good.  and here's a link if anyone is interested.  but i'm gonna wait to see what matt's cooking up before getting anything i think.

http://www.tackletour.com/reviewicast2008castaic.html

[Brad_Coovert]

I'll avoid passing judgement on the baits and their creator until I get a chance to have all of these baits in my hand and on the end of a line and put to good use.  Just pictures and a few comments on message boards are not enough to justify judgement just yet.  Baits may look similar, even exact, but the design of a bait goes well beyond the looks.  The materials, construction, fall rate, swimming action, etc. are also part of the baits overall design.

Would I boycott SPRO because Bill copied these baits?  Not entirely.  I would not use or sell these particular baits if I determined they were pretty much a straight up copy, but there are many more SPRO products that I really like to use such as the Arukushad, Bronzeye Frog, Little John and the Dawg and I am very much looking forward to the BBZ Shad though as well as the SPRO Bronzeye Popper.

Besides, I do not like the double hook Bill used on his bluegill bait and I like Matt's Ultimate Bluegill much better than any of the others, so I doubt I even do much with the SPRO bait, other than trying a sample.

Brad