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Posts: 200
Location: Milwaukee, WI | Anyone have issues keeping fish pinned on slopmasters? Or operator error? A couple of observations...
Short arm of the spinnerbait
Hook is good size and gap good
No trailer hook
Small plastic added on the back
Size of the blade
Any of these make a difference? Anybody with a good weedless suggestion? Design? |
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Posts: 166
Location: West Central WI | I'm a bit of a Slopmaster nut and use them a lot due to their versatility. I started mostly using for their effectiveness in weeds and in and around wood, but now use in many of the same situations where a bucktail or other bait would work too. I have rheumatoid arthritis and the fact that I can pull them with less stress on my joints is also a factor. I just checked my logs and found that a full 36% of all my muskies were caught on them. I put a snap swivel on them for the blade and change out blades depending on the water. Bigger for more thump, smaller if I want to really rip them. Always add a 5-6" twister tail in white, green, or chartreuse. As far as your question, it is my belief that while I've lost muskies on them, it is not any more than the percent I lose on bucktails, cranks, topwaters, etc. It's easy to blame the single hook and I'm no different than others when looking for some blame when I lose one after all that work to get a good bite. They have a very good hookup percentage and I would submit that with the light weight and small size, there's less bait mass to shake loose on a good jump/head shake. I retire them when I've sharpened the hook enough times that the distance between the point and barb gets small compared to a new one (also gets fatter as the tip is filed away). Always have about 6 in various colors in my box and another half dozen hanging on my wall in the on deck circle. Just get a good hookset and keep your rod loaded at all times. Don't overthink it. |
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Posts: 200
Location: Milwaukee, WI | Sounds like some good observations. Just started using them this year on LOTW and will use them in SE WI as well. |
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Posts: 499
Location: Northern Illinois | I use them a lot as well as a few of my fishing buddies. We have better success using a good trailer hook. |
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Slopmaster Question??