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Posts: 1023
| There has been a lot of hype/marketing around these lures lately.
I fish tubes and dawgs almost religiously but this year lost a LOT of fish on soft plastics, compared to normal years.Was thinking of moving to hard jerkbaits.
What do you guys think of the Phantom Softail - looks pretty but does it catch fish?
Any other hard jerkbaits you like better (Squirko???...)
Thanks
Landry |
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Posts: 529
| Phantoms and Hellhounds. Cant go wrong with either, IMHO i think hellhounds are easeir to work, but i think you can work phantoms deeper |
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Posts: 413
Location: Madison WI | They are well worth the hype, they flat out catch fish and look great in the water. They can be worked fast or slow, I personally like to work them semi fast with a super long pause after every 4-6 taps, it allows the lure to swing way out and this is normally when they get smoked. A good plus to them is you can work them fine with a fluro or wire leader. Whereas some of the others that I own require only wire leaders or they won't run. |
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Posts: 29
| I have a 6 inch softail they have a action like no other truely life like, i was wondering what everybody else was seeing the most action on 4,6,7.5,10? |
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Posts: 305
| Try the H2O tackle hardhead. Much better hookups than dawgs since they usually strike the head, which is, well, hard. Nice wiggle that dawgs don't have, replacable tails, and can rig tail up or down for different actions. Also has two screw in weight sites for depth control. Have been throwing one of the small ones this year made of hard plastic and it has held up very well to both musky and on pike trips with 50+ fish days. Plus Roger at H2O is great to work with and is generous with tips on how to get the most out of his lures. One tip was to add double blades in front of hardhead similar to cowdussa and this did put an extra fish in boat this year for me. The gliders like Phantom i fish mostly early season. |
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Posts: 134
| Highly recommend the soft-tail phantom. Easy to work, durable, and definitely catch fish. |
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Posts: 906
Location: Canada | esoxlucifer - 9/4/2011 10:12 PM
Try the H2O tackle hardhead.
Try any of the H2O Tackle lures, they work. Check out www.barebonesbaits.com for custom colors. As for jerkbaits Phantom softails, Hellhounds or if your looking for an awesome easy to use glider ghat runs deeper check out the Modivator by Musky Fix Tackle. |
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Posts: 1284
Location: WI | Soft tail Phantoms work. I got a 47" on one back in June. |
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Posts: 181
Location: St.John, Indiana | I use both Hellhounds and Phantom softails, The hellhound can be worked super fast with a more automatic glide and the Phantom has a up/down side to side glide. Both have their places. This year the Phantom has seen most of the action in my boat ,but also use Twisted suckers for working deeper structure.
Phantoms; the 6" see action early in the yr. then the 7.5" and now the 10", I threw it in Canada this year incredible!!
I have used the Squirko had luck ripping it up instead of gliding it. |
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| Phantom softballs catch fish, hellhounds have only brought fish in for me. I also like soft tail Guppies, caught ally of fish on those. Hard ears are good too. |
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Posts: 1023
| ordered a phantom and 2 modivators, which look amazing!!!!!
Thanks again everyone!!!!! |
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Posts: 360
| Where can you buy modivators and how much they run. |
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Posts: 1023
| I contacted the guy who makes them through this site (MuskyFix)
Check out the baits and video in the Basement Creations forum - they look amazing.
$30 |
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Posts: 1023
| Love the softtail Phantom's. 6 inch size works really well for me. Load up on replacement tails and always keep a little Gorilla glue in the boat. |
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Posts: 937
| I like Squirkos. 40 fish in the boat this year on them up to 48" Babys and reg. size have been good for us this year. The babys were by far my best bait in May.
Jeff Hanson
madisonmuskyguide.com |
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Posts: 415
Location: madison wisconsin | +1 on the squirkos. |
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Posts: 1023
| I guess they all have their time and place:) |
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Posts: 906
Location: Canada | I know you like dawgs and tubes Landry but these Modivators will serve you well with how deep they run, nice wobble on the glide and pause them they will wobble on the drop. |
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| Heres another plug for the Modivator by Muskyfix. Awesome bait, great custom colors and made by a great guy. Not knockin any others but once you use one of these, you'll have a hard time switching back. Hes got a lengthy thread under basement baits
http://muskie.outdoorsfirst.com/board/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=63... |
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Posts: 906
Location: Canada | Be sure to check out the Modivator Jr's too :
http://muskie.outdoorsfirst.com/board/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=68... |
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Posts: 599
Location: Michigan | Jeff Hanson - 9/9/2011 4:56 PM
I like Squirkos. 40 fish in the boat this year on them up to 48" Babys and reg. size have been good for us this year. The babys were by far my best bait in May.
Jeff Hanson
madisonmuskyguide.com
How do you fish the squirko? I had a lot of action on jerkos as they dance a good amount side to side, but the squirko doesn't seem to have the same action as the jerkos. I have to work the squirkos a lot harder to get them to have any action/ |
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Posts: 1675
Location: Mt. Zion, IL | What leader do you use with the 4" soft tail? |
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| imo most glidebaits work a lot better when they have no grub.way more erratic,more attractive
sure they look sexy but nothing more.......... |
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Posts: 1767
Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | pepsiboy - 9/13/2011 10:21 AM
imo most glidebaits work a lot better when they have no grub.way more erratic,more attractive
sure they look sexy but nothing more..........
definitely not what the stats in my boat say the past 3-4 years, softtail phantom is a beast of a lure...especially effective in Northern WI |
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Posts: 129
Location: North Metro - Twin Cities | The Phantom Softails and Viper Softail run great. The lures are specially weighted so the tails do not take away from the action while adding additional attraction. I wouldn't trade my 8" custom Viper Softail for any other muskie lure ever made. |
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| I haven't had any success with the phantom this year, but looks great. How do you all work it in the 8? When I make my first turn, it kind of flips on its side. I don't see a fish hitting it while in the 8, any tips? |
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Posts: 1224
Location: Okoboji | big arse curly sue |
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Location: Contrarian Island | sq phantoms imo work just as easy and have just as good action as the non sq ones... one tip to get them to work even better is trimming the tail just a bit so it's not as wide... helps to not slow the lure down on the swings left to right... i use mogombos for replacement tails and bite or cut the tail 2 "rings" up from the twister on the mogombo...fish catchin lure for sure
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Posts: 2037
Location: lansing, il | RyanJoz - 9/13/2011 8:03 AM
What leader do you use with the 4" soft tail?
Use a short 5" solid wire leader with no swivel. Much like our Spring Leaders with the solid ring. What works best is if you take the Spring leader and invert it. In otherwords, tie your line direct to the solid ring and put a #3 or #4 Stay Lok snap on the other end and your good to go.
I made some up for Todd from Phantom last year like this and he said they work great.
Attachments ---------------- baby phantom.jpg (29KB - 232 downloads)
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Posts: 906
Location: Canada | Landry - 9/8/2011 8:03 PM
ordered a phantom and 2 modivators, which look amazing!!!!!
Thanks again everyone!!!!!
Get these yet? Get a chance to use them? |
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Posts: 1023
| got my phantom but not my customs yet? They were sent 8 days ago.
Soon I hope - likely this week.
Landry |
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Posts: 906
Location: Canada | I know you've received your Modivators. Whats the good word Landry, have you fished with them yet? I'll have mine wet in the Kawartha's this weekend. |
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Posts: 1023
| The modivators run waaay better than the Phantom - but i am not a muskie so only time will tell. I was fishing deep and didn't use the new baits much on their maiden voyage. they will get regular duty next spring and summer. |
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Posts: 538
Location: northern indiana | I busted a 45+" the other day on a new soft tail Modivator I just recieved. Bummed out that I lost her at boatside. Lost another after that as well but a bit on the smaller side |
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| Jim caught this 43" on the Modivator 10, fishing the big V.
The only Modivator 10 made so far.
(PART951320329860996.jpg)
Attachments ---------------- PART951320329860996.jpg (58KB - 151 downloads)
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