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Posts: 2687
Location: Hayward, WI | I picked up a Fat Bast@$& and tried it a little last night. It was a little quieter than I expected, but only because I thought it might be obnoxiously loud.
It seemed to require a little speed to get the best sound out of it. The prop still turned working it fairly slow, but didn't have much pop to it.
I bent the prop forward a little bit and that seemed to give it a little better and louder pop.
Wouldn't say I'm disappointed as I think it will catch fish, just curious how loud they usually are. I would say noise was sonewhat comparable to a Twisted Sister Clicker. The FB maybe was a little louder if I picked up the pace a bit.
My thoughts are it seems like a good daytime bait for moving faster, comparable to bucktail speed. Going slooow at night might be better suited to my old wood Pacemakers.
Does that sound about right for this bait? |
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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | Add split rings to the front hook until the blade hits the back of the hook if it doesn't reach it as is. It's a great prop bait. You could also search YouTube/Facebook for some tips on tuning them.
I can run mine pretty slow and get quite a bit of noise out of mine, but I haven't seen many that are as loud as mine, without tuning or adding split rings. |
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Posts: 1208
Location: E. Tenn | Make sure the hook just barely "ticks" the blade, and doesn't impede it's rotation.. Mine makes a pretty good racket too.. |
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Posts: 523
| They are my favorite prop bait. +1 on the adding a split ring to get the “click” sound. I have had my best results reeling them slow and getting the tail to just barely spin. |
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Posts: 607
Location: Bloomington, MN | Ramblin' Ray on WLS 880 AM Chicago was talking about the Fat Bastard being his favorite top water bait this morning. Mine also. I have 5 FB's, but only tossed 3 and I "think" they all sound and run the same. They sure are not like the old Gooche's Pups/Tallwackers. |
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Posts: 59
Location: Fifield | These are awesome baits! Sometimes a heavy leader will cause these baits to slightly nosedive resulting in a quieter bait. Try a short steel leader and see if you notice a difference. |
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Posts: 2687
Location: Hayward, WI | Thanks guys. I couldn't find any tuning tips online, but I tweaked the prop a little. Think I ended up bending it forward and trying to cup it slightly. Makes quite a bit better pop now.
I added a split ring and got the hook to tick but I could use a smaller ring. I only have 7s and I think a 5 would be better. The sound was good with the extra ring but I think it made a little too much contact and hindered the pop slightly. For the time being I left it stock without the tick.
Might be a good tip on a lighter leader. Using a 150 lb fluoro leader it seemed to want to dive a bit sub surface at times if I wasn't holding the rod tip up pretty high. Sound seemed better closer to the boat when I could pick more line up out of the water. |
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Posts: 200
Location: Milwaukee, WI | I threw them a lot on LOTW my last trip and I found the angle of your rod tip also had an effect on the plop. |
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Posts: 3136
| I traded mine,,they sound great but I've never seen a bait so easily fouled by the tiniest sprig of weeds. Just can't handle any, not one I want to use in the weed choked metro,,I like the doctor evil better produces those micro tiny bubbles that usually mean a well made prop bait. |
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Posts: 306
| Bad ass bait for me-especially in the wind. |
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Posts: 3518
Location: north central wisconsin | FB has been one of my better topwaters the past few seasons. Adding rings to make mine click would be a detractor in my opinion in most conditions I use it(clear water shallows, daytime fishing). While I do have and like a few lake x lures as clickers, I wouldn't buy one with the mandate of making it click. They do all sound slightly different, at least I don't have one that sounded the same without tuning. One issue I have is that the tails do bend slightly easier than a topraider in the net, but it also makes them easily tuneable. Remember that inward bending means you might need to bend the lowest outbound section of the tail out to counteract the speed, to produce more sound if that is what you are after. However, the real draw to this lure imo is the water dispplacement from the weight/size/shape of the body. The tension you feel when bringing it in, is also felt by fish within striking distance. Loud plopping tail baits are really not 'loud' but that's for another discussion. |
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Posts: 2687
Location: Hayward, WI | Good info here. I did get mine tuned so it has a pretty good pop to it. I do feel like the hook clicking quieted the bait down some so I put it back to stock. I did order some #5 split rings vs the 7s I had. 2 number 5s might be right for a clicking hook while not messing with blade rotation. The best part there is it can be switched back and forth in only a minute.
Leaving for LOTW on Friday. I'll have to give it some time up there next week.
Tucker |
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