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Posts: 267
Location: Central Pennsylvania | I was wondering if any of yous guys fish these sorta baits regularly and actually do well on them for musky (or pike). I know Steve will chime in something about creatures but I’m just wondering about swimming keitechs (smaller ones such as the 4.8) and the like for esox cause it seems to be fairly unpopular in comparison to the conventional tackle. |
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Posts: 341
Location: Western U.P. | In Spring & Summer, I'll use 3/8 -1/2 oz swim jigs on weeds & structure for Smallmouth, and Muskies on a few specific lakes. The jigs well for both species. |
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Posts: 490
Location: NW WI | Yeah man I'm a huge rubber swimbait fan. I don't hold anything against a weighted jig setup, but it's just not personal preference for the application I use them. My brother is a huge fan of the Storm 360 gt in all sizes and does well on all species with all their lengths. I prefer to run what I call "full profile" hollowbody baits. What I mean is that the lure has eyes, and pelvic and anal fins. The simpler style works fine for bass and pike but man the muskies just seem to follow and taste it, where as the full profile they haven't been hesitant at all to hit them. I hook em with a 6-12/0 swimbait hook weedless style. Normally if I'm doing this it's because I'm throwing into dense timber, cabbage,throwing on top of pads, or low light nighttime. I make my own small 5" bullet weighted leader that I just clip on to my existing leading if I want to bounce bottom or pull deeper through veg. One thing to keep in mind is that these bass rubbers you might as well as consider them disposable, they don't take teeth well at all.
A few of my favs:
Lunkerhunt Fetch
Optimum Boom Boom Weedless
Smash-Tech Head Hunter Weedless. |
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Posts: 267
Location: Central Pennsylvania | I'm surprised the fish seem to care about the style of bait as much as you mention, Do you ever have any issues with bad hookup ratio because of the non exposed hooks on a hollow body swimmer? |
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Posts: 490
Location: NW WI | Yeah, I say it and it sounds outlandish to myself even. But I promise you it's true at least on my water. I've ran them side by side plenty of days to reach that conclusion. I mean my wallet and orderering convenience would prefer it not to be true.
I'd say the ration is 80-90%. The misses are always from a slow follow from behind with a lazy strike mid retrieve. With the hollowbodys u can scent the cavity and it will grease your hook so there's no resistance for the hook to slide through. Also if you want you can just push the hook out to expose it like a jig setup. |
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Posts: 490
Location: NW WI | I don't know if this helps but
-Reg Dawg
-7" Headhunter with Owner 12/0 (largest i throw)
For comparison sake.
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Posts: 267
Location: Central Pennsylvania | I might just have to try it out! what sort of rod and reel do you usually use for the beast hook sort of baits? Do you usually get multiple fish on one bait or are they just ripped to shreds after one? |
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Posts: 490
Location: NW WI | The larger swimmers are normally an Assault Stick 20/20 8'6" SWAT, #80, with a 6:2 Revo Beast. (*a medium action would probably be ideal but I don't have one).
Medium swimmers go on a Cashion Icon John Crews 7' Frog Rod
,#50, with a 8:3 Revo IKE.
And its the luck of the draw as to weather u get tail snipped or not. The Headhunters are big enough u can torch repair em alot before they're done. I'd estimate a loose average of 4 toothed hits.
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Posts: 267
Location: Central Pennsylvania | Man, I really need to get a big setup! All I have right now is a surgical strike assault stick and a tranx, plus a heavy bass setup for the tiny baits. Side note: is there really a noticeable difference between the 20/20 assault stick and the original? |
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Posts: 490
Location: NW WI | Ur Surgical Strike will be just fine to run those swimbaits.
I have no idea, It's the only Chaos I own so I can't compare to the original.
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