TackleTour

At one time, battles between the manufacturers of big baits were so intense, they dominated discussions in the market. For those in the know, it wasn't about the baits, it was about loyalties. No where was this more evident than in the tackle store - you couldn't go to one place to buy each brand of bait in which you were interested. You had to buy one brand at one store, another brand somewhere else, and sometimes visit a third or fourth store to fill out your collection.

It is no longer as exclusive as it once was, but let's imagine it was even worse than what it was before and you could only choose one manufacturer for all your big bait needs. Which manufacturer would you choose?

fish catching,remarkable craftsmanship and great customer service.for me it's 3:16

Cal, you had to put this up??? The choices are TOOO Hard I looked at and figured up which manufacturers baits I own. I have a sickness

I had to pick Osprey, The baits work in every body of water I have fished. I wanted to pick 3:16, at one time they had several different baits that are awesome, but so are some of the Rago's, and Black Dog's, the Tripple Trout is great and so are TMikes Bullshad. My slammers get a good work out, and the boxes of Hammers and castaic's and Opti's were what I really started with. JR Hopkin's and Mattlures ............It's all starting to run together See what you have done

Mark Hiser

rago,big hammer,black dog,baitsmith

Mattlures for me, ultra realistic! Since I'm still searching for a resonable 3:16 swimbait I can't vote on that. When I say reasonable I mean nothing in the $250 range

no Evergreen?

damian_megabass wrote:Mattlures for me, ultra realistic! Since I'm still searching for a resonable 3:16 swimbait I can't vote on that. When I say reasonable I mean nothing in the $250 range

None of them sell retail for $250. Its just the demand that causes them to be so expensive, for good reason too. Many people will go to great lengths for some of Mickey's baits, for the simple fact that they stick fish.

So far I'll pick between Matt lures Slow sink Hard Bluegill & 6" BBZ for the hard bait category. In the soft bait cAtegory the 6" River Sea Live Eye Bottom Walker has been my best bait so far. I've had some success on the Real Prey Alewife and this year have some new to me 6" Baitsmith & Matt's tournament series baits that will get a good workout.

3:16 of course. Too bad the new freestyles are so hard to aquire (for retail price). Then Mattlures hardgill. Huddlestons for the soft side.

Mattlures ... as real as it gets.

I voted for Nates Baits.

It's funny but 6 mos. or so ago I would've answered this question much differently.

Unfortunately, there's been a lot ego based posturing and what I see as obscenely high pricing increases in this market place and in particular by one of the top companies and their owner; so much so that I wouldn't be caught dead with one of his baits, no matter how good it is now. The shame of it is his small staff rocks and bends over backwords to provide fantastic service.

Consequently, I've gone with one of the little guys who makes his baits the same way, by hand and one at a time. They look great and have excellent swimming action. Oh, and they also catch fish in a big way at pricing levels 1/2 to 1/3 of the "other" company. Give him a try if you haven't yet, he and his baits may surprise you like they did me.

Casca wrote:fish catching,remarkable craftsmanship and great customer service.for me it's 3:16

gotta agree with Big C here.

Most manufacturers will catch fish - but 3:16 does it with style

3:16

3:16 lure company.

Realprey???? Where's it at Cal?