**Had me a Lando Calrissian moment this afternoon**

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Re: **Had me a Lando Calrissian moment this afternoon**

Post by Cristo » Thu Jul 28, 2022 10:48 am

Fun size comparison between the Trap Bass Baits Trap Rat and the House Mouse specimens. I really like these baits 8-) they're all built very cleanl and surgical, nothing surprises you really so much anywhere on the overall build/hardware is pretty standard affair for the most part and well covered by Cal and Zander already, but very clean, very nice builds. Price point is a no brainer, so have no fear on not being able to attain these lovely baits. That is a huge welcome being attainable to me equals price plus regular drops and still be very competitive in a ever growing market. Hopefully I can get in on the different gill specimens offered as those look pretty rad :big grin:
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Updated for 8/7. Did up the Trap Rat...Trap Beats anyone :big grin: kept stock Owner gear as it was set up nicely already just needed my touch :P
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Re: **Had me a Lando Calrissian moment this afternoon**

Post by Cristo » Fri Aug 05, 2022 9:39 am

Okay my future telling is on point still :lol: Two styles of the Trap Bass Bait's "Gill Juniors", single and multi-jointed came in yesterday. Man the paint is ridiculous IMHO. Super fun flake all up in the mix 8-) these bad boys shine but as usual pictures do not do these justice. They are pretty hype and I'm probably behind the 8-ball on these as usual but I opted for the juniors to try out I may go up in size to 4.5oz versions. Anyway the juniors are as expected but wow they're super fun on retrieve even though they're just considered a wake bait can get down to about half a foot if you have a vigorous retrieve speed going but mainly these like to stay up on the top, the action is Super Rad I like their bulkier profile as well and you can Chuck them pretty far. These come in about 3oz. They each came with one Softail and one hardtail and I think the screw to attach the tail to the AFT is pretty novel as well we'll see how it holds up for a long term use in the wear and tear dept the build is very very clean and put together nicely with rotating hook hangers which I do appreciate, the bills on these are not egregious but still gives good deflection capabilities for heavy cover or shallow structure. Again with the price point these are $105 per specimen, super affordable relative to SBing this company should have staying power on that alone but the builds/paints are sick IMHO so don't feel like you are getting a lower tier or cheap bait. These two came with battle ready hardware with Owner products I belive :-k I would seriously consider this company if you are new or SB vet. The colorways chosen were the "Sparkle Carp" and "Galaxy Gill". The company has a nice 9" billed Trout profle with a few nice colorways that cover a nice selection of prey choices, maybe that one comes to play :-k .....Weather starting to ease up in the heat Zone plus we're getting some mugginess so I think some regular trips are in the future as well \:D/
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Re: **Had me a Lando Calrissian moment this afternoon**

Post by Cristo » Mon Aug 08, 2022 12:45 pm

Latest Toxic to get it. The Wade3 Hoggs, looks like SU hardware is the newest standard for Ceasar, his crew and their baits offered 8-)
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Re: **Had me a Lando Calrissian moment this afternoon**

Post by Cristo » Mon Aug 08, 2022 6:48 pm

Pink 8-)

Notes. Like the other one piece I recently procured this Gerb is a booty shaking tail slapper! Took it out last night and did some shoring but man it is muggy!! I had fun throwing it on my VWE 7'11" XH which I feel is sweet. One thing I will say is that it has a tendency to get fouled up on itself every so often I haven't figured out exactly how to let this thing land on the water as to avoid that but it only happened maybe two or three times out of 30 or 40 casts so I wouldn't really say it's an issue just need to be a little mindful I guess. I like this at night because it's pretty audible when you get the Cadence dialed in for that splashing with the tail.


Updated and dressed, I did a 1/0 upfront and #1 in the rear. Added with the feathers and shorter profile I shouldn't get my hooks grabbing on each other when they land or launched. Kept the fun Triple coils and proprietary tail 8-)
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Re: **Had me a Lando Calrissian moment this afternoon**

Post by LowRange » Mon Aug 08, 2022 7:10 pm

What's your opinion on kayak fishing big baits and big bait rod selection? I've found that I prefer a shorter 7'2" rod with a 12" handle for kayak big bait fishing. I do a lot of kayak big bait fishing on a local private lake I live near that is stocked with shad. Lake rules keep me 90 feet from shore or within no wake zones only. This has me doing a lot of tossing big baits under 90ft at targets and I have found my traditional big bait rods to be too long to accurately cast and work seated from a kayak so I have been relying on my 72H Hyuga and my newest rod, the Legit Designs Wild Side 72H+.

A lot of what I do looks like what is shown in this Megabass vid for the Magdraft except I'm on a heavily developed lake tossing around docks. I do a lot of that short across the chest type lob cast except in a kayak vs a boat as shown.
https://youtu.be/iXKadpDgvhs
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Re: **Had me a Lando Calrissian moment this afternoon**

Post by Cristo » Tue Aug 09, 2022 7:56 am

Low those are some sweet rigs!

My opinion is mixed but mostly on the good side obviously because it gets you into places generally you can't reach from Shore if you aren't on a motorized boat, but I'm going to need to invest in a dolly because I've been lugging my kayak up and down out of my truck and onto the shore and it gets really tedious as I have been aging.

As far as long rods and short rods I like them both as they give you different options as you touched on. And if you don't have length options then it becomes about how the tip launches the bait to more accurately throw. One thing that I've learned is it takes a little extra dexterity to maneuver your yak as you're preparing to cast as a lot of the times I might be dealing with some wind that pushes my attack angle off or wake from other vessels knocking you off your angles. I don't have a lot of spots that require pinpoint accuracy so I mainly use my long rods but you have to be mindful of the angle in which you cast because sometimes you end up slapping the water depending if you're coming across and not over the shoulder.

I will tell you though my favorite rods right now to take on the yak are my two shorty Valkyrie World Expedition rods and utilizing my longer options more for shore which have been doing a lot more lately.

Here we're pretty deep and lots of rocks as you can imagine in Arizona so I do a lot of I think what's called long lining(not sure but that's what I call it) I find my target area that I want or Zone if you will and then I launch as far as I can go beyond that zone and then I paddle backwards so I get a lot more line out and potential more time in the zone on your retrieve so to speak if that makes any sense. I use this technique mainly for my sinking baits but depending on the situation I'll throw my top Waters like that as well especially if there's boils.

I think I've touched on this before as well too it takes a little bit of getting used to if you want to throw billed baits as depending on what you're throwing it can end up dragging you around. Generally if I throw bills in a yak I'm throwing it forward towards the front and keep my retrieve and rod tip low mear the front of the yak to stay straight and to mitigate being pulled by my own bait out of where i want it to cover zone wise. Not all baits do this but sometimes I feel like I'm getting dragged around by some in some instances. The other thing is fun is always trying to juggle your paddle with one hand and fish with the other which often happens :lol:

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Re: **Had me a Lando Calrissian moment this afternoon**

Post by Cristo » Sun Aug 14, 2022 2:10 pm

Had a chance to get this Trap Gill Jr. done up 8-)
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Re: **Had me a Lando Calrissian moment this afternoon**

Post by Cristo » Tue Aug 16, 2022 12:54 pm

2nd Trap Gill Jr. done up, same as last. I kept stock hardware. I also have a Trap Bass Bait's 3pc Trout on the way 8-) after that I think I maybe coming to an end for baits......at least for awhile :lol:
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Re: **Had me a Lando Calrissian moment this afternoon**

Post by LowRange » Tue Aug 16, 2022 8:08 pm

Cristo wrote:
Tue Aug 16, 2022 12:54 pm
2nd Trap Gill Jr. done up, same as last. I kept stock hardware. I also have a Trap Bass Bait's 3pc Trout on the way 8-) after that I think I maybe coming to an end for baits......at least for awhile :lol:
That one looks killer for night fishing.

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Re: **Had me a Lando Calrissian moment this afternoon**

Post by Cristo » Thu Aug 18, 2022 9:49 am

Thanks Low, that was the theory :-k Trap Bass Baits 9" 3pc Trout profile came in yesterday, just now opened her up. Nice and a beefy 4.5oz 8-) shown here next to a Toxic Mini Trucha with similar specs although slightly smaller in overall stature and weight. I love the purple, always so I opted for the "Kokanee" colorway. Comes with 1 semi rigid plastisol tail attached and it looks like it can take a beating, same as the gills a screw is utilized to attach tails of choice if you pour your own plastic, or you can machine some plastic tails if your are so inclined. I would assume if it is damaged you could make contact and a replacement could be sent? I don't ever see any type of replacement tails available for purchase at least not yet.


Swimming notes, had an appointment get canceled. I clipped her up to my 8' VWE(side note, she loads up nicely with this 4.5oz bait). This thing is pretty rad seems to walk, twitch, go subsurface and at a slower crawl stay on the surface with a nice subtle undulation.The way the hooks are set up it doesn't appear that foul hooking will be an issue which is nice, so in my opinion you can rest assured you can launch this and have a nice retrieve probably almost every time. What I liked doing was getting a reel cadences with it to make it almost seem like it's a acting like a TW Glide bait. I doubt that this bait is exclusive in that department, but in my testing I found that to be pretty neat trick to add to an already versatile TW oriented bait. When you twitch it it has a nice short dive of the head with a nice body roll over in the 1st segment before it comes to a nice stop at the surface and it is back to sitting true ready for another twitch. Last little note which is great is this thing with a little bit more Vigor in your retrieve can get down to about 6 in or so not huge but still nice to be able to change up the presentation especially if you're around heavy cover submerged trees that sort of thing

Side note I was able to get on the latest drop from Illude, fun bait called the Switchblade which is a multi jointed TW gill profile with a red ear colorway 8-) my rationale was I don't have that one :lol: :lol: I'm supposed to be done :P
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Re: **Had me a Lando Calrissian moment this afternoon**

Post by Gone Phishin » Thu Aug 18, 2022 4:32 pm

Beautiful work and photos.

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Re: **Had me a Lando Calrissian moment this afternoon**

Post by Cristo » Sat Aug 20, 2022 7:41 pm

Gone Phishin, big thanks dude! Very humbling for sure. Check this little nugget out the Switchblade made it 8-) Notes to follow :big grin:

Gone Phishin, it comes in at 2.5oz and 6.5", wake bait. Super thin profile I will assume that's where it gets its namesake it is like a blade. Reminds me if of a flat sided crank from my pedestrian bait throwing days :P She's going to get dressed so some more pictures will come later to show the great details of the super clean joints on this particular style from Illude. Rotating hook hangers as per usual, triple coil splits(starting to really dig these).She has a standard stick and pick style tail set up. I have some chartreuse tails that I'll probably end up matching up with it. A smaller profile bill was unexpected so it should be interesting to see the difference is action/pull is compared more robust bill profile

Okay here's some shots to highlight the craftsmanship overall profile although I don't necessarily have anything in the same class necessarily to compare it to so I opted for the closet in weight of the Trap Bass Baits Trap Gill Jr(they come in at about 3oz and are a bit shorter in overall length at 5.5"). In any case I just wanted to show what a difference in overall width of the bait as well as highlight the smaller bill(which fist the Switchblade just fine)is compared to typical Gill patterns which come in pretty thick at least in the specimens I've procured along my path.

I like the overall swimming action but if you wanted to stay on top you have to crawl it and depending on what kind of gearing you have you got to go very slow on your retrieve and surprisingly she will actually wake down to a couple inches or so just enough below the surface to create a nice stealthy disturbance. What's fun about this one too and I don't think I've noticed on some of my other multi-segmented baits that it has a lower audible knock to it when you get the proper Cadence down for the surface wake to get all the joints moving the way they need to. And it doesn't take much to get it subsurface the standard retrieve in my opinion depending on your reel speed will get it right down below the surface with a quickness definitely want to crawl it to keep it on top as it's advertises a wake but still has the ability to get down just a bit too if that interests you. Has a nice tight swimming S pattern for the most part doesn't give much pull which is nice so definitely won't wear you out. I pitched it in the backyard and was having fun changing up to different cadences to see what I can make it do. Although I may change up the hooks to some shorter Shanks as I feel like it potentially could have some foul hook problems with catching on the joints but that could be a non-issue as well but she's going to get dressed up so I might take the opportunity to swap at least the hooks out to Shorter shanks :-k as I'm typing all these notes I'm thinking I need to Twitch this thing and see what it does with that as well :P
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Re: **Had me a Lando Calrissian moment this afternoon**

Post by Gone Phishin » Sun Aug 21, 2022 12:13 am

Absolutely man.

Gorgeous bait. What are its stats?

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Re: **Had me a Lando Calrissian moment this afternoon**

Post by chrisg_sdcf » Sun Aug 21, 2022 5:05 pm

Cristo wrote:
Sat Aug 20, 2022 7:41 pm
Gone Phishin, big thanks dude! Very humbling for sure. Check this little nugget out the Switchblade made it 8-) Notes to follow :big grin:

Gone Phishin, it comes in at 2.5oz and 6.5", wake bait. Super thin profile I will assume that's where it gets its namesake it is like a blade. Reminds me if of a flat sided crank from my pedestrian bait throwing days :P She's going to get dressed so some more pictures will come later to show the great details of the super clean joints on this particular style from Illude. Rotating hook hangers as per usual, triple coil splits(starting to really dig these).She has a standard stick and pick style tail set up. I have some chartreuse tails that I'll probably end up matching up with it. A smaller profile bill was unexpected so it should be interesting to see the difference is action/pull is compared more robust bill profile

Okay here's some shots to highlight the craftsmanship overall profile although I don't necessarily have anything in the same class necessarily to compare it to so I opted for the closet in weight of the Trap Bass Baits Trap Gill Jr(they come in at about 3oz and are a bit shorter in overall length at 5.5"). In any case I just wanted to show what a difference in overall width of the bait as well as highlight the smaller bill(which fist the Switchblade just fine)is compared to typical Gill patterns which come in pretty thick at least in the specimens I've procured along my path.

I like the overall swimming action but if you wanted to stay on top you have to crawl it and depending on what kind of gearing you have you got to go very slow on your retrieve and surprisingly she will actually wake down to a couple inches or so just enough below the surface to create a nice stealthy disturbance. What's fun about this one too and I don't think I've noticed on some of my other multi-segmented baits that it has a lower audible knock to it when you get the proper Cadence down for the surface wake to get all the joints moving the way they need to. And it doesn't take much to get it subsurface the standard retrieve in my opinion depending on your reel speed will get it right down below the surface with a quickness definitely want to crawl it to keep it on top as it's advertises a wake but still has the ability to get down just a bit too if that interests you. Has a nice tight swimming s pattern for the most part doesn't give much pull which is nice so definitely won't wear you out. As long it and pitched it in the backyard and was having fun changing up to different cadences to see what I can make it do. Although I may change up the hooks to some shorter Shanks as I feel like it potentially could have some foul hook problems with catching on the joints but that could be a non-issue as well but she's going to get dressed up so I might take the opportunity to swap at least the hooks out to Shorter shanks :-k as I'm typing all these notes I'm thinking I need to Twitch this thing and see what it does with that as well :P
I had a hard time not buying one of those switchblades. Looks great.

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Re: **Had me a Lando Calrissian moment this afternoon**

Post by Cristo » Sun Aug 21, 2022 5:27 pm

Too funny because I missed the Southpaw drop before the Switchblade drop ](*,) I had one in the cart and right as I was checking out the ole no quantity left and it took me everything to say NO to the latest resin rats he had up yesterday but for that kind of cheddar I rather get into some more quality wood.

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