Your Confidence Lure

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MK49
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Your Confidence Lure

Post by MK49 » Sat Jul 16, 2022 8:17 pm

If you have to pick one, what would be it?

Mine is Megabass Giant Dog X. It's just the right size/weight and sound, no matter where I fish from California to Mexico. It's kind of finesse. It's not as big as Zara Spook, which is also my favorite. Over the last 25 years, I've caught thousands of bass with it, including a couple over 10lbs. It's the first bait I throw in the morning, unless it's too windy. I use an Evergreen SB or an OSP Yamato Jr, when it's windy.

Here's a 9.5 pounder I caught with a Giant Dog X. 5min before I caught this, I caught an 8 pounder, too.

Image

And, a 10 pounder.

Image


If you ask me the same question in 1990 ~ 1995, it was a Rapala Original Floater F11. I caught thousands of fish with it, too. My PB, a 12 pounder was caught with it. I caught 155 bass in one day with it. My life was a lot simpler with the Rapala. I just need to jerk it all day long. I was originally a jerkbait guy. My main lake got lots of weeds around 1993 or 1994, and it was hard to use jerkbaits. That's when I turned to a topwater guy.

I think there are only a few lures that I caught over 1,000 fish.

- Rapala F11
- Giant Dog X
- Rio Rico

Maybe, Rapala DT16 and Daiwa Lipless Crankbait. But, that's about it.

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sbd3
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Re: Your Confidence Lure

Post by sbd3 » Sun Jul 17, 2022 9:22 pm

Love when I find a confidence lure I vibe with, currently my confidence lure is chatterbaits. Curious what's your favorite color/colors?

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Re: Your Confidence Lure

Post by MK49 » Mon Jul 18, 2022 3:39 pm

sbd3 wrote:
Sun Jul 17, 2022 9:22 pm
Love when I find a confidence lure I vibe with, currently my confidence lure is chatterbaits. Curious what's your favorite color/colors?
Everybody is different, and that's why it's interesting. I've never really used a chatterbait. I don't even use a spinnerbiat. I have zero confidence. :lol:

If you asked me for the colors of my Giant Dog X, I use mostly silver with green or blue back.

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sbd3
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Re: Your Confidence Lure

Post by sbd3 » Mon Jul 18, 2022 5:39 pm

Confidence is key! Seeing as your'e a walking bait enthusiast if you don't mind me asking what does your setup look like for that bait? Stock hooks? Rod reel and line? Direct tie or clip? Sorry for so many questions lol

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Re: Your Confidence Lure

Post by MK49 » Mon Jul 18, 2022 8:00 pm

sbd3 wrote:
Mon Jul 18, 2022 5:39 pm
Confidence is key! Seeing as your'e a walking bait enthusiast if you don't mind me asking what does your setup look like for that bait? Stock hooks? Rod reel and line? Direct tie or clip? Sorry for so many questions lol
For 1/2oz walkers like Giant Dog X, I've been using a Dobyn's 6'8" Medium (fast taper) rod with mono line. It works so well, I bought 2 of them. It's from about 10yrs ago, though.

For 3/4oz walkers like a Zara Spook, I use 7'' or 7'2" Medium Heavy with braded lines. I can cast those 3/4oz walkers pretty far, so I need a little longer rod with a line that doesn't stretch for better hook set. I use snaps for all the walking baits. The reels are just regular Daiwa Steez, either 6.3:1 or 7.1:1 gear. ratio, which to me isn't that important.

For 3/8oz, I really like 6'6" Daiwa Light and Tough Topwater rod. I bought one about 25 years ago. It's THE Rio Rico rod, and I loved it so much that I bought 2 more. It works very well with 1/2oz walkers and jerkbaits, too. For the last 15 years, I tried to find something better without success. I just ordered an Abu Garcia Fantasista Premier 6'10" Med Light to see if it works better. I haven't received it yet.

About the snaps, if you expect catching lots of big ones (over 8lbs), use heavy duty snaps. I have lost a few big ones, because the snaps broke. One of them was over 10lbs. I know it, because I lost it right by the boat. The same thing goes for the split rings and the hooks (2x or 3x strong for big fish, especially with braded lines). When I fish lakes that don't have many fish over 6 or 7lbs, I use regular hooks, snaps and split rings. Actually, there was only two times, when I lost fish, because of the split rings. One time, I hooked two fish on a Rio Rico. They looked like a 7pounder and a 4pounder. I guess they went the other directions, and the tail split ring broke, which had the bigger fish. Another time was with a Rapala DT16 crankbait. After catching hundreds of fish with the stock ring, it finally broke. Again, if I expect to catch lots of big ones, I replace hooks, rings, snaps.... If I don't think I would catch many fish over 5 or 6lbs, it doesn't matter much to me, as long as the hooks are sharp. Oh, one time after catching many big bass with a Zara Spook, the little screw for the tail hook broke. That happened only once, though.

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Re: Your Confidence Lure

Post by MK49 » Mon Jul 18, 2022 9:06 pm

This picture shows how good the finish on the Giant Dog X is (the 3rd one from the top). It's 25 years old. The Zara Spook (the top) and the Duo Realis (the 2nd one from the top) were used only for a few years. The Rio Rico (the bottom) is definitely a hall of famer for me. This particular one caught at least 500 bass. It's retired now. The Zara Spook is also retired, because of the broken screw at the tail end. The Duo Realis and the Giant Dox X are still used.

Image
Last edited by MK49 on Mon Jul 18, 2022 9:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Your Confidence Lure

Post by dragon1 » Mon Jul 18, 2022 9:10 pm

Man, awesome stuff! Thanks for sharing.

My confidence bait depends on body of water, season, water temp, forage...from bottom to middle water column to topwater.

BTW, I just had to retire a Giant Dog X yesterday that is almost 20 years old, and mine looks to be about the same color patterns as yours. I snagged a tree and when I yanked it loose, it flew into a concrete retaining wall and cracked...so now it takes on water unfortunately.
"It is like a finger pointing away to the Moon...don't concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all of that heavenly glory."

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sbd3
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Re: Your Confidence Lure

Post by sbd3 » Mon Jul 18, 2022 10:27 pm

I love it! Got some quality walkers and poppers on order, should be here soon. Appreciate you sharing.

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Re: Your Confidence Lure

Post by Thunderblack1984 » Tue Jul 19, 2022 6:19 am

Jerkbaits here! - Xr10, Lucky Craft pointer, and Vision 110 are used almost every outing for Bass.
Philippians 4:6

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Re: Your Confidence Lure

Post by dragon1 » Wed Jul 20, 2022 5:49 am

BTW, for those getting their treble hook lures thrown too often, try this, it works awesome, I especially love it on my walking baits like the 1/2 oz Giant Dog X.

https://www.saltstrong.com/articles/how ... lit-rings/
"It is like a finger pointing away to the Moon...don't concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all of that heavenly glory."

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Re: Your Confidence Lure

Post by Mothra » Wed Jul 20, 2022 8:42 am

I’m liking the OSP Blitz Max DR right now

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Re: Your Confidence Lure

Post by slipperybob » Wed Jul 20, 2022 1:24 pm

If I had to pick one lure (but really can't) it would be the plain Acme Kastmaster or the equivalent Luhr Jensen Cast Champ spoon. They are a bit boring but I will also put the Swedish Pimple right up next to them.

I'm a topwater fan so the Heddon Super Spook Jr. and Puppy are my top notch lures. Baby bass has been my top producer. The tiny Pooch size has a spot always for small fish.
slip bobbing is the laziest way to fish

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Re: Your Confidence Lure

Post by dirtygeary » Wed Jul 20, 2022 7:14 pm

MK49 wrote:
Mon Jul 18, 2022 9:06 pm
This picture shows how good the finish on the Giant Dog X is (the 3rd one from the top). It's 25 years old. The Zara Spook (the top) and the Duo Realis (the 2nd one from the top) were used only for a few years. The Rio Rico (the bottom) is definitely a hall of famer for me. This particular one caught at least 500 bass. It's retired now. The Zara Spook is also retired, because of the broken screw at the tail end. The Duo Realis and the Giant Dox X are still used.

Image



Too cool.

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Re: Your Confidence Lure

Post by MK49 » Wed Jul 20, 2022 8:32 pm

Mothra wrote:
Wed Jul 20, 2022 8:42 am
I’m liking the OSP Blitz Max DR right now
I like OSP, too. I have a Blitz Max Shallow Runner, which catches fish. I'm a mostly a top water guy, so quite naturally, my favorite OSP lures are Yamato Jr and Dai Buzzin wake bait. However, the biggest fish I ever hooked was on an OSP Rudra jerkbait. My PB is 12lbs, and that fish was (most likely) bigger. I couldn't move the fish much, and I didn't land it. After I lost the big one, I found two of the tail treble hooks were pretty straight, and it was a Gamakatsu 2x strong hook, which was stronger than the stock hook. I had the fish for about 20~30 seconds, and I still remember how it was. ](*,) I've been bass fishing for over 40 years, and I've caught only 5 fish over 10lbs, so that was a big loss.

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Re: Your Confidence Lure

Post by hotdogin » Mon Jul 25, 2022 6:19 am

Nothing special over here. As much as I love a topwater bite, my go-to will always a worm in june bug. I don't even have a preferred worm, just gotta be in june bug.
just hotdogin it

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