OK,

Now about fishing with the Eagle swimbait. I went out Saturday and fished the Eagle all day. No fish. I had probably 20 fish between 5-10lbs follow my bait. I tried different retrieves and scents and whatevers, but couldn't get them to eat. The bright, high pressure day, along with the full moon probably wasn't helping.

Unfazed, I went back on Sunday. My dad came with me. We probably were the funniest looking two on the water. My dad is a hard core fly fisherman, and he's fly fishing for bass out the back, and I'm chucking a 9" Eagle out the front! Pretty funny.

Anyway, I thought the storms would hit Sunday, but in reality yesterday was a pretty decent day. Bright and sunny. In the afternoon a few clouds moved in, fewer anglers where on the water, and things got right.

I threw right in the middle of a small cut, and wham! I got bit. The fish came right at me, I caught up to her and swung. She immediately came out of the water and then down for some surging. She looked like a 9lber to me, but later only weighed out to 7.2lbs! She was sort of skinny, definitely had the length. I was throwing the bait on 20lb P-line CXX. My line was extremely tore up and nicked. I was close to losing that fish. She was hooked deep, and the line was right on her teeth.

I missed two other strikes in the following 2 hours after that fish... the fish just didn't eat the bait. They tried, but didn't get it.

I am very pleased after all the work and commitment I've put into fishing big baits. Also, I caught my first fish on the 8' rod I built to throw the big baits on!

Check out the pics below.

http://www.calfishing.com/images/buddies/matt_peters_7-2_sanv.gif

southernswimbait.com
BigBait Fishing in the South

There ya go! Nice fish buddy. I took the liberty of fixin up your post so the picture was in the message :-) The big fish were definitely stirring this weekend. Interesting that the weather was nice down there. It was dumping rain Sunday up here. I like the idea of this new swimbait with the two hook setup and all. The single hook has kept me from throwing the ospreys. I just can't stand it missing so many bites. When your line was frayed do you think it was from the aluminum tubing or from the fishs' teeth? Just curious. You going back next weekend or what }>

Good point about the tubing rob. I talked to Steve Harner (maker of the ospreys) and he said if you re rig it with a metal tube, you have to put plastic tubing over the ends, or get frilled attachments to go on the ends or else it'll fray your line. Hopefully kettler will bring his digital camera over this afternoon and I'll post some pics on my re rigged ospreys and my trout plugs I've been making.

Matt- have you seen the Byron Velvick video? He uses the osprey to dimple the surface of the water, so it looks like a trout eating stuff off the surface. Might wanna give that a shot, it's worked really good for me.
-Brian

Brian,

No I haven't seen Byron's video. I am familiar with fishing the baits near or on the surface...maybe not as good as Bryon...In fact, yesterday, I had a fish blow up on the bait at the surface. I missed the fished, but it was pretty killer!

You gotta take a look at the tubing in the Eagle. It's machined really well, and didn't seem to fray my line at all.

What do you think about the Osprey's line tie and that whole rig that goes down to the hook? Doesn't it seem kinda gutless to you?

Matt

southernswimbait.com
BigBait Fishing in the South

Matt,
I've never had a problem with the harness itself, on the ospreys, but I hear lots of guys complaining about them. I've found a way to re rig the whole bait which take some time, but makes a killer bait. Tomorrow I'll have pics of the osprey rig, and my trout plugs, that I'll post. What I do to the bait is take out everything the bait comes with, and throw it away. I stick a piece of plastic tubing (like surgical tubing or aquarium tubing) in the bait. Then I take two gammie trebles and put split rings on em. I connect them with a short piece of spectra and then take a piece of paperclip and bend it into a U shape. I insert the paper clip into the belly of the bait and clamp the split rings onto the bait. The first hook goes right where the tubing ends, and the second one ends up being farther back, about where the last fin is. You run your line directly through the tubing and tie to the split ring. You might have to add a mojo weight or something into the belly to get it to run straight. When you catch a fish the U's pull out and the bait, theoretically, slides up the line and you're good to go.

As for Fabio, I mean Byron, what he does is works the osprey kind of like a jig (same rod action at least) and keeps the bait up on the surface so that it races up to the surface, then when it dimples the surface, it pauses and sinks back down. Most of the time the fish will roll on it right when it dimples the surface, but I've had em line jumper it underwater too. Something to try, I've had good luck with it. Let us know how it goes.
-Brian

You made some trout plugs huh? I got bored yesterday with all the rain we had and made a 9" AC plug. I guess it turned out ok. I still have some messing around to do with it and I have no idea what the action will be like. I can't wait to see the ones you made, maybe i'll learn a thing or to.
Heres a pic of the one I made


http://www.calfishing.com/dcforum/User_files/3c0c1d8f13737744.jpg

Attachment #1, (.jpg file)

Looks good man. My rodbuilding pad has been converted into a trout plug making pad... Brian #2 and Daniel came by today. Between me and Brian we made like 6 plugs (not including mine from the other day). I made a catfish plug, a bluegill plug, a 12" and a round 9". The catfish and bluegill probably won't swim, but they look cool... If I get em weighted right maybe they'll swim, we'll see. I tested out my finished plug today. It swam a little sideways, so I'm gonna see if I can straighten that out with some weight. It wanted to kick real bad, but it was running on it's side too much, so if I can get it to sit right in the water it ought to be alright. That's the bad part about the "generic trout shaped" plugs, they want to float on their side, versus the round plugs that sit upright in the water naturally. So, I'll try to get that dialed in and then go snap it off on the first cast at the trailer park... Pictures will be up tomorrow. I'm really happy with my finished plug. The finish I used (as recommended by the jackass at home depot) ended up cracking when it dried, but it looks pretty cool. It's like those baits with the crackle finish, ya know? Normally I think they look ugly, but the plug looks pretty good. Now I'm trying to do it on the other plugs...
-Brian

Brian,
I tested out my plug today. The back section of mine floated on its side at first, but I fixed that with some weight. I had to crank a little to fast to get it kicking and when it did it was more of a wide side to side action instead of a tight wiggle. And the paint job is a whole other story. I painted mine with model paint, but i'm looking for something better. I'm gonna make a few with bills on them and see how they come out.-Phil

Rob,

I believe the line was nicked on the fish's teeth. The way I was slinging that bait, I checked my line all the time! I was sure I'd break it off on a backlash or foul up.

I felt like the aluminum tube was machined well, and had no rough edges or ends to cause the line to fray.

I'm convinced it was the teeth of the fish. My hand is worked from grabbing her!!!

southernswimbait.com
BigBait Fishing in the South