Hey Guys,

Has anybody tried these WWW.ABTLURES.COM. They look real fishy and the price is not bad. Are they just another gimmick?

Any input will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

JUANCHO

I don't get why they call them swimbaits? You can call a bait anything you want, but it seems like a marketing angle to leverage off the general hype over swimbaits these days. The baits on their site are crankbaits to 99% of the world. These guys are on some big fish at Bass Lake and probably Don Pedro and more power to them for getting on that bite. Bass Lake was way off the radar before they started getting them there.

The only thing that is weird to me, is when you look at the pic of the giant black colored fish where it says 'tired of dinks' - that same pic was in WON a while back and in that pic it had the bait in it's mouth, and the bait in the mouth of that fish was not what they are selling on their site, it was basically an MS Slammer clone, painted yellow. I had the pic cut out in a drawer because I thought it was interesting that they had a bait like that, but I threw it away just last week. There's a pic of a simliar one in this pic:

http://www.abtlures.com/photos/Lmbass_JPG.html

I saw the Gladiator bait shown on the site in the water and thought, hm, it's an ok looking crankbait but nothing to get crazy over, especailly for 12 or 18 bucks. If they are getting those giant fish on that bait on the site, I'm kind of suprised. I have thrown enough big cranks to prove to myself that they are not ususally big fish baits. I'm not saying it's not a good lure for catchin' bass, it just seems weird that they could pull fish like that on that bait. If they are eating that thing at Bass Lake, I need to get over there and show them a 9 or 12 inch trout :)

Rob you bring up a great point. Why are so many baits called swimbaits? I always thought that a swimbait was soft plastic or at least partially soft plastic. I dont think a slammer or Mickey's armageden, or my hard bait is a swimbait either. Thats not to say that they are not good lures. It just seems that every jointed hard bait is now called a swimbait. Is it the size of the lure that makes them swimbaits? If so than all those muskie baits and all the salt water plugs would also be called swimbaits.
Matt

har, totally. I feel like if it's a hard bait and looks like a trout, it's a trout plug. To me, the MS Slammer is a trout plug, not a swimbait. If it's a soft bait and fits this sort of loose category of either looking like a trout or having the 'boot tail' design then it's a swimbait. So I could call a live trout softbait a swimbait, and also call a worm king a swimbait and still sleep ok at night <grin>. People do tend to lump a lot of things under the name swimbait these days which makes things ... kinda weird I guess.

Thanks for the input guys, i'm glad i asked the question before i went out and bought one.

Got another question though, I just received a "trout plug" from optimum baits called a T'S Refrex Crank Bait, received it as a gift from a client. I had never heard of this bait before so i don't know anything about it. I will post some pictures of the bait so that everyone can have their take on it.

Specs: 8" long, weight i'd guess about 3 ounces (it is very light), Rainbow trout color. The detail on the bait is incredible, the best i've seen so far.

Thanks again guys.

Picture 1 - Bait
Picture 2 - Bait hangin from 14 lb. bass (for perspective)
Picrure 3 - Same as 3 but zoomed in.

JUANCHO

Attachment #1, (.jpg file)
Attachment #2, (.jpg file)
Attachment #3, (.jpg file)

that bait is pretty sick. i have fished it a few times.great action looks good on the surface and sub surface. i have only fished never caught anything, but it does look gooooood.

Were these ABT guys at the Fred Hall Show in Long Beach? I saw a bait very similar to those there... but I'm not sure it was the same thing. It was a hard plastic bait... I didn't buy one - mostly because the guys (there were 2) were pretty hammered the night I was there - drinking beer and being somewhat obnoxious. Again, I'm not sure these guys were from ABT.

Nice gift. I have seen those trout plugs retail for $99. Can I borrow your clients? :P

________________

Sonny

2004 - 6 Bass 2 Trout $219.20 in Gear

Here they are: http://www.thefishermans-tips.com/cart/optimumpro.html

Dan

"Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less"

Deo Vindice

Attachment #1, (.html file)

Thanks for all the replies....... I threw the bait in the pool today and it does look incredibly good both on the surface and down to 3 ft.

I guess this one is a keeper, i'll add it to the collection and hope that some day i get to try it out.

Thanks again for all the info.

JUANCHO

My brother decided to order one last week and it finally arrived.
Listen to this guys...

1) The hinges are made of all plastic.
2) The whole entire body is mad of plastic.
3) This plastic is not the Jerry Rago Hardbait plastic this crap is cheap stuff that toys are made of.
4) The paint chips off while transported in a box.

Now just think....
1)1 day of throwing this bait and not even hooking anything pretty much all the paint will be gone.
2)1 small rock or dock knocking will destroy it.
3)1 big bass will break this bait in half with the back end in its mouth and the front end on the end of your line unless you get happen to hook the fish on the belly hook which will quickly rip out of the body.
There is now way that that guy that makes these baits caught that 15 and the 12 on these baits. I don't know what he did but you'd be surprised what people do just to get their baits/business going.

Just letting you guys know what this swimbait is really like.
Thanks. Steve.

Steve.
Before you go to far into this I feel like I need to say something. I was on the water that day and saw the new record caught at bass lake. and yes it was caught on his lure. in fact I bought the same lure that he caught it on. and yes there were some scratches on the lure. but who cares. I still use the lure today and have caught many fish on it. its a great bait when the fish arn't bitting on anything else. I hope we are talking about the same bait (A.B.T. Gladiator) Now I can see how you are worried about the lure breaking because of the hindges but I will tell you I have not had it break. yes it has a hindge to give it the action but it won't break on a fish. Again just thought I should put my two cents in on this subject.

Rob

Alright thanks for the info Rob.

I have been reading the posts on the Gladiator from ABT Lures. First, let me clear something up, the reason a lure is called a swimbait is not because of the materials that create the lure, but because of the action. Crankbaits have a side-to-side wobble, some have wide wobbles and some have tight wobbles, but they all wobble. A swimbait has a swimming action. Soft plastic has been utilized for swimbaits because it produced the most desired effect. The problem with soft plastic baits is that they tend to tear apart easily.

The Gladiator has the same swimming action as other swimbaits. The biggest difference is that they have accomplished the swimming action utilizing hard plastic, making the lures much more durable. The unique hinge design is what gives the lure the swimming action.

As far as breaking, yes, although highly unlikely, they can break. But, then again, I have had spinnerbaits snap and hooks come out of some of my most expensive crankbaits. I have fished with these lures for nearly two years and have yet to have one break. In fact, I couldn't understand why the company chose to switch to a harder plastic. They wanted to make the lure even tougher, but I had not experienced any problems.

I have caught numerous fish on these lrues, many over 5-pounds. I haven't caught the kind of fish some others have caught, but that's not surprising. While a great lure for bass, I have found the lure to be exceptional for stripers. I personally know of stripers caught over 20-pounds with no problems.

This is not a lure for every situation, no lure can honestly claim that. But, it does provide another tool on your arsenal.

As far as the bass being caught at Bass Lake, I know this to be true.

Naturally, as with many other anglers, I went to Bass Lake as soon as I heard about the catch and spoke with the manager at the market where the fish were weighed on their certified scale. In fact, the record fish initially weighed more than 15.17 but the guy who caught it, the owner of ABT Lures, noticed some water on the scale and had them reweigh the fish. I spoke with one trout angler on the bank who witnessed the fish being caught.

Of course, that doesn't mean that some other lure, being used at the same time, wouldn't have also caught that fish. A Castaic swimbait, or a even a plastic worm might have also caught that same fish at the same time, but a Gladiator was being used at the right time in the right place. You can't blame the company for trying to use this as a marketing tool. Believe me, if I owned a tackle manufacturing company I would be using every opportunity to capitalize on a big fish being caught. That's just smart.

Hopefully this long reply has cleared a few things up.

fishslinger...

i have only tried reeling it in at a speend where it doesnt wobble. it looks OK but any tips to make it look better. what types of ways have you mest around with it to catch your fish

It depends. Are you talking about the slow sink or there diving model? With the diving model you really need to do a slow to med retrive. with the slow sinking model you can work that a little faster. Also it works great at a slow retrive has well. Its a great bait if there shallow....if there deeper I would suggest the diving model to get down to them.