Lures

[John Bales]

I have been wanting to get the big crankbait that strike King offers, the 10XD for use when the moss is bad in some of our lakes and when going a bit deeper. Yesterday I got my order through the mail and I like what I see. Cant wait to put these new tools to use on Saturday and see how long it takes to loose one. They are a little salty but another good tool to use when needed. John

[Steve Craig]

Been using mine for several months now. They have been in Bass Pro and Sportsmen Wearhouse since June out here.
Love them. They go DEEEEP! and they go down fast.
You will like them I am sure.
Gino makes some of the old Bombers that go deeper than any floating lure I have ever used.
Love his too!
We have alot of moss on the bottoms of these lakes out here, and these tools are what I need.

[John Bales]

None of the stores out here have them. I happened to find them on line on sale so I bought them. Turns out that the place was in California but it still only took me three days to get them. The last couple of years at Kentucky Lake I was stocked up with different crankbaits. Fell in love with the DT series in the deeper running sizes and had good luck with the Strike King 6XD series also. I have some of Gino's lures but have not run them yet. They are so pretty, I would hate to lose them. I will get the 10XD wet tomorrow. I have no doubt that it will be another good tool. John

[Kevin McClure]

Thanks for the info. I just found them at Tackle Warehouse for $12.99. Not sure if that's a good deal or not. Because they are in CA and I live in CA I get free shipping so it probably balances out. They are pretty big at 6 inches and they run to 25 ft. without any help from wire line or torpedo sinkers etc. (In case anyone wanted to know without having to look it up)

Out of curiosity, what is it about these lures that you think will help on mossy covered bottom lakes? I fish Big Bear Lake in the summer and almost every square inch of this lake is covered with the stuff. It can drive you nuts. Thanks.

[John Bales]

A spoonplug is my number one lure for most of the season, especially when the speeds are quite fast. Crankbaits have come a long way over the years but when the speeds are on the fast side, it is the spoonplug all the way. A spoonplug has a pull down effect once it makes contact with the bottom. It wants to keep pulling down. You will notice that once a spoonplug starts bumping, in order to get the walk right you need to take in some line. The larger the spoonplug, the more you will notice this. A crankbait is buoyant. It has less of a pull down effect and for this reason alone, it will pick up less debris that may be on the bottom. In the fall or when the waters are on the cold side or when fishing deeper, our speeds will be on the slower side. The combination of the slower speeds needed and the moss makes a crankbait a good choice. A spoonplug will work fine also as long as your line lengths and lure sizes are in order. With a crankbait, we don't have to be as exact on our line lengths in order to catch a fish. You could say that a crankbait is a little more forgiving. The fact that a crankbait will pick up less moss period makes it a good choice under these conditions. John

[Steve Craig]

You will find that if you tear up the lip too much, they will loose depth. sometimes as much at 8-10 feet. I have been able to file the lip and regain depth. This goes for the DT's as well. Our rock bottoms are hard on the plastics. On your natural lakes, this shouldnt be as much of a problem.
I too love the DT's and have been using them for several years now since Wayne and Kenny got me started on them.
When using the DT's i have to use braid as i have little to no feel when using NOBO with the 16 and 20's.
I have also found the Rapala Magnum 30's are as good or better than the DT's, as it has a bigger profile, and these monsters out here want a bigger mouth full.
Lake Havasu here, is one of those moss covered devils and all of these lures shine when there.
It is my opinion, that one of the reasons the plastics work so well is that they will literally clean themselves when they start to bump/walk. When they hit, they start to dart,spin, and jump sideways and in the process seem to clean themselves off.
You are correct though, the Spoonplug shines at highers speeds. Except for the Mag 30's, the rest of the plastics will "spin out" on you past 6 MPH.

Here is another 8 pound 9 oz. caught at Canyon recently. I swear there are more 8+ pounders in this lake than any other size. This make number 9 in the 8-9 pound range. Cant quite break the 10 pound mark, but i will! Oh yeah.......caught on a Mag 30.

[John Bales]

Nice fish you got there. Only in my dreams around here. Got out and used the 10XD yesterday. The front we had with the rain and high winds put a slow down on the catching. 8 hours on the water and only three bass and one 8 lb pike. Most at 25 feet. Biggest bass was 16 inches long. We had lots of hits last week but not yesterday. Tried casting a couple of the better spots and never got a hit. Back out today on a different lake. Loved the 10XD by the way. Had one hit on it yesterday. Was letting out and waiting for the bait to get down and one took it before it hit the bottom. Lost it but not much weight anyways. Just another tool to add to the box. John

[Kevin McClure]

Thanks for your replies. I will order mine mid November. We have quite a few mossy bottom lakes around here so I'm kind of excited to see how they work. Thanks again. Kevin