TSL Grasswalker Review

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richg99
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Re: TSL Grasswalker Review

Post by richg99 »

Just a comment from an old fisherman.

If they were on Amazon, even at slightly higher prices, I'd already own some.

Going to a separate site; digging out and giving them my credit card number; then waiting for mail delivery.... just isn't how I (at age 78) do things anymore. Driving to a tackle store that is nowhere near where I live, isn't going to happen, either.

The easier you make it for large numbers of people to buy ANYTHING, the more those people will buy those items. Amazon has changed the way millions of people shop. Something like 6 Billion ($6,000,000,000.00) will be spent online today. Those numbers are up 16% from last year. There is a message in that statistic.

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titanic2
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Re: TSL Grasswalker Review

Post by titanic2 »

I'm convinced! Just ordered mine, cant wait to try it!
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screwston420
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Re: TSL Grasswalker Review

Post by screwston420 »

I caught my PB trout yesterday on it! 21 inches
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Re: TSL Grasswalker Review

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THATS AWESOME!!!! Way to Go! It's been catching the bigger fish out of schools all summer, but super stoked you caught your personal best!!!
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Re: TSL Grasswalker Review

Post by TroutSupport.com »

Trey Carpenter caught this trout on the pink, on his first cast after putting the TSL on and supposedly after the bite had died, and he caught this trout.

he posted it on Facebook. I've been getting a lot of other fotos from anglers really liking the bait.
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Re: TSL Grasswalker Review

Post by TroutSupport.com »

PlumTreuse is going to be ordered from the injector.. will still probably take 2 months to get packaged though. Trying to decide on the next color.. I'm thinking it needs to be a spring color since it takes about 3 months from start to finish to approve recipes, have 10,000 inject and then package them. I might run a pole... maybe.. going to look at some options this weekend. Thinking natural color for spring and summer.
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screwston420
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Re: TSL Grasswalker Review

Post by screwston420 »

TroutSupport.com wrote:THATS AWESOME!!!! Way to Go! It's been catching the bigger fish out of schools all summer, but super stoked you caught your personal best!!!
hell ya man and holy crap was it delicious lol. my wife usually cooks them up and fries them... i dont like fried fish so my last red and that trout i baked and wow the hhouse smelled awesome too. going to stock up on more of your lures after the holidays just spent too much on ps4 vr for the kids as it is and a ninja blender system for my wife LOL still need to talk her into buying me thr troutsupport dvds, but i have a feeling its gonna cost me a diamond necklace from kays lmao
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screwston420
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Re: TSL Grasswalker Review

Post by screwston420 »

a shad color would be cool or maybe new penny with chart tail that has a glow belly? lol
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Yaklash
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Re: TSL Grasswalker Review

Post by Yaklash »

Natural? Not sure if it's natural, but in the early spring, looking for big trout, I'd like something with either a black or dark green back, silver sides and a pearl belly. Basically a mullet. According to a Capt Mike Williams, a field tester for Mirrolure since the 70s, the original 808 - Black Back-Gold sides-Orange Belly - also came with silver sides. Might be something there.
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Re: TSL Grasswalker Review

Post by TroutSupport.com »

Yep, I'm working on a 'Natural' color next.

Here'e a review that I just got in over the weekend.
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Re: TSL Grasswalker Review

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Here's a cool little testimonial of sorts I got from a guy on IM.
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Chubs
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Re: TSL Grasswalker Review

Post by Chubs »

Hey Tobin, I got two of your baits (I forget the names but one is white, the other a green color).

Haven't used them yet because I've not gone to grass yet, but was wondering on the hook; I bought one of the 5/0 EWG hooks I think; I ran it through the body but the hook protrudes such that the lure wouldn't be weedless.
I saw a vid you posted somewhere about bending the hook to be in line with the eye of the hook to make it weedless.

Some questions
- If I don't bend the hook (keep it exposed) will that effect the action? Also does it make hookset easier if it's exposed?
- If I do bend the hook; can you go over again how you are supposed to set the hook? I think you said let them bite; reel in slack; then firmly set the hook? I'm just not sure if in the cold weather changes things?
- How are people doing with them when they weight them down and troll with them :) What is the best way to weight them (or does it matter) - i.e. would I be fine with a jighead or I should get a weighted swimbait hook?
- Do you consider this comparable to a fatboy lure in how to work it's action?
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Re: TSL Grasswalker Review

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Some questions
- If I don't bend the hook (keep it exposed) will that effect the action? Also does it make hookset easier if it's exposed?
If you are NOT in floating grass or dense oyster you don't have to have it totally weedless with the point under the plastic, this does not affect the action at all, and there is a slight increase in hook set ratio.
- If I do bend the hook; can you go over again how you are supposed to set the hook? I think you said let them bite; reel in slack; then firmly set the hook? I'm just not sure if in the cold weather changes things?
Yes for now, feel the bite, take up slack by reeling down the line (pointing the rod at the fish-do this stealthily and don't let the fish feel increased tension, then set the hook hard. This does not change in cold weather. I do actually tighten the drag for the hook set and then back off after the fish is on. Another option is to ThumbDown on the spool for the hookset.. this was a suggestion from Mike McBride on setting the hook on big trout with jig heads.... Big Trout have tough mouths.
- How are people doing with them when they weight them down and troll with them :) What is the best way to weight them (or does it matter) - i.e. would I be fine with a jighead or I should get a weighted swimbait hook?

I haven't heard anyone trolling with it, but It would probably be really good trolling deep grass with a long line out. With grass around it'd be fine with the weedless rig EWG hook. But if in open water with only deep shell or trolling the drop off then you could totally use a jig head and some have down well with it rigged like that. I see some guys using a weighted hook with them but I haven't found the need for it.. part of the beauty of it is the slow decent with a weightless hook.. this is much more natural than a weighted hook. At first slowing down enough to fish it this slow is something that we're not used to but guys in the bass world have been doing it so long.. and guys that fish fat boys and devils during the winter also fish this slow. Cast it out and let it sink on slack line and fish it like a worm with maybe a twitch on the end. Slow it down, they'll see it and eat it if you are in fish.
- Do you consider this comparable to a fatboy lure in how to work it's action?
Yes, it's very similar in action and fishability to a FatBoy.. but it's weedless / snagless. It's also a good substitute for the Paul Brown Devil when there is grass or oyster and there is a weaker bite. In this case you can fish it super slow during very weak bite conditions like higher pressure or weak tide parameters.

Probably the best way I can illustrate why I created it is that I have a spot in Matagorda that is crazy oyster... and 8lb trout. I can fish a topwater without getting hung up, but that's about it. But due to the time of year that I fish this area, I'm rarely getting a topwater strike from a big trout in this location. I was using fatboys and loosing 2-3 fatboys per trip in this area, or I'd have to walk into the sweet-spot where i've caught my big fish and have to end the session just to get the bait.. I was fed up. But I couldn't cast any small weedless baits well enough to cover water, and if I weighted the hook it was getting hung up or not presenting weightless enough in this oyster which is pretty gnarly. I had already been working on the lure but after loosing 3 fatboys on one trip, I decided it was time to push forward harder with design, development, and testing. This situation has played over and over and is either oyster or the frustration with getting grassed up.
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Re: TSL Grasswalker Review

Post by Chubs »

I missed this reply with the forum crash.

Excellent info! I hate getting hung up on oyster - will try these again for sure.

I didn't see your reply before my trip this weekend. I had it rigged weedless but was working it too fast trying to walk the dog like a top water. it didn't seem to be swimming quite right.

I tried out trolling it weedless too but it was just floating on the top so I stopped trying to troll with it. Think it needed some weight for trolling.

Did you know your white TSL glows in the dark? I was working in my garage at night with the light on. Turned off my lights and saw them glowing! Didn't even know they did that hehe.
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Re: TSL Grasswalker Review

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Chubs wrote: I had it rigged weedless but was working it too fast trying to walk the dog like a top water, it didn't seem to be swimming quite right.
it is NOT a topwater.. not sure how that 'it's a topwater' thing got started, maybe in the video it looks like it's working on top but it's not.. and thats by design; for now it's a slow sink, subsurface, walk the dog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIOcCIIuGtM. Which is actually more effective than a topwater in most circumstances.. not always, but most of the time. So slow down and watch the 'how to walk anything' you tube clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptwZeqF6Qvw .. proper rod action is super important to make it (or any subsurface lure) walk the dog. Good news is it will catch fish even if you don't walk it. There is no wrong way to work it. Walk it, slow reel it, ripp it across the surface occasionally; you can surface walk it if you start working it fast -right as it hits the water.. but that's not the only way or the right way.. there is no right way. The other effective way to fish it is slow WAY WAY down, letting it sink for a 10 count in 3-7' of water and fish it like a worm with a slow rod pull, then end the rod pull with a twitch to make it dart, then let it sink a 3 count again. This is very similar to how many of us are working 'Paul Brown devils' or 'Paul Brown Fatboys' and it works on both trout, reds, and bass with that method.
Chubs wrote:I tried out trolling it weedless too but it was just floating on the top so I stopped trying to troll with it.
Yeah, I didn't design it for trolling. It was designed to fulfill a specific niche that we all needed a tool for (shallow grass, oyster, rocks). I don't expect everyone to use it for everything.. I'm not even doing that. Plus I like to catch fish with a lot of different lures.. tops, fatboys, rat tail plastics on jigheads, etc etc. when I need to use those baits I use them.. a lead head plastic paddle tail might be a better lure to use while trolling.
Chubs wrote:Did you know your white TSL glows in the dark? I was working in my garage at night with the light on. Turned off my lights and saw them glowing! Didn't even know they did that hehe.
yes sir, It's Bone Diamond 'Glow'. It's fun. There are some guys in florida using glow in the dark lures on a dark channel to catch snook.. Maybe I'll do some night fishing (not in the lights) this summer and catch some trout on a grass flat.. hard to video tho.. LOL.
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Re: TSL Grasswalker Review

Post by Ron Mc »

Three of us fished these lures almost exclusively on our Arroyo trip last Nov.
Certainly two of us are junkies now - our 3rd member hasn't fished the salt enough to really appreciate them.
Though I didn't get the hook set on my big spec for the trip (a winter sow), she took the lure instantly when it touched the water (long cast to a visible sand hole on Rattlesnake Bay).
On the "gin clear" grass launching at SP Bay Access (flat at the top of the boat channel), the tourist trout would follow them to the boat and try to eat them a half-dozen times. As I mentioned on another thread, I landed several fish that weren't hooked, but were holding the lure in their gullet, not wanting to let it go no matter what.
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Agree with a non-weighted swimbait hook, this is not a topwater lure, but it obviates the need for all your dog-walking plugs. Very easy to keep it above the grass with a slow retrieve (pump).

Same thing fishing from our lighted pier on the Arroyo, but that's where we had the most fun with them.
I got up every morning to fish the hour before first light to take a few schoolie specs.
Also the last night, casting into the teeth of a beating N wind. Into that big wind, easy to cast to the edge of the light.
For the pier, was fishing a weighted swimbait hook with a crawling pump. Again the nursery trout would hit it a half dozen times on the way in. Then, in your view right beneath the pier, 4 or 5 schoolies would take their arcing shot at the lure.
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Re: TSL Grasswalker Review

Post by 1texasaggie »

Hi Tobin, just received an order and looking forward to trying your lures.

Question: sorry if I missed the answer on your site or videos, but do you recommend a loop knot or tying directly to hooks? In addition, what about swivels?

Thanks in advance!
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Re: TSL Grasswalker Review

Post by KingO'Dinks »

You might not have invented it for this, but recently in some deeper water (8-12') I used it as a deadstick bait, after having only limited success on Corky's , MR22's, and various other lures. Color was COC. Caught my personal best 23 1/2" Trout. Thanks Tobin!
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Re: TSL Grasswalker Review

Post by Slayer21 »

Lol this thread is funny


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Re: TSL Grasswalker Review

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1texasaggie wrote:Hi Tobin, just received an order and looking forward to trying your lures.

Question: sorry if I missed the answer on your site or videos, but do you recommend a loop knot or tying directly to hooks? In addition, what about swivels?

Thanks in advance!
Yes, that's right, tie a loop knot to the eye of the hook. You know, i'm not sure that I mentioned that in the clips about it.
KingofDinks wrote: Caught a new personal best in 8-12' of water deadsticking
Dude, that's awesome... I guess you're no longer King of Dinks.. more like King of Solid Trout!! great work. I use it real slow in deep water as well and it works just fine that way.
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Re: TSL Grasswalker Review

Post by 1texasaggie »

Yes, that's right, tie a loop knot to the eye of the hook. You know, i'm not sure that I mentioned that in the clips about it.
Many thanks!
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Re: TSL Grasswalker Review

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1texasaggie wrote:
Yes, that's right, tie a loop knot to the eye of the hook. You know, i'm not sure that I mentioned that in the clips about it.
Many thanks!
Not that I should be your go-by on this, but I have used several different point of connection to these lures. I have used two different types of speed clips, a loop knot and Palomar knot. I used the Palomar that once, because I was fishing over heavy shell and I needed as strong a knot as I could get in case I needed to pull some shell up off the bottom (which I did). The Palomar knot would have limited the action of the lure if I had been walking the dog, but I was jigging it straight up and a slow, shaking descent so it was not a problem
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Re: TSL Grasswalker Review

Post by TroutSupport.com »

No wrong way to work it at all for sure.

here's a pic that Robert Strickland (no relation) sent to me yesterday. Solid trout. and a snippet of what he said in a text.
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Re: TSL Grasswalker Review

Post by jag361 »

Just placed an order hope to give them a try here pretty soon!

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Re: TSL Grasswalker Review

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Awesome, thanks Jag. it's time to start using them with the spring winds starting to rip up grass. Granted it's always time to use them around shallow oyster.
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