Grasswalker review

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Tombo
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Grasswalker review

Post by Tombo »

I packed up one fishing rod rigged with Tobin's Grass Walker, dark color with chartreuse tail. I wanted to put it through its paces in and around the thick grass on the flats and over submerged grass. I bought a 5/0 swimbait hook that uses a screw type wife to keep the lure in place. I started by threading the hook up through the slit in the belly. The only time I caught some grass was at the hook point along the back. I then reversed the hook point going through the back with the hook point hidden in the belly slit. This decreased the amount of grass fouling which was not much to begin with. The type of grass I am talking about was the thick, matted type. Don't know the name.
I then moved to deeper water over grass and bumped the Grass Walker up from the bottom. Sometimes I would keep it walking at the surface, sometimes slight bumps from the bottom to the top covering all levels of water. It wasn't until I fished the shallow water in a different place did I catch a fish, Redfish under slot.
This lure did just fine, problem was there were no predator fish. No Reds in the shallow marsh, no trout in the deeper water. Mullet were all round me but were just mingling on the top with no fear of getting eaten from below.
I was worried that when I buried the hook point in the belly slit that hooking a fish would be more difficult, but the one bite I had was hooked this way.
Got me thinking about other places to use this lure. Swan Lake in Rockport comes to mind with all that grass. On the west end of Swan Lake are taller stalks of grass with room to pull this lure through as there is no way any of my other lures would work in Swan Lake grass.
I will have one rod rigged with this lure along with my other two rigs.
Thank you Tobin.
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kickingback
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Re: Grasswalker review

Post by kickingback »

Good read. I like the grasswalker for early morning bites in grass!
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Ron Mc
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Re: Grasswalker review

Post by Ron Mc »

good job Tom.
The lure is going to grow on you as you get more time with it. I first fished it on Rattlesnake Bay, S. Padre and in the Arroyo two Novembers ago. Since then, it's become my go-to lure for fishing turtle grass flats, especially drifting a kayak.
Estes, East flats lake, LHL - looking forward to getting it across Aransas bay to the St. Joe lakes.
For my favorite way to fish, it's by far the most productive lure, and it's fun to fish.

What we discovered everywhere we've fished it, is that both trout and reds keep coming back to attack the lure again even if you pull it out of their mouth. Trout of course follow it and attack it over and over. A 25" red on Estes followed the lure after I pulled it from his mouth on a set attempt, missed the lure and broached on a 2nd strike, and finally ate it with the lure at dead stop 4' in front of my dangling legs. I always say it's the closest thing to fishing a slime line on a fly rod, but you can cast it farther and you can't dog-walk a fly rod. Grasswalker dog-walks with any retrieve, and because it's neutral-density, you can fish it slow.

Looking forward to your next report.

I've also fished it on 3/0 to 5/0 - Trokar weighted swinbait hooks only come in 3/0 with the correct 1/8 oz added weight, and I've gone to 4/0 for weightess hooks.
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I'm pretty sure this is the Owner weighted 5/0
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Re: Grasswalker review

Post by Tombo »

On other soft plastics I have fished, worked it like a topwater till a trout made an initial hit. Let it sink similar to a Mullet and the trout come back and swallow the lure. I have had to dig out a big plastic from an undersized trout doing this.
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Re: Grasswalker review

Post by Ron Mc »

I've landed a couple specs that were squeezing the grasswalker in their gullet, but have never hooked one in the gullet with those big hooks - can't say that about smaller lures, such as SS3 swim shad - definitely gulleted a few trout on smaller hooks.
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Re: Grasswalker review

Post by TroutSupport.com »

You are welcome Tom. We haven't had too much floating grass until now (finally getting hot enough). keep at it, like Ron said, it will grow on you. I have customers telling me they love it and it's helped them use less tackle overall and their box gets smaller since all they need is a topwater, a grasswalker, and a jig head or two for the deep fish. That's really about it.

Everett Johnson of Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine wrote a little article and mentioned using something called the hook pal with it. It's a small plastic disc and you put it on the hook shaft. the friction of the disc on the shaft allow you to keep the hook point tighter to the back of the lure without skin hooking it.

The belly slot rigging is doable like you did but it overall has a better chance of fouling the hook with plastic. I tested that extensively with both trout, reds, and bass and the back hook rigging had the best hook up ratio; yeah it's a little more maintenance but a better ratio overall.
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Re: Grasswalker review

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I got a really cool verbal testimonial yesterday from a customer, we were talking about one of my other products and he was asking questions about the other product and when that was over he started telling me how much he thought of the GrassWalker and ... I couldn't believe the next part, he said that while "he loves the LeLe in certain situations he found that he just caught bigger fish with the GrassWalker" . Wow, that really hit me, it's such a hard battle to bring something new to a saturated market and I put my hole heart energy and work into making that thing, it just feels great to hear fisherman love it. He also said he really liked that he could feel it better than a 'corky' in certain situations.. he said "especially casting crosswind at any angle at all he still was able to feel the bait and the strikes". Man.. wow.. to get not just one lure comparison but two... I've only I'd had it recorded. Anyway, I'm sharing this as much for sharing the experience of getting those comments as well as passing along what others say.
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Re: Grasswalker review

Post by TroutSupport.com »

Check this out... picture in Texas Saltwater Fishing Mag.
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Re: Grasswalker review

Post by imaoldmanyoungsalt »

Very nice Tobin! Congratulations on well deserved publicity of what has become my go to for many freshwater fish as well. My last outing on the Brazos, I caught largemouth, smallmouth, and striper on it. It's just so easy to fish and so many different ways to present it, I can usually find a way to get the fish to eat it. I even used it under a popping cork once for striper and ended up catching a 3lb largemouth instead. I always have a rod rigged with one (usually the same one from the previous outing). Like I've said before, I'm not sure how you make any money on them since I'm still using the same 8 packs I ordered 2 years ago and I use them a lot. They just don't wear out. I am going to have to place an order soon tho. Thanks brother for making these, they really are a game changer.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk
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Re: Grasswalker review

Post by TroutSupport.com »

Thanks Im an old salt!

I got sent this photo this week. Customer in Florida said they've been having a weed problem on the western shore of florida and he started using the GrassWalker... 34" Snook :shock: 8) 8) 8)
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Re: Grasswalker review

Post by shoffer »

I always present a couple to guides as a gift, including my snook guides in Captiva Island, Florida, and my LLM guides in Port Mansfield. They see me working it and always ask about it. Just trying to make it so that my man Tobin can retire.
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Re: Grasswalker review

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LOL... Long Long long way form retiring Shoffer. It's really about helping people use something where we've needed a tool that will do it right. Thank you all for fishing the bait and telling your buds about it. I really appreciate it, it's not easy entering a saturated soft plastic market and competing with the masses touting their new errr umm paddle tail. LOL. I can use all the help I can get.

thanks all.
t
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Re: Grasswalker review

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I had a kayak angler contact me last week. He travels in from up north.. snow bird or what ever we call then these days. He was making his annual order of lures. He said before using my lure he hadn't fished much and but had tried a whole host of other lures. Said he caught his first red with my lure and now after several seasons he said he's nearly caught everything he's caught on them. Both reds and trout.

I know he was a little excited, and I know other lures catch fish too, but it was really nice to hear his beaming confidence and appreciation for the GrassWalker. Pretty cool stuff.
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Re: Grasswalker review

Post by Ron Mc »

I've stated before I've bypassed other lures just because TSL Grasswalker is more fun to fish.
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Re: Grasswalker review

Post by TroutSupport.com »

thank Ron, I had a guy call me the other day... he's lives up north and comes to Port A in the Fall. He was always a live bait guy and finally decided to start throwing plastics. He said he tried several different brands and types..rigged a variety of ways... jig heads, weedless.. then he tried the GrassWalker.. I think he said he caught his first red on artificial on the second cast after trying all those other brands. He has since caught all his fish on the GrassWalker and now just leaves it on.
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Re: Grasswalker review

Post by Prof. Salt »

I love these lures. Casting distance is great, the sink rate is perfect, and they flat catch fish. I usually have a white grasswalker loaded and ready, and at one point on my last trip a fish managed to break mine off. No problem, I just put on another one ...but the second one didn't have a glass rattle. The lures are pretty fantastic as they come, but I'm learning that inserting a glass rattle can really increase the frequency of bites. It might be due to where I was fishing and how the fish were keying on shrimp. The rattle makes the sound to get a look, then the lure seals the deal... I don't know why for sure, but I do see even more bites when I insert a glass rattle into the lure. Anyone else trying this?
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Re: Grasswalker review

Post by Ron Mc »

never tried it, but it's a great idea, I love whistler flies, partly because of the bead chain sink rate, but also because the bead chain clicks and whistles.
small DOA?
Got a photo to share?
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Re: Grasswalker review

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Prof. Salt wrote:I love these lures. Casting distance is great, the sink rate is perfect, and they flat catch fish. I usually have a white grasswalker loaded and ready, and at one point on my last trip a fish managed to break mine off. No problem, I just put on another one ...but the second one didn't have a glass rattle. The lures are pretty fantastic as they come, but I'm learning that inserting a glass rattle can really increase the frequency of bites. It might be due to where I was fishing and how the fish were keying on shrimp. The rattle makes the sound to get a look, then the lure seals the deal... I don't know why for sure, but I do see even more bites when I insert a glass rattle into the lure. Anyone else trying this?
I have been meaning to get some and never have but I think it's a great idea. I've tied on a chatter weight about 6" above a soft plastic on a jig head before and did see an increase in strikes/fish. Popping corks seem to be the craze lately because of the clicking noise they make. The Grasswalker was designed to accept a glass rattle. I think Tobin recommends adding a drop of super glue to the rattle when you push it in place the bait to help it stay put.
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Re: Grasswalker review

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Prof. Salt wrote:I love these lures. Casting distance is great, the sink rate is perfect, and they flat catch fish. I usually have a white grasswalker loaded and ready, and at one point on my last trip a fish managed to break mine off. No problem, I just put on another one ...but the second one didn't have a glass rattle. The lures are pretty fantastic as they come, but I'm learning that inserting a glass rattle can really increase the frequency of bites. It might be due to where I was fishing and how the fish were keying on shrimp. The rattle makes the sound to get a look, then the lure seals the deal... I don't know why for sure, but I do see even more bites when I insert a glass rattle into the lure. Anyone else trying this?
Hey Glenn. Super stoked that you enjoy the lure my friend. I made that back end just long enough for a glass rattle as I do like them myself as well. I say they do tend to get shook out by the trout so yes, a drop of super glue does help keep them in. I think the smaller multi bb rattle might work better during the fall with the shrimp around. more clicking.
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Re: Grasswalker review

Post by Prof. Salt »

Image

Sorry for the poor photo quality, bvut you can see the internal rattle inside the lure. I haven't had a problem with them coming out as long as they are inserted far enough for the hole to seal up a little, but the glue is a good idea.
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Re: Grasswalker review

Post by Ron Mc »

that works great - thanks for the extra effort Glenn
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Re: Grasswalker review

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Perfect, nice work Glenn!
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