Walking bait questions

[Jrob78]

Some walking baits come with a dressed rear hook and some don't. I was curious if you thought that the feathers effected the action of the bait. The reason I ask is I saw where Larry Dahlberg recommended cutting the feathers off his R2S Wide Glide bait. He said that it was one thing that got lost in translation when that bait was produced. It makes sense that any drag at the rear of a walking bait would negatively effect that action.

This is actually out of the review section at TW.

Larry here. Honestly, the lure will do just what I say it will do, but it's a little more difficult to catch on to than the average glider. MOST IMPORTANTLY I STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU CUT THE FEATHERS OFF! People have been creaming stripers, tunas, muskies and pike on the big one. Bass and tarpon on the small one. (a local guy in Surinam caught 14 tarpon in one day a couple of weeks back, using the small sinking version with a hand line! ouch) You will see it in action catching tarpon in Colombia and the large size sinking one catching stripers in Cape Cod on this years HFBF shows. I did not approve of the way the feathers were added but in the rush and translation it just happened somehow. If you want an added "tail" the best way I've found is to thread some flashabou through a tiny duo lock snap where you'd normally tie your line, secure it with a tiny drop of crazy glue, then attach the snap to the rear hook hanger. Otherwise, like I said, loose the feathers!

My other question is about how to attach the bait. Most walking baits don't have split rings, just a tie directly on the nose of the bait. Are these meant to be tied with loop knots, Duo Locks or just straight to the bait? I am not a fan of snaps, I always tie directly to a bait, normally to a split ring. It struck me today that tying directly to a walking bait with a tight knot, might not be the best way to do it.