I bet you will like the HSB. When the wife and I visited TJ in Nebraska a couple years ago he had us grab one of his rods to check out his pride and joy. I hooked into a nice HSB and my wife caught a really dandy large SMB. He fed them some AM Large Mouth pellets also and both SMB and HSB just tore them up. They both hit the line like freight trains.
I really had no intention to ever have SMB. For one thing I did not even know where to get any. But when I built the RES pond the guys in Nebraska were having such good luck with the SMB/RES combination and when Lusk stopped by he recommended I stock the SMB to keep the RES recruitment in check. He told me about Hartleys in Kingman Kansas have supplied SMB for many many years but to order them early because they always sold out. I was going to order some for the next year and they had some so a short time later I had SMB. Then much to my surprise I had recruitment this year which was totally unexpected by me.
So it has been kind of a whirlwind romance with me and SMB. It is just unbelievable how they can flip a barbless hook. If a small one drops on the ground this old man can hardly chase the hyperactive flippers down on land. I'm having a ball with them so far.
