Swimbaits For Bass
I have some good swimbaits (hardbaits and softbaits) for bass and ive caught a bunch on them. Im getting a Spro BBZ-1 6” hard swimbait and a couple BPS XPS Z9R swimbaits for this years pigs im targeting. I know they eat BIG bluegill, caught a couple with master angler bluegills in their stomach with the tail stickig out of the throat. Im guessing a lot of people on this forum fish with swimbaits for bass, id be happy to learn any new techniques, and if you know any websites other than bass pro shops or www.tacklewarehouse.com that sell them let me know. Also any swimbaits you like let me know about ‘em.
I’ve never thrown those types.. just soft paddle tail (3” up to 5”) and sebile hard magic swimmers, both worked great but I had problems missing fish on the soft ones.
I’d like to know more about what times of the year you guys throw swimbaits. I love the lure concept but have only thrown yum money minnows at Beaver Lake in June in 2010 and got nothing but followers and bumps. The instant I switched over to a topwater I started blowing them up. I credited this success to the the topwater’s nature as a reaction bait to elicit a genetic response from the fish to strike. The swimbait only seemed to get the fish curious enough to swipe at it or follow. I don’t want to fool myself into thinking swimbaits are junk lures or inferior to reaction baits. Are swimbaits in sunfish (bluegill, “perch” and “bream”) patterns strictly a pe-spawn and spawn bite lure? What about shad imitating baits? Hypothetically speaking, if I were cranking deep weedlines mid summer would a sunfish swimbait make for a good bait to throw as a search lure if the crankbait bite is not hot or has just died off from a hot bite?
I throw them whenever the fish are active. Late spring, summer, fall, whenever. I caught a few throwing soft 4"ers around docks and boat lifts and ripping them out of the weeds in the hot of the summer last year.
I have caught a lot of fish with a 5” paddle-tail swimbait rigged with the hook exposed. I started out rigging them weedless but had trouble getting a good hookset.
They are definetely worth a second chance. You may want to switch from the Money Minnow to a Basstrix since youre fishing such a clear lake. Its just more realistic and has better action IMO.
I’d rig it on a J-Will swimbait hook made by Buckeye Lures. 1/4oz up shallow and 3/8oz for those deeper weed lines. The hook is stout, its not going to bend if you hook a big-un.
I have caught a lot of fish with a 5” paddle-tail swimbait rigged with the hook exposed. I started out rigging them weedless but had trouble getting a good hookset.
They are definetely worth a second chance. You may want to switch from the Money Minnow to a Basstrix since youre fishing such a clear lake. Its just more realistic and has better action IMO.
I’d rig it on a J-Will swimbait hook made by Buckeye Lures. 1/4oz up shallow and 3/8oz for those deeper weed lines. The hook is stout, its not going to bend if you hook a big-un.
The lack of action was one of the things I noticed with the hollow belly boot tail baits. I’m thinking about throwing swimbaits this year in Iowa in the warm water months of July - August as a weedline search lure either for the heck of it, or if I’m blowing them up and want to target big fish. If I can get back down south this year I’ll also throw some shad baits for spotted and possibly stripers in either Beaver or Bull shoals. I think the highland reservoirs might be my best shot at a good swimbait bite. If I find myself killing em’ on topwater then a large shad bait fished below the bait ball might temp some giants. My personal best spot was just over 6 pounds and it was a blast to land. I’d love to catch more of those.
I have caught a lot of fish with a 5” paddle-tail swimbait rigged with the hook exposed. I started out rigging them weedless but had trouble getting a good hookset.
They are definetely worth a second chance. You may want to switch from the Money Minnow to a Basstrix since youre fishing such a clear lake. Its just more realistic and has better action IMO.
I’d rig it on a J-Will swimbait hook made by Buckeye Lures. 1/4oz up shallow and 3/8oz for those deeper weed lines. The hook is stout, its not going to bend if you hook a big-un.
The lack of action was one of the things I noticed with the hollow belly boot tail baits. I’m thinking about throwing swimbaits this year in Iowa in the warm water months of July - August as a weedline search lure either for the heck of it, or if I’m blowing them up and want to target big fish. If I can get back down south this year I’ll also throw some shad baits for spotted and possibly stripers in either Beaver or Bull shoals. I think the highland reservoirs might be my best shot at a good swimbait bite. If I find myself killing em’ on topwater than a large shad bait fished below the bait ball might temp some giants. My personal best spot was just over 6 pounds and it was a blast to land. I’d love to catch more of those.
The only swimbait I have been able to catch bass with in Iowa is a Lake Fork Tackle Live Magic Shad. I have thrown the hell out of the Shadalicious swimbaits this past summer without a hit. Same goes for the Zoom swimming fluke.
I have caught a lot of fish with a 5” paddle-tail swimbait rigged with the hook exposed. I started out rigging them weedless but had trouble getting a good hookset.
They are definetely worth a second chance. You may want to switch from the Money Minnow to a Basstrix since youre fishing such a clear lake. Its just more realistic and has better action IMO.
I’d rig it on a J-Will swimbait hook made by Buckeye Lures. 1/4oz up shallow and 3/8oz for those deeper weed lines. The hook is stout, its not going to bend if you hook a big-un.
The lack of action was one of the things I noticed with the hollow belly boot tail baits. I’m thinking about throwing swimbaits this year in Iowa in the warm water months of July - August as a weedline search lure either for the heck of it, or if I’m blowing them up and want to target big fish. If I can get back down south this year I’ll also throw some shad baits for spotted and possibly stripers in either Beaver or Bull shoals. I think the highland reservoirs might be my best shot at a good swimbait bite. If I find myself killing em’ on topwater than a large shad bait fished below the bait ball might temp some giants. My personal best spot was just over 6 pounds and it was a blast to land. I’d love to catch more of those.
The only swimbait I have been able to catch bass with in Iowa is a Lake Fork Tackle Live Magic Shad. I have thrown the hell out of the Shadalicious swimbaits this past summer without a hit. Same goes for the Zoom swimming fluke.
I think that’s the nature of swimbaits. From what I gather you don’t get bit very often with swimbaits but when you do, it’s a giant. I definitely see the prespawn bite for the lure working. Big prespawn bass regularly target adult bluegill and other sunfish that time of year. Unfortunately I do not have the time to fish during those months. I’d love to hook up into some musky and pike with big bluegill swimbaits during the summer. That’d make me real happy and don’t think I have heard of anyone using big swimbaits for deep toothy critters. I’d love to be one of the fist to establish that pattern and promote it on the net. [/dreaming]
Jake, try swimming it as slow as you can, just enough to get the tail kicking. If that doesnt work downsize, I had very few hits with the 5” and 4.5” versions here, but did great on the 3.5-3.75”.
i just got a couple of really nice looking Joe Bucher swimbaits from OBT. they look like real bass killers. definitely going to be throwing them. they are big and heavy 1 1/4 oz. one is a trout color and the other is sort of a bluegill color. Forget what i paid for them but they weren’t over $3, i think less.
I have fished swimbaits year around here in Alabama. I have used shad sized swimbaits from 3 inches all the way up to a 10 inch black dog tail wagger with a lexion tail. I have caught fish on nearly every swimbait I have. however my favorite swimbaits are the mattlures swimbaits & Langill lures swimbaits. the fish will pretty much tell you what they want. also there are alot of ways to fish swimbaits more then just slow rolling it. you can pop it, twitch it much like KVD does with a spinnerbait, how about ripping it off the grass like a rattle trap? A good fast sink swimbait like a spro bbz 8 incher can get down 40 foot & you can pop it off the bottom & let it flutter back down like a dying baitfish. also throw out to deep water and work your way uphill as to set up an ambush zone & let the fish do what comes naturally.
I have caught a lot of fish with a 5” paddle-tail swimbait rigged with the hook exposed. I started out rigging them weedless but had trouble getting a good hookset.
They are definetely worth a second chance. You may want to switch from the Money Minnow to a Basstrix since youre fishing such a clear lake. Its just more realistic and has better action IMO.
I’d rig it on a J-Will swimbait hook made by Buckeye Lures. 1/4oz up shallow and 3/8oz for those deeper weed lines. The hook is stout, its not going to bend if you hook a big-un.
The lack of action was one of the things I noticed with the hollow belly boot tail baits. I’m thinking about throwing swimbaits this year in Iowa in the warm water months of July - August as a weedline search lure either for the heck of it, or if I’m blowing them up and want to target big fish. If I can get back down south this year I’ll also throw some shad baits for spotted and possibly stripers in either Beaver or Bull shoals. I think the highland reservoirs might be my best shot at a good swimbait bite. If I find myself killing em’ on topwater then a large shad bait fished below the bait ball might temp some giants. My personal best spot was just over 6 pounds and it was a blast to land. I’d love to catch more of those.
You could make a small, shallow cut where the tail begins and it may give you a little better action.
i just got a couple of really nice looking Joe Bucher swimbaits from OBT. they look like real bass killers. definitely going to be throwing them. they are big and heavy 1 1/4 oz. one is a trout color and the other is sort of a bluegill color. Forget what i paid for them but they weren’t over $3, i think less.
Im not good with abreviations, what does OBT stand for? And swimbaits under 3$ i want some haha
i just got a couple of really nice looking Joe Bucher swimbaits from OBT. they look like real bass killers. definitely going to be throwing them. they are big and heavy 1 1/4 oz. one is a trout color and the other is sort of a bluegill color. Forget what i paid for them but they weren’t over $3, i think less.
Im not good with abreviations, what does OBT stand for? And swimbaits under 3$ i want some haha
