Swimbaits

[BassBoySouth]

I am pretty ignorant to the whole swimbait thing. Is anybody throwing swimbaits around Mississippi or is that just an west coast thing. I see all these youtube videos of these guys catching these big bass on swimbaits. I am just wandering if it would work down here?

[JB]

I'm pretty sure its catching on all over the U.S.
Worked just mine here in oHIo last couple weeks

[BassBoySouth]

Which ones are you using

[JB]

I'm new to it and have just got some of the Storm 3 inch swim baits in shad and have another pack in bluegill. they come in various sizes.
Theres many out there and at many dif. prices

[BigBassin144]

JB, you ever fish with any 5-6" baits?! Do the 3 inch ones tend to catch bigger fish than say, a worm or crankbait? I'm thinking about trying some 3-5" ones in some of the "big" bass waters around here.

BB

[LubbockFisher]

All the guys in my club throw them, esp when we go to lakes like Amistad and Alen Henry.

[woody]

Check this out www.swimbait.com

[JRL]

Originally Posted by BassBoySouth

I am pretty ignorant to the whole swimbait thing. Is anybody throwing swimbaits around Mississippi or is that just an west coast thing. I see all these youtube videos of these guys catching these big bass on swimbaits. I am just wandering if it would work down here?

I caught 1 five pound bass my entire life previous to swimbaits. Last year I caught 10 or so fish over five pounds (I weigh them all). I dont use anything smaller than 6", unless Im fishing for peacocks/largemouth at the same time. Some were on a 10" worm, but most of them came off of Storm 6" bunker's.

Fish them at the slowest speed that will still allow the bait to perform its swimming action and youll be all set.

The weird thing about swimbaits is that 9 times out of 10 you wont feel the hit. The bass swallows the whole thing and next thing you know your rod doubles over. When you do feel a hit, its more than likely a 1 pounder trying to wound your bait.

[carolina-rig-01]

we use them down here on table rock, at times with good results. the biggest i have heard of anyone throwing around here is a 6" swimbait.

[Mac10]

My buddy Dave did well the other day shore fishing and throwing a Berkley Realstix about 5 or 6 inches in length....a white body with a curltail, black eyes. Looked to be an eighth or quarter ounce.

[Deacon]

Here is a site that is really informative in terms of swimbaits. It has alot of great info, pictures and some videos. It really is helpful tool when learning. It is a forum so you should read all the posts that catch your interest. This site has the best that swimbaiters have to offer. A ton of great info....good people and great techniques!

I hope it helps you and your quest for a monster bass!!!!

www.swimbaitnation.com

Deacon

[BassBoySouth]

Thanks guys for all the input!

[BassBoySouth]

I'm thinking about trying the Mattlures male bluegill. Anybody had any luck with em?

[JB]

thats a killer looking swimbait, just right for bedding fish or anytime.
I went through our swimbaits, and thought we had been throwing a 3 inch, turns out we have been using the 5 inch storm swimbait.

[MississippiBoy]

I've seen an article somewhere about those, BBS. Supposedly, bass guarding a bed will kill it if it gets close, since it looks so much like it's feeding if you let it sit on the bottom and twitch it a little.

[Sinjin Kim]

Being from Southern California, I fish a lot of swimbaits of all types of sizes and patterns. A question I read often is would swimbaits work in waters where trout is non existent. Yes! I've caught fish on swimbaits at residential community lakes, California Delta, and other waters where trout are not found.

I strongly feel bass are opportunistic predators and will feed on anything that will fit in their moves. Moreover, bass are curious creatures. They will often times attack/stop something out of curiosity or due to territorial behaviors.

Take this for example. A local lake here is stocked with trout twice a month during the colder months. This lake has been stocked with both rainbow and brown trout. Most people using swimbaits were using trout pattern swimbaits for obvious reasons. However, the fish gt accustomed to the trout pattern swimbaits and the interest level fell dramatically.

To give the fish a different look, some of the tournament anglers began experimenting with solid white swimbaits and surprisingly helped them win tournaments. This just proves a bass will not bite a trout pattern swimbait simply because it looks like a trout. I think they will bite out of curiosity just as often as they will bite during a feeding mood.

By the way, the swimbait used was a Triple Trout.

[Lilmoosecountry]

[QUOTE

To give the fish a different look, some of the tournament anglers began experimenting with solid white swimbaits and surprisingly helped them win tournaments. This just proves a bass will not bite a trout pattern swimbait simply because it looks like a trout. I think they will bite out of curiosity just as often as they will bite during a feeding mood.

By the way, the swimbait used was a Triple Trout.[/QUOTE]

It does'nt surprize me. The color white is very effective in a wide variety of baits. Solid White or solid Chatruse Sassy Shad are the bomb in muddy stained water. I like swimming big 5 in. solid white grubs in muddy water. The missouri river never gives me any clear fishing waters. It's Muddy all the time. But don't just think big baits big fish. Solid white colors in the in 5 to 6 variety have allot of mass. So there easily scene in muddy waters because of there size & color. I catch 2lb bass all the time on a 6 inch bait. I really don't like a realistic look in my swim baits. It is completly useless in muddy water. The more attention i bring to a bait the better the fishing is.

[Lilmoosecountry]

Originally Posted by BassBoySouth

I'm thinking about trying the Mattlures male bluegill. Anybody had any luck with em?

For what that bait cost you cold buy 1/2 dozen bags of sassy shad that would out perform that bait 3 to 1. They need a solid color for muddy & stainded water.

[Lilmoosecountry]

Originally Posted by Sinjin Kim

Being from Southern California, I fish a lot of swimbaits of all types of sizes and patterns. A question I read often is would swimbaits work in waters where trout is non existent. Yes! I've caught fish on swimbaits at residential community lakes, California Delta, and other waters where trout are not found.

I strongly feel bass are opportunistic predators and will feed on anything that will fit in their moves. Moreover, bass are curious creatures. They will often times attack/stop something out of curiosity or due to territorial behaviors.

Take this for example. A local lake here is stocked with trout twice a month during the colder months. This lake has been stocked with both rainbow and brown trout. Most people using swimbaits were using trout pattern swimbaits for obvious reasons. However, the fish gt accustomed to the trout pattern swimbaits and the interest level fell dramatically.

To give the fish a different look, some of the tournament anglers began experimenting with solid white swimbaits and surprisingly helped them win tournaments. This just proves a bass will not bite a trout pattern swimbait simply because it looks like a trout. I think they will bite out of curiosity just as often as they will bite during a feeding mood.

By the way, the swimbait used was a Triple Trout.

Bass will feed on anything that swims that can be swallowed. Shad,Blue Gill, Trout, Crayfish If Mr Big Mouth can get it in he can eat it. I am sorry but this Know it all Mentality is getting my goat. Your new you made it known that you hav'nt bean Bassfishing that long. But give little post like you were a member of Infishermen. Many of us have allot of EXP. here. In my case i bean fishing for 34 yrs of my 36 yrs of life. I have spent 3 yrs of my life as a tournament fishing. Look you can ask questions & state opinions. But don't post things like your reading them straight out of a book. You say things as of wow that's new. Like the color white. Well there is nothing new about that concept. people have bean throwing white lures of every type for years with success. Your post persumes as if it's somthing of a NEW CONCEPT. Please forgive but i just could stand it anymore.

[DaHorns]

I caught my first swimbait fish over the weekend using a 4.5" LFT Magic Shad rigged with a 6/0 Owner Screwlock hook that I weighted. I was fishing a flat on the main lake of Lake Travis and the 3 fish that I caught on the flat destroyed that bait when they hit it. Once I passed the flat the bite turned off on the swimbait and I switched back to the Senko.

[bassinbob]

I used the Matt blue gill and the baby bass some last year. No takers. I'll be using them again this year. I only used them for a short time each time out. This year I will be doing whole days with swimbaits.

[bamabassman]

i just picked up the same as bassbotsouth. hope to try them this weekend.

[BigBassin144]

I picked up some smaller ones the other day, and finally got time to try them in my pond yesterday. They were the Storm Wild Eye Shiners. They had a nice action, but I didn't get any bites. I'll try again today.

BB

[Sinjin Kim]

Originally Posted by Lilmoosecountry

Bass will feed on anything that swims that can be swallowed. Shad,Blue Gill, Trout, Crayfish If Mr Big Mouth can get it in he can eat it. I am sorry but this Know it all Mentality is getting my goat. Your new you made it known that you hav'nt bean Bassfishing that long. But give little post like you were a member of Infishermen. Many of us have allot of EXP. here. In my case i bean fishing for 34 yrs of my 36 yrs of life. I have spent 3 yrs of my life as a tournament fishing. Look you can ask questions & state opinions. But don't post things like your reading them straight out of a book. You say things as of wow that's new. Like the color white. Well there is nothing new about that concept. people have bean throwing white lures of every type for years with success. Your post persumes as if it's somthing of a NEW CONCEPT. Please forgive but i just could stand it anymore.

Why the animosity? Geez. Yes, I am relatively new to bass fishing. However, I've been fishing (in general) for most of my life (turning 30 soon, ugh!).

If my posting style rubs you the wrong way, well... it was never intended to rub you or anyone else in a negative manner.

As far as who has been bass fishing longer or who knows more is something I really could care less about. I've only been bass fishing (seriously) for 18 months now and have 19 tournaments under my belt. Having fished these tournaments and meeting anglers with decades of experience, I can say just because a person has spent many years on the water, doesn't necessarily make them an accomplished fisherman. Time on the water is crucial, but the learning curve is different for every person.

The things I state on this site is stuff I've learned through my own experience, information I've gathered through fellow fisherman and articles I've read. I am far from the type of guy who will copy and paste or state other's facts in verbatim to attempt to take credit for the information.

Now you can choose to ignore my posts if you feel I am too "green" to be helpful. The chose is yours and I am not here to prove anything to anyone. The only person I need to prove anything is to myself.

As to Sassy Shads in solid white and chartreuse etc... being effective in muddy water. I agree. However, my mentioning of solid white TT was in reference to a lake that is gin clear most of the year. I guess what I was trying to get at was that realistic swimbaits such as Huddlestons are not always effective in crystal clear waters and presenting a lure/swimbait/color that the fish haven't seen can draw more bites. I'm not sure how pressured your local waters are, but I bet they are nowhere close to the type of pressure our SoCal reservoirs get. Have you tried dropshotting with 2.5# test (yes, they 2.5# FC is made Japanese line manufacturers) to sack a limit? How about using 7# FC in 80' of water while fishing a C-Rig with a 5' leader (5# test). I hope you know understand why I am on this board. The style I fish is probably very different from the style most of the members here fish. So we both have things to learn from each other.

Anyways, best of luck on the tournament trail. By the way, which trail do you fish?

[bamabassman]

take it easy man. it is alright. you are right everyone here has their own style, and every part of this great country is different. bass are extremly different in south alabama from here in north alabama. i tried to fish northern ways down soutoh, and now having to learn again up here, lol. i hope both of you guys learn from one another. i have learned a whole lot in the short time i have been on this site. lets just step back and think, ok? now if white isn't getting you any hits, maybe you should try a clear to silver color. whadda think? or try to match the baitfish in your lake? i dunno. bass a a finicky fish. in my opion. they will eat anything for sure, but only certain things on a given day. for instance they may be eating crawfish in the morning, then shad in the afternoon. see what i mean? so really we are all guessing when we are fishing. there is NO absolute lure to use that'll get em everytime you go out. at least that is MY experience. i would love to hear more and see more pics of them big ol sow bellys like you posted before. and maybe one of these days i can come out there and let you take me to where you caught them, ok?