Info from a SwimBait Seminar

[cassidyta]

I stopped by my local tackle shop this evening to drop off a reel for a tune up. When I got there they were just begining a seminar with Mike Long. For those of you that don't know, Mike Long is considered one of the premier swimbait fishermen in the world. He holds most of the lake records for San Diego with the biggest being 20lbs-12 Oz. So, when he talks about Swimbaits, I listen.

A couple of things jumped out at me.

He only uses mono.
He said that there are a lot of folks that use flouro and it works for them, but he prefers mono. For baits less than 6", he uses normal bass gear and throws them on 8-12 lbs. On his bigger baits, he throws between 12-18bs. He said that he only uses 20-25 lbs on long line presentations such as trolling.

He uses far more soft bodied baits than hard bodied.
Most of his fish have come off of soft bodied baits being fished like a jig. He said that hard bodied baits have their place, but he really only uses them in low visibilty condtions.

He downsizes hooks a lot.
He was showwing us his modifications to bait like his Huddleston Trout. This is an 8 inch bait and he uses a size 6 hook. He has a fairly elaborate technique where the hook is attached vith a couple of swivels, split rings, and a magnet, but his hooks are tiny in comparison to the bait.

He drop shots swim baits.
He will watch his electronics and when he finds where they are suspended, he drop shots at that depth. (I have never thought of drop shotting an 8" swim bait.

All in all it was a good seminar. I did not win the raffle's top-prize. A Dobyn's swimbait rod, but I did get one of the new catch-22's and some other softbaits from it.