Swim Baits

[bronzebackguy]

I was at the local tackle shoppe and saw these monster plastic fish and was like who would use these, then i went and fished a tournement on a local reservior known to hold some of the biggest large mouth in the stat and there were guys chucking these monsters into anything and everything, I was just wondering if anyone has tried them and had any luck thnx

[Bassin_Dude]

i have never tried them, i know that guys in california like to use them alot. also just about any other lakes that hold double digit bass you will find people using these. they are basically designed for troghy bass and most of the time you wont catch small bass(1lb-4lb) on them. they are also good to troll.

I haven't had too much luck with them, but then again I haven't committed enough time to have luck with them. If you're gonna use them, your catch rates will drop, but when you do get something, hold onto that rod cause the fish will wanna rip it outta your hands.

I'd suggest you don't wade fish with one of these bad boys. I was wading with one and went back to cast, I went back a little too far and dunked the lure in the water just before bringing the rod forward to cast. The lure stayed in the water just long enough to hit me in the back of the head hooking myself just above the ear. That big lead weight felt like a baseball bat hitting me in the back of the head. The X-rays are particularly enjoyable as it looks as if there is a fish in my head.

[macgyver]

There are many sizes of swim baits, even 2.5" ones. The bigger ones, will catch Hawgs, but that's the only thing you will catch. Most folks fishing tourneys, will get a limit first, and then start throwing them for that magical monster. They do catch monster bass, but they are few and far in between. So if you have the patience, and there are some Hawgs where you fish, just keep throwing them. But don't expect to catch fish but maybe 1 time a month or more.

Lizards

[redneck3004]

The first thing you should take in consideration when fishing with swimbaits ( even with those teeny weeny 2.5 inchers ) is that you are going to cast for a while before getting any strike, the second thing to consider is that they should be fished SLOOOOOOW to get the most out of them, another thing is the quality of the bait, a good quality swimbait should be very soft on the tail, the way to know it is to hold the bait with the tail looking up, if the tail bends sideways and touches the body of the bait them the bait is a good. When fishing them and having a fish strike the bait DO NOT SET THE HOOK IMMEDIATELY, wait until you can actually feel the fish, razor sharp hooks are a must. Slow steady retrieve with ocassional twitches is the way to fish them when targeting deep cover and/or structure or rippling the surface when fishing shallow cover. Don´t get mad and desperate with time and patience the fish will hit them, also, they are not preciselly the ideal bait to fish heavy cover, they hang up very easily.