Hard swimbaits

[GungasUncle]

So I'm new to fishing hard swimbaits. I have yet to hook up and could use some tips from those who have more experience fishing them. The last time I was fishing, I had two HUGE bass follow the thing literally to within a rod length of me - one even took a half-hearted swipe at it before turning away, but it grabbed the tail and not the belly where the hook was. These were the two biggest bass I've ever personally seen in the lake. Obviously the swimbaits will draw the fishes' attention, but I am looking for more than followers, I want eaters!

The swimbait in question I was fishing was a Cabela's Fisherman Series 6" shad - it's double jointed, has a great wiggle on a slow retrieve, and when twitched it darts and dives enticingly. It is a slow sinker - on a 40 second count down it falls about 15 feet I'd estimate.

So, swimbait gurus, how do I get the fish to eat instead of just following it along. I was doing a slow retrieve with pauses every 5-10 seconds when I got the followers. As far as I know, I could not replicate the results on follow up casts, as I did not see any more fish following (that's not to say they weren't turning back before I could see the lure) - I did my best to work the water column from top to bottom, around obvious breaks/weed lines/points, I just could not get them to eat. The only hook up I had with a bass was on a lipless crank in the same area, before I was fishing the swimbait. After the followers, I switched up to different rigs - I tried crankbaits in the same area, I tried a carolina rigged 7 inch worm - big fish foods - but I couldn't buy a bite.

 

[Billamicasr]

Just a prejudiced opinion... when I'm fishing slow I like to give the fish a reason to bite and usually what entices strikes (for me) is some form of scent. It may sound counter productive however Bloody Tuna super gel has elicited many strikes from followers in fresh water. So, why would Bloody Tuna work so well, considering there are not too many Tuna swimming among the Large-mouth Bass. I can only suggest the oily and of course bloody tuna (real tuna blood) leaves some sort of... I want to kill it, scent in the water.

Just so happens Bi-Mart has Pro-Cure's Bloody Tuna Super Gel on sale. Like I said I am prejudiced in that the owner of Pro-Cure is a good friend, that said I have used other scents which do not seem to work as well as Pro-Cures.
If you don't want to try Bloody Tuna there are a bunch of other flavors which have produced well for lots of people; Trophy Trout, Annis Craw, etc. etc. it still comes down to when I fish swim-baits (I like Hammer's soft swim-baits) I think it is advantageous to give the fish something to sniff as they think about going for the bait. I just don't think striking a swim-bait is reactionary as opposed to intentional. I firmly believe the fish has lots of time to think about whether to strike or not and, it cannot hurt to give the fish an added reason.

Best part is it cost a very small amount to try scents, especially when they are on sale.

 

[GungasUncle]

Actually I forgot to mention that I did indeed soak the swimbait with scent - it wasn't bloody tuna, I don't remember if it was shrimp or sardine, but it was scented.

 

[Aervax]

It sounds like a finesse approach with the hard swim bait, which I have not had much success with on bass. I use hardbaits more aggressively to take advantage of their vibrating actions and soft plastic baits for slower finesse approach. Whether using hard baits that are crankbaits or suspending jerk baits or jointed rapalas my success with bass seems to vary based on the cadence of the retrieve. What I mean by that is the cadence the fish want from a particular bait seems to be different almost every time I go out. You got a couple of follows on the cadence you were using, "slow retrieve with pauses every 5-10 seconds." Try varying that cadence in different ways until one of them triggers more aggression in the fish. I usually start with a 3 move cadence: quick-stop-quick-stop-quick and pause for a 5 count, then repeat. If that doesn't work in 10 or so casts then change it up. Go to quick - pause 3 count - quick - pause 3 count and continue. If that doesn't do it then I go to a slow and steady retrieve for several casts. If that doesn't do it then I go to fast steady retrieve for several casts. Then I try a different color, different size, or different type of bait. Quicker short movements give off more vibration, while keeping the lure close by in the strike zone, which a bass might take as aggression toward it, or as the potential for flight away from them. Bass are feisty, so either interpretation can result in success.

I was using the "quick-stop-quick-stop-quick pause for a 5 count" on the Columbia last week and was getting strikes on almost every cast for an hour. They missed it a lot, but they nailed it a lot too. I was using that cadence on my favorite top water popper for the first 20 minutes, which they were killing until it broke off. I switched to a suspending jerk bait with the same cadence and got the same result for the next 20 minutes. Then I caught a 2.5 pound feisty small mouth on the jerk bait, and found my favorite popper hanging out of the other side of her mouth. So back to my favorite popper I went.

Then no more bites, zero. I had been fishing a drop-off next to shallow spawning beds. The drop off was about 70 feet long and went from 3 feet into about 10 feet. I had worked the spot to death and put the fish down. No more activity. I worked the deeper water and then switched to casting parallel to the shoreline with no bites.

The moral to that story is use the right bait in the right type of water at the right time. Bass are spawning now. Some of them I am actually sight fishing, spotting them from a distance in shallow water then casting to them. I came on a bed last week with a 3 pound small mouth 1 foot from shore with its tail sticking out of the water. Casted 15 feet past it, then started working the bait toward it with that same cadence. The fish rushed the bait and killed it before it could get within 10 feet of its bed. Now that was fun!

Good luck and post pics!

 

[Shaun Solomon]

Look, I'm not a guru or anything, but I have caught a lot of fish on a wide range of swimbaits. They are about my favorite baits to use.

First things first... If that fish followed, it was liking something about that setup. Most of the time, if a little critter realizes a big bass is ghosting it, the little critter is not exactly nonchalant about that realization. When you fish for barracuda, if you see one following your bait, almost the best way to lose the interest of that fish is to maintain the speed of the bait. The best way to lose the interest of the barracuda is to slow it down, even a tiny bit. But if you speed it up a little (or better yet, as much as is humanly possible) you will get a crushing strike.

Bass don't like to let stuff get away. Big bass take a more relaxed approach to feeding than little bass do, but they still hate to let stuff get away once they have made up their mind they want to eat something. SPEED IT UP on followers. Start out by speeding it up just a little, like the swimbait just noticed something was not right, and see what the fish does. Often a simple change in cadence will clinch it for you. Learn to read the body language of fish, which way their eyes are facing, what they are doing with their pectoral fins, their tail. Pectoral fins held out wide and fluttering and a wavy ripple in their tail means they are about to pounce. They seem to dart a glance from side to side or looking back behind them quickly before they do this too. It is like they are taking in the scene, evaluating the area for potential avenues of escape for the prey item. I have seen this again and again. A real "lit up" bass will often also look like a watermelon rind, with strong color. These are all aggressive cues. If you see a fish looking like that, it is begging to be caught. Try to see what changes in attitude come over a follower when you change up the retrieve.

I have also noticed that any followers that track a bait for a long distance can be converted to bites by bumping the bait into a floating or underwater object. A log, a dock, I even caught a nice bass by swimming a Mattlures Hardgill into the transom of my boat one time. The bass followed the bait for at least fifteen yards I could see, and closed on it as I sped it up, but would not bite it. It followed it all the way to the boat, and as I was pretty much out of real estate, I just bumped the boat with it, and the bass ate it right at the feet of my nonboater. It was awesome. Wound up being over six, a real good bass for Colorado.

One ting you need to understand about swimbaits... you really need to make the first cast count. Take a minute to look at the lay of the land, the terrain, and imagine the different ambush points and lanes of travel for a feeding bass. Make the best cast to the best spot FIRST. I can assure you, they will know when the bait is there. You might get a fish on the second cast to a piece of cover, rarely on the third, and almost never on the fourth. Swimbaits are not like fishing Senkos. Unless you are bed fishing, and competent anglers don't need to resort to that type of thing. Find a nice set up, hit it, and move on.

Still... Understand that when you are fishing swimbaits, you are going to see a lot more fish than you hook. It is just part of the program. Play this to your advantage by noting the location of fish that reveal themselves, yet refuse the swimbait. Return later with a jig or a worm and convert those fish.

SS

 

[Fishpdx]

I only fish big swimbaits at lakes that I know has lot's of bass and they are feeding. But I've always added anise scent to my swimbaits, I don't know why but bass seem to like the anise flavor especially on senkos. But always try different presentation of your swimbait,

 

[Billamicasr]

For the longest time I would mix 50/50 Mikes anise oil Glo scent with Squibs Mineral oil and let my plastic worms soak in that concoction as well as squirt some on every few casts and it It worked extremely well. Remember Mann's Jelly Worms? I loved the motor oil color and they of course discontinued it likely because anglers didn't like the name and didn't much buy them. The color was altered just a bit and renamed green pumpkin so that's what we live with, but it still isn't quite the same color.

When some of the scent companies came up with the Gel concept in their baits I switched over. We all have our opinions and here is mine; my past scent use tells me. First; they work. Second; soft and hard plastics do not absorb much oil scent or bait sauces so has to be reapplied often. Third; the newer Gel scents adhere well enough to last for many casts and even under trolling condition in warmer waters and fourth the gels aren't used much for natural baits so that is where I soak baits in bait oils and bait sauces.

Regarding action; I do not think about it much as it has become habit, but even when I cannot see a Swimbait being followed I do a swing or a sweep of the rod tip periodically to entice followers. I used to every forth or fifth rev of the reel handle just twitch the rod tip, but have found a sweep causes more strikes; I think I saw that on one of the You Tube Bass fishing videos some years ago.

My favorite time to fish big tube baits (6" long magnums) and large Big Hammer Swimbaits is mid day in reasonably deep waters (20-30') Carolina rigged near drop offs and structure (using a depth sounder) when the Bass cannot stand the bright sunlight.
I rarely fish the spawn out of respect; sort of like the last thing I would want is someone trying to bother me or knock on the door when I have my funk on.
However that said if you find bedded bass a big Swimbait is killer to make those guys mad enough to attack. If you have a livewell, keep the smaller daddy until you've used the same bait to harass the larger mother Bass after she's moved in to guard the nest. Best to release them both of course after you've had your fun, so they can have theirs.

P.s. Shaun Soloman is being modest when he says he's not a guru... We've all seen the photos of his big Bass. Shaun... I'm pretty sure you qualify... just sayin'.
If I were into fishing Large and Smallmouth Bass, I'd listen to what he says and try to copy his techniques.

 

[ChezJfrey]

P.s. Shaun Soloman is being modest when he says he's not a guru... We've all seen the photos of his big Bass. Shaun... I'm pretty sure you qualify... just sayin'. If I were into fishing Large and Smallmouth Bass, I'd listen to what he says and try to copy his techniques.

No kidding. I think just eyeballing the avatar pic, with what looks to be a monster smallie...I think that alone qualifies a good 'listen' if you ask me

 

[GungasUncle]

I popped my swimbait cherry today :applause: I finally got a bass to EAT and not just follow - though I had way more followers than eaters.

Was fishing Hagg today, throwing a realistic 8" trout immitation, and had a 2-2.5lb smallie nail the swimbait up by the dam. I pulled more post-spawn fish out from the deep waters and had a few piggies follow it in, but the surprising thing was that the smallie I landed hit it when it was only a few inches from the surface right after the bait landed on that cast, and it was over water that had to be 12-15 or deeper.

Lots of bass fry in the shallows, and lots of fish around 6-10 inches schooling and cruising near shore. Mix of largemouth & smallmouth everywhere we saw fish.

Also had a new experience, I had an otter (first time I've ever seen or heard of otters at Hagg) attack the swimbait when it was near shore - he darted out from under the bank I was fishing from and I had to yank the bait out of the water to avoid catching an otter. Cool sight but it scared the bejesus out of me at first because I see this huge black four legged thing shoot out from a hole literally below me and charge my bait. When I yanked it out of the water he spooked and dashed back into his hole. When I realized what he was I broke out into laughter, never had a mammal attack a lure before.

I really want to be out there as the stocking truck is dumping fish in - because I think throwing a swimbait into that frenzy might wind up with a real piggie of a fish.

I tried varying the tempo of the retrieves, speeding them up as I neared shore to tempt the followers. I tried darting the bait, or twitching it when I saw the following fish.

One of the things I've been trying not to do is fish for bedding fish, I've been looking for the fish that are either pre or post spawn already - and from the number of bass fry in schools I've seen, there's already been a bunch of fish finish their spawn in the last month or so, though I'm sure there's still a bunch on beds. Survival of the species would dictate they don't all spawn at once, so this makes sense.

Also of a strange note - I fished back to back days this week and did not see ANY bluegill except in one spot. And yesterday we fished up by Tanner Creek and did not see a single fish of any sort up there - which seemed bizarre. No perch, no panfish, no bass, and no trout. I did catch a die cast 1955 Thunderbird toy for my son up there though. Weird.

Next week I'll be back on the hunt - I think I'm addicted to tossing the big stuff now - just seeing some of the fish that have been followers has made my heart jump into my throat a few times, way bigger than the normal fish I've seen or caught for sure.

 

[Billamicasr]

Great write up!
Sounds like a fun time.

 

[Shaun Solomon]

Right on dude! I bet you were stoked!

Follows are just part of the program. And, actually, so are non-fish followers. I have had otters, mink, and various birds of prey after my bait. God forbid I ever hook one of those things. I did manage to land a pretty solid turtle a few years back...

 

[EOBOY]

Right on dude! I bet you were stoked!

Follows are just part of the program. And, actually, so are non-fish followers. I have had otters, mink, and various birds of prey after my bait. God forbid I ever hook one of those things. I did manage to land a pretty solid turtle a few years back...

Is that a snapper?

 

[Shaun Solomon]

Yassuh. Getting the hook out without damage to either of us was a masterstroke, if I must say so myself.

 

[bass]

I popped my swimbait cherry today :applause: I finally got a bass to EAT and not just follow - though I had way more followers than eaters.

Was fishing Hagg today, throwing a realistic 8" trout immitation, and had a 2-2.5lb smallie nail the swimbait up by the dam. I pulled more post-spawn fish out from the deep waters and had a few piggies follow it in, but the surprising thing was that the smallie I landed hit it when it was only a few inches from the surface right after the bait landed on that cast, and it was over water that had to be 12-15 or deeper.

Lots of bass fry in the shallows, and lots of fish around 6-10 inches schooling and cruising near shore. Mix of largemouth & smallmouth everywhere we saw fish.

Also had a new experience, I had an otter (first time I've ever seen or heard of otters at Hagg) attack the swimbait when it was near shore - he darted out from under the bank I was fishing from and I had to yank the bait out of the water to avoid catching an otter. Cool sight but it scared the bejesus out of me at first because I see this huge black four legged thing shoot out from a hole literally below me and charge my bait. When I yanked it out of the water he spooked and dashed back into his hole. When I realized what he was I broke out into laughter, never had a mammal attack a lure before.

I really want to be out there as the stocking truck is dumping fish in - because I think throwing a swimbait into that frenzy might wind up with a real piggie of a fish.

I tried varying the tempo of the retrieves, speeding them up as I neared shore to tempt the followers. I tried darting the bait, or twitching it when I saw the following fish.

One of the things I've been trying not to do is fish for bedding fish, I've been looking for the fish that are either pre or post spawn already - and from the number of bass fry in schools I've seen, there's already been a bunch of fish finish their spawn in the last month or so, though I'm sure there's still a bunch on beds. Survival of the species would dictate they don't all spawn at once, so this makes sense.

Also of a strange note - I fished back to back days this week and did not see ANY bluegill except in one spot. And yesterday we fished up by Tanner Creek and did not see a single fish of any sort up there - which seemed bizarre. No perch, no panfish, no bass, and no trout. I did catch a die cast 1955 Thunderbird toy for my son up there though. Weird.

Next week I'll be back on the hunt - I think I'm addicted to tossing the big stuff now - just seeing some of the fish that have been followers has made my heart jump into my throat a few times, way bigger than the normal fish I've seen or caught for sure.

Great job! I bought some discount swimbaits a few years ago but I have probably only made a few casts with them. It is that chicken and egg problem. It is hard to fish a lure that you don't have confidence in but you only gain confidence by catching fish.

 

[Shaun Solomon]

Bass, I will tell you how I got started with them.

I was fishing a little club event at Carter Lake in Larimer County, Colorado sometime in the late 90's. We were catching some nice chunky little largemouth in a cove. Carter is a water supply lake for the area, and it is deep, clear, and cold. It looks more like a place for lakers than a largemouth lake, but there are some big bass and walleye in there.

We were fishing tubes on spinning gear and six pound line. As we were working our way back into this cut, a nice rainbow trout of about 18" was sipping midges off of the glasslike surface of the lake. It was picturesque, and enjoyable to watch the trout having a meal.

An absolutely gigantic bass rocketed out of the depths and t-boned the trout in the midsection, just pummeled the thing. The force of the attack made a wave that rocked our boat, it was about twelve feet away when it happened. The trout was twitching like it was having a seizure, and the bass had it sideways in it's mouth like a dog with a big bone. It sorta chomped down a couple times with the trout quivering, and turned the trout head first and started to swallow it. It had about half the trout sticking out of it's mouth, and just sorta faded back into the deep green water. There were hundreds of tiny silver scales just sifting down through the water like glitter where the trout had been.

Now, keep in mind a six pound bass is a big bass in Colorado. Most serious bass anglers might be lucky to get one that size a year. There were a few years I didn't get one that size. An eight or nine pound bass is very, very hard to come by. This bass was well into double digit range. It was not long, but it looked like a pony keg with fins and a bad disposition. In unison, me and my partner look at each other, then at our tube jigs. I wanted to toss the rod into the lake.

So I went out the next day and got some Castaics, and started putting in time. I knew about them already, but it just all came home to roost for me in that one experience. It took a while for me to start getting bit, but it was an exciting process.

SS

 

[GungasUncle]

I'm not ready to start spending double digits on baits yet, but after we wrap things up on the house deal I want to get a bit more appropriate rod, and some larger baits to see what can be done with them. Right now I'm throwing my baits on my "normal" rods - 6'6" medium power fast action Okumas. I've tried braid and mono, and for now I think I'm going to stick with 14lb mono. If I get the "bigger" rod - I'm thinking something 7-7'6" and medium-heavy power - I'll go with 14 lb flouro to try it out. I want to pick up some of the soft realistic baits eventually - but for now my budget hard baits will hafta do.

I think some guys get a little too wrapped up in tackle price or they look down upon big box brands or budget baits - I'll say I've had some fantastic luck with less expensive baits. My favorite lipless cranks are Matzuos (and I can't find them anymore, they may have discontinued that design) and my fav lipped crankbaits are a mix of Matzuos and Bombers. That Cabela's swimbait that got this madness started for me was a $10 bait they discontinued and I picked up a pair of them for $3 each - they have a really sexy wiggle to them in the water and obviously the fish didn't mind as they followed them in.

I've been watching Colby's YouTube videos, along with soaking up all the stuff I can from other sources like Tacticalbassin and Wired2Fish.

Since lakes around here have a mix of trout and panfish, I think I might pick up some smaller soft swimbaits too, in something like a bluegill, perch, or crappie shape/coloration to see if those will interest the big girls.

Sometimes a leap of faith is needed to get that first fish, but man I can't tell you how stoked it was to land a fish on the swimbait finally. Now I need to catch a new personal best bass - which probably won't really be that hard because my biggest bass landed was between 5 & 6 pounds. But I don't want to get too greedy, I'll happily catch 2lb fish too, especially those that want a 6-8inch long "trout" as a snack hehe.

 

[Shaun Solomon]

I think some guys get a little too wrapped up in tackle price or they look down upon big box brands or budget baits - I'll say I've had some fantastic luck with less expensive baits.

There is no doubt that is true. I know several dudes with huge collections of swimbaits that don't catch any fish with them, they just line them up on the kitchen counter and stroke them before taking their picture and gloating about their collections.

The thing of it is, swimbaits are specialized tools. Their design is a little more complex than other types of baits... there really are good ones and bad ones. That being said, the dollar ammount you pay for one is not a clear indication of performance. The original Castaic boot tail is a PHENOMENAL performer, if you get the right size and sink rate. And they are less than $20. The 6" fast sink is the best one, and they are like $12.

My list of (commercially available) baits I won't be without is not a long one at all, and none of them are in the stupid expensive range.

SS