Swimbait Starter Kit

[Jake P]

Alright fellas. I have been fishing this pond during the week when im not on the lake on the weekend. I have been catching 3 lbers all day and a couple of 5's. I lost one a while ago that I know was bigger than 5# so I know there are bigger fish than what I am consistently catching. I want to try tossing some swimbaits in there to see if I can pull something big out of there.

I really dont know where to start as far as size and specific swimbaits. Can yall recommend a few for me that I can get at TW when I make my order friday? Thanks in advance yall!

-JP

[deep]

The two swimbaits in my signature Sorry I'm partial to Matt's baits, but I assure you there's more than one good reason (and a good number of bass) behind that. And the 8" huddleston deluxe I believe has caught more DDs than any other single bait, which is no mean feat considering jigs and plastics have been around for much much longer.

Matt's ultimate bluegills and tournament series would be two other nice bite-sized soft baits. I don't know if TW has the newer soft/ hardgills though. Matt should be able to clarify.

P.S. Get a Slammer.

P.P.S. I'm pretty much the worst swimbaiter on this and a couple of other boards; yet I've managed to catch a few fish on the hudd, and Matt's gills. Those were/ are the only three baits I catch fish on with some semblance of regularity. My thinking is that if I can catch bass on them, then anyone can

[North Ga Hillbilly]

Get a hudd and throw it till you get a big bite, I have alot of different baits that I really like, but if I'm shooting for a big bite all other things aside, its time for a hudd.

NGaHB

[gobig]

What type of water are you fishing? Is it deep, clear, muddy etc... Just looking at your profile pic, looks like some pretty heavy vegetation.

[Jake P]

Yeah the pond in my pic is the one I'm talking about. It has super thick vegetation at one end. The deepest part though is a little less congested with just some weeds at the bottom. Water is clear..

The only thing that even resembles bait in their is the baby bass. I haven't seen anything else yet that would be pray. do bass actively feed off of the young bass year around or would there have to be another form of food in there I just haven't seen yet?

[RyneB]

a weedless hudd will work, also a strike king shadalicious or similar hollow bodies. Try a 1/2 ounce swim jig in your color choice, and use a swimbait as a trailer. I like to use grass pigs as trailers because they are cheap. A small hard bodied swimbait in baby bass for bluegill slow rolled above the deeper vegetation might be deadly. I recently bought a Castaic Rock Hard swimbait and have been pretty impressed.

[SPEEDBEAD.]

If you have bass in there, you most certainly have some type of panfish. Biggest confidence bait I own and throw is the Mattlures Hardgill.

It would help if you gave us your budget too. Hardgills, while expensive, are worth it IMO as they will last you as long as you don't break it off.

[SPEEDBEAD.]

Also forgot to ask, what is the heaviest rod/reel combo you own?

That would also influence what you should be buying if you are not looking to buy heavier equipment.

[roadwarrior]

If you have bass in there, you most certainly have some type of panfish. Biggest confidence bait I own and throw is the Mattlures Hardgill.

It would help if you gave us your budget too. Hardgills, while expensive, are worth it IMO as they will last you as long as you don't break it off.

Is that the one I gave you? I may want it back!

Just kidding. I'm glad it's hot for you.

[Jake P]

Also forgot to ask, what is the heaviest rod/reel combo you own?

That would also influence what you should be buying if you are not looking to buy heavier equipment.

I'm not worried about price. I understand swimbaits are pricey. I don't mind paying for quality baits if they will last a few fish or atleast a big fish. I want to start out with a couple so 50$ would be fine.

The heaviest rod I own is a mh rated up to 1 1/2 oz. if I can find something within this weight range that about be awesome. If not I can buy a heavy stick.

[SPEEDBEAD.]

Hardgill then, for sure. Get a SS as it is the most versatile, male pattern is my favorite. SS bait weighs 1.95oz so you might be ok with that rod, never hurts to have more rod than you need.

I checked TW and they also have the floating baby Hardgill in a male floater. While I have not thrown this bait, I'm sure it would work for you. If you got a floater (or a SS that you want to fish deeper), I typically will add a 1/8 or 1/4oz green pumpkin tungsten weight to the line ahead of the bait. This will do two things for you. If you want to fish on a straight retrieve, the weight will snug up against the nose and is barely noticeable. If you want to fish the bait erratically, the little weight will drop away from the bluegill's face and when you pick up the slack it appears that the bluegill is chasing a small meal. Pretty cool when you learn to do it correctly.

You can also order directly from Mattlures website as he does the free shipping also.

Kent, I still have the one you gave me. It gets more work in the spring when the chubby ladies are making beds

[MarkH024]

Speed have you had a pike or ski ****** one of those pretty swimbaits yet? Man, that would ruin my day in a heartbeat. It's one thing if you're targeting toothy critters and lose a bait, but fishing for bass and getting robbed by esox is frustrating at times. I fish a lot of pike infested waters so I rarely throw top dollar lures while bass fishing.

[SPEEDBEAD.]

I just fish, man.

[SPEEDBEAD.]

LOL, filters. Necessary evil.

I figure losing baits is part of the game, even if some of them roughly equal a car payment. It's the price ya gotta pay sometimes.

[roadwarrior]

Moderator note: Subverting the filters is a no-go...Your post has been deleted.

-Kent

[Raul]

If there´s weeds and you don´t have a more powerful rod then try with hollow belly swimbaits ( Money Minnow, Basstrix Paddeltail ), you can rig them weedless, they don´t cost an arm and a leg and they aren´t too heavy for what you have. The weedless Hud is a good option but the ROF 5 is the lightest one but it weights almost the most your rod can handle.