Small Swimbaits

[webertime]

Magic swimmer soft tip. Once your hollow belly/money minnow/shadalicious have been torn up, clip the tails off and mend-it to the bigger magic swimmer (smaller paddles work better). You're welcome. Never caught a fish on the hard ones.

[WRB]

Little Crippers 6" Trash Fish hss a proven big bass catch record. Berkley has a knock off Sick Fish in smaller 4" and 31/2" sizes, I don't know if the 6" is planned.

Tom

[tbone1993]

This video helps explain the different styles of swimbaits. It does a pretty good job of explaining the tail differences and when to use them. Just apply this information to smaller swim baits and combine it to the suggestions in this thread .

 

 

 

[ww2farmer]

I am not much of a swimbaiter, but I have had good days with them. The 4" Netbait BK swimmer has by far been the most productive for me. I will Rig it on a 5/0, keel weighted 1/4 oz. Gamakatsu superline spring lock for swimming over grass, and will use a Gamakatsu 5/0 EWG worm hook with an 1/8 oz tungsten worm sinker pegged to it's nose for swimming it through grass. For hard swimbaits, I have yet to branch out in that area much, but have had some decent fish on the Strike King King shad. None of those baits require special swimbait gear, I toss the soft bodied baits on a 7'MH/fast casting rod that I would use for spinnerbaits, swimjigs, etc....and the King Shad on my deep diving crank bait rod.

[WRB]

It's easier to make a larger swimbait then the smaller version. When 8" to 12" multiple jointed hard swimbaits came out they worked great fot big bass, however big swimbaits have a limited market place. Every big swimbait maker has tried to miniaturize their designs and few have succeeded.

The soft swimbait market is a lot easier to produce good small swimbaits, so you need to look the two types separately.

A very good high end soft small swimbait is the Huddleston Deluxe 68, difficult to find and pushing into a standard size swimbait. In the self rig soft swimbaits the Little Crippers Trash Fish is excellent. Matt lurescmakes several good 5" swimbaits. Basstrix paddle tail swimmer is good. I don't have a good recommendation for a 6" hard multiple jointed swimbait, there are some on the market, very expensive. The BBZ series can be good, if you get one that swims good. The Triple Trout in 7" is good, but not in the small swimbait category. R2Sea's S Waver is not a swimbait, but a glide/wake bait, good lure to consider.

Lots of choices.

Good luck!

Tom

[Bluebasser86]

I haven't used it in a while but the Strike King - King Shad has stuck a couple of 5lbers for me which is a nice bass in my part of the country. Tackle Warehouse is selling them for $ 7.99, I paid about $ 20 when I bought mine. That being said have read complaints that some have had these break at the joint though mine have held up.

 

My heaviest 5 fish limit I've caught other than in Mexico was on a King Shad, 30lbs 2oz in February several years ago. I also paid $20 a pop for mine, broke 4 of them one day last winter, that hurts. I've caught lots of nice bass and tons of wipers on them. The one I caught my 30lb limit I also had a ton of wipers from 4-8 pounds, they tore my bait up pretty bad 

[Missouribassman95]

_{Storm wildeye swim shad. Cheap, and the action is incredible.}

[ipeeinmywetsuit]

The small shell cracker and the top hook 6" Huddleston are 1.5 and 2oz respectively. There is the decoy 5" hydra tail that comes in at 1 oz. I like the Jackall Giron which weighs about 3/4oz. The weedless 6" Huddleston roy 5 is just over an ounce. There are 3:16 Mission fish that are under an ounce depending on the size you get.. and you cant go wrong with a swim jig with a paddle tail swimbait for a trailer either.