Swimbaits?

[Jacob Robinson]

Im trying to get better at swimbait fishing. Ive been dabbling at it for about 3 years now. Ive caught a few fish but not as many as i think i should be catching. Im talking about soft swimbaits by the way.

Ive been messing around with strike kings shadalicious swimbaits. Anyone have any pointers?

[soccplayer07]

which size? what size hooks? weighted?

[GatorBait]

Down hear in Florida i have really began on building confidence in swimbaitin. As a matter of fact i even use them as a search bait "sometimes" in new waters. I use bass magic and shadalicious equipped with a owner beast lock hook (match the bait size with the hook size ex. 5.5" with a 8/0, 6.5in with a 10/0, 4 in with a 5/0 or 6/0 and if needed add a bullet weight for deeper applications). In addition the owner hooks are weighted so that is generally the weight i use. The hooks are expensive but they are worth it. If it is a new body of water i will start off throwing a 4in or even smaller just trying to get a bite. If it is my home lake i am throwing a 6.5". One technique that has worked very well for me is reel as slow as possible, and when i think that i am reeling as slow as possible, slow it down some more with an occasional light snap or jiggle. This is a key factor in antagonizing a strike form what i call "follower Bass". I also encounter a lot of short strikes and miss hook ups. They say you can buy stinger hooks to prevent this but here in in Florida they become entangled in grass and effect swimming action and just don't work out well on some bodies of water. For rods i use a skeet reese swimbait with an E5 and for my large baits i use a 7'11" Quantum superlight all equipped with 20lb flouro.

[roadwarrior]

For small soft plastics, the Swimming Senko is

a consistent producer. I have recently started

fishing the Keitech Swing Impact 4.8" with good

results. Although both baits can be rigged weightless,

for maximum performance pegged or screw-in weights

are best for the Senko; jig head for the Keitech.

8-)

[bassman31783]

Down hear in Florida i have really began on building confidence in swimbaitin. As a matter of fact i even use them as a search bait "sometimes" in new waters. I use bass magic and shadalicious equipped with a owner beast lock hook (match the bait size with the hook size ex. 5.5" with a 8/0, 6.5in with a 10/0, 4 in with a 5/0 or 6/0 and if needed add a bullet weight for deeper applications). In addition the owner hooks are weighted so that is generally the weight i use. The hooks are expensive but they are worth it. If it is a new body of water i will start off throwing a 4in or even smaller just trying to get a bite. If it is my home lake i am throwing a 6.5". One technique that has worked very well for me is reel as slow as possible, and when i think that i am reeling as slow as possible, slow it down some more with an occasional light snap or jiggle. This is a key factor in antagonizing a strike form what i call "follower Bass". I also encounter a lot of short strikes and miss hook ups. They say you can buy stinger hooks to prevent this but here in in Florida they become entangled in grass and effect swimming action and just don't work out well on some bodies of water. For rods i use a skeet reese swimbait with an E5 and for my large baits i use a 7'11" Quantum superlight all equipped with 20lb flouro.

That sums up 90% of my hollow body swimbait fishing. If it's a hard bottom I want the bait hitting the bottom & stirring it up. If it's weeds I want the bait just hitting the tips of the weeds. & if there are stumps I want my swimbait to bounce off the stumps. The only time when I'll throw out a swimbait & real it in quickly without coming into contact with anything is when I see bass busting a school of shad. The hollow body swimbait has been my best producer so far this year. In just a few trips this year I've landed many fish over 5lbs with the biggest being 7lbs 10oz so far. I've tried the Shadalicious, Basstrix, & Money Minnow, but for me none have produced like the *** Jaw Jack. The Jaw Jack has 10X the action of the others IMHO.

Also I go with the Owner Beast Lock hooks as well.

[Jacob Robinson]

Thanks for all of the advice! I think my problem has been reeling too fast.

Has anyone ever tried fishing swimbaits with braided line?

[bassman31783]

Thanks for all of the advice! I think my problem has been reeling too fast.

Has anyone ever tried fishing swimbaits with braided line?

I have with larger swimbaits (preferably wakebaits) but I haven't had much success using braid with smaller hollow body swimbaits.  That's just my experience but I use 17# flouro with my hollow body swimbaits.   

[Jacob Robinson]

Yea. one of my main problems is, no matter what line or pound test i use, my swimbaits keep snapping off on the cast. I know its not a failed knot. Thats why i was wondering about braid with a fluro leader or something.

[Hammer 4]

For the heaviest baits I use 55lb braid. For lighter swimbaits, I add a leader, usually fluro, or a coploymer.

If you keep snapping line, I would be checking your guides. I have thrown the 6" Hudd on 12lb Yozuri ultrasoft w/o any problems, that's not to say that's what you should use..I have since went to 20 lb Seaguar Abrasx for my leader, on 55lb braid. Also, when casting, are maybe trying to whip it out there to hard..? If your using fluro, or a copolymer, and backlash that creates a fols in the line is suseptable to breaking.

[bassman31783]

For the heaviest baits I use 55lb braid. For lighter swimbaits, I add a leader, usually fluro, or a coploymer.

If you keep snapping line, I would be checking your guides. I have thrown the 6" Hudd on 12lb Yozuri ultrasoft w/o any problems, that's not to say that's what you should use..I have since went to 20 lb Seaguar Abrasx for my leader, on 55lb braid. Also, when casting, are maybe trying to whip it out there to hard..? If your using fluro, or a copolymer, and backlash that creates a fols in the line is suseptable to breaking.

1st thing I thought of as well.  You might just have some sort of nick or barb that's causing your line to snap on the cast. 

[Jacob Robinson]

Yea thats possible. I may be snapping the rod pretty hard too. Im just used to slinging spinnerbaits and stuff so i guess its just habit.

[Hammer 4]

If you have the correct rig, let the rod do the work..I can throw 4.5oz swimbaits all day w/o getting tired. No need to whip them out there, the rod does the work, yet the baits still get out pretty far..

Yea thats possible. I may be snapping the rod pretty hard too. Im just used to slinging spinnerbaits and stuff so i guess its just habit.

[Jacob Robinson]

Yea. Ill have to start doing that lol.