A Tip For Those Who Never Caught Fish On A Sebile Magic Swimmer

[smalljaw67]

I decided to post this because I was getting tackle ready for a trip next week and a friend stopped by and was talking and watching me get my stuff organized. I just finished my spring finesse box and began getting my spring power fishing box together and I had 2 Storm Swimming Sticks along with a Sebile Magic Swimmer and a Lucky Craft Smasher and as I was lining them up my friend made a comment that he never caught any fish on those types of swim baits and everyone he talked to never did any well with them either. This made me look and it does appear there are a number of anglers who haven't done well and so I thought I would make a post to help those who gave up on these. I'll admit I wasn't good with them and I quit using them but I got to fish with a guy that really believed in them and taught me when, where, and how to use them. The first thing is the best time is spring, but not in the early stages, right when the water hits like 55 to 58 degrees, right before fish begin to bed, that is when it is on!!! The biggest mistake is treating these as actual swim baits, instead look at them more as a jerkbait, they are slow sinkers but work best around 2' to 3' and the best retrieve I found so far is a slow cranking retrieve for a few feet and then give it a jerk-jerk and then pause, start slow reeling and repeat the jerk-jerk-pause again, this is a killer in the exact same spots as jerkbaits. During the warmer months this bite does fade but if you have the right spots it can be good all year, the right spots are clear water with submerged weeds, you can keep your rod tip high and work it just like a wake bait, this is an excellent presentation when topwaters can be used, and I know, why use anything else when a topwater is going to work and I agree with that except if you are looking for big fish because the one constant is I end up getting larger than average fish on these baits. I like the magic swimmer and the LC smasher when I'm fishing over tops of weeds as they don't have a lip and are better for the wake type retrieve and they also work much better when the fish aren't super aggressive. I like the Storm swimming stick if there is color to the water but still clear and when the fish want it a little faster, the lip causes the bait to dive a little but it also makes it roll and therefore displaces more water which I believe is why it works in stained water. I hope this helps, after I explained it to my friend he is now going to give it another shot but as I said, treat them as a jerkbait for all seasons, I just don't know if they would be good in real cold water but I know in the mid 50s it is a real fish catcher.

[gripnrip]

Great tip smalljaw.  Thanks.  I have 3 magic swimmers and I had given up on them.  

[Fishes in trees]

After reading Russ ***'s reviews of magic swimmers on his site, I became momentarily convinced that they could be the finest thing since sliced bread.  After trying them several times, they achieved a bottom of the boat bin status.  But I wasn't fishing them in the manner and areas you described, so I am inclined to try again.   By the way, does this go for the soft magic swimmers as well?  I have had less than spectacular results with those baits also.

 

Right now, I am disinclined to ever buy anything that says Sebile on the package.

[smalljaw67]

After reading Russ ***'s reviews of magic swimmers on his site, I became momentarily convinced that they could be the finest thing since sliced bread.  After trying them several times, they achieved a bottom of the boat bin status.  But I wasn't fishing them in the manner and areas you described, so I am inclined to try again.   By the way, does this go for the soft magic swimmers as well?  I have had less than spectacular results with those baits also.

 

Right now, I am disinclined to ever buy anything that says Sebile on the package.

 

I don't know about the soft but I would also include them, so far the swimmer has worked, the regular Storm Kickin' Stick, the Swimmin' Stick with the lip, the Luck Craft Smasher and the Cabelas Rad swimmer, all of those I have caught fish on ever since fishing using them more like a jerkbait. The one thing I noticed is the fish can't seem to stand any of these baits when you give them a rip and the stop, that sudden stop makes the bait turn almost sideways and that is when the fish get ready to hit, I have some hit it once it is stopped, and I've had them hit it as soon as I twitched it after the pause and that is why I do the slow reel after the pause, you will not even get the bait an inch and they are on it. I still find it hard to believe that was all I had to do but since fishing them more like a jerkbait has been the ticket and it has saved me some cash as I got these and was going to give them away, and I ended up with some cheap baits that work as I found the Cabelas Rad swimmer on sale for like $3.99 and all of the Storm versions I got in those Walmart Rapala  Treasure cheast bins whear they are all $2.96 and to be honest, the lipped version, the swimming stick, that has been the best producer, they seem to make more noise and that makes them better suited for the stained water.

[Primus]

Smalljaws thanks for the post, well done. I talked to a guy at a local tackleshop this winter who mentioned that he had success with the  Magic Swimmer fishing it like a jerkbait but he did not go into detail like you did. I appreciate the info.

[Mike L]

Thanks

I know I have a few somewhere.

There water is starting to warm down here so Im gonna give them another try soon.

Mike

[wisconsin heat]

Throw the Strike King Sexy Swimmer in the mix as well. Not a bad bait by any means, I picked up a few on sale at about 8 bucks each. I fished them last fall as things were cooling down and you had to work for a bite. I worked em like a jerkbait too, sometimes letting them sink for 20+ seconds to get to the strike zone. Thanks for the post I will be sure to throw them a little bit as soon as May rolls around.

[Preytorien]

On 3/29/2014 at 3:06 PM, smalljaw67 said:

I decided to post this because I was getting tackle ready for a trip next week and a friend stopped by and was talking and watching me get my stuff organized. I just finished my spring finesse box and began getting my spring power fishing box together and I had 2 Storm Swimming Sticks along with a Sebile Magic Swimmer and a Lucky Craft Smasher and as I was lining them up my friend made a comment that he never caught any fish on those types of swim baits and everyone he talked to never did any well with them either. This made me look and it does appear there are a number of anglers who haven't done well and so I thought I would make a post to help those who gave up on these. I'll admit I wasn't good with them and I quit using them but I got to fish with a guy that really believed in them and taught me when, where, and how to use them. The first thing is the best time is spring, but not in the early stages, right when the water hits like 55 to 58 degrees, right before fish begin to bed, that is when it is on!!! The biggest mistake is treating these as actual swim baits, instead look at them more as a jerkbait, they are slow sinkers but work best around 2' to 3' and the best retrieve I found so far is a slow cranking retrieve for a few feet and then give it a jerk-jerk and then pause, start slow reeling and repeat the jerk-jerk-pause again, this is a killer in the exact same spots as jerkbaits. During the warmer months this bite does fade but if you have the right spots it can be good all year, the right spots are clear water with submerged weeds, you can keep your rod tip high and work it just like a wake bait, this is an excellent presentation when topwaters can be used, and I know, why use anything else when a topwater is going to work and I agree with that except if you are looking for big fish because the one constant is I end up getting larger than average fish on these baits. I like the magic swimmer and the LC smasher when I'm fishing over tops of weeds as they don't have a lip and are better for the wake type retrieve and they also work much better when the fish aren't super aggressive. I like the Storm swimming stick if there is color to the water but still clear and when the fish want it a little faster, the lip causes the bait to dive a little but it also makes it roll and therefore displaces more water which I believe is why it works in stained water. I hope this helps, after I explained it to my friend he is now going to give it another shot but as I said, treat them as a jerkbait for all seasons, I just don't know if they would be good in real cold water but I know in the mid 50s it is a real fish catcher.

I know I'm resurrecting an old post here, but I just found (and bought) a couple of these at a local discount store. This is about as good of information on these as I've found anywhere. Thanks for this tip......experience with a lure is invaluable.

[suzuki2903]

i have one and tried it with no luck. might have to give it another shot this season.