Comparing And Contrasting Soft/hard Swimbaits And Glide Baits.

[clh121787]

I've been throwing big swimbaits for about a year with enough luck to be very intrigued to learn all I can. My main questions are why do people preach only throw soft swimbaits in colder water. Why can't glide baits work? And vise versa in warm water. Where would a hard swimbait excel like a spro bbz in place of a hud. Or a bbz in place of a jointed slide bait. I have 3 big swimbaits a hud , a grendal jackel bluegill , and a I-slide 185. I throw the glide bait 75 percent of the time and it produces the best. I have 1 setup for all these baits. An orochii xx leviation/curado 300e. 20# Big game. It works well. With nothing to compare it to. Some guys preach straight braid. Or flouro. Opinions from experienced big bait guys please

[gobig]

I have spent a fair amount of time dedicated to big swimbaits. The more time you put in to them the more things you will see that defy traditional bass logic. The best advise I can give you is to never stop asking yourself questions like "why wont a glide bait bait work in the winter?". One of the things that you will find is that a lot of the advise given is poor advise. There are a lot of internet anglers out there and many of the guys that do well are not open to sharing. Question everything and put it to the test. I suggest finding all the info you can from Mike Long, Bill Siemantle, Butch Brown and anyone else that is having above average success. The learning curve for throwing big baits is slower because in most cases you are eliminating at least 80% of the fish population or more. 

 

To answer the your question the reason soft baits work so well in the winter is that you can fish them much slower and deeper than hard baits. Fish have a tendency to go deep this time of year and bass theoretically move slower. One turn of the handle can take 10 seconds or longer, a single cast can take 10 min. There is a lot of truth to this and this may be the dominate winter pattern but people get stuck in this mindset. I have caught my fair share of fish on wakebaits, glidebaits and other hard baits in the winter. Oh and contrary to popular belief bass will still go a long way to take a lure in the winter. 

[Bluebasser86]

I caught a bunch of fish on a 168 S Waver and a Deps SS 175 last winter, couple on a 6" Bull Shad, even 1 on a 7" Slammer, all in Kansas. No big fish, but we don't have many of those anyways. 

 

[clh121787]

Nice fish. Especially the one with red eyes.

[clh121787]

I'm wondering how to approach this fall and winter With big baits. water Temps here in east Texas are starting to fall into the low 70s and climb during the day to high 70s. Fishing is heating up and the bite can happen fast. But the water is stained here visibility is decreasing. Lowering my confidence in swimbait fishing

[IAY]

After using braid on my big bait reel for 4 months. I can say that I won't be doing this again; it is just accident waiting to happen.

[1099gl]

I want to fish swimbaits so bad but I just don't have the money. Is there a way to get into swimbait fishing cheap. (Rod, reel, baits, line) sorry I know this isn't related to this topic.

[stkbassn]

I want to fish swimbaits so bad but I just don't have the money. Is there a way to get into swimbait fishing cheap. (Rod, reel, baits, line) sorry I know this isn't related to this topic.

 

Swimbait fishing can be costly for sure but you don't have to break the bank to do it. A lot of the smaller baits can be thrown on regular bass gear, M, MH, H powered rods can all be used depending on the bait.  Some less expensive options you might consider are the Mattlures Baby Bass series, you can get 3 of those of your choice for 30 bucks or one for around 10 plus shipping. It's a 5 inch bait that you can throw on MH rod and do very well with it. I love those little beasts. If you want to try a glide bait I would highly recommend a River2Sea S-Waver 168. You can pick them up for around 16-18 bucks and they can also be thrown on regular bass gear. They are awesome glide baits and in my opinion the best bargain going for that style of bait. There are other options available of course and you'll have to research but you can get into this style without spending big money. I forgot about the Huddleston Shad, weedless or back hook...around $8 and these can be thrown on light baitcasting gear or spinning gear. Awesome little swimbaits.   Good luck and have fun ! 

[clh121787]

After using braid on my big bait reel for 4 months. I can say that I won't be doing this again; it is just accident waiting to happen.

did you get an over run .spool stopped and knot snapped?

[IAY]

did you get an over run .spool stopped and knot snapped?

 

Braid is much lighter than nylon/fluorocarbon, this paired with the force from casting big swimbait can make the spool a lot faster. The limpness of the braid doesn't help either, I would often get weird cross over further into the spool without having any previous backlash, that I discover after making long casts. Things are just too wild and unpredictable for me, especially dealing with expensive baits.

[Bluebasser86]

I want to fish swimbaits so bad but I just don't have the money. Is there a way to get into swimbait fishing cheap. (Rod, reel, baits, line) sorry I know this isn't related to this topic.

Savage Gear makes some great baits that are very affordable, soft and hard versions. I can't wait until their new Shine Glide is readily available, and they have a new soft gill bait that looks killer that's in the works. You can fish a lot of small to mid-sized swimbaits on standard bass reels with 15-20 pound test with a MH or H 7' or longer rod. 

[WRB]

I used 20 lb a Big Game for decades for the medium size swimmer 6" to 8" and changed last year to Sunline Armilo Defier Nylon 25 lb for the med size swimmers, similar break strength, smaller diameter and better casting distance. Nothing wrong with Big Game, It's a lot less expensive.

I haven't been able to figure out what the bass any given day without trail and error. The soft swimmers work better for me fished slower, deeper or bottom bumping, and in and around wood cover. The hard jointed swimmers and gliders have been better shallower or mid open water column with a more erratic stop, go turn direction retreive that can appeal more to bass at times. The hard baits with treble hooks get expensive to use around or in wood cover like brush or trees! We are fortunate in SoCal that our winter water temps remain in the low to mid 50's, it's not that cold, we have Florida strain LMB that can't survive cold water less than 45 degrees. Relating to Mike Long, Butch Brown, Bill Semantel, Matt Neman or any other well known trophy bass angler from SoCal could be misleading, we don't have cold water! Matt Allen in NorCal maybe a better choice regarding cooler water.

Tom

[Big Bait Fishing]

Savage Gear makes some great baits that are very affordable, soft and hard versions. I can't wait until their new Shine Glide is readily available, and they have a new soft gill bait that looks killer that's in the works. You can fish a lot of small to mid-sized swimbaits on standard bass reels with 15-20 pound test with a MH or H 7' or longer rod. 

BP has the Shine Glide http://www.basspro.com/Savage-Gear-3D-Shine-Glide/product/2233596/

[clh121787]

Hey thanks Tom. Ya I lived in so cal for 9 years nor cal for 4. (30 mins from clear lake) the lakes are totally different there. I visited in September fished Lake skinner and Vail. The bite was really tough. Was a little dissapointed in Vail. No doubt the bass are incredible in cali. Yall will more likely produce the next world record before Texas gets a new state record. But in my opinion East TX lakes are much more fun to fish.

[WRB]

Hey thanks Tom. Ya I lived in so cal for 9 years nor cal for 4. (30 mins from clear lake) the lakes are totally different there. I visited in September fished Lake skinner and Vail. The bite was really tough. Was a little dissapointed in Vail. No doubt the bass are incredible in cali. Yall will more likely produce the next world record before Texas gets a new state record. But in my opinion East TX lakes are much more fun to fish.

DVL was in the neighborhood, was going good at that time period.

SoCal lakes are small and can be very tough to catch bass unless you know how deep and what the bite is at that time period.

Texas has a lot better bass fishing than CA overall, bigger average size and more aggressive IMO. Giant bass CA has more 18 lb + bass, that could change.

Swimbaits started in SoCal and we have nearly 30 years experience fishing them, not too many secrets but bass anglers tend to have tight lips.

Tom

[clh121787]

DVL was in the neighborhood, was going good at that time period.

SoCal lakes are small and can be very tough to catch bass unless you know how deep and what the bite is at that time period.

Texas has a lot better bass fishing than CA overall, bigger average size and more aggressive IMO. Giant bass CA has more 18 lb + bass, that could change.

Swimbaits started in SoCal and we have nearly 30 years experience fishing them, not too many secrets but bass anglers tend to have tight lips.

Tom

well the boat ramp was closed or I would have . Due to drought at dvl.

[gobig]

Relating to Mike Long, Butch Brown, Bill Semantel, Matt Neman or any other well known trophy bass angler from SoCal could be misleading, we don't have cold water! Matt Allen in NorCal maybe a better choice regarding cooler water.

 

 

I am in no way trying to discredit Matt Allen in the statement I am about to make. Matt knows his stuff and he is the kind of guy I was referring to in my original post. But I disagree with the comment completely that someone may be mislead because of where the guys live, that are sharing information. Thats like saying you can't learn about crankbaits from KVD because he is from Michigan and your in California. Here is a short video of Matt Newman getting it done on Clearlake when its 35deg out. I am pretty sure Siemantel did a show on Pedro a while back in the winter where they got some giants. 

 

[clh121787]

Thanks for sharing cool video

[Dogmatic]

BP has the Shine Glide http://www.basspro.com/Savage-Gear-3D-Shine-Glide/product/2233596/

Oh man! Just spent big bucks with Hudd on their Fall sale, Mattlures is having a release on Monday, and now you show me this!!! GD bait monkey!

[WRB]

The air temps where in the mid 30's during the night before this vedio was shot. The water temps had to be close to 60's....the spawn was going on!

Matt Newman and both Bailey's, Paul and Shawn are very close friends and they are all bass fishing guides.

The reason Matt was heading to Clear Lake to shot a vedio is he knew the bite was on and was fishing with Paul who knew where and what the bite was.

How does this vedio have anything to do with cold water swimbait fishing? Thanks for sharing it.

I did notice Paul wasn't using one of Matt's Irods, that was interesting.

Just a note; trap hooks on any lure, the wired stinger near the tail, is not legal for IGFA record fish.

Tom

[Bluebasser86]

Oh man! Just spent big bucks with Hudd on their Fall sale, Mattlures is having a release on Monday, and now you show me this!!! GD bait monkey!

Have you seen the soft gill Mads is working on?! 

 

https://www.facebook.com/mads.grosell/videos/10206854509614069/

 

[hatrix]

I want to fish swimbaits so bad but I just don't have the money. Is there a way to get into swimbait fishing cheap. (Rod, reel, baits, line) sorry I know this isn't related to this topic.

It doesn't have to cost a bunch of money to fish them. You can actually probably use gear you already have for quite a few of them. You can easily go to a rods max weight rating or beyond on treble hook baits. You can also use a regular feel for baits up to a few ounces and be fine. I used one of my tatulas for the longest time and still would again for baits up to and over 2 ounces.

There is also waaayyy cheaper alternatives for rods and reels to use then what you see or hear about. You can get musky or saltwater rods for cheap. For a reel there is nothing wrong with using a Cardiff or millionaire also Abu ambassadours are the deal and can be found cheap. I really don't know why people don't use them more actually and they are literally everywhere.

As for lures I know they can be expensive and even cheap ones like $20 is a lot for some people but... You really shouldn't be losing them anyways as your not going to get 50 bites a day and you probably are not going to try and skip it under some branches or jog it around in rock piles and they should last decently long since bites are fewer. If you bait does wear out like soft plastics do then you probably caugjt a good amount of fish and some nice ones so it's worth it. You also don't need 50 swimbaits. Like 5 is really all you need and you could even do good with less like maybe 3. These people have all these baits you see like a tote full of them. Honestly they don't even fish them all and it's kinda a waste usually. You have your baits your good with and have cnfodence so you keep throwing those and slowly work up the ones your not so confident with. It's the dedication part I think that makes people stop throwing them.

Really for like $100-150 you could buy a setup to throw bigger baots and snag a couple baots along with it and be good to go.

[hatrix]

I caught a bunch of fish on a 168 S Waver and a Deps SS 175 last winter, couple on a 6" Bull Shad, even 1 on a 7" Slammer, all in Kansas. No big fish, but we don't have many of those anyways.

Nice! I like it. I thought you said you didn't do good with the 175's or was that the old ones as I see that's a injected. I get way more bits on the 168's even though they are almost as long. It's really because of the massive dofference in girth between them I think. Also I am digging the rash on the slammer. I can see that has caught you a few. Even in cold water I catch them on glides a lot. I personally dot put much into that about cold water so the bait has to move super slow. I am sure it doesn't hurt but these fish will still take off after something if they want it

[Bluebasser86]

Nice! I like it. I thought you said you didn't do good with the 175's or was that the old ones as I see that's a injected. I get way more bits on the 168's even though they are almost as long. It's really because of the massive dofference in girth between them I think. Also I am digging the rash on the slammer. I can see that has caught you a few. Even in cold water I catch them on glides a lot. I personally dot put much into that about cold water so the bait has to move super slow. I am sure it doesn't hurt but these fish will still take off after something if they want it

I'm the opposite, I like the 175 more than the 168. There is a huge size difference in the 2, even though their lengths are close. Both are great baits though. I've caught a ton of fish on that Slammer, just not this year for some reason, can't buy a bite on it this year. 

 

I think they'll move further to eat those big baits that are moving slowly because there's a bigger reward if they catch it versus a standard sized bait. 

[hatrix]

I think it is also a reaction strike thing from it gliding or whatever. I just don't believe that fish won't chase down a bait. If that was the case they would all starve. All the stuff they prey on life depends on it so they are tryin to get away at top speed,