Huge Swimbait matching forage?

[Bass Justice]

I want to purchase 2-3 HUGE swimbaits I can chuck around one day, and I am wondering about matching the forage to the reservoir/ lake/ pond I am fishing. This seems like it's cut and dry but what if my lake only has shad/ bluegill/ bream/ crappie? Do i buy one of those weird sunfish or gizzard shad swimbaits? I'm not doubting their effectiveness, I just have never seen pros use them, they usually use trout style Huddleston type baits. 

Would a Hud catch a bass on a lake with no trout in it? Or should I match the swimbait style to the forage exactly? If anyone has used these big bluegill/ crappie mimicking huge swimsuits let me know.

I could easily match the hatch with small swimbait but i'm talking about large ones like 6"+

Thanks guys

-Mike

I am on a small reservoir called Lake Horton in Georgia for now, but will be going over to Lake Westpoint, Allatoona, Carters, Oconee etc.at some point.

These are the alternatives i'm referring to

[clh121787]

One of my best baits is an 8 inch trout . Trout profile . Rain bow trout color. Either hud. Or savage or deps 250. This is in texas. Zero chance these fish are trout eaters.the pros are pros because they put 5 fish bags together.  That's hard to do when you're eliminating 90 percent of the fish in the lake. Like fishing big swimbaits will do. A hud is a good cold water bait it has hardly any action or swimming motion. And sets up right when sitting on the bottom. This definetly a dragging bottom type bait for me. Which most all of my swimbait fishing is done at a super slow speed. I really like boot tails. My region weedless versions do well. And glide baits. But not all glide baits are created equal. You get what toy pay for .

[buzzed bait]

there's a guide from douglasville that catches some hogs on swimbaits in the local reservoirs.  used to be on this site, but i don't think he's active anymore.  Randall, don't remember his last name...

http://www.wmi.org/bassfish/bassboard/fishing_tactics/message.html?message_id=318025

 

[Bluebasser86]

You're giving bass too much credit in it's ability to identify a fish it has never seen before and has no knowledge of. 

 

All a bass knows, is that it looks like a smaller fish that it can fit into it's mouth, and that's all that really matters. 

[Bass Justice]

4 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

You're giving bass too much credit in it's ability to identify a fish it has never seen before and has no knowledge of. 

 

All a bass knows, is that it looks like a smaller fish that it can fit into it's mouth, and that's all that really matters. 

Yeah I know if t wants to eat it, then it will. But i also hear/ read a lot about "matching the hatch" and whatnot. I just didn't know if it applied to big swimbaits as well. I appreciate the feedback!

[Bluebasser86]

Just now, Bass Justice said:

Yeah I know if t wants to eat it, then it will. But i also hear/ read a lot about "matching the hatch" and whatnot. I just didn't know if it applied to big swimbaits as well. I appreciate the feedback!

Just think of it like this. How many times have you seen a bright chartreuse baitfish? Or a black and blue crawdad? Or anything that looked at all like a buzzbait?

I will say that swimbaits are one of the baits I feel are most important about looking natural, but I still feel like it's mostly the baits size and profile that makes them so appealing to the fish. 

[Bass Justice]

Just now, Bluebasser86 said:

Just think of it like this. How many times have you seen a bright chartreuse baitfish? Or a black and blue crawdad? Or anything that looked at all like a buzzbait?

I will say that swimbaits are one of the baits I feel are most important about looking natural, but I still feel like it's mostly the baits size and profile that makes them so appealing to the fish. 

I agree and I see your point. The appeal of those huge baits will appeal to huge fish, and I also know to expect 2-3 bites MAX on a perfect day throwing it in perfect spots. They just look fun and I want to give them a try one day!

[gobig]

I agree with what is stated above but I am going to add my two cents on top of it. I think there are good swimbait lakes and I think there are ones that are not so great. For what ever reason some lakes have bass that will readily attack large swimbaits and I am not just talking about large bass, I am talking 2lbers. Then there are the other lakes that have a decent supply of large bass but it seems they will not touch a big bait. I think it has to do with their genetics and adaptation to the available forage. I know on the delta I can get bit 3 to 1  or more with a blugill style bait over a trout style bait in most cases. Bluegill are a primary forage on the delta so does this mean that I have to match the hatch? Because there is another  small lake near where I live that has a huge bluegill population, no shad and no trout. But I get bit better on a trout style bait there. So a no answer and a yes answer to your question are both right. Everything matters, yet nothing maters.

[Raul]

Don´t worry too much about trying to "match forage", be more worried about presenting the bait properly. Why I say so ? if I had lived by the principle of "matching the forage" in order to catch me my fish I would have been screwed badly for the past 4+ decades, where I live none of those theoretically "forage matching" baits matches what bass eats where I live, however they still catch them even though they have never seen them nor will ever see them, I´ve been catching bass with "rainbow trout", "perch", "shad" "imitators" for like forever, you are giving bass too much credit in it´s skill to identify a species. The fish hits the bait because it moves like an easy meal.

[HookdUP]

I recommend these baits to start out with ... Also always start out using floating swimbaits ... 

1. Black dog baits shell cracker g2 

2. Spro bbz-1 6in in sexy shad color

3. Huddleston 68 special

 

those baits can be thrown anywhere and catch the biggest fish in the lake pond canals whatever you like . 

The spro would be a little easier to get right now as the swimbaits craze has a lot of companies with high demand and smaller supply ..

 

the he mattlures baits pictures do work extremely well ... If could have only one swimbait it would probably be the shellcracker as even on lakes where bass eat lots of shad they still eat gills ... And hate gills as well

 

[Dogmatic]

Hehehe..."2-3 bites max" I go days with nothing, a follow or two, if I have a single bite in a day, that was a successful day! But it's addicting, especially after seeing a big girl follow your bait in, my heart gets pumping. Good advice above, only thing I would add, like any type of fishing, when selecting your baits, cover the water column. 

[Bass Justice]

1 hour ago, Dogmatic said:

Hehehe..."2-3 bites max" I go days with nothing, a follow or two, if I have a single bite in a day, that was a successful day! But it's addicting, especially after seeing a big girl follow your bait in, my heart gets pumping. Good advice above, only thing I would add, like any type of fishing, when selecting your baits, cover the water column. 

Trust me I already have a feeling a one bite day might be a good day haha. I was just saying in "perfect" conditions, meaning presenting the bait perfectly, on a perfect day, to perfect fish all day 2-3 would be the max so i definitely understand!

Appreciate the advice guys it makes a lot of sense

 

[clh121787]

On 4/1/2016 at 9:32 PM, Dogmatic said:

Hehehe..."2-3 bites max" I go days with nothing, a follow or two, if I have a single bite in a day, that was a successful day! But it's addicting, especially after seeing a big girl follow your bait in, my heart gets pumping. Good advice above, only thing I would add, like any type of fishing, when selecting your baits, cover the water column. 

Youre not lying its addicting. I would call a follow to the boat a success.  Today I had 2 followers on the same cast come all the way to the boat. and it was total buck fever, bass style. The the smaller one would was almost wall hanger status. The bigger one would have been a p.b.