Bigger Swimbaits in Stained Water?

[BiteFiend]

Before I make the leap into swimbait fishing, I am looking to get some advice/opinions from those who fish bigger swimbaits (6" plus); especially those who fish them in stained water. 

One of the local lakes I fish is stocked with put and take Rainbow Trout early each spring and in mid fall. This past spring after the stocking, I began throwing a boot-tail 6" Rainbow Trout made by Storm with good success. I found them on clearance and figured it would be a good starting place to get my feet wet with bigger swimbaits. I seemed to catch larger fish  with more consistency during the pre-spawn and early post-spawn period than I had in previous years. My eyes have been opened to the possibilities of swimbait fishing and before I go dropping a bunch of $ on a proper swimbait rod, reel, and swimbaits, I am seeking input from those who fish larger swimbaits, especially in stained water. 

Most of the water I fish (and the lake stocked with trout) has a max clarity of 3, maybe 4 ft after the ice has cleared and under calm conditions. The water clarity gradually decreases due to algae blooms usually beginning late spawn to early post-spawn. This time of year, water clarity is usually only a foot or two. This continues until the lakes ice over. 

As I said, I had a decent amount of success throwing a 6" boot-tail during pre and early post-spawn. Once the algae began to bloom however, the swimbait bite began to diminish. I am not sure whether this is due to the water getting more murky and making it more difficult for the bass to find the bait; or due to trout being taken and their eventual die off as the water warms. 

I would like to get some bluegill baits to fish during spawn through fall (both top hook and weedless), as well as some slow and fast sink Huddleston 68 specials (both top hook and weedless) to fish after the trout stockings in spring and fall. What I am afraid of is that since swimbaits are generally regarded as a clear water technique, will they still work with the water clarity I have described? Also, I have zero experience with hard multi-jointed swimbaits and glide baits. Will they be effective in stained water? Also, I am curious whether they make a clacking noise when they swim?

Sorry for the lengthy post. I haven't found much info about swimbaits in stained water, and would like to learn all I can since I am very novice at this technique. 

[Big Bait Fishing]

boot tail soft swimbaits like Hudds work great in stained water , the tail throws off enough vibration to alert bass to your bait , even when slow fishing them along the bottom .

[Bluebasser86]

Almost all the water I fish is stained. I like the hard baits because they put off more of a disturbance than the soft baits but they'll certainly eat the soft baits in stained water as well. 

You can put a worm rattle in the tail of a 68 or 8" Hudd to get a slight rattle. 

[catch anything]

A good bluegill bait is the little creeper bluegill bait 

 

[BiteFiend]

On 8/14/2016 at 1:39 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

Almost all the water I fish is stained. I like the hard baits because they put off more of a disturbance than the soft baits but they'll certainly eat the soft baits in stained water as well. 

You can put a worm rattle in the tail of a 68 or 8" Hudd to get a slight rattle. 

Does this hold true for glide baits as well? Also would stained water ruin the effectiveness of the "S" action they have?

[Bluebasser86]

2 minutes ago, BiteFiend said:

Does this hold true for glide baits as well? Also would stained water ruin the effectiveness of the "S" action they have?

Glides not only give out a fair amount of vibrations and fluid waves, the joints knocking together make some noise for the fish to hone in on.

Of course, baitfish don't make more noise just because the water is dirty. Some of the best advice I was given when I first got into fishing swimbaits in stained water. 

[BiteFiend]

20 hours ago, catch anything said:

A good bluegill bait is the little creeper bluegill bait 

 

Those look interesting. Any idea how much they weigh?

3 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Glides not only give out a fair amount of vibrations and fluid waves, the joints knocking together make some noise for the fish to hone in on.

Of course, baitfish don't make more noise just because the water is dirty. Some of the best advice I was given when I first got into fishing swimbaits in stained water. 

Thanks. I really appreciate the advice. 

[catch anything]

maybe 1oz, it has a weedless design and uses a 4/0-6/0 swim bait hook

[bigbill]

Clear water the rule of thumb is smaller sized baits fished faster. Natural colors.

Stained water the rule of thumb is medium sized baits fished slower. Brighter in color. 

Muddy water the rule of thumb is larger sized baits fished the slowest. The brightest in color. Chartruese

The rule of thumb. There are no rules. But match the colors to the water conditions all the different baits apply. A rattle and using a scent is a plus. On a tough bite chartruese could be your hot bait.

[WRB]

Anglers tend to relate water clarity and visiblity to thier own eye sight. Predator fish like bass would starve if they had to rely on human eye sight. Bass find prey in very low light or darkness with ease, they will know your swimbait is nearby as soon as it hits the water, getting them to strike it requires you to use it.

Tom

[SPEEDBEAD.]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

Anglers tend to relate water clarity and visiblity to thier own eye sight. Predator fish like bass would starve if they had to rely on human eye sight. Bass find prey in very low light or darkness with ease, they will know your swimbait is nearby as soon as it hits the water, getting them to strike it requires you to use it.

Tom

This.

I have some Water Wolf footage on my Instagram page of some dirty water swimbaits. Trust me, they'll find it.

[BiteFiend]

On 8/15/2016 at 2:20 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

 

 

On 8/15/2016 at 0:49 PM, WRB said:

Anglers tend to relate water clarity and visiblity to thier own eye sight. Predator fish like bass would starve if they had to rely on human eye sight. Bass find prey in very low light or darkness with ease, they will know your swimbait is nearby as soon as it hits the water, getting them to strike it requires you to use it.

Tom

Based on you guys' responses this would lead me to believe that the reason why I haven't been successful with the cheap Storm 6" Rainbow Trout the last couple months hasn't been due to murkier water. Rather it illustrates the importance of matching the hatch. The bass likely are not feeding on trout this time of year since whatever trout were left after the spring stocking have likely died off due to 80F - 87F water temps the last couple months. Thanks everyone for your responses. 

[WRB]

Rainbow upper water temps are in the mid 70's, they go deeper as the water warms.

Storm swimmers usually have little movement when fished slowly, watch the tail movement as it sinks, doesn't swim don't use it!

Tom

[BiteFiend]

5 hours ago, WRB said:

Rainbow upper water temps are in the mid 70's, they go deeper as the water warms.

Storm swimmers usually have little movement when fished slowly, watch the tail movement as it sinks, doesn't swim don't use it!

Tom

Thanks. I appreciate the advice. 

[j bab]

10 hours ago, BiteFiend said:

 

Based on you guys' responses this would lead me to believe that the reason why I haven't been successful with the cheap Storm 6" Rainbow Trout the last couple months hasn't been due to murkier water. Rather it illustrates the importance of matching the hatch. The bass likely are not feeding on trout this time of year since whatever trout were left after the spring stocking have likely died off due to 80F - 87F water temps the last couple months. Thanks everyone for your responses. 

I would disagree with the match the hatch thing. Largemouth don't seem to be as particular about "match the hatch" as they get credit for in my opinion (when it comes to color at least). The silver / blue back Hudd that I threw to catch my big one this year doesn't look like much of anything that swims in Toledo. Trout shaped body (we have no trout), unnaturally bright blue back? Didn't matter though. That's just my thought on the matter, I'm not a swimbait expert by any means. Another way I look at it is that a senko can tear up the fish yet it is literally just a stick shaped plastic. It just looks alive, it doesn't match any particular forage. 

[Bluebasser86]

I'm not real big on the match the hatch concept either. Our bass probably eat more bluegill than anything else, and bluegill imitations normally work well, but bluegill swimmers have produced poor results at best for me. I have my best luck on Hitch, Ayu, and Bone colored swimbaits it seems. Ayu is a bit of a bluegill/baby bass color at least, and hitch is shad/baitfish colored, but then my BIL does well with a rainbow trout colored S-waver in lakes with no trout in them. IMO, swimbaits are more attractive to fish because of the size and perceived easy meal. 

[everythingthatswims]

One of the biggest bass I've ever caught was on a 6" bbz floater in about 6" vis. I wasn't actually expecting to catch any. They'll find it, we have to remember that we don't have lateral lines to help "feel" through the muddy water