Swimbaits on a Budget, do I even bother?

[Cgolf]

I am likely to pick up a couple of 6th Sense Speed Glide 100s for Christmas and already have a SG Shine Glide I got on trade and 2 Strike King Baby King shads.

 

The question is can I get good swimbaits for 20 bucks or under, or am I just wasting my time? I do fish on a budget so a 50$ swimbait would eat up about a ¼ of it. To top it off we have a lot of Pike and Musky which also love swimbaits big and small, so the chances of losing them or getting them destroyed is pretty high.

 

Are there really conditions where a Bass will only eat a swimbait, or should I just stick to my standard offerings of cranks, soft plastics, and Jigs.

[bigturtle]

Heavy fluoro leader solves the bite off problem

[DINK WHISPERER]

Check out Savage gear and live Target. Awesome swimbaits on a budget. 

[bunkerbstr]

Jackall Giron is pretty decent bait.  

 

[Chance_Taker4]

I only throw R2S S-Waver. Great baits and good for budget anglers.

[fishballer06]

I highly recommend the S Waver for the budget priced glide style swimbaits. It definitely performs above it's price point.

[bigbill]

Where headed into uncharted waters with the early pre Black Friday sales it’s never been done. The deals are coming out. Look for deep discounts with the free shipping offer.

 

Example,,, I just saved $60 on the k cup coffee order with free shipping plus a 15% savings per box. Anyone can shop smart if we wait patiently for the deals. 

 

Im still eating above the dollar menu at Mickey d’s.

[Cgolf]

1 hour ago, bigbill said:

Where headed into uncharted waters with the early pre Black Friday sales it’s never been done. The deals are coming out. Look for deep discounts with the free shipping offer.

 

Example,,, I just saved $60 on the k cup coffee order with free shipping plus a 15% savings per box. Anyone can shop smart if we wait patiently for the deals. 

 

Im still eating above the dollar menu at Mickey d’s.

Unfortunately I am locked into TW this year as a gift from my parents. On my order so far I have 2 of the 6th sense baits and some wiggle room to free up some money for other deals. Really hoping they do extra off on SK and Gambler again, but will see what they decide to do this year.

 

we definately bargain shop too and rarely eat out, so that we can vacation and enjoy the stuff we want to and ignore the rest. 

[WRB]

Nothing anyone can do to prevent toothy fish from tearing up soft plastic swimbaits. You can use Surflon Micro tieable stranded wire leaders to prevent being bit off by toothy fish.

Tom

[Angry John]

I am trying just what your talking.  I have swaivers, big keitecks, trash fish and huddlestons.  Toss in a bbz-1 and a BBZ rat and your in big business.  Stick to known baits that work.  Having a million baits is not better.  My buddy got a bunch of expensive baits and has quickly gone to  only fishing his hinkle shad.  Now that bait is good money but if your only buying one or two then its not that bad.  I don't know what your limits are but it can be done.  The costs associated with being bit off are unknown so i cant speak to that.  If your baits are big enough then that may limit the problem.

[JustJames]

Do you have rod and reel for swimbait? Some of those swimbait are 2oz or even heavier, you might need to buy a whole new setup for something that you would throw a few months/year. I, just like you also considered anything that on budget side, I traded my beloved reel (Calcutta 50) for a handful of swimbait. I did caught a few fish on hudd 68 but they were only 2-3 lb. which you can catch that size bass with any other lures.

[Cgolf]

7 hours ago, JustJames said:

Do you have rod and reel for swimbait? Some of those swimbait are 2oz or even heavier, you might need to buy a whole new setup for something that you would throw a few months/year. I, just like you also considered anything that on budget side, I traded my beloved reel (Calcutta 50) for a handful of swimbait. I did caught a few fish on hudd 68 but they were only 2-3 lb. which you can catch that size bass with any other lures.

Yes, I have a St Croix Mojo swimbait stick and a couple of musky sticks that would also work as well. 

[Angry John]

I am using a st croix avid 7'4" casting rod heavy.  Rated to 1.5 but feels good to 2.  The 178 swaiver is the heaviest i have used so far right about 2oz.  I am using a sv103 reel and the zillion is supposed to be really good up to 3ish ounces.  I have another setup much heavier but i haven't used it in a long time.

[Cgolf]

22 minutes ago, Angry John said:

I am using a st croix avid 7'4" casting rod heavy.  Rated to 1.5 but feels good to 2.  The 178 swaiver is the heaviest i have used so far right about 2oz.  I am using a sv103 reel and the zillion is supposed to be really good up to 3ish ounces.  I have another setup much heavier but i haven't used it in a long time.

I have an avid X for smaller swimbaits to an ounce with a Daiwa Viento and the Mojo has a ridiculous range of 1-4 ounces around 8 feet and will either use my Abu Musky reel or my quantum accurist for smaller baits. The mojo will likely have a weight it tosses best, seems like a very wide range. 

[Angry John]

See a lot of rods with a 1-4 or 5 range.  Will fish a lot of the baits i am willing to toss.  Have no major plans on using this as a work out plan.  Some of the glides like the shadly and the hinkle shad are 5 ish so that may be a stretch.  The good news is the largest baits are not cheap at all so for my purpose i dont care...

[Cgolf]

11 hours ago, Angry John said:

See a lot of rods with a 1-4 or 5 range.  Will fish a lot of the baits i am willing to toss.  Have no major plans on using this as a work out plan.  Some of the glides like the shadly and the hinkle shad are 5 ish so that may be a stretch.  The good news is the largest baits are not cheap at all so for my purpose i dont care...

I have some 10 1/4" 6 1/2 ounce storm thundersticks if you decide you need a workout plan Those are a lob cast and to be honest sound like you threw your buddy over board when they land.

[J Francho]

Check out the Savage Gear 3D Glide and the Glide Swimmer.  Both baits have proven themselves to me.  For just a bit more, you can get into an MS Mini Slammer.  Mine has caught so many fish over the years.  It's what I consider a "gateway bait."

[Bluebasser86]

The Shine Glide is one of my top 3 favorite swimbaits. I reach for it over my Deps 175 anymore, just outproduces them and swims better imo. I have a bone colored Shine Glide that is all chewed up from all the largemouth, smallmouth, and wipers it's caught. Get the bigger size, a lot of allure of swimbaits to the fish is the large profile. The Savage Gear 3D bluegill 5" floater is a good bait for me over grass. A Spro rat 40 or 50 would be another one I'd add to the list. The R2S S-Waver is a popular bait but having owned both, the Shine Glide was a much better bait for me. 

[Cgolf]

58 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

The Shine Glide is one of my top 3 favorite swimbaits. I reach for it over my Deps 175 anymore, just outproduces them and swims better imo. I have a bone colored Shine Glide that is all chewed up from all the largemouth, smallmouth, and wipers it's caught. Get the bigger size, a lot of allure of swimbaits to the fish is the large profile. The Savage Gear 3D bluegill 5" floater is a good bait for me over grass. A Spro rat 40 or 50 would be another one I'd add to the list. The R2S S-Waver is a popular bait but having owned both, the Shine Glide was a much better bait for me. 

I never ended up tossing that swimbait this year, but for 2018 figuring out swimbaits and topwaters are going to be a goal of mine, especially when to toss them.

[J Francho]

A few years ago, a very successful "catcherman" and fellow kayak angler that happened to be a broke college student posted an eye opening admission: He had only one lure, and fished with it exclusively all season long.  What lure?  Lucky Craft Sammy 115.  I was like, "huh?"  So, I started throwing a topwater, specifically a Megabass PopMax almost exclusively.  All times of day, all depths, all conditions.  Much success.  That one bait accounted for more fish in the past two years than all others combined.  Something to chew on, considering I feel like I'm a stronger jig/worm, crankbait, spinnerbait kind guy.

 

Some topwater footage for you:

 

[Angry John]

Wish we had a way to create a poll for the top 3 starter baits.  Cost is not always a direct factor as some would have you believe but there are more expensive baits that are amazing...  Value is very hard to determine as a 50 spro rat is large but costs a lot less than the same size slammer.  Both are very well rated in SB communities...

[the reel ess]

5 hours ago, J Francho said:

A few years ago, a very successful "catcherman" and fellow kayak angler that happened to be a broke college student posted an eye opening admission: He had only one lure, and fished with it exclusively all season long.  What lure?  Lucky Craft Sammy 115.  I was like, "huh?"  So, I started throwing a topwater, specifically a Megabass PopMax almost exclusively.  All times of day, all depths, all conditions.  Much success.  That one bait accounted for more fish in the past two years than all others combined.  Something to chew on, considering I feel like I'm a stronger jig/worm, crankbait, spinnerbait kind guy.

 

Some topwater footage for you:

 

Were there days you caught nothing? I agree that bass will kill a topwater more than a lot of people think. I'm a topwater kinda guy. I'd rather catch 1 topwater bass than 2 on the bottom. But I know there would be days when I caught a goose egg if I threw nothing else.

[J Francho]

2 minutes ago, the reel ess said:

Were there days you caught nothing?

There some days I caught nothing on topwater, if that's what you mean.  I know how to adjust

[the reel ess]

After buying a couple swimbaits I'm asking myself if they're worth the price. I've only caught bass on the BBZ-1 Rat. The other is a Savage Gear Glide that has been unsuccessful thus far. Well, I also have that cheap Academy H2O bluegill that the bass just laugh at. 

[WRB]

Suggesting soft swimbaits for use where pike and musky are present isn't doing the OP any favors. Back in the late 70's to early 80's I shipped my soft Worm King Dinosaur 10", 12" and 16" trout swimbaits to Ontario Canada to use for musky fishing, what was I thinking? Small to medium size 8 to 10 lb pike and musky shredded those swimbaits beyond repair, bad idea. They worked great but 1 fish per swimbait gets expensive fast!

The swimbait that worked very good in Canada was 22nd Century 8" Triple Trout, not an inexpensive lure but I have the same lure for over 15 years now, very durable lure.

Tom