Big swimbaits vs small water

[MDbassin]

I would like to start throwing swimbaits.... the big ones like Huddleston, spro bbz1, s waver, etc.

 

But everytime I watch videos on them it seems like people are on big water, going after around the double digit weight range. 

 

I don't fish small farm ponds but the places I fish aren't known for huge double digit bass either... who knows maybe they are there just no one is throwing the right stuff. I fish small shallow lakes (MD DNR website has them listed at around the 35-40 acre range and an avg depth of 4-5 ft... one the max depth is 5 ft).

 

I've caught some nice 6 pounders out of these lakes the usual is in the 2-4 lb range tho.

 

Should I give swimbaits a try or would it be a waste of time and money?

 

[WRB]

What tackle do plan to use?

Water less then 8' the bass are conditioned to look up for larger size prey. I would start with a rat or slammer wake baits.

Tom

[MDbassin]

I was gonna start with my Dobyns Fury 735c. If i can actually catch fish with bigger swimbaits i would get an actual swimbait dedicated setup

[anderb54]

You'll be surprised how many "small" bass you can catch on larger baits. I've caught plenty of 2 pounders on 7" glides, Hudd 68's, and 7'' Slammers. Big bass in my area rarely exceed 6 pounds, and anything over that would definitely be considered a trophy, so it sounds like we're in similar situations

[BrackishBassin]

 

I would like to start throwing swimbaits.... the big ones like Huddleston, spro bbz1, s waver, etc.

 

But everytime I watch videos on them it seems like people are on big water, going after around the double digit weight range. 

 

I don't fish small farm ponds but the places I fish aren't known for huge double digit bass either... who knows maybe they are there just no one is throwing the right stuff. I fish small shallow lakes (MD DNR website has them listed at around the 35-40 acre range and an avg depth of 4-5 ft... one the max depth is 5 ft).

 

I've caught some nice 6 pounders out of these lakes the usual is in the 2-4 lb range tho.

 

Should I give swimbaits a try or would it be a waste of time and money?

 

Throw them and let me know if there are any big girls out there. We fish the same waters, so I’d love to know. 

[Angry John]

What is your definition of a large swim bait is a great place to start.  Are we talking a deps 250 or hinkle shad or are we talking medium and small swim baits.  Say we make a defined cutoff of 3 Oz from medium to large.  It's an arbitrary number but this can turn into its own topic.  At that weight your looking at the deps 175, the swiaiver 168 and 200 along with other known producers like the Matt lures hard gill.  This is a great range for options and at this size your still in a good area to appeal to a large section of the bass.  A flipping stick or frog rod can handle most of these baits.  The dobyns 735 I believe is an extra fast rod which might not be grate for the larger baitts.  Something in the moderate fast range would be ideal all around.  One to try on that dobyns would be the Huddleston shad.  I fish that on a st Croix le70mhf.  It's a great weedless bait that is fairly cheap and produces well.  You may want to try the trash fish 6" with owner beast hook on that rod also. There is a huge difference between these and truly large baits.  The smaller ponds will do well with this sized bait and may provide your fish some first time looks depending on who else is fishing in your area.  

[Stalking bass]

My thoughts on that is its a waste of money and time. I threw a very large 1 oz willow bladed spinnerbait with a 4.8 inch swimbait last year. The bass were normal size that bit it. One was 3 pounds. Up north its just not worth the effort. I wish you the best if you try it. 

[Deleted account]

There are gizzards and stocked trout around MD, and I've done ok throwing large baits with big fish, but I find I catch just as many good ones using smaller lures. On smaller lakes and ponds, the landing of a large lure can be a big turn off too.

[MDbassin]

 

What is your definition of a large swim bait is a great place to start.  Are we talking a deps 250 or hinkle shad or are we talking medium and small swim baits.  Say we make a defined cutoff of 3 Oz from medium to large.  It's an arbitrary number but this can turn into its own topic.  At that weight your looking at the deps 175, the swiaiver 168 and 200 along with other known producers like the Matt lures hard gill.  This is a great range for options and at this size your still in a good area to appeal to a large section of the bass.  A flipping stick or frog rod can handle most of these baits.  The dobyns 735 I believe is an extra fast rod which might not be grate for the larger baitts.  Something in the moderate fast range would be ideal all around.  One to try on that dobyns would be the Huddleston shad.  I fish that on a st Croix le70mhf.  It's a great weedless bait that is fairly cheap and produces well.  You may want to try the trash fish 6" with owner beast hook on that rod also. There is a huge difference between these and truly large baits.  The smaller ponds will do well with this sized bait and may provide your fish some first time looks depending on who else is fishing in your area.  

I would like to think I've got to big enough and aggressive enough bass around to throw a 8in hudd.

 

But I don't know, I was looking in the 4-6 in range. 4in doesn't sound big but to me I'm comparing a much bulkier and heavier say 4in bbz1 shad to a 4in paddletail soft plastic the bbz1 is "big" to me.

 

Like i said im looking at the 4-6in range so a hudd 68special, s waiver 168, castaic boyd duckett shad, the bigger live target swimbaits like the shiner, and shad ones.

 

So I guess by big swimbaits I mean more of the profile not actual length.

 

It's a fast not extra fast

[Angry John]

The 168 is a very nice bait for the price and can be found on flea bay for around 14 dollars new.  I have a few huds and have yet to get a bitter but they have mass apeal.  I view the 68 and 8 as mid sized baits and a ten is truly large.  Huds are very heavy when they get larger and over a 6 or 68 will require a dedicated setup.  A small hard gill is one ounce and a great snack size meal.  If you would like to see some direct size comparison pm me your number and I can send some pictures of the baits I have.

[Bluebasser86]

My swimbait PB was from a puddle I could cast across with my 7" Slammer. Most of the lakes I fish are less than 200 acres and I fish swimbaits up to 9" in them. A 6lb fish is a big bass anywhere in the state. I catch lots of fish from a pound up on them.

[JustJames]

IF you have money and time to spare, I'd say why not. But it might get expensive over time if you happen to loose one or two(I now becuz I just lost 6" and 8" back to back. Even though hudd 6" can catch small size fish but the bites will be a lot less far and between compare to others like drop shot, Texas rig. You are looking for quality instead of number.

Now to catch big fish there are other way around without invest in all new set up like chatterbait(trend to catch bigger fish) or 10" worm etc.

But I can tell you one thing, I'd get a lot more excite to catch even 3-4lbs on hudd than dropshot any day.

[WRB]

 

I would like to think I've got to big enough and aggressive enough bass around to throw a 8in hudd.

 

But I don't know, I was looking in the 4-6 in range. 4in doesn't sound big but to me I'm comparing a much bulkier and heavier say 4in bbz1 shad to a 4in paddletail soft plastic the bbz1 is "big" to me.

 

Like i said im looking at the 4-6in range so a hudd 68special, s waiver 168, castaic boyd duckett shad, the bigger live target swimbaits like the shiner, and shad ones.

 

So I guess by big swimbaits I mean more of the profile not actual length.

 

It's a fast not extra fast

The 68Hudd is too heavy for the FR 735 rod, you may get by with the 6" Hudd, a better choice in the Huddleston lures would the Huddgill.

The 7" MS slammer weighs about ***/4 oz less hooks and the Mini Slammer with a tail comes in around 1 oz, Musky size wooden Jitter bug all would work with your rod.

Tom

[Angry John]

Huddleston 6" is 2.25 Oz ish.  I will not throw it on my st Croix heavy.  That is only thrown on my dobyns 806.  Hudds are heavy.

168 swaiver are just under 2oz

[WRB]

 

Huddleston 6" is 2.25 Oz ish.  I will not throw it on my st Croix heavy.  That is only thrown on my dobyns 806.  Hudds are heavy.

The 6" Hudd ROF 12 weighs 2 oz, ROF 5 1.8 oz., actual* weights. The 68 ROF 12 is 2.3 oz. Agree the OP should be considering a swimbait rod but that isn't what he is using.

Hudds tend too gain water weight during the day's outing.

Tom

* weighed on a accurate scale.

[Angry John]

Yeah I have a rof 12 should have said that.

[68camaro]

I have Huddleston 8" ROF5 that I started throwing in December, only had it had few times on new Dobyns Swimbait rod I picked up for it.

 

I haven't caught anything yet, I throw in ponds and shallow lake, definitely had a bite in our neighborhood pond but didn't land. In the cold weather it needs to be fished painstakingly slow, I can do it for a little while but not long.

[MassYak85]

Take a look at KeepinItReelFishing's YouTube channel. The guy (Carl) is from New Jersey and primarily fishes smaller lakes like you see a lot of up in the northeast. He dedicated an entire season to only fishing swimbaits (stuff like Hudds, mattlures etc.) and made some awesome videos documenting his whole process and his results (spoiler alert, he did pretty well). He was one of the reasons I started fishing swimbaits up here in MA. They flat out work but you have to put your time in, and have a solid understanding of bass behavior to be able to target those high percentage areas (something I personally need to get better at for sure). Also while something like a 6 or 8" hudd or deps 175 or swaver 200 might seem big, you will catch plenty of 2-3 lbers on them, do not let the size scare you away. Pick some proven baits (in your case maybe a mattlures soft gill, a 6" or huddgill, and maybe a mini slammer) and dedicate to it. If it's going to just be something to throw for an hour each trip and then go back to fishing senkos then it may not be for you. There's nothing wrong with that but you probably won't see very good results if your goal is to catch bigger fidsh using swimbaits. 

 

Whether it's a waste of money is up to you and you alone. What are you looking to do? IMO the biggest mental hurdle is being okay with not catching anything, it's going to happen, you are selectively eliminating the smaller fish population. If a trip out is only worth it if you catch something, even if it means catching an 8" dink on a ned rig, then it might not be for you. But if the reward of maybe your new PB is worth grinding out the bad days in anticipation of the good ones, then go for it. Also, it's not some magic bullet, you aren't going to make fish appear just by throwing a hudd, the fish are still in the same areas they always are, if you know where in your lakes to target, that's the first step. 

[fishwizzard]

This fall I started dabbling in swimbaits/big baits in some smaller MD lakes and ponds.  It was promising enough to get me to pick up a combo and some various lures during the BF sales.  I went for the BBZ Rats, the S-Waver 168, some 68 Specials, and a few Hudd and Mattlures gills.  

 

I am going to start with them in spots I know hold bass in the 2-3lb range to see how they do.  The rod I bought should handle frogging around here so I can go to that if I run out of patience with bigger baits.  I will say that losing a $35 rat really harshed my mellow for the rest of the day, so I am going to stick to that as my max per-lure budget for a while. 

[Angry John]

Yeah braking or loosing a larger bait seems to hurt much more.

[Munkin]

Not sure where in Maryland you live but if you want some place to throw big lures try Piney Run Reservoir. There are a ton of 5+ bass in there along with stripers.

 

Allen 

[fishwizzard]

6 minutes ago, Munkin said:

Not sure where in Maryland you live but if you want some place to throw big lures try Piney Run Reservoir. There are a ton of 5+ bass in there along with stripers.

 

Allen 

I am thinking of Rocky Gorge as my "big bass and maybe stripers" spot this year.  But I am pretty pumped to try them in smaller ponds, more so than bigger water. 

16 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

Take a look at KeepinItReelFishing's YouTube channel. The guy (Carl) is from New Jersey and primarily fishes smaller lakes like you see a lot of up in the northeast. He dedicated an entire season to only fishing swimbaits (stuff like Hudds, mattlures etc.) and made some awesome videos documenting his whole process and his results (spoiler alert, he did pretty well).

Thanks for this, I had never heard of this guy but from what little I watched it looks like it will be very helpful.  

[BassB8Caster]

Im in the same boat as you. I have committed to bigger swimbaits this year. I bought an XH Okuma Guide Select rod with a cardiff 301 reel. Will be fishing 8" hudds, spro bbz-1 8", gantarel, s waver 200 and plan on picking up a 10" Savage gear line thru trout. I fish small ponds in Maine out of a kayak. My pb is 6lbs and i know there are bigger fish out there. Keepinitreelfishin is a great channel. He does a great job and is from the northeast. Dont let people tell you its a waste of time and there are not big enough fish. It takes a special mindset for big swimbaits. I would rather go hunting for the big fish rather than hoping i run into one with a spinner, crankbait, etc. Good luck. 

[MDbassin]

I think I may start with the Spro bbz1 shad 4 inch as I can throw that on my Dobyns I have now and if it seems to be catching them I will step up the bigger baits and get a dedicated set up for swimbaits 

[fishwizzard]

If you're fishing the Eastern Shore ponds I think you're talking about, you are going to confront the ever present pickerel menace.  I am going to start with soft swimbaits like the Trashfish, Big Dipper, and Big Ez/Gz in heavy pickerel areas before I throw a hudd in there.