High End Swimbaits???

[ratherbfishin1]

 Are the $100+ swimbaits going to perform better and catch you more fish than the $20-30 ones? I really want to get into swimbaits and am trying to decide if it would be worth it to buy a couple “high end” ones or if the cheeped (spro, river2sea, etc) ones will work just as well. Another question, do you prefer glide baits or multi-jointed swimbaits more?

[RB 77]

Less expensive ones will work fine. The high end ones are for enthusiast more than any thing else. Buy what you can comfortably afford. If I were you I would try and round out my selection with at least something from each general category: Soft body (Hudd, etc), multi joint (BBZ, etc) and top water (Punker).

[WRB]

Before you think about high end swimbaits you need to select a swimbait casting rod and reel combo capable of casting the heaviest swimbait you plan to use.

Roman Mother is $430 weighing about 11oz, Huddleston Delux 8" swimbait is under $40 weighting 4 1/2 oz, Deps 250 is $173 weighs 7 oz.....choices.

Tom

[Bluebasser86]

I fish the mid range baits better, I'm not as worried about losing them. Savage Gear makes great baits and don't break the bank. I catch so many on the Shine Glide that I sold all my Deps because I never threw them over the Savage Gear baits. I've had some $200 baits and they do look nice and perform well, but in the lakes I fish that they don't see big swimbaits ever, I don't need the perfect details and action to get bit.

 

Like WRB said though, if you're going to do it, make sure to have the appropriate gear to do it. 

[BoatSquirrel]

I find myself in agreement with you again, BlueBasser.  Savage Gear makes excellent stuff.  Their 3D Trout has gotten me as many bites as my Huds for half the price.  Hud’s 68 Special Weedless is definitely worth $25 if you can find them!

Also remember that glide baits with trebles, ideally, need a softer rod than single/top hook swimbaits.  

The big bait thing is hard!  Bites are few and far between and hucking a 3oz lure is not easy.  Maybe start with the less expensive stuff first to see if you have the stomach for it.

[FCPhil]

In my expirience fishing glide baits is less about the lure but how you fish it. I can never get bites on straight retrieves. All my bites have come on quick turns of the handle to get it to glide and “walk” back and forth. Kind of like a slow motion jerkbait. 

 

The savage gear shine glide is excellent at this style of retrieve, it is more stable than most glide baits. 

[MassYak85]

The S-Waver and Spro Rat are proven baits and many guys that do use the higher end baits still have a place for them in their lineup. Many great softbaits are on the market for relatively cheap as well, like huddleston and real prey, 3:16, mattlures etc. The only time you probably do have to fork over the money is with the truly "big" baits, like 10+". They just aren't really made in mass production other than some of the japanese companies like Deps, unless you grab some musky or saltwater stuff. So you have to go to the smaller guys, which means paying the big bucks for a "custom" or relatively low production bait. 

 

Biggest thing IMO is getting the right rod. You're fishing for fewer bites so when they do comes you want to have the right gear to land the fish. 

[primetime]

My only suggestion would be to buy a few of the baits mentioned like the S-Waver, Savage, BBZ, Huds, then see if you enjoy throwing them consistently.

 

I enjoy buying new lures, trying new stuff (Half the fun...Love trying to find something new) and I decided I would get into the big swimbait game after seeing pics of 5-6lb Bass my nephew was catching up in CT lakes and ponds. I invested in a nice Calcutta and already had a heavy rod for saltwater that worked well...Long Story Short...I realized that I do not have the patience to throw a big swimbait or glide bait all day, and often it takes work to get the few big bites if any. I caught a few decent fish (Never anything over 7lbs like I invisioned while filling my cart with #20-$50 lures.... had a few really big followers that still bother me today, but now I have a nice looking box of expensive swimbaits I never use. I do like how the box looks though, fits well with the other 25 boxes of tackle I rarely open. I didn't realize my nephew would throw the Hudd all day for 2 fish while everyone else was catching fish at a normal clip...I don't have that patience in me.

 

Long Story short....The Calcutta makes for an awesome flipping/Pitching Reel, crankbait, kind of my favorite reel I own, so I guess that phase was worth it. 

 

Catching Bass on A Big Swimbait obviously takes patience and skill, but if you have it in you, it certainly can pay off, My nephew has broken the 7lb barrier a few times now on huge swimbaits the size guys use for Musky and Pike...He has been into it for a good 3 years, so he can tell the difference between $10 lure and $50 lure etc...I never could...

[Big Swimbait]

At the top of the "budget" range, I would add a Bull Shad to the mix - $50 - $60. 

[Bluebasser86]

2 hours ago, 1201vilbig said:

At the top of the "budget" range, I would add a Bull Shad to the mix - $50 - $60. 

Agreed, a Bull Shad and Slammer are both a little more expensive but absolutely worth it.

[Drew03cmc]

6" Triple Trout and 7" Slammer are my 2 exceptions to the rule. In fact, I have a 7" TT I'd part with @ratherbfishin1 if you're interested. They get chewed and a big crankbait rod will sling them. This weighs around 2.2oz and swims like a dream. It has new #1 Owners on it. The TT line of baits is my go to when I'm slinging bigger baits. I don't like glides much and don't toss the bigger softies. 

[Smalls]

Have you ever googled “sneaker head”?

 

Same concept, add fishing. 

 

Yes, some of these higher end baits are bass killers, but a lot of them go for such prices because they’re hand made, limited edition, and really cool collectors pieces. 

 

There are are a lot of mid ranged swimbaits that will catch you tooooons of fish, and (relatively) won’t break the bank. 

[Catt]

SMASH-TECH ?

[soflabasser]

I am a member of a swimbait forum and know many members on that forum that have expensive swimbaits yet they never caught a bass over 8 pounds, let alone one over 10 pounds. Also know of many people who have caught several bass over 8 pounds on lures worth less than 10 dollars. This means you do not really need high end swimbaits to catch big bass and what is more important is where you fish and how you fish a lure. With that said there are plenty of decent swimbaits for under $25 but you have to put in your time if you expect to catch any big bass on these swimbaits.

[ThypeBassin]

Learn how to fish big swim baits before you go out and buy a roman-made. Also like some have said, make sure you have appropriate gear (Rod, Reel, Line) for big swimbaits are you'll end up losing all your investments and fish. just have fun with it and throw some cheaper-mid range swim baits at first. S-waver, Spro BBZ, 6th Sense flow glider, 8 Inch Megabass mag draft... are all relatively inexpensive swimbaits that I catch plenty of fish on to this day... even tho ive got a few more swim baits in the box with some drip...    

[928JLH]

On 3/2/2019 at 11:26 PM, ThypeBassin said:

Learn how to fish big swim baits before you go out and buy a roman-made. Also like some have said, make sure you have appropriate gear (Rod, Reel, Line) for big swimbaits are you'll end up losing all your investments and fish. just have fun with it and throw some cheaper-mid range swim baits at first. S-waver, Spro BBZ, 6th Sense flow glider, 8 Inch Megabass mag draft... are all relatively inexpensive swimbaits that I catch plenty of fish on to this day... even tho ive got a few more swim baits in the box with some drip...    

You recommend putting feathered trebles on the flow glider? Just ordered the 130 and will try it out this weekend.

[Mr. Aquarium]

I fish a lot wake baits, I do believe that the higher end baits  have better action. The spro rat is a great bait, but I would rather fish an MS slammer. Some of these high end have super realistic patterns and actions.  Matts lures are INCREDIBLE. The realism and action on these baits are shocking. I dont even think about spending 70-100 bucks on his baits.   I also like the craftsmanship of these baits. These baits are handmade. But a savage gear or spro  mass produced. I love savage gear. Awesome baits. and cheap to.  

Also with the handmade baits, no 2 baits are the same. Each one is different. Especially with the MS slammer.   One may have a wider body then the other. One may dive deeper. One maybe louder. One may throw more water when twitched. I love that. 

[MAN]

I have friends who buy the really expensive swim baits and who follow swim bait forums religiously. They enjoy owning and collecting high end swim baits and all that goes into preparing to fish with them (buying the new rod, reel, line etc..)  In the end they don't catch more/any bass than the guy standing next to them with a Zoom fluke. But the anticipation and hopes of getting the double digit keeps them excited. 

[Chrisko]

A large, expensive swim bait is not going to ever catch you a 10 pound bass if there aren't any 10 pound bass in the body of water you fish! Obviously. Where I live (Michigan) and the lakes I fish (for bass, inland lakes), I am delighted to catch bass in the 4-5 pound range and consider those exceptional fish for those bodies of water.  

 

I've had some success with the S-waver. But I've also had some success with a cheap rubber jointed (achieved not by hinge, but by thickness of material) Storm brand perch looking swim bait that cost like $10 when I happened to be at a Walmart picking up some sinkers.

 

I have the Savage Gear Shiner. Actually bought it for musky fishing. It didn't work, swam only to one side. Bought it in person at the Musky Shop in Wisconsin - didn't realize it's flaw til back in Michigan.  Couldn't get it to swim right, gave up on it.  A few months later, organizing my gear, it urked me.  Looked up Savage Gear, sent an e-mail, asked them if they could suggest any methods to tune the lure to swim correctly and outlined what I had tried.  They asked for some pictures, which I took at every angle in hopes that it would show something that they could say was wrong with it.  They never suggested any specific tweaks or tuning steps, just asked for my address, apologized and sent me a new one.  I wasn't fishing for a replacement, figured they'd be able to recommend some changes or adjustments to get it to work better. So they went far above and beyond what was asked of them.

 

Took the new one out to test it's action (not actually to fish it).  Got a 3 pounder on it quickly. Swam great.  

 

I prefer a swim bait that has a slow sink as it better allows me to fish different locations or areas.  The slow sinkers are easy to keep at or near the surface, but also allow me to fish a few feet down.  Fishing from my dock, the benefit of the few feed down has resulted in better bites than fishing in that same area very close to the surface (ie. 6" or so).

 

Next year, I'll try out some of that weight tape that can be temporarily applied to lures in an attempt to test different depths.

 

FYI - as a person who fishes for musky, perhaps it may be worthwhile to consider the musky section (if there is one), in your local shop! Musky baits are pretty expensive (or so I thought) until I looked at the price of some of these swim baits.  I've had quite a few large bass strike musky lures, especially early morning top waters . . . Funny how catching a pretty decent bass doesn't feel quite as rewarding when it happens while fishing for musky . . . 

[NorcalBassin]

On 2/24/2019 at 1:31 PM, ratherbfishin1 said:

 ...if it would be worth it to buy a couple “high end” ones or if the cheeped (spro, river2sea, etc) ones will work just as well. Another question, do you prefer glide baits or multi-jointed swimbaits more?

High end may get you a couple extra bites, but they're definitely not necessary to catch giants. 

 

If you're going to invest in a couple high dollar swimbaits my advice would be to make at least one of those a floater/wake for your peace of mind. It took me a while to be "okay" with a Deps 250 snapping off mid-cast and slowly sinking to the bottom over 100' of water. It's pretty much inevitable you'll cast at least one off at some point.

 

I enjoy throwing multijoints in the spring, wakes in the summer, and glides in the fall through early spring. They'll all work on a given day throughout the year, but that's my general rule. We just had our first trout plants of the year, so I'll be breaking my own rules next time out by starting with a triple trout.

[soflabasser]

On 2/27/2019 at 5:39 PM, soflabasser said:

I am a member of a swimbait forum and know many members on that forum that have expensive swimbaits yet they never caught a bass over 8 pounds, let alone one over 10 pounds. Also know of many people who have caught several bass over 8 pounds on lures worth less than 10 dollars. This means you do not really need high end swimbaits to catch big bass and what is more important is where you fish and how you fish a lure. With that said there are plenty of decent swimbaits for under $25 but you have to put in your time if you expect to catch any big bass on these swimbaits.

I wrote this over a year ago and I will write it the same today. You do not need expensive swimbaits to catch big bass. What is more important is that you fish somewhere there are big bass and that you do your best to learn how to fish a couple techniques. With time anyone can catch a 8 pound or bigger bass if they work hard for it.