Spring soft swimbaits

[GoneFishingLTN]

What are your favorite soft plastic swimbaits for lakes without trout or shad but ton's of bluegill and crappie have my list but curious of others?

avg big size fish here is around 3-4 lbs can get to 6-7lb but rare very rare imo

 

thinking of 6.8 kietechs and basstrixs 6 inch  

 

 

 

 

I do want to add I think the hudd 68 would still work, in my waters. Though I am thinking it's probably not a high percentage bait, of course if you drop 5 trout into any lake that doesn't have trout, the bass will still eat them but is buying/throwing? Is a hudd 68 a high percentage bait when you consider they are more commonly eating crappie and bluegill?

 

[Finessegenics]

I don’t really have one. A swim jig with a beaver rigged vertically is a good big sunfish imitator because the profile just looks taller, which looks more like a sunfish, at least to us. And why not try the Berkley Gilly? Doesn’t get more Bluegill ish than that. The 130 size is real big. Just over 5 inches long and it is tall. It’ll take a big bass to get the hook on that thing. I picked some up this past holiday season so I will be using them in the upcoming season.
 

It might be easy for me to say, but I think the no shad thing is often overblown in relation to bait selection. It surely will change the behaviour of the bass as they follow the forage’s seasonal migrations but I don’t see how it would affect which baits get bit. A 6.8 keitech resembles a big shad just as much as a big bluegill. You almost don’t need a bluegill specific swimbait; maybe just a different color. My two cents  

[Deleted account]

Swimbaits are not my preferred baits for early pre spawn, but a skinny dipper on a weighted hook or the back of a swim jig will catch them. 

[PhishLI]

1 hour ago, GoneFishingLTN said:

What are your favorite soft plastic swimbaits for lakes without trout or shad but ton's of bluegill and crappie

My true bluegill shaped soft baits get very little attention around here, and we're loaded with gills. The single exception is the Beast Coast Miyagi, and while somewhat stocky it doesn't have a true bluegill profile. However, hard baits that are truer gill profile baits like a Shellcracker G2 an Gantarel Jr get lots off attention, but they're fished quite differently compared to soft gill baits or even larger torpedo/trout shaped baits. They fish near the surface.

 

 Soft baits in the Hudd 68 size and larger range get bit, and occasionally by small fish too, but far less often compared to slim profile torpedo shaped soft swimmers. The bigger-bait-bigger-bite mentality has merit, but the right small soft swim bait gets eaten by big bass more often, at least in my experience here in colder northern waters. In comparison I have far more faith in getting a big bite from a large hard glide, wakebait/rat, etc, than a large soft swimbait.

 

So, I'm all in on the bigger bait thing, but I've caught far more 6lb+ class bass on small swimmers like the 4.2" Hazedong Shad, 4.75" Champ Swimmer, 4.75" Miyagi swimmer, etc.

[softwateronly]

My experience is very similar to everyone else's.  4-5" soft swimmers on beast hooks or flashy swimmers.  I'm liking Scottsboro swimbaits in 4in, D walkers in 100mm, and 3.8-4.8 keitechs, also gonna try some miyagis and largo shad as well this year.  Also, A-rigs.  The exception is a big swim jig, 1/2-3/4oz DJ in crappie w/ a 120mm D walker.  This might be unique to my lake, but I've run into wolf packs that have cornered juvenile crappie.  The swim jig slays at this time.

 

The 6-7" magdrafts and scottsboro's seem to deliver best for me on deep water feeding flats post spawn and shallow flats at night in the summer.

 

scott

[PhishLI]

1 hour ago, softwateronly said:

gonna try some miyagis and largo shad as well this year.

My buddy went all-in on the 4" Largo Shad this year. He'll probably do well with them.

[softwateronly]

11 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

My buddy went all-in on the 4" Largo Shad this year. He'll probably do well with them.

This is just too much of a match the hatch opportunity for me not to try.  We get these coming/going out of the creek/marsh in spring and fall in large schools.

 

scott

 

[Bluebasser86]

I've done well with the Savage Gear Pulse tail bluegills in the jig hook and weedless versions.

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Savage_Gear_Pulse_Tail_RTF_Bluegill_Swimbaits/descpage-SGRTFBG.html

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Savage_Gear_Pulse_Tail_LB_Bluegill_Swimbaits_4/descpage-SGPTLBB.html

 

I've just started using the Top Shelf Tackle line thru swimbaits and have been really impressed with them. The 5" deep runner version was a big producer for me Saturday. Didn't catch any big ones but lots of good keeper sized fish.

Top Shelf Magnum Deep Runner Swimbaits

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/catpage-TOPSHLFT.html?from=basres

[Mbirdsley]

I did very well with 3.2 inch Devine swim bait from 6th sense in the clear water rose  color.  The lakes I was fishing early spring has blue gills, perch, and other minnows  as the main bait fish.  I put it on a 1/4 jig head that comes from the do-it molds.  I think a shad head is the name

[Primus]

Some of my best producing soft swimbaits would include the 6" Little Creeper Trash Fish and the Bluegill. The Beast Coast Myagi & Creep have boated some nice ones and last year for me was the year of the 8" MagDraft. This produced quantity ( for a big bait ) and quality. I absolutely love this bait. 

[papajoe222]

We don't have shad in the lakes around here, but I do well with 4in. paddle tails all season.  In the spring, I prefer ones with tails that will kick on the slowest retrieves. The 3.25in. Rage Swimmer is an early spring favorite. Oddly, green gizzard shad is a steady producer.

[Catt]

Smash-Tech Little Weedless Bluegill

 

https://smashtechbaits.com/products/weedless-little-bluegill

 

 

[JWall14]

I’m going to be throwing magdrafts a lot this spring as for as big soft baits go. 

[Darth-Baiter]

I did well last spring with a Ganatrel Jr and the 6” mag draft freestyle.   The bass strike is exhilarating.