Is it even worth it to throw big swimbait?

[BassinBrett]

I say try the larger glide and swim baits first the then decide if it is worth it.   Start with the 6 to 7 inch baits.  I used 168 mm glide baits last year up here in MN and was surprised by the numbers of small bass I caught.  I my hoping I am the bass have not seem to many big glide baits.  

[10,000 lakes Bassin]

2 hours ago, woolleyfooley said:

How do you determine the maximum size possible in a certain body of water? In my opinion, you can’t. My biggest fish came from a small pond full of tiny underweight bass. We could catch 20-30 an hour of those little guys. Then as it was getting dark I caught a 10 pound bass. Only a pound short of the state record for the state I was in. 
 

I never would have expected a 10lb bass to be in such a small pond that was full of tiny bass, but there she was. Fat and healthy. After that, I highly doubt maximum size of bass for a given body of water can be predicted accurately.

Up here it’s different. We have a very short growing season. We typically have ice for somewhere around 6 months. The  bass can’t grow much for half the year so they never get that big. The state record is under 9lbs and was caught in the south part of the state. They have a shorter growing season farther north so they get smaller. 

[gim]

18 minutes ago, 10,000 lakes Bassin said:

Up here it’s different. We have a very short growing season. We typically have ice for somewhere around 6 months. The  bass can’t grow much for half the year so they never get that big. The state record is under 9lbs and was caught in the south part of the state. They have a shorter growing season farther north so they get smaller. 

Exactly, that’s why people chiming in from Florida and Texas on this subject isn’t helpful at all. It’s like a completely different world in the frozen north.

 

Not to mention being inundated with pike assault after pike assault.

[casts_by_fly]

I’ll grant you that toothy critters are a question mark after I just reglued last seasons freestyles (pickerel in my case).  But the average bass that ate a 6” Magdraft for me last year was probably 2.5#. I’d have to check my pictures for the smallest, but I’m not worried about any bass that I am intending to catch eating it. 

[woolleyfooley]

21 hours ago, 10,000 lakes Bassin said:

Up here it’s different. We have a very short growing season. We typically have ice for somewhere around 6 months. The  bass can’t grow much for half the year so they never get that big. The state record is under 9lbs and was caught in the south part of the state. They have a shorter growing season farther north so they get smaller. 

I used to live/fish in New England, which is where the 10 pound bass was caught.

[10,000 lakes Bassin]

1 hour ago, woolleyfooley said:

I used to live/fish in New England, which is where the 10 pound bass was caught.

Congrats on that beast of a northern bass! 

[Derek1]

I live in mass. Started throwing 6”/7” baits here and there 2 years ago I think. The number of 3 to 4 pounders I catch certainly went up. I say grab a couple of the shelf baits you can throw on something you have now and give it a shot. 

[woolleyfooley]

22 hours ago, 10,000 lakes Bassin said:

Congrats on that beast of a northern bass! 

Thank you! 

On 2/12/2025 at 5:48 PM, woolleyfooley said:

How do you determine the maximum size possible in a certain body of water? In my opinion, you can’t. My biggest fish came from a small pond full of tiny underweight bass. We could catch 20-30 an hour of those little guys. Then as it was getting dark I caught a 10 pound bass. Only a pound short of the state record for the state I was in. 
 

I never would have expected a 10lb bass to be in such a small pond that was full of tiny bass, but there she was. Fat and healthy. After that, I highly doubt maximum size of bass for a given body of water can be predicted accurately.

Sorry for quoting myself, but I’m curious what@WRB thinks about this.

[F14A-B]

No. I don’t throw big swim baits. It’s just I prefer to use what I’ve already learned. T-rigs, rattletraps, crank baits, swim jigs and flipping jigs. Tubes, Pop r’s and you get the picture 🤣😂🤣🍻

[Hogs_n_Logs]

Stuff in the 150-180mm range will catch bass of any size in almost any part of the country. 

 

I think the problem most people have with not catching fish on these is fishing these lures is relatively difficult and has a learning curve. 

 

First they can be hard to cast precisely. Typically you are not fishing these in open water, you have to cast a cumbersome heavy jointed very un-aerodynamic bait fairly accurately around some kind of structure. 

 

Second working them is a learning process and depends heavily from bait to bait. Your first time with these you will have a hard time maintaining an action that catches fish. Also, many people try to "feed" the bass the bait if they get a follower, in most cases this is the no1 way to turn a bass off of the bite. 

 

Third, a thing that makes these baits so fun/good is you can really play with the action once you get good. Modulating speed, climbing/sinking, and cadence depending on whats going on is what really gets the best results out of these. Tuning the lures to your preference once you figure it out is also key.

 

All of the above sometimes results in very inefficient fishing for fish of any kind for beginners. 

 

They are a ton of fun to fish and fished properly I dont think anything has the fish drawing power and if you get decent at working them you can elicit bite reactions from the fish before your eyes. 

 

In some ways its almost like fly fishing.

[Pumpkin Lizard]

On 2/11/2025 at 7:56 AM, 10,000 lakes Bassin said:

That’s my question, is it worth it for me to thrown big hard and soft swimbaits? Tthe biggest largemouth in the some of the lakes I fish is probably less than   6lbs. Fish over 6 are super rare up here. My bass eat bluegill, crawfish, and shinners and other small minnow for the most part. We don’t have gizzard shad or other big prey species. So is there even a point to throw big 6”+ baits if I want to target the biggest of the fish in my lakes? Will a bass that’s never seen a shad hit a 7” shad shaped glide bait? Or should I just stick to more traditional ways to target these fish? 

 

Yeah. Although on first thought I look at where you are and I see northern pike in your future:)

 

For one, it's a fun way to fish. You probably already have rig that can fish them in your arsenal. And the heavy strikes are worth it. The tug is the drug. I'd rather catch 2-3 decent fish on a swimbait than a million dinks on a Ned Rig that gets hung up constantly.

 

Even in Missouri here, 6 lbs is probably the biggest reasonably you might run into day to day and many lakes and ponds are loaded with gizzard shad that are too big for most bass. I think a 6 inch Magdraft is great fun. You'll still catch some average 1 to 2 lb bass with it.  They don't cost that much and you can throw it on a regular Medium Heavy rod and 12lb test. The Berkeley Cull Shad costs less than the Magdraft and many people like it better.

 

 

[woolleyfooley]

On 2/12/2025 at 5:48 PM, woolleyfooley said:

How do you determine the maximum size possible in a certain body of water? In my opinion, you can’t. My biggest fish came from a small pond full of tiny underweight bass. We could catch 20-30 an hour of those little guys. Then as it was getting dark I caught a 10 pound bass. Only a pound short of the state record for the state I was in. 
 

I never would have expected a 10lb bass to be in such a small pond that was full of tiny bass, but there she was. Fat and healthy. After that, I highly doubt maximum size of bass for a given body of water can be predicted accurately.

I think I should have articulated this better. I agree that bass don’t grow as big in colder climates. What I meant was you can’t look at a pond and say “it’s small so there must be no big fish here” or “this lake is massive it must have huge bass in it”. I believe if bass live in a body of water, they have the potential to grow to state record size. 

 

Hopefully that makes more sense. 

[10,000 lakes Bassin]

27 minutes ago, woolleyfooley said:

I think I should have articulated this better. I agree that bass don’t grow as big in colder climates. What I meant was you can’t look at a pond and say “it’s small so there must be no big fish here” or “this lake is massive it must have huge bass in it”. I believe if bass live in a body of water, they have the potential to grow to state record size. 

 

Hopefully that makes more sense. 

I agree 100%. Two three of my nicest bass all summer came from probably the smallest lake I fish. 

[webertime]

Back when I first got a 6" weedless Huddleston (2011?) I took it out on a 64 acre pond near my house in Vermont.   Best 5 went 27.58 on my first day.  To be honest in all the years since I haven't broken that bag.  I fish Champlain and the St Lawrence a lot. 5-7lb largemouth are not uncommon here but not a daily occurance.  5lb smallies are a touch more common nowadays.  The number of 6-10" Perch thrown up by fish of that ilk keep me going with big baits.  So here's some food for thought.  Bass headshot food.  Look at a Deps 250 head on, it's slightly larger than a zoom speedcraw on a jig.  We see the length and sort of freak out but Bass are simpler.  "Can I get it in my mouth?" Is about as far as it seems they think.  The shadows popping up and following a 250 in is a big buzz I enjoy (obviously catching is fun, too).

So 64 acre pond, 120 mile long lake or 740 mile long river, I'll always toss big baits up here.

[10,000 lakes Bassin]

50 minutes ago, webertime said:

Back when I first got a 6" weedless Huddleston (2011?) I took it out on a 64 acre pond near my house in Vermont.   Best 5 went 27.58 on my first day.  To be honest in all the years since I haven't broken that bag.  I fish Champlain and the St Lawrence a lot. 5-7lb largemouth are not uncommon here but not a daily occurance.  5lb smallies are a touch more common nowadays.  The number of 6-10" Perch thrown up by fish of that ilk keep me going with big baits.  So here's some food for thought.  Bass headshot food.  Look at a Deps 250 head on, it's slightly larger than a zoom speedcraw on a jig.  We see the length and sort of freak out but Bass are simpler.  "Can I get it in my mouth?" Is about as far as it seems they think.  The shadows popping up and following a 250 in is a big buzz I enjoy (obviously catching is fun, too).

So 64 acre pond, 120 mile long lake or 740 mile long river, I'll always toss big baits up here.

I guess I completely forgot about the big perch in lots of our lakes. Do you have any favorite baits for a perch profile? The 6in magdraft has a good perch color, but that’s maybe not considered real big swimbait. 

[webertime]

2 minutes ago, 10,000 lakes Bassin said:

I guess I completely forgot about the big perch in lots of our lakes. Do you have any favorite baits for a perch profile? The 6in magdraft has a good perch color, but that’s maybe not considered real big swimbait. 

Perch profile is close enough to a trout.  I throw a lot of white, Perch and Ayu colored baits.  I have a custom Perch Baitsanity Explorer.  A buddy of mine will paint any bait a Perch for a very reasonable price.

[thediscochef]

You don't know if you don't throw

 

...but personally I'm done buying hard swimbaits or glide baits. The last three I've bought lost their tails within the first hour of fishing. It's a waste of money for me at this point, especially with berkley making the nessie. 

[Swamp Girl]

I caught my only 25-pound-plus bag with a soft 7" swimbait (and a big walking bait). I know BIG bass are caught with Ned baits, but there are days big bass prefer big baits.

[VolFan]

I love throwing a 7” or 9” MS Slammer, especially at night. It fishes like a giant jointed Rapala. You can surface twitch it, wake it, sweep the rod to make it dive and float, or just burn it. It catches fish in all these scenarios. And it’s a ton of fun. The Mini Slammer was my first swimbait that I regularly caught fish on, black one with a blue tail that I got from a @J Francho here. They aren’t sexy or cool but they sure catch fish.

[Derek1]

7 hours ago, VolFan said:

I love throwing a 7” or 9” MS Slammer, especially at night. It fishes like a giant jointed Rapala. You can surface twitch it, wake it, sweep the rod to make it dive and float, or just burn it. It catches fish in all these scenarios. And it’s a ton of fun. The Mini Slammer was my first swimbait that I regularly caught fish on, black one with a blue tail that I got from a @J Francho here. They aren’t sexy or cool but they sure catch fish.

Wow I bought two slammers a couple winters ago. Completely forgot about them until I read this post. Unbelievable, thanks for mentioning them. Time to start digging. 

[JediAmoeba]

I dont throw them thinking about 4-5 lbers. I throw them for the 6lb+ fish that are harder to find but are there...

[Mr. Aquarium]

On 2/13/2025 at 6:06 PM, woolleyfooley said:

I used to live/fish in New England, which is where the 10 pound bass was caught.

You got a 10# from New England? That’s impressive. I’m in MA would love to break 10. I’ve caught an 8 and a few 7s 

4 hours ago, Derek1 said:

Wow I bought two slammers a couple winters ago. Completely forgot about them until I read this post. Unbelievable, thanks for mentioning them. Time to start digging. 

I love slammers. They crushed fish up here in New England. Got a former Pb of 7-8 on one and many fish under 7

[Derek1]

42 minutes ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

You got a 10# from New England? That’s impressive. I’m in MA would love to break 10. I’ve caught an 8 and a few 7s 

I love slammers. They crushed fish up here in New England. Got a former Pb of 7-8 on one and many fish under 7

It’s killing me I bought them two winters ago forgot and never used them. 

[Mr. Aquarium]

51 minutes ago, Derek1 said:

It’s killing me I bought them two winters ago forgot and never used them. 

I’ve caught all sorts of bass and crappies on slammers. They crush. I’ve caught 1lbs bass on 10 inch slammers. 

[MassYak85]

I'm from MA and have definitely noticed an uptick in quality fish since I started throwing swimbaits. I don't throw anything huge, usually 9" and below, but things like MS Slammers, Rats, Crawlers, and Gill baits get crushed. 

 

You're also around a lot of Pike so that is also a factor. I like titanium leaders but luckily don't need them too often up here.