Swim Baits... When?

[TournyFish001]

so tell me- are swimbaits only for "trophy hunting" or can they be a viable tactic for geting a limit of fish- I tourny fish and wonder if I should add this to a tourny day or only fish for fun when only 2 bites a day is no problem.  I have some basstrix paddle type "knock-offs" 5.5".  I know how or have been taught how to rig and have the gear to throw them.  I am looking for some advice like when to fish them- season, water temp, sunny/overcast, ect. thanx in advance. oh and the search sucks so repeat yourselves-

[klunker18]

Fish the 5 inch and under swimbaits any time you would throw a spinnerbait. They are $$$ over weeds and through weeds that are thick for Rattle Trap style baits.

deadstick them in spawn, slow swim them just deep of the beds when you see males on the beds, the females are waiting for an easy meal just like a swimbait

[BassinBoy]

Yes.  Swimbaits catch big bass not small ones, during prespawn they are the best.

[Chad.]

Yes.  Swimbaits catch big bass not small ones, during prespawn they are the best.

OMG Swimbaits can catch small fish too it's just that your chances are better of landing larger bass. Big bass are efficient hunters so they wans a big easy meal and there you have a swimbaits. :

[Castamasta]

yeha i have been contemplating whether or not to invest in some of these i have never fished one. so you say they are good for the spawn?

[Randall]

I started fishing swimbaits years ago and have probably fished them as long as many of the California guys have. Problem is for years I only fished them during the spawn and prespawn due to my lack of knowledge and limited thinking. I thought here on the east cost they were limited to working during those times. I hate to think how many more big fish I could have caught with them if I had been using them year round. :'( Now I use them year round and have found different ways to fish them under different conditions.  Now my favorite time to fish them may be during the summer when fish are in deeper water.

As far as tournament fishing my partner and myself won a few tournaments last year on all swimbait fish. We had a guy tell us that we could only do that on a lake with lots of big fish and that he wanted a chance to win his money back on another lake where the fish wouldn't bite swimbaits.  We let him pick the lake and went the next week to that lake and nearly doubled the second place weight with once again all swimbait fish. I am not saying this to brag but to tell you that you can win tournaments with swimbait fish no matter what the lake is as long as there is a swimbait bite at that time and its the best choice of lure to fish. It may be a swimbait but it may also be a tiny finesse worm also.  Those paddle tail baits are not really trophy hunting swimbaits anyway and usually get no bigger fish than a jig, spinnerbait or crankbait will. They are way overrated for catching big fish.