First time out with swimbait

[Clark Stewart]

Picked up some swimbaits from Academy Sports last week. Below are the bass caught on an H2O Sunfish jointed swimbait ($7.99). I highly recommend academy lures in general, but for this price you have no excuse not to start fishing swimbaits. Granted this is not the typical 8" variety that a lot of guys consider true swimbait fishing, but when fishing farm ponds full of bluegill this thing is deadly. My personal best for the first time out with this bait is probably 3-3.5lbs. The other all went 1-2lbs each.

and here's the bait:

http://i26.tinypic.com/24oomyh.jpg

[BigEbass]

Sweet - I have been in the process of contemplating making a cross over to committ to big swimbaits - 6 inch I hear will catch big and small and numbers of decent bass....one guy on here said he caught an 8 inch bass on his 6 inch swimbait.....I have been doing more and more research and I am more and more convinced that these things will produce avg. larger fish and good numbers of them - we will see if it works out for me too - cant wait to get out there and give it a shot - thanks for the testimonial.  How many did you catch?

[BigEbass]

Hey, and we are from the same neck of the woods....I am trying to get ready and buy my first swim bait rod/reel and a few lures to start out with.....will keep these in mind since they produced for you

[bassman31783]

Already starting your big bite push instead of numbers huh?  Great job bud.  Your going to be surprised at how many "small" fish will hit such a "big" lure. 

[gobig]

Nice looking fish. There will be many more to follow. Is that a floating bait or sinking? What ROF options do they offer. I am not to familiar with H2O baits. Keep us updated on how it holds up. That is an amazing price if its not a piece of junk. You have to fish it for a while to really determine the quality. You know... does the paint hold up, does it crack easy if you hit something? Will it handle the weight of a good fish? Most quality swimbaits range from $20 to $50

[gobig]

One of the most important things I forgot to add is will the company stand behind the product if there are issues.

[Clark Stewart]

I've never had any issues with H2O Express baits from Academy, but then again I'm much more likely to lose it on a snag then wear it out. Don't know what ROF stand for (range of forage? hell i don't know) so I can't help you there.

I'm sure a lot of folks will bash H2O products, and surely a lot of them because their second mortgage consists of G-Loomis and Lucky Craft! I've always been impressed with the fit and finish of the lures, and I've spent my fair share on them in the past.

I have several of the deep diving crankbaits they make. The citrus shad caught me over thirty 3lb bass last summer at Guntersville! We were joy fishing and found a grassy ledge that dropped from 4 feet to 15feet in a short distance. We were fishing it when all of a sudden the bass started schooling around it. For the next 3 hours we would catch about 3 or 4 in 10 minutes then they'd submerge for another 15 minutes then start back up. Poor guys up the creek finally came by and asked what we were using. They started cussing because they were fishing the annual Spro (I think) Frog tournament and could only use the topwater frogs!

In short, one citrus shad H2O crankbait caught me over 30 bass with no complaints. Still looks like new in my tackle box.

I can't speak for the customer service with these baits as they're made exclusively for Academy (it's their house brand along with Tournament Choice) but for the price if one breaks I can't complain. I will say the swimbait I bought looks great in the water. It sinks like any other swimbait of comparable weight, not terribly fast, and has rattles. You can fish it super slow, but when I burned it back to me it stayed true in the water instead of starting to roll like a rattle trap will. When I raised my rod tip it would act like a wake bait, and I caught a couple that way.

I caught about 5 on that one swimbait, in about 1.5 hours. When the bite finally slowed I switched to a cotton cordell 1/2oz rattle trap in craw color and caught 2 more. Then I decided to try out a Rage Tail smokin' rooster for good measure. I had it tied on a 7foot spinning rod with a fast tip, which sucked for me. I lost three fish in three casts, one of which hit the lure 3 times on the way back to the bank, but the action of that rod made it too limber for me to set the hook well! The last fish to hit and drop it made a wake like a bass boat near the shore. Almost cried.

On a side note: Is it just me or is it incredibly difficult to set the hook with a spinning outfit? My favorite setup is one that literally washed up on the river bank - a 6'6" tourney special broomstick of a spinning rod with a cheap zebco spinning reel attached! From then on if I buy a spinning rod it has to be incredibly stiff or I can't do anything with it. This rod on this trip was a gift which I will probably swap reels with my tourney special and sentence this rod to a life of crappie fishing!

[SPEEDBEAD.]

Clark, ROF = Rate of Fall

This is usually stated in the number of feet a bait will fall during a 10 second time period.

Huddlestons are rated at 0, 5, 12 and 16 meaning that each bait in that category will fall approximately that many feet in a 10 second frame.

[Clark Stewart]

Yeah you don't get that fancy with h2o baits! Here's a pic of two of em I bought. You'll notice that the bluegill has some paint scratched off at the end of the gill plate so I wouldn't hold out huge hopes for the longevity of this lure, but at 8 bucks you won't jump in the lake when it gets hung either!

[SPEEDBEAD.]

A good lure retriever will often pay for itself the first outing with the more expensive baits.

Also, you'd be surprised what I would do for an $8 bait.  I hate losing ANYTHING!   ;D

[BigEbass]

Who knows, maybe a swimbait that is all paint chipped off will produce more? 

As far as rods, I think that mostly I have read that people desire a more parabolic rod - one that has some give, but with backbone - I watched Bill Siemantel's BBZ videos on his website from some TV shows - it seems reeling and keeping pressure in general is of the utmost importance - a very stiff rod I would imagine would lose more fish than a prabolic ?  Then again I have no clue cause I am still in the academic stages of swimbait fishing

[BigEbass]

Already starting your big bite push instead of numbers huh? Great job bud. Your going to be surprised at how many "small" fish will hit such a "big" lure.

Atter talking with more and more people who really throw these baits regularly, I am convinced they will produce numbers (hopefully) - If it stands up for me too in the next 1-2 years - I am gonna start a campaign - big baits catch many fish....I swear, I was scared away from even thinking about trying these tactics for so long because of the rhetoric of "you will not catch anything day on day and wait for that one bite all day long".  We will see how I do with them here - but hey, gadsen aint from from B'ham, its gotta work for me too

[SPEEDBEAD.]

Already starting your big bite push instead of numbers huh? Great job bud. Your going to be surprised at how many "small" fish will hit such a "big" lure.

Atter talking with more and more people who really throw these baits regularly, I am convinced they will produce numbers (hopefully) - If it stands up for me too in the next 1-2 years - I am gonna start a campaign - big baits catch many fish....I swear, I was scared away from even thinking about trying these tactics for so long because of the rhetoric of "you will not catch anything day on day and wait for that one bite all day long". We will see how I do with them here - but hey, gadsen aint from from B'ham, its gotta work for me too

Big fish eat smaller fish everywhere in the world.

Alabama is far from an exception.

Like was said in the other thread, you will likely gain more knowledge from Bill Murphy than Bill S, but that is for you to decide.  If you're "keeping it in the BBZ" with the rhetoric and mindset, you will likely get some strange looks.

Way too out there for me.  For pete's sake, its only fishing.   ;D

[Clark Stewart]

Already starting your big bite push instead of numbers huh? Great job bud. Your going to be surprised at how many "small" fish will hit such a "big" lure.

Atter talking with more and more people who really throw these baits regularly, I am convinced they will produce numbers (hopefully) - If it stands up for me too in the next 1-2 years - I am gonna start a campaign - big baits catch many fish....I swear, I was scared away from even thinking about trying these tactics for so long because of the rhetoric of "you will not catch anything day on day and wait for that one bite all day long". We will see how I do with them here - but hey, gadsen aint from from B'ham, its gotta work for me too

Big fish eat smaller fish everywhere in the world.

Alabama is far from an exception.

Like was said in the other thread, you will likely gain more knowledge from Bill Murphy than Bill S, but that is for you to decide. If you're "keeping it in the BBZ" with the rhetoric and mindset, you will likely get some strange looks.

Way too out there for me. For pete's sake, its only fishing. ;D

I agree totally. If I learned anything from last year it's that confidence is key - as cliche as that is! I got lots of funny looks from guys when I was chucking a buzzbait in 90 degree weather at high noon, that is until I got at least one or two bites every single time I did it!

[BigEbass]

I presume you all have read BBZ right?  It seemed pretty strait forward to me - why would I be looked at strange? I may be missing something.  I do plan on buying Bill Murphy's book though for sure - I am not yet sure how it is different the Siemantel's advice....BBZ seemed to just basically say, fish any big baits at various depts thoroughly and hold on - and forget everything you "know" - so far it seemed perfectly logical.......wheater it will work for me, that will be a different story

[BigEbass]

That is cool man - my neighbor laughed at me exactly in the same scenario - calm blue bird skies in july - HOT AS HELL - 1pm - started tossing that buzz bait - I caught 10 nice bass, missed 2 or three in about 15 minutes before he tied on the buzz bait?  I welcome people looking at me strange after that

I find Siemantel's socratic type philosopy very attractive personally - but I cannot vouch for his methods as "the most effective" as of yet - but I am an open bookd though - I will certainly read bill murphy's book

[steezy]

A good lure retriever will often pay for itself the first outing with the more expensive baits.

Also, you'd be surprised what I would do for an $8 bait. I hate losing ANYTHING! ;D

SPEED, you must know my friend, went out on the water last week with him and he wouldn't loose any tackle, I bet we spent 20 min positioning the boat so he could retreive a senko that was hung on a log.

I even offer to give him a pack just to give up, I think it was just the challange that drove him.

[Clark Stewart]

I once dove into neely Henry for my cast net that got hung on a tree top in twenty feet of water in April. Nearly drowned that day...

[BigEbass]

My neighbor kicked his rod in the water right next to a brushpile - where he dropped it was about 15 feet - this was in summer - we drpped the anchor down to where he said it fell - I tried to just dive down and get it a few times and failed - I then pulled myself down using the anchor rope - the bottom was so muddy - ended up finding his worm then the rod and reel - I have since put my snorkel mask in my boat for such occassions

WHen I start throwing these swimbaits I will likely be diving for sure the retrieve even an 8 dollar lure - I am cheap too - that money adds up - now for a senko....thats a different story 

[J Francho]

just get a $10 plug knocker.  :

[hookset on 3]

Clarke, first of all, good job on the catching part.

If those H2O lures produce,then I say all the power to them! The bass doesn't know if you spent $8 or $80 on your lure.

There is a lot of peer pressure to fish the "hot new gotta have" baits. It's all marketing.

[BigEbass]

I am new to the swimbait scene, but I have read alot about it at this point.  The lure is simply a tool to achieve your goal - and I am sure there are ones that are cheaper that will do the job.

Now, I am a very frugal person generally and do alot of research to make sure every penny I spend is to my best value.  There have been good arguments made by the people that thrown these really regularly to buy particular brands at times of these big baits - as I understand, each company is different - for example, some will repare or replace the lure if you break it, damage it, or if it is defective in some way. 

On the other hand, there will certainly be "cheaper" lures that will do just fine I would imagine, some that may even hold up to abuse, but I tend to trust the other forums a bit more in talking to the people that throw these quite regularly.  Some of the lures as I understand, people can keep for well over a year or more. 

The question I would have about a particular bait since I am getting into the big bait craze is?  How much does it cost?  Does it have good hooks, how does it run in the water?  How does it hold up to repeated usage? Has it worked for people well?

Purely considering cost: 

If an 8 dollar lure is good for 15 fishing trips before something falls off, then that costs 8/15 = 0.53.....if I spend 50 bucks on a big bait and it lasts me 50 trips - 50/50 = 1.0 - if it lasts 200 trips 50/200 = 0.25.

I have completely made up these numbers and have no real idea about how these baits hold up?  But I keep an open mind either way and will look more into this myself.  I am sure there are no 100% truths about this matter - I am certain that there are baits out there that are worth the investment which will over time save the money and possibly provide better results, while there may be "cheaper" alternatives perhaps that will get the same end result? Again, I am not sure, and am researching it more myself.

Then there is the issue of experience with big baits.  I found a site called swimbaitnation.com - not sure of any bias from this site, but it has open reviews of lures and people weigh in with their experience.  For new people throwing these "true big baits" - the 8 and 10 inchers and alike - I read it can be intimidating at first and people may lose confidence....if I am throwing one of these big momas, I personally would like re-assurance from the swimbait community at large that they have routinely produced - that way if I am not catching as a NewB out there, it likely is due to my location and presentation that needs to be changed and not pigeonholing it on the lure......

I will at this point not rule anything out from cheaper lures to more expensive ones - I am sure sometimes it very well may be worth the investment and other times perhaps not as much??  I am still unsure myself - but I avoid any generalizations -

But definately keep us informed on your lure you are using - you are already letting us know that it catches fish - see if it holds up now and get back to us!

[Luke at Gouldsboro]

nice fish. good job!!!

[gobig]

Very well said BigE.