What are the best swim-bait’s for Bass? Well that answer depends on where you are fishing.If you are fishing around grass you may not want a swim bait with an exposed hook. Which means you would fishing something that is soft plastic. If you are fishing in open water and a lake with herring in it you may want to fish something mechanical with sections to it. This will also include treble hooks and help you hook with the fish a little better. Since I am from Lake Lanier I will get to my favorite swim-bait and one of my favorite lures of all time.
If you do not believe me watch this video down below of me catching all my fish on this bait just two weeks ago.
My personal favorite and absolutely dynamite on Lake Lanier is the Sebile Magic Swimmer. If you do not believe me watch this video down below of me catching all my fish on this bait just two weeks ago.
How to Fish It!!!
Soooo many times anglers just cast a bait out and reel it in. Sometimes that is ok but most of the times you have to figure out a cadence that the fish like and you will get a lot more bites. On this particular day a couple weeks ago from the video the fish wanted me to reel it and pause it. Sometimes the pause was five seconds or more and they would hit this bad boy on the fall. The most interesting part of this was I noticed fish following the Sebile Magic Swimmer to the boat and I would pull it out of the water and they would swim off of course. So I started pausing the lure right by the boat and I was literally watching the bait get hammered right by the boat. If you fish from the bank or on land try standing back from the bank a little bit and try pausing the bait about 10 feet from the bank. This same tactic works well with crank baits, spinner baits, jerk baits etc…. Also when you feel a bite try kneeling and reeling.
The fish do see you and you will a lot of times get bites closer to the boat or bank when you get out of sight. Sometimes the fish want this thing reeled in super fast and sometimes they want it super slow. It is your job to experiment and see which way works the best. They have different sizes also so you may want to watch and see what they are feeding on and try and match the hatch. If your lake has a herring population than this bait is a good bet. What color should I use??I have always found that on days where it is over cast that the color pictured above (white) works great. If it is very sunny out then I would try this color or even maybe a chrome type color. Also something you will have to experiment with.
What Line, Rod and Reel?
Wow you guys sure do ask a lot of great questions. I always have Fluorocarbon tied directly to the lure. If you spool your reel with all Fluorocarbon than I recommend using in 12-15 lb test. If you want to spool your bait caster with braid I love using this and anything from 12-15lb test will work just fine as long as you use a double uni-knot to connect the braid to your fluorocarbon. I use this a lot more so I am not spending soo much money on fluorocarbon. You can honestly leave braid on your reels for two years and not have any problems.
Hook’d on Bassin loves to fish, but we also love to save money!!! Any bait caster will do but I love the Quantum reels because of their reliability for Bass fishing. I would pair this with a 7 foot rod with a fast action tip. I would pair this with a 7 foot rod with a fast action tip. Yes there are other swim baits. Some very good ones actually. Another one I absolutely love is the Baby Bull Shad. This thing has some amazing action!!!
Fishing Structure and Grass with Swim Baits!!
This can be an awesome way to catch a bass. If you are targeting some nice Largemouth Bass on Lake Champlain, Lake Guntersville, or even in the Lone Star state on Lake Fork you may want to fish a weedless presentation. A swim bait fished right over the top of submerged grass can be an excellent way to catch your Personal best. For this style of fishing you may be able to get away with fishing straight braid to the swim bait. In fact whenever I fished Lake Okeechobee I tied on a Soft Plastic swim Bait in Gold and used just braid and caught fish on this tactic all day swimming it through the grass. Depending on the size of the swim bait will obviously be your deciding factor for hook size. I like to have a little weight added to my hooks for more casting distance such as this HOOK right here. In fact in Lake Okeechobee I would only use braid and 50lb test for that matter. That lake grows the big fish and you will need that paired with heavy action rod over 7 foot long to get those big bass out of the grass.
Small Swim Baits Need Love Too!!
I travel to lake St. Clair in Michigan at least once a year and a swim bait rigged with a jig head paired with this swim bait can be absolutely deadly.
You can crawl this bait on the bottom or swim it. This bait will help you catch some mega spots on lake Lanier or some Giant Small mouth up north on Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair also. Do not be afraid to work this bait on the bottom and crawl it a long. If you are fishing a rock pile try your best to make contact with that rock pile to get bites.
Side note: If you see pictures of these baits on this blog those are actual links that will take you right to the product for purchase. Just click on the picture if it is something you are interested in purchasing. I do have an amazon affiliate account so you will help me out. If not you still know what to buy when the time is right.
Setting the Hook!!
Listen Hook’d on Bassiac’s we can’t rip on every little tick we feel when we get bites on any of the swim baits listed above. A lot of times you will feel the bass slapping at your lure. Wait until you feel the weight and then set the hook. If you are using one with treble hooks a lot of time the trebles will do the work. If you are using the weedless variety you may need to set the hook into them a little better once you feel the weight and the fish load up. Also when reeling the fish in make sure you NEVER ever give them any slack and keep a good bend in the rod at all times. Sometimes just the pressure is keeping the fish on. Keep it tight all the way to the boat. A lot of times that hook will come out as soon as it gets in the net. Remember Swim Bait fishing works from your bass boat, kayak fishing, bank fishing or river fishing. So do not be afraid to try it. Swim baits are known to catch BIG Bass!! Send us a picture of your big swim bait bass, we would love to see them.
Good luck out there everyone and Tight Lines!!
H.O.B.
This Post Has One Comment
Hard body models are usually rigged with treble hooks, so they aren’t very weedless at all. If you throw one into light grass cover, you can rip it through, but in thick weeds, a hard body swimbait is probably not the way to go. For as much as these lures cost, most anglers would hate to see one get snagged with no chance of recovery. Some models of hard body swimbaits feature a lip like those found on crankbaits to drive the bait down to its running depth and create the desired swimming motion. Other designs are weighted, and shaped so they don’t require a lip to achieve the right presentation. Such baits commonly have a jointed body that adds to the swimming action during the retrieve, and they can feature one joint in the middle (single-jointed) or many joints (multi-jointed). In fact, the majority of hardbody swimbaits on the market feature at least one joint somewhere along the body of the bait.
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