Namsu11

Absolutely epic bluegill. The bluegill I catch are the size of the lure.

Also, I wanted to throw this out there for any other CO Swimbaiters (or anyone looking for a case to throw big baits) for what it's worth: In researching Pueblo Reservoir stockings and samplings over the past years on the CDOW website. The Division of Wildlife (DOW) used to stock 6" rainbow trout exclusively in the spring out of the South Marina. However, whenever they sampled either at the end of the fishing season or the following year, they always found next to no rainbow trout present. They attribute this to heavy predation from the multiple predatory species in the reservoir. This isn't surprising because this reservoir has smatterings of largemouth, spotted bass, smallmouth, wipers, catfish (blues, channels, flatheads), walleye, and maybe others I'm forgetting? So what did the DOW do? They started stocking 8" rainbow trout instead. To their surprise (and what hopefully we already believe as swimbait fisherman), they came up with the same sampling results year over year--little to no rainbow trout. As a side note, I'm aware that anglers keeping rainbow trout for the pan also is a factor here, but in my opinion a smaller factor than predation. So now, fast-forward to 2017, and they stock (and possibly have been for the past couple years, I'm at work and don't have time to find my sources on the DOW site again) 10" rainbow trout every spring! There thought process is that 10" should actually be large enough to avoid a lot of predation the 6" and 8" rainbows were experiencing in hopes to have a sustainable, albeit small, population of rainbow trout for anglers to enjoy. So whenever I look at my 8" trout-like swimbaits and have that nagging thought in the back of my mind "this has to be too big of a lure..." I try to remind myself that the 8" trout just weren't making it out there in the big scary water and the DOW was forced to introduce even bigger 10"ers. Hope this is informative for someone out there! Feel free to message me or ask any questions about Pueblo Reservoir as that is my main area of focus and has been for a few years. It's only been in 2017 that I transitioned over to throwing the big baits there though.

Whompuscat658, AWESOME walleye brother man! I'm sure that made all the fishless trips (hopefully not too many) worth it! I live in Colorado also and started fishing big swimbaits seriously this past year (2017). My main stomping grounds though is Pueblo Reservoir due to where I live. In October, I caught a 27.5 inch walleye that weighed 5lbs 13 oz. on a 6" BBZ sinking in rainbow trout pattern. The weekend prior to that, I was at a BassPro shop and there was a guide there in the fishing section with a display table. I started talking to him about Pueblo, and it was his opinion that most of the bigger fish like this were no longer present. Honestly, it's hard to argue because I've had days in June when I can go out and catch 50 small male walleyes on flats after the spawn, but they all are sub 16". You'd think you could find 1 large one. However, after about a dozen or so fishless trips throwing big swimbaits (8" BBZ, 6"BBZ, Triple Trout, and Savage Gear Line Thru) I finally landed the big one. Like you said, goes to show the allure of the big baits. This was a fish of a lifetime for me but I'm hoping to make it a "regular" occurrence. When I saw how little the 6"BBZ looked inside that walleye's mouth, it really gave me confidence as to how much they can really eat! I'm throwing the 8" swimbaits a lot more this year. I'm like FishDr., I just keep telling my wife that the next trip will be when I catch the big one again. Haha. FishDr., have you ever fished your swimbaits as far south as Pueblo Reservoir? I made it to the reservoir about 20 times total in 2017, and I was the only one I ever saw fishing bigger baits. However, I'm confident there are big fish in there from bass, wiper, flathead, walleye. That reservoir has a lot of variety, just have to sort through a lot of small fish to get to the big ones...which is what I'm doing simply by throwing the big baits.

Great footage! Also...those comments...

Luv-2-Catch'em, this makes me think back to conventional fishing with topwaters such as jitterbugs, buzzbaits, torpedos, etc. I know with those types of lures, whenever I get strikes but no hook-up, I have experienced the beset results when I employ a straight, steady retrieve back. So, I answer "B." Again, just my experience. I've always thought that if this were to happen with a real baitfish, mammal, lizard, etc., that the prey would naturally want to flee, therefore swimming off to safety. I try to keep this same mindset when throwing big wakebaits, even though I haven't experienced a blow-up yet on the big baits. Hopefully this is helpful.

So a little background for the story. I first learned about big swimbaits through KeepinItReelFishing and his Swimbaiting the Northeast Series. Last winter, I purchased my first dedicated setup and a handful of baits. As a Colorado angler, I mainly fish rocky reservoirs with deep water access and it is fairly easy to find good points, secondary points, flats adjacent to deep water, and bluff walls. Keep in mind I am a shore fisherman (not enough $$ for a kayak yet). Having a wife and 2 small kids, my time on the water this year has been limited to about 10 trips, and for 4 of those trips I've thrown only the big swimbaits with no followers or landed fish. So, this past Friday night I went out around 6:00pm, used my topographic map, and decided to fish a large cove where the shoreline was made up of 40 foot(ish) cliffs. In looking for actual ways down to the water, I found a very small (around 20 feet of shoreline) area where it was more gradual and the composition was more like gravel. I noticed on one side of this the composition changed abruptly to larger rocks, so I started tossing my Savage Gear 8' line thru (slow sink) along what I judged to be where the composition changed in the water. On my 3rd cast, on a slow retrieve, I saw the gold. I estimate a 4 lb largemouth followed my lure literally to my feet before taking off. (in my excitement I even tried to do a figure 8 like with Muskie.) I can tell you just seeing that was enough to help my confidence soar. I feel like I identified a high percentage spot, used a lure that he was interested in, and enticed a follow. I know a 4lb bass isn't large by any means, but I believe for the reservoir I'm fishing that is a big largemouth. Hopefully this helps anyone out there know that persistence pays off, and helps keep you encouraged if it's been a while without seeing any fish. I'll be going back there soon, and I will post pictures when I catch it! (note my confident tone, ha).

I have 2 girls myself both younger. Seeing this is awesome. I am hoping at least one of them will want to go fishing with their ol' man. Man I would love that.

Banjo Minnow.

Savage Gear Line Thru Trout in either 6" or 8". Savage Gear 3D Rad Rat. MS Slammer. Huddleston Deluxe.

I apologize if this isn't the correct place to ask for others' opinions on this bait. I recently bought the Savage Gear 3D Rad Rat in brown, the 11.75" (total) size including the tail. I see a lot of love for rat baits on here. However, I tried searching and couldn't find anything specifically about this lure. As far as rat baits go, this, in my opinion, is as realistic as it gets. I've fished it on one outing so far for about a couple of hours, but didn't get bit. The swimming action is very fluid, and it's a silent bait which I prefer. Also, I like that it has 2 spots to tie to. If you tie to the bottom line tie, it is a true wake bait. If you tie it to the upper line tie, it functions like a subsurface bait and swims down roughly 2 feet. It's a very versatile bait and looks the part. How about you? Any experience with this? Have you stuck a hog on it yet?

While I agree with what's been posted so far, one of the big things I always make sure to bring with me is goof snack food and a Gatorade!

What a catch! Congratulations!

Do you guys remember the days when losing a Strike King 1.5 Squarebill was devastating at around $7.00 per lure...yeah...

Bigpoppabass, good point. I know I have personally had a lot of success on white buzzbaits in the 1/4 oz to 1/2 oz. range ever since I started fishing when I was 7 or 8.

FishDr and Mossypumpkin....those are huge smallmouth! Ok, I am officially beyond any shadow of a doubt for throwing the big baits for smallies. I truly didn't know smallmouth would hit some of those bigger 8" + baits. Before I started throwing swimbaits, I thought a Zoom Super Fluke was big.