How did you get into swimbait fishing?

[Scottholzhauer]

As the title says, how did you get into throwing big baits? I wanna hear peoples stories.

[JoshPerkins802]

I bought a bull shad...... found this website, prowled it for a while and became addicted. I was very efficient being a regular bass angler, i caught a ton of fish and loved every second of it. But when i felt a 5+ on my line, it was a totally different story. So i sold all my conventional gear, made an SU account and the rest is history. I wouldn't even look back, just knowing what could come on my next cast is enough of a rush for me. Plus i feel like Swimbait anglers are the elite. The few, the dedicated and the broke.

[Scottholzhauer]

I can relate with the rush of not knowing what could be coming the next cast, and i definitely can relate about the broke part hahah

[bassbass]

I fished regular tackle for many many years and would catch between 1,000 and 1,250 bass a season, but only 2 to 4 of them would be over 5 pounds. I have many years documented with what pond, water and air temp, bait, color of bait, and time of day.

 

Needed a change, started researching big baits. Got a Hudd, 3:16 FS shad, and a Pats. At fish I was like these are not going to catch fish. Then added Punkers, Hyper Herrings and soooooo on. I think I have a problem buying baits.

 

First year when I was in RI I had 15 fish over 5 pounds second year i got my RI PB of 6lbs2oz. Which I thought was a monster.

 

First year in FL I had 41 fish over 5 pounds and a new PB of 10lb2oz. and haven't looked back. But the older I get the more the body hurts after throwing these baits.

 

One advise I can give to the people just starting out. You only need a couple of baits to fish and buy baits you can afford. There are many great baits out there that don't cost an arm and leg. Remember life always throws you curve balls and you always need money for things that come up, this way you don't have to sell your baits to pay for it. I go by this rule, you should be able to cast off every bait you own and your family will still eat.

[Scottholzhauer]

Admitting you have a problem is the first step

[evans_usmc69]

Got out of the marines in 2006 and my dad got me back addicted to fishing and following bassmasters. 2007 clear lake bass tourney where Steve Kennedy won got me throwing swimbaits and then Matt Peters made me commit to them when he made STE in my backyard.

[danthefisherman]

I saw a Castaic boot tail trout at Walmart and thought it looked cool...the rest is history

[basssavage24/7]

Started fishing bass on off as a kid read about a lot of California guys throwing big bait here and there in articles so it was always in the back of my mind but thought I had no business throwing big bait in Idaho.

I started fishing for trout throwing the biggest jerkbait and paddle tails they sold at my store then I caught a 22in rainbow trout on a 5 and 1/2 in jerkbait super skinny too, and down its throat was a 10 in Whitefish caught it during the fall that's what I knew for sure big bait big fish.

[R8R]

Yeah I remember seeing bassmaster clear lake in 2007, just like Travis said. I remember after that basstrix swimbaits were hard to find and huddleston were crazy expensive because of that tourney. Finally able to get a couple of hudds from Waltons Pond. But couldn't throw the hudd because didn't have a rod. Ordered my first rod from Ben of LDC, took me almost a year and got my hudd fish that went 8.1 lbs then couple months later got a 7 and some change on a sixty eight. From that moment on I knew that swimbait fishing is what I wanted to do. Then I got a deps 250, and Ben told me to throw that, and that bait was such a great bait which caught some of the biggest fish I ever caught.

[dheath2]

Got back into fishing right after college (teenage years lent themselves to sports and girls).  Discovered swimbaits summer 2012 (went active duty that fall)...catching fish on a senko got old.  Found Matt Peters on YouTube while he was still going strong with it that summer too, Matt Allen was getting started as well.  Threw the grass minnow and hudd shad and started catching the same fish.  Picked up a 6" Hudd around the same time I found the underground...you guys got me to put my conventional gear away and this forum taught me how to actually fish them.  And that was from just lurking and soaking up what this site has to offer.  Don Moorman was active on the site then.  Now I'm still active duty with a wife, son and a boat and my swimbait collection dwarfs everything else in my tackle collection. 

[biggfeast]

I fished for trout growing up in San Diego, went off to college to Iowa and got into bass fishing pretty heavy.

Graduated from college and moved back home to CA and got into the saltwater scene more catching Spotted Bay Bass with Warbaits/Big Hammers.

Me researching about Warbaitas and Big Hammers made me come across a Butch Brown video on YouTube and the rest is history lol.

[Jesse74]

Seen a AC Minnow at a local tackle shop, bought it and tied it on an old abu round reel and ugly stick i used for stripers then seen some big followers and was hooked. Bought a 8' lunker punker then the Big Bait Posse video came out and thats all i could think about....

[bigpoppabass]

Meeting famous sticks Roy leva and Dave L, and the Gman at ma sports expo where fish and game gave out pin awards. No secrets with these guys they put their time in. They said to get a slammer. Then I threw my first one for 9 months without a hit. This slammer is now my all time best producer. I was using too flexible a rod in the beginning and not getting the right action....it took me 10 years to get a hudd fish. Same deal getting right rig is key.

[mcaetano2905]

I started in 2003 or 2004 because I got my PB (still my PB today) in 2002 on a spinnerbait and I wanted to catch more bass like that and bigger. I started to read articles from Bill Siemantel, Mike Long, Fish Chris Wolfgram (he had a great website about trophy bass fishing), Chuck Bauer ( http://www.worldrecordbassfishing.com/ ), Rob Belloni ( http://www.calfishing.com/ ), and watched the Bodacious Bass video from Bob Crupi and Dan Kadota, read the Big Bass Magic book by Doug Hannon (and much later in Pursuit of Giant Bass by Bill Murphy and Big Bass Zone by Bill Siemantel). The Tactical Bassin blog and youtube channel helped a lot too! I follow it since the beginning.

 

The first swimbaits I think I bought were an Optimum 6" "suspending" boot tail swimbait and a Bass Pro Shops 4.5" swimbait. Today, I can say I caught more bass over 2 lbs on those 2 baits than any other swimbait I've ever had, and all just in one year. But although I've caught less bass on it, I caught bigger bass on a S-Waver 168 than on those baits including the bass I have in my picture which was really close to my PB.

[kscatman76]

• I read "sow belly" about 10 times.....not kidding, then I bought Southern Trout Eaters and watched it about 10 times.  At that point I had enough and ordered what I thought was an "expensive" bait......a Hudd 68.  Took it out and fished a jig for a bit, all the sudden a shad flicked on the surface, my bro says throw that Hudd over there.  I didn't.....it flicked again, so I pick the Hudd up 1st cast of my life with a swimbait and hook an 8+....I'm throwing it on a Medium heavy rod, cause I don't know any better, it comes un hooked at the boat, I look at him and said can you believe this as I make my second cast ever and BAM I hook and land a 7.2 pounder.  First 2 casts with a swimbait and I hook an 8+ and then land a 7.2, in freaking Kansas of all places........dude can you say screwed?   That will get in your head and bank account.  I'm forever lost.  I still throw regular stuff on occasion and fish a tournament here and there on occasion but I find that I fish and think about bigger baits all the time.  The rush of something eating a big swimbait is irreplaceable in fishing in my opinion.