is the book "in pursuit of giant bass" by bill murphy a good read for swimbaiters

[Chazzy]

just wondering if anyone has read it and if it is good for swim baiters

[FishDr]

I think it's a good read - it doesn't focus on swimbait fishing but you can definitely glean information that you can apply to the swimbait game.

[mcaetano2905]

I have Doug Hannon's "Big Bass Magic", Bill Siemantel's "Big Bass Zone" and Bill Murphy's "In Pursuit of Giant Bass". You will learn a lot of things from all these books that will help you catch big bass on swimbaits. If you fish in Florida or a lot of shallow weedy lakes then Big Bass Magic will be really nice for you. For all other types of lakes Bill Murphy's book is the better choice and is by far my favorite fishing book. It's the one that has helped me the most. Bill Siemantel's book is a close second and most of the information there is focused on swimbaits. Bill Murphy's book, in my opinion is the book that makes a better job at teaching you big bass locations. Bill Siemantel's book teaches you a lot of specifics about swimbait fishing. I caught my PB la week ago (after 18 years of trying) and I found the fish location by applying what I learned from Bill Murphy's book, about subliminal features next to obvious spots on a good looking structure... In Pursuit of Giant Bass is a must read if you want to catch big bass, regardless of technique. You can fish a hudd on the bottom slowly and apply most of the tactics he uses for stitching a worm or fishing a jig on the bottom with that hudd... You can fish a swimbait at a medium speed or fast using his tactics for fishing crankbaits, spinnerbaits and big rapalas... You can even learn something from the sections about live bait fishing...

[PKNNH]

7 hours ago, mcaetano2905 said:

Bill Siemantel's book is a close second and most of the information there is focused on swimbaits.

Listened to a couple podcasts with him and he is just a walking library of information! He has so many great concepts and theories. 

[bassbass]

Most of the better swimbaiters mastered bass fishing in general and then used that but only with bigger baits. The fish don' t change because someone is using a different bait.

[CaliBassin]

5 minutes ago, bassbass said:

Most of the better swimbaiters mastered bass fishing in general and then used that but only with bigger baits. The fish don' t change because someone is using a different bait.

Straight up facts... just like any sport. Fundamentals first.

Edited February 25, 2020 by CaliBassin

[NEbucketmouth19]

On 2/25/2020 at 3:47 PM, bassbass said:

Most of the better swimbaiters mastered bass fishing in general and then used that but only with bigger baits. The fish don' t change because someone is using a different bait.

Definitely one of the reasons I haven't gone 100% big baits. I'm still young and feel I have a LOT to learn still and feel if I only fished swimbaits I'd be doing myself a disservice in learning about bass in general. 

[waynem]

On 2/25/2020 at 3:47 PM, bassbass said:

Most of the better swimbaiters mastered bass fishing in general and then used that but only with bigger baits. The fish don' t change because someone is using a different bait.

My advice for a young fisherman would be:

1) Start with conventional baits for a few seasons.  You will get more bites, and that will make it easier to figure out bass habits and behavior.

2) Join a local bass club.  There's no better motivation to learn new techniques than to have your ass soundly beaten in a tournament. Its very easy to think "they just weren't hitting today" but when someone pulls into the weigh-in with a big bag you realize you didn't figure things out correctly.

Once you get that experience under your belt, switching to big baits will be a lot more productive.

[bassturds]

On 2/25/2020 at 1:23 PM, PKNNH said:

Listened to a couple podcasts with him and he is just a walking library of information! He has so many great concepts and theories. 

What are good bass fishing podcasts? 

[PKNNH]

1 hour ago, bassturds said:

What are good bass fishing podcasts? 

I mainly listen to "Cast and Crank podcast".

[bassturds]

Awesome thank you!