What is your definition of a swimbait?

[Jon P]

A "swimbait" is any bait that emulates the natural movement of a fish. Be it with joints, a soft tail, or any other variant. but to call this sport "swimbait fishing" is a misnomer. It would be more apt to call it "big-bait" fishing as the Japanese do. An inch long paddle tail counts as a swimbait, as are Girons, Baby BullShads and their ilk. But we don't fish these baits solely because they qualify as swimbaits. We are trophy hunters. We fish big baits, for big bites, and big fish. More often than not our big baits are swimbaits as the need for realism is great when fishing the big bait. But to solely reserve your trophy hunting to a singular classification of big baits is to willingly choose a massive handicap in your bass fishing repertoire. 

[dqb]

1. Letter of the law: Power fishing / horizontal presentations = swimbait fishing

2. Spirit of the law: threshold 1oz+ baits that require special gear to throw

3. My interpretation of the law: Whenever an old timer asks me if I’m fishing for sharks

[Bassmann86]

I consider any paddletail straight retrieve bait from 2” and up a swimbait. But what’s considered a big bait “swimbait” is any bait over 1.5oz and requires specific gear to throw. 

[Louisiana swimbait guy]

only  reason i say 4 inch is because of the 5 inch bull shad. 

[Jimmy King]

I love the "big bait" to be from 7 inches~

[..rensheng]

For me it is about 0.9-1.8oz, a hard bait that imitates the natural swimming motion of a forage species