Your story behind fishing swimbaits

[swimbaitrookie]

Sometimes I wish I'd never got started down this path .  

[swimbaitrookie]

HI, my name is James and I'm a swimbait addict...

It started in late 2009 for me when a friend started using the Storm Wildeye baits fishing around some docks on my favorite East Tx lake.  He caught an 11.77 doing that so that really got my attention!  I caught a couple on that bait that year but wanted something weedless in a bluegill profile and in 2010 found a little bait called the Triple J.  I paid $10/each for them - couldn't believe I would pay that much for a soft plastic bait!  I finally decided to give it a try and on my first cast with the bait, this piggy bit!  Pretty much sealed the deal for me

 

[ddow229]

I am a total noob to the Swimbait Culture and Addiction. I fish out of a kayak and have limited success on bass. I had been fishing this one stretch of a lake and caught one 13" and was pretty pleased with myself when a guy I sorta know came by and asked how fishing was going., I said slow. He chucked out a bait and on his second cast dredged up a 21". Blue gill patterns he said. Then throw this monstrous bait out again. I was like what the hell is that? Sure enough a big ole swimbait. So I have invested in an entry level rod and reel, a couple of S Wavers, a big net and some time. I have some 6-9 inch plastics as well. I just need to put the time in now.

[bassmaster1]

I guess the first swimbait I caught a fish on was a homemade 2 piece that would dive probably 10ft. Caught my pb pike at the time on it and had a big bass on the next cast that threw it. That got me into throwing big baits. 
My first bought ones were probably back when tackle warehouse used to sell blemished lunker punkers. And then from trading on the swimbait nation forum way back in the day lol. 
Look at that bad boy 

[LunkerswithLandon]

The first fish I caught on a big swimbait was a two and a half pounder on a gratt baits Magic Mouse that is wood (it is an older model) now they sell plastic or resin poured ones. I was fishing with it for the first time on one of my jig rods that I had just to see the action and got a blow up followed by a fish. The lake is super duper pressured and you normally catch one fish that is below one pound. I was surprised to catch the fish out of that lake because it is so pressured. It is still the biggest fish I have seen caught out of there to this day. I pretty much only throw big swimbaits at that lake now because the fish don’t see them at all there so I feel like I have an advantage. After that I got a Dobyns fury 806 and a Daiwa Lexa WN 300 to throw big swimbaits. 

[NicePizzaBass]

Started putting bigger trailers on the biggest swim jigs I could find and immediately was catching more quality fish out of all my spots. The fact they were biting much bigger profiled baits made the switch to swimbaits that much easier. My first official swimbait (WCZ citizen) fish was only about 2# but you’d think I caught a DD. They’ve already helped me break my PB and I’ve caught the best fish out of my spots since. I’ll occasionally throw a frog, buzzbait or flip a jig got all of ten minutes because all I’m thinking of is the swimbait while doing so I know it’s not going anywhere even with the dismal year I’ve had so far.

Edited July 28, 2020 by VTGRADE-A

[browniez]

Powerbait.

My father used to take me to trout fish at a lake with powerbait. We used to catch great rainbow trout there.

One day (I was probably 12) we released a 14-15 inch rainbow at the dam. Immediately got smoked by the largest bass (to this day) I’ve ever seen. He swam away with the last few inches sticking out like a cigar.

It took more than a decade to get into swimbaits. That memory always fueled me.

As far as a swimbait an experience watching a shoal bass smash my first bullshad in a shoal did it.

[bigpoppabass]

It was an easy transition for me. I was into fishing big musky lures for stocked tigers. Suick lures in cold water caught bass. Luv reading all of the books during the winter lull when there is no hard ice yet.....bass sbs are different tho because lm like slower lures. So I had to start a new collection. 

[Mossypumpkin]

Super cool stories! I was always into bigger baits...7” senkos, giant lipless cranks. That morphed into big topwater like amazon rippers and wood choppers. Started tossing Storm and tsunami paddle tails around 2004 and caught my first swimbait fish on a 5” storm. Didn’t have any specific bait that gave me a kick in the pants, but the realprey alewive played a big part. I went days without bites like any beginner and being in Maine got laughed at a lot. But I knew. Over the next many years swimbaits faded in and out in my arsenal and I sold almost all my big baits and gear, but kept a slammer, 6” bbz and some 6” hudds. Fast forward to 2012 when hurricane sandy came thru. I got to the pond one day and it was super windy and drizzle. I thought it looked good for a swimbait. Proceeded to smash solid fish on my big stuff. The real kick was that I’d pick up a jig and crankbait and whack 2.5s. Go back to the swimbait and they became 3.5s. Went back and forth all day and I was convinced. Goes to show that some of those days you’re having a blast smashing fish on a jig, you could be smashing bigger fish on a swimbait. Shortly thereafter, made the switch to 98% swimbaits. Now I don’t own any conventional tackle and I don’t miss it one bit. Since switching, broke my Pb twice, caught my best 5 bag(26lbs even), had my best big fish seasons of fish over 5lbs(30 and 25) and caught 6 fish over 7lbs compared to 2 over the previous MANY years. 

[Jinxd12]

I moved to Az from New England where we chased small mouth, and pickerel. Grew up poor so we would catch frogs, and worms and use those. Got older bought nicer stuff, then moved to Az.

Some Big lakes here and didn't know you could fish urban spots til about 3 years ago, a couple around my house I seen a dude chucking a huge bait. Went and asked and he let me give it a try on his setup. Ended up being a Deps 250 on a LDC rod. ish was amazing compared to stick worms and jigs!

Went home told the wife I have a new hobby, she still doesn't understand why going fishing and not catching any fish is fun.

I told her, no more random cars in the garage for months! Now just random bait packages every week!

[dominioncaster]

I started to get bored with conventional tackle and moved to fishing more saltwater. Once I had kids, making runs to the ocean was more difficult so I started fishing freshwater again. Asked on a saltwater board if anyone knew a good bluegill bait and some posted a mattlures hardgill. Once I saw it, I was hooked. Bought a Hudd, Slammer and Hardgill. Still fish all of those baits regularly. 

[EcBasser]

On 7/26/2020 at 9:49 PM, tybo jones said:

Started in 09 mostly throwing slammers out of a kayak. Back in the day came across New England Fishing and they had a Swimbait forum (Swimbait Anonymous). Guys in New England catching 9’s on swimbaits and sharing a ton of info. Learned a lot over there. 

then made the stop by Bills Bait and Tackle which was in seekonk at the time. Bill Q had a great little tackle shop but he also sold Swimbait stuff., which on the east coast was a pretty big deal. He had a big glass case full of his stuff, the good stuff. Very knowledgeable guy. He would let you check out stuff and talk shop for days. Got my first combo there. St. Croix mojo and a Cardiff 301 and 9” perch slammer. 

some those first blowups on that slammer changed my mindset about fishing. The mindset of quality fish over numbers. Just looking for that one bite with big baits was intriguing and got me hooked. 
 

IMHO Bills Bait and Tackle brought swimbaits to New England. I live 15 minutes from his shop in Seekonk ,Mass. that was where I had my first look at those expensive swimbaits. He was a very knowledgeable fisherman before swimbaits and more knowledgeable after. Living so close to his shop I was in and out of there on a weekly basis..

For me it started in 2005.  My buddy bought an OG Rago rat. They were made of wood , I believe , and had a little round button on the bottom. I remember him fishing in the back of my canoe ,the water was fairly flat, and as I watched the rat wiggling past some lillypads  I witnessed my first “toilet flush”. The water opened up and the rat disappeared. It was a nice chunky 4.5 lb bass. I WAS HOOKED. My first swimbait was a 9 in. Slammer , Light Trout dated 05/2005, that year I broke my PB 3 times with that bait. The last time was a 6lb 4 oz lm. The first time I broke 6. Then the collection grew. Slammers, Rago rats ,Hudds , Woodtails, Muits, Matt’s, 316’s, Pats etc....always looking for that one big bite. 
 

 

 

[xxlbass]

prob early 2k’s the Osprey Talon inline swimbait got it all started and follow that with ms slammer.  Both proven baits

[ddow229]

2 hours ago, Mossypumpkin said:

Super cool stories! I was always into bigger baits...7” senkos, giant lipless cranks. That morphed into big topwater like amazon rippers and wood choppers. Started tossing Storm and tsunami paddle tails around 2004 and caught my first swimbait fish on a 5” storm. Didn’t have any specific bait that gave me a kick in the pants, but the realprey alewive played a big part. I went days without bites like any beginner and being in Maine got laughed at a lot. But I knew. Over the next many years swimbaits faded in and out in my arsenal and I sold almost all my big baits and gear, but kept a slammer, 6” bbz and some 6” hudds. Fast forward to 2012 when hurricane sandy came thru. I got to the pond one day and it was super windy and drizzle. I thought it looked good for a swimbait. Proceeded to smash solid fish on my big stuff. The real kick was that I’d pick up a jig and crankbait and whack 2.5s. Go back to the swimbait and they became 3.5s. Went back and forth all day and I was convinced. Goes to show that some of those days you’re having a blast smashing fish on a jig, you could be smashing bigger fish on a swimbait. Shortly thereafter, made the switch to 98% swimbaits. Now I don’t own any conventional tackle and I don’t miss it one bit. Since switching, broke my Pb twice, caught my best 5 bag(26lbs even), had my best big fish seasons of fish over 5lbs(30 and 25) and caught 6 fish over 7lbs compared to 2 over the previous MANY years. 

I used to fly fish some of the lakes in the Midcoast Maine area that were top bass producers with salt water flies like Lefty's Deceivers and Popovs and monstrous Wooly Buggers and would catch nice bass. I am surprised I never made that connection of big flies, big fish is the same as big lures, big fish before and instead went to the little poppers and crankbaits like everyone else. 

d

[El_Weruso]

I still don't remember how i got into swimbaits or even how i got into fishing. I wish i got into it earlier in life than i did (20years old or so), i believe i found my dads OLD tackle box and just wanted to try it out. Did a lot of pier fishing catching small barred sand bass and stingrays which turned into fishing bays for bass/bonito/barracuda. Later on i started fishing conventional for largemouth and enjoyed watching the fish eat in clear water as opposed to salt. But i believe swimbait fishing started when i purchased one of those cheap multi joint bluegill baits on ebay for 7-10$ and caught a 1-2lb bass that was eating bluegill at the shore (First Pic). Later on i bought a cheap ebay trout glide bait and caught another decent fish (I laid the rod down and the bait was left in the water when the fish ate it just suspending there! Almost took my cheap 50$ basspro setup in the water haha 2nd pic) then i purchased a black dog G2 shellcracker which for 25$ was a lot to me at the time and must of caught 5-6 fish one day it was warm with a light drizzle and that did it for me (3rd pic). I've been selling my stuff now as i'm moving towards fishing my own stuff. I have so many baits from my thread i posted with various swimbaits i made and having caught fish on my baits i'm building confidence in my own stuff now.

Edited July 28, 2020 by El_Weruso