Is it just me, or are more people swimbaiting?

[B_larkin3]

I’ve seen lots of people try it and give it up fast. Some people don’t want to grind, rather throw a senko or a keitech. It will grow in popularity but plateau. Not everyone wants to buy a dedicated swimbait set up either. 

[fishratt]

On 6/28/2021 at 1:43 PM, Deadtwitchguy said:

I was saying this back in 2013-15 lol. Primary reason I don't throw what everyone else does. 

I started fishing them then, ironic that now I'm the one complaining

Guess it goes in circles

Edited June 30, 2021 by fishratt

[AnthonyCatlow]

On 6/28/2021 at 12:45 PM, Jim137a said:

I in North Jersey and honestly I’ve only encountered one other person throwing swimbaits in a ~ 16 month period. 
 

Most people chuckle when they see the baits I throw and if some one I encounter asks what they cost they really start shaking their head when they realize what it costs to get into the game with decent baits and gear. 
 

Are you in North or South Jersey?

Im in north Jersey also and I just started to throw Swimbaits this year. Personally, I haven't seen anyone else throwing them while I'm out either. I think people are catching onto the hype but get discouraged rather quick when they don't catch quantity like they would on conventional gear.

[AnthonyCatlow]

11 minutes ago, B_larkin3 said:

I’ve seen lots of people try it and give it up fast. Some people don’t want to grind, rather throw a senko or a keitech. It will grow in popularity but plateau. Not everyone wants to buy a dedicated swimbait set up either. 

Granted I just started with the whole Swimbait deal, but I agree. I think a lot of people fall into the hype and expect to catch a giant every time they go out and eventually don't even bother throwing it.

[Mossyback Angler]

7 hours ago, AnthonyCatlow said:

Im in north Jersey also and I just started to throw Swimbaits this year. Personally, I haven't seen anyone else throwing them while I'm out either. I think people are catching onto the hype but get discouraged rather quick when they don't catch quantity like they would on conventional gear.

Yes, I think that's a big factor too, and what prevents more people from using big baits. At least from my perspective  in the areas I fish. 

[BOZ]

My experience is that half the dudes I meet that say they "fish" ain't fisherman. Another small percentage of them look at how I fish and thinks it's ridiculous. Then there are few real sticks chunking big baits that know what they are doing. Matter of fact I bought my first swimbait (a bullshad) because of one of them. I don't knock the dude or worry about where he's at on the river but look forward to running into him so I can learn some from him. This same dude is the one who taught me not to worry about how and what everyone else is fishing because they will get tired of it when they don't get instant results. 

Catching the fish you are after is hard work. Quit worrying about what everyone else is doing and keep putting in work. 

[Ceaser]

I’m not sure why the technique of “swimbaiting” becoming popular makes people distraught these days. It’s been moving that direction since the beginning. The growth and tourney wins has caused the industry to create amazing products that support the genre, especially the rods reels and an enormous amount of different baits. Because of this it is easy and affordable to throw big baits, so as a fisherman why not try it. The growth leads to more good things than bad IMO. 

[Jon P]

In my local area (the 150,000^2 miles that make up Montana) we have about five guys I know that swimbait fish. Only two other guys I know that are serious about it. We don't even have that many bass fishermen. Our local B.A.S.S. group struggles to maintain enough members state-wide to function. That and our youth division has like five youths total. Though sure enough we're seeing a lot more people fishing, and a lot more people bass fishing as people are moving in from out of state. Two of the serious swimbait anglers that live locally both moved from CA to MT and brought the sport with them. Needless to say our swimbait fishing pressure is negligible at best. Bass fishing pressure is only a serious problem in a few areas. Mostly residential areas or tournament water. If you find a lake with a good population of big bass you can be the first guy to present a big bait in the history of ever.

As for swimbait fishing popularity world wide, I think there is a definite ground swell of interest. Swimbait fishing is cool as hell, even to non-fishermen. There's dozens of swimbait themed facebook pages, clothing brands instagram accounts, youtube channels with a massive volume of viewership. I would assume that a minority of those followers are fishermen, and will actually get into swimbait fishing, but that's still a sizeable number. An even smaller quantity of those fishermen are going to be serious anglers and competent swimbait fishermen. But even after all that division that's a lot of fishermen! Also worth mentioning that there's likely a lot of little Mike Long's in the future. Too much focus on social media fame and too little on the sport will make a 5/0 snagging hook look awfully attractive to some. My ambitious prediction is that the future of bass fishing will depart from the tournament vein that has fueled the sport for the last fifty years or so, and become trophy bass oriented. Big bait gear is going to become more and more accessible in both price and availability for the weekend angler. I imagine dogging for double digit donkey-slaunches will hold more attraction than diddling a dozen dink fish every day all day.

[PNW EOD]

I started throwing swimbaits after I got out of the Army in the spring of 2018. The S-Waver 168 that I bought the day before my first trip seemed like it was too big, too awkward, and didn't swim the way I thought it would. I proceeded to catch so many smallmouth that day, that I thought I would never want to put it down. Well, that is exactly what happened. A single trip spawned 3 years of obsession, and countless new baits, rods, reels, and other gear. I fish big water for the most part, and tournaments with local clubs, as well as bigger opens. I know only 1 other guy in my area personally that fishes swimbaits. I don't tell people to go fish them or spend $100 on a bait, but I will never knock anyone down or give them the cold shoulder when I see them. I get that there are some seriously pressured waters in certain areas, but remember that no matter what bait you or the other guy are fishing, if you have no idea how to catch a bass, you probably won't be much competition for the other guy. Learn the basics, learn the fish, and then learn your bait. I love all you guys, and hope to see the swimbait industry grow. 

[Kevinzap]

I mostly fish small bodies of water here in Illinois and I can say, it definitely isn’t as popular here. Only a couple of other guys i know throw them. I remember when I first started fishing 6” baits back in 2016 people were saying it looked like i was chucking a whale out there haha. Now i throw 8-12” baits. I can only imagine what you Cali guys go through with the tremendous amount of pressure though, dozens of guys throwing them sounds insane. 

[jp_midwest]

well im new too this but i guess its the big youtubers pushing it i found out during tactical bassin about 2 years ago i thought like how is that even possible then on my insta explorer page a swimbaitunderground post caught my eye and i fell into the pit but never started till this year because well im a sucker for conventional like who doesnt like getting bit on something moving fast but like here in illinois there is very very little swimbait pressure i have never seen someone in person throw swimbaits other than me all the other guys look at me weird and stuff so its like well i guess im doing something right because if im the only one i might just cath that kicker fish here in illinois. but over all just talking fishing in general there is way more pressure period. allthought i might be some stupid kid throwing a rattle trap right through a grass mat or something like that but yeah pressure is up period. but also its kinda lonely cause im also super into JDM high end stuff even tho i cant afford it and also a gear nut, but  well no one knows about it its always googan squad zoom and mystery tackle box. i hung around here because you guys know your ish and its something but oh well.

[marc626]

On 6/28/2021 at 3:03 PM, David Cindrich said:

As swimbait angling grown over the years, I always laugh at the different years angers get on forums and say too many anglers are swimbait angling. Of course there are going to be more anglers getting into swimbait angling, it is a great way to catch bigger bass. I know CA anglers have been complaining about lakes getting too much swimbait pressure since at 2006 on SBN, don't know if the complaining has gone on before this, because I didn't hang out on the west coast sites before this. In 2007 Steve Kennedy won Clear Lake BassMasters Elite  on a Hud. I always felt this was when swimbait angling started going main stream. Swimbaits were now on the forefront of conversation with Bryron Velvick commentator  on ESPNS Bass talk and he did give swimbaits there due, mentioning swimbaits all the time and even mentioning SBN. Although not every angler went running to swimbaits, anglers looking to catch bigger fish started flocking to it.

When Swimbait Underground started, I felt this is when the growth started. Major tournaments being won on swimbaits. Bryon Velick won an Elite event then two weeks later Skeet Reese won another, both on Rago Baits. Somewhere in there KVD won Smithlake on the Kong. Baits were more accessible to me at the time, If I wanted a Hudd, I bought a Hud, If I wanted a Hardgill, I bought a Hardgill. Baits were still hard to get, but it was very easy to become a good customer with just about any of the makers and get what you wanted.

A few years later, Swimbait Universe was started on FB. The group was moderated to try it and keep it swimbait related. Swimbait angling only or new guys looking to get into swimbait angling. At this same time, Swimbait Underground was growing their social media presence, as of now, I believe Swimbait Underground has the largest Social Media presence. So for the thought "This is the Underground" If Swimbait Undeground wanted this to be the Underground, they would have never went to Social Media to grow there social media presence into the largest on social media. They would have made this an exclusive place where only the hardcore anglers could participate and only way into the the Underground, would be by invite only. 

I can tell you when I started Swimbait Universe, I had zero Idea if it would work.  At  the time SBN had about about 6700 members and was dying, SU had about 4700 members and seem  to growing slowly. It was easy to see Social Media was were everyone was at. Simply SBN and SU traffic was crashing because of FB. SBU  grew very quickly and I think it was within a year membership over took both SBN and SU. SBU was growing so fast because simply because at some point of FB groups  the growth of the group becomes a suggested group to users using searches of big baits or swimbaits. This is when we had to vet every new member, if they were not there for swimbaits they were banned. 

If swimbait angling did not grow to what it is today, we would have very little to choose from. This is why, SBN, SU and SBU has always tried to support the angler and the bait makers. Social Media is what changed everything, when someone was on FB and started clicking on bass fishing, they would slowly start being fed swimbait stuff by FB or becoming friends with people that were into swimbait angling,

We had the Doctor, become the face of Deps U.S.A, now anglers saw swimbaiting, finally pay off for a swimbait angler. 

We also had Big Bass Dreams growing, slowly making a path for anglers who wanted something for their hard work of filming, editing and  trying to influence. Like Big Bass Dreams or not, it made a path for Swimbait Anglers to try and make a path for themselves.

It is no secret, a good swimbait video, will get more views that someone drop shotting. Or a swimbait review by an influencer will get more reviews than an influencer reviewing a bag of worms. 

For me personally I have seen, people complaining about too much pressure, bait flipping, posers for well over 15 years. So as far as swimbait angling becoming "too mainstream" We can blame anyone us who have made a video, posted a picture of a  swimbait fish, shared deep held secrets with someone we only knew from FB or a swimbait forum. It all has been done with thought of what someone has to gain. Is it respect from someone we will never meet and most the time, they don't even thank you, is it you want a bait maker to make it because you like their product?  Is it simply, you want someone to enjoy, something that brings you so much pleasure. We have done it to ourselves.

Everything that changes, stays the same.

Great  point as I always revert back to SBN from memory. Nothing against DRT as I do not use the TK but perhaps there should be a thread section for under 8" swimmers. We had a saying back then to go big or go home. We had exceptions such as the G2's but the small swimmer stuff is starting to get ridiculous. IMO jig and worm fishermen at heart lurking on the forum are using the TK' s and are to be ignored demanding of advice on how to catch bass. Food for thought. The 8" huddle works better than a 6" hands down.

[Nathan Temple]

On 6/29/2021 at 1:17 AM, Shaddaddy1979 said:

Only the strong cast off swimbaits  year round!!! Them swim for them !!! You gotta honestly look at fishing differently then others 

it really comes down to perfecting your skill set . Make every cast count. 

Ahhh yess ahaha. The ol swim trunks and  $3 goggles in the backpack always pull through for me lol. They work miracles when searching and diving into 15 feet of water for a hinkle trout lol.

 

[brootalititties]

On 6/29/2021 at 5:43 PM, AnthonyCatlow said:

Im in north Jersey also and I just started to throw Swimbaits this year. Personally, I haven't seen anyone else throwing them while I'm out either. I think people are catching onto the hype but get discouraged rather quick when they don't catch quantity like they would on conventional gear.

When you go 3-4 trips without a fish on a lure that cost you more than your whole conventual tackle box…. Its not for everyone that’s for sure