Swimbaits

[DropShotr]

There has been a bit of conversation now and again about swimbaits in some of the reports this year. I'd like to get a post started dedicated to swimbaits and hopefully we can all become a bit wiser on this interesting and expensive family of baits.

From a bit of online research there seems to be roughly three different styles of swimbaits.

1) Hollow bodied style. Must be rigged with a weighted keeper-style hook

2) Solid soft plastic molded onto a hook or hook harness

3) Solid or soft bodied jointed style. From 4-10 inches long and the big lads can hit a hefty 6+ ounces in weight.


All of my experience revolves around one hollow bodied style. Specifically the Bass Magnet "Eye Catcher" Two thing I've noted with the Eye Catcher are the supplied hook requires tweaking. It needs to be opened up a tad. The barb & hook point have a tendency to catch the back of the bait, usually off center and then the bait does not run properly. That's an easy fix. My biggest complaint is the hollow head. There is precious little material for the supplied wire screw-lock hook to latch onto. Several fish render the bait almost un-fishable. If the first 3/8 to 1/2in. of head was solid the bait would last a lot longer. $12 for four baits and a weighted hook makes this expensive fishing. On a good bite you could go through all 4 baits in a few hours.........so is a $30-40 jointed body swimbait really expensive in that regard?



Thanks for all your input,
DropShot'r

[Gravelguy4]

Hi DropDhot'r.

I've tried most of the soft plastic style of swimbaits and had great success with them. You're right about the baits getting destroyed easily but Bass Magnet sells "Mend-It" glue for $11.99 for fixing the tears in your soft baits. The glue works great. It saved me a tonne of cash and I could get more than a days fishing out of a single hollow belly bait. Even the Berkley baits that are much softer than the bass magnet ones. It also works great on your other soft plastics.

I'd have a hard time spending $30-40 on a single bait when there's a decent chance i'm going to lose it to a musky as some point. Then again, i`d buy just about anything that works.

[T Dot]

ive have spent a good chunk of change on big baits, and alot of things come into play. in most cases its the anglers budget. in the beginning we started off what we have avilable at our finger tips. these were the mass produced, off the shelf type lures. yes they worked, and the quickly got us hooked.

look at it this way, you can spend a few bucks on more affordable lures, not having them run right, and rarely or never catch fish. not a good choice if you really ask me. on the other hand, you can save up, spend more and get a quality bait which will run perfect right out the of box, come with quality hardware... catch you quality fish, and keep you in the game and virtually outlast the other more affordable baits. the latter is usualy the best choice for most.

if you do invest in the high dollar baits, invest in a lure retriever, a lure knocker, and a lure knocker knocker.

3:16 mend it works wonders for softplastics.



one thing you quickly have to learn is to throw them where they live. if you have fear of losing your baits, you arent throwing them in the right places.

[RJ]

The price of them has kept me as a spectator...

I used them once....borrowed from a buddy of mine.....and we lost about $20 in plastics to pike in an afternoon...

[Lunker Larry]

Here's a suggestion.
I use an old soldering iron to repair plastic body baits. You can melt the parts together from the inside out using the iron and the lure is as good as new. Gives you all sorts of options to repairing badly torn baits. I've taken baits that I used to retire and have put them back into working order. They may look like the bride of frankenstein, but they stay together and work.

[T Dot]

There has been a bit of conversation now and again about swimbaits in some of the reports this year. I'd like to get a post started dedicated to swimbaits and hopefully we can all become a bit wiser on this interesting and expensive family of baits.

From a bit of online research there seems to be roughly three different styles of swimbaits.

1) Hollow bodied style. Must be rigged with a weighted keeper-style hook

2) Solid soft plastic molded onto a hook or hook harness

3) Solid or soft bodied jointed style. From 4-10 inches long and the big lads can hit a hefty 6+ ounces in weight.

All of my experience revolves around one hollow bodied style. Specifically the Bass Magnet "Eye Catcher" Two thing I've noted with the Eye Catcher are the supplied hook requires tweaking. It needs to be opened up a tad. The barb & hook point have a tendency to catch the back of the bait, usually off center and then the bait does not run properly. That's an easy fix. My biggest complaint is the hollow head. There is precious little material for the supplied wire screw-lock hook to latch onto. Several fish render the bait almost un-fishable. If the first 3/8 to 1/2in. of head was solid the bait would last a lot longer. $12 for four baits and a weighted hook makes this expensive fishing. On a good bite you could go through all 4 baits in a few hours.........so is a $30-40 jointed body swimbait really expensive in that regard?

Thanks for all your input,
DropShot'r

first off not all swimbaits are created equal. there is a reason why some baits are more affordable than others. as the saying goes often imitated, but never duplicated.

some of the proven lures are made by the following: 22nd century, huddleston deluxe, ms slammer, 3:16. these are the big dollar big baits. quality is top notch, as well as customer service. strait out of the box, these will run perfectly true, and will last you a long time.

as for the term swimbait... well the definition has changed very quickly. almost anything is considered a swimbait now. as for categories to look for is where you fish them. top middle or bottom water column.

if you do dive in, invest in something mentioned in the above. you cant go wrong with any of those.

hardware swaps must be done religiously. owners is the only way to go, rings and trebles.

good luck!

[T Dot]

wow this died pretty quickly

no q's comments or anything

lol - as you can tell i love swimbaits

[JC]

I have never bought or used swim baits but they do look intriguing!!
What brand does the thread recommend? Any tricks or a special technique to running them? I will definetly try them, just didn't want to waste my money, cause knowing my luck I would buy the crappiest ones out there!!

CHeeRS
J

[Tubeman]

Hi Guys, I have not been on the board for a while. I thought I'd mention a few changes we are making to the Eye Catcher swimbaits for 2009.

I found the same problem with the heads, so we have added an solid extra 1/4" to the nose to increase the life of the bait as well as modifying the gap of the hook included with baits. We also are working on an internal weighted hook that with make the baits last much longer and increase hook up percentages. In testing we found, it ran truer, had more wobble and would not turn on it's side at higher speeds.

[DropShotr]

I thought I'd mention a few changes we are making to the Eye Catcher swimbaits for 2009.

Rock On Mike & Mary!!! It's great to see an agressive R&D program to keep your baits one step ahead of the others.

I love your tubes...............but your Flappin' Weasel was my go-to bait in the thick stuff this year.

A customer for life,

DropShot'r

[Tubeman]

Thanks Dropshot'r, here's one from this summer on a swimbait. I'll have to talk to Ed at Paddletales about stocking some of our new dropshot baits, they are hollow bodied, like the swimbaits....man did they work on Muskrat this fall

[T Dot]

I have never bought or used swim baits but they do look intriguing!!
What brand does the thread recommend? Any tricks or a special technique to running them? I will definetly try them, just didn't want to waste my money, cause knowing my luck I would buy the crappiest ones out there!!

CHeeRS
J

no special tricks, but when you do jump into the game, all the proper gear is essential. you cant really fish them wrong, but you can set the hook, fight the fish with the incorrect gear / technique and lose out big time.

save up and pick a lure from the baits that have a proven trakck record. no sense in skimping out on a lure, hoping to save money. in the end you will end up with a bait that doesnt always run true, and probably even wont catch a fish.

if you like soft plastics i would say huddleston. you can probably throw the smaller ones on your existing gear.