Hey everyone, curious, who & when do you fish a swimbait?? favorite color,size hook,weight???

Reel it in I use them pretty much anywhere yet go to YouTube and I'm pretty sure 1 rod or flair someone has a good video on it

So many to choose from. Hard plastic ones to soft plastics. Pre-spawn is probably the best but I have caught them through June under the right conditions.

Fall is also a good time when the fish hit the shallows again. Smash-Tech has some good ones, Spro,Savage Gear,just to many to mention. In the last few years I have really started liking the hard body ones better.

They seem to last forever while the plastic ones tear up. Both catch fish. Boyd Duckett has a hard body shad type bait I threw this year and killed them on it. Be ready to spend some money cause none are cheap.

I got super addicted early this spring on them. I had great success on Huddlestons. I threw the 68 special in the weedless and top hook version. This summer the Hudd bite slowed and I had a blast with the Bucca Bull Shad. I just got some of the new Optimum Boom Boom swimbaits in so I'm fired up to try them and then get back to the Hudds when the water cools, looking to step up to the 8 inch hudd this winter. it's a blast and very addicting!

I use them some, mainly in the fall when water cools and bait move into the middle of the creeks in shallower water.

I use both hard and soft swimbaits but not the monster ones.

One thing I leaned on Falcon years back when the Academy hard swimbaits first came out, which I bought every size and color. I learned a big fish can throw a heavy bait pretty easy. I lost about as many big fish as I hooked on swimbaits. Those mean Asssssss Falcon fish could throw a swimbait about as far as I could. But still fun to fish.

I typically buy whatever plastic type is on sale. 3"-5" size in white, or green/red flake used with either a screw on bottom weighted hook or jig head hook depending on where I'm fishing.

I use them all year with decent success. The larger fish I've caught on them seem to be in January and February, then fall. Summer slows down for me but I still manage to catch them.

Basstrix Paddle Tail Swimbait

I use swimbaits a lot but there are only a few brands that I like to use. For big fish, I really don't think there is a better option than a Basstrix swimbait in a shad color. There's something about them, the way they roll side to side, the thump from the tail, they just work.

Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper

This is another one that I like to use. I use these on a belly-weighted hook or on the back of a chatterbait. They pull double duty. They're super soft which means they have awesome action!

Jackall Gantarel Jr.

I don't throw a lot of hard swimbaits, but one that I have had luck with is this one right here. Buying hard-bodied swimbaits can get expensive fast so I try to keep it simple. This swimbait isn't too expensive and gets the job done. It has superb action and it's very durable.


I use swimbaits year around and haven't really found a scenario where they don't work.

I prefer soft variey and basstrix makes an awesome one in my humble opinion.

Been throwing SK swim n shiner and the new rage swimmer on weighted hooks and jig heads. I think swim baits shine in slightly deeper water or thick shallow cover where trebble hooks would get caught uo

I've had real good luck with G-tails, watermelon or green.

I throw the Reaction Innovations little dipper in shad color with a 1/4 oz. white Cabela's jig head and have lots of success in the spring. I will not catch as big a fish as a lot of you guys but I can darn sure get numbers.

Do you call all shad type lures "swimbaits"? I've always separated paddle tails (soft plastics) from swim or glide baits(typically hard baits). I've never fished a swimbait, but I murder them on what I call a paddletail, keitech fat swing impact fished on 3/0 weighted swimbait hook.

Keitech swing impacts are sweet, but man I've burned through three before catching a fish because they were short striking and tearing the tail off. $8 for 5 of them is pretty high. Now I carry all sizes with me. That way if they start hitting the tail I downsize and make them pay!

You don't have to spend a ton of money. I've caught a lot of big fish on the Storm Swim Shad they sell for $3.50 at Academy. And they last forever.

The storm swimbaits are great single or on an A Rig.