Time to open Pandora's box and come over to the saltwater side of things. Up until now we've supplied swimbaits for only bass anglers.

What we need is some input from saltwater anglers who fish primarily the Texas coast. Info and pics would be greatly appreciated of bait fish that are favorites to use.

We produce hand poured thru line 4 & 5" swimbaits currently and with the saltwater information we gather we will consider going larger up to a 7 or 8" version of the same bait.

Look forward to reading and seeing pics,
Thanks
J

I would be interested in some BIG swimbaits especially if they had BIG noisy paddle tails. I saw some BIG ones at Wally World the other day that I am going to try, especially since they were holographic/reflective chartruese. They were 7-8 inches long. Watching Florida Sportsman has convinced me that trout and Reds will try to eat BIG Mullet.

4"-8" will be perfect. The few times I use conventional tackle at the jetties is throwing swim baits to smacks, kings, snook and tarpon. The colors that I have found that work well is natural and redhead along with some that Tsunami makes that have a translucent white body with a baby blue head.

Would luv to have some 6" to 8" swimbaits in speckled trout and mullet. I would prefer some models to be nearly weightless so they would swim just under the surface over grass. They would have to be tough to take the punishment from the teeth of trout and reds. Can't wait to see your products.

The most popular soft plastic swimbaits for inshore trout and redfish fishing:

• Bass Assassin 5" Sea Shads
• Norton Sand Eel
• Texas Tackle Factory Flats Minnow XL & Hackberry Hustler
• Brown Lures Devil Eye
• MirrOlure Paul Brown Original

Colors: Plum/Chartreuse, Pumpkinseed/Chartreuse (aka Rootbeer/Chartreuse), Red/White (aka Strawberry/White, Chartreuse, Morning Glory/Chartreuse (aka Black/Chartreuse), Electric Chicken (aka Texas Chicken), Pearl, Clear w/ Red, Silver or Gold flakes, New Penny, and your basic Pearl Belly w/ a Dark Top.

I personally throw DOA Cal Series Paddle Tail, it's smaller around 3.5". I also have good luck H&H Cocahoe in their Pumpkinseed/Chartreuse, which is a bright Orange/Chartreuse.

All these plastics have varying degrees of durability with Bass Assassin being the softest with the rest being more durable.

Thanks to all, the whole idea of creating a saltwater line of SBs came to us from Fla & La. I've knocked out a proto Croaker based on a drawing of all things couldn't find a good pic. If anyone has one post it here please, I'll make a proto and post the pic as an example.

One of the main reasons we haven't moved into salt is the durability factor. We believe in producing a bait that gives the angler their monies worth, anything made out of plastic has it's drawbacks depending on what is expected by the angler concerning longevity.
Weights: 5" .10, 4" with insert .6, w/o insert .5 and is almost totally buoyant based on fresh water results.

I can make the baits more firm or soft for affect but we all know there is a tradeoff, more soft tears easier but has great action, more firm holds up longer but has less action.

What attracts us most in this R&D stage is the color potential of the baits. Color is not an issue it has no limits and is what nature says it is, that's our view.

Again thanks for the info, I'm intending on looking more and more into this for 2011. I may have some questions that will require feedback in assisting me to produce. Always enjoyable to start a new project and this is how we do it.
Thanks,
J

CUTriton,

Here are a few decent images of croaker, one of the things I have noticed about croaker imitations and drawings is the markings tend to be overdone. Notice the subtlety of the vertical stripes and the lateral line versus some of the drawings you see, even in the aquarium photo they are subdued.

Good luck with your baits, let us know how they progress.

Thanks for the great pics, I appreciate the quality and the fact that they are taken in the natural light.

I guess I wasn't too far off, I'll target from the pics. I can already see I need to get Silver eyes and do less with the barring neither is an issue.
J

I have experienced excellent production with air injected soft plastics like the SWBA.

If your soft plastic will float on it's own - then bring it on!

Can you make'em croak?!?