I want to try my hand at throwing a swim bait but I have never fished one so it will be new to me. I have a 7 1/2' rod that I can use to throw one on, will that suffice ? What type of line would you recommend and what poundage ? I am totally open to suggestions about types, sizes and styles of swim baits with the exception being, that I don't want to buy any of the really expensive ones since this will all be new until I get the hang of it. Also open to the whens and wheres to throw one, planning on throwing it up shallow some and around docks, grass and some cover. I see info on the fall rates of some baits and such but as I say, I can put what I know about them and how to use them in a thimble. Any direction that you all can point me in would be greatly appreciated. Tight lines to you all and good luck on your fishing adventures.

Way too broad a question. Need more info such as:

1. Hard or soft swimbait?
2. Glide bait?
3. Weight of bait.

Beginners swimbaits, I'm right there with you.

I have 7'10" ALX Swimbait / A-Rig rod, Daiwa Lexa 200 (I think that's the model), and 20lb Sunline Sniper
Baits I try to use are 5-6" soft plastic swim baits like these below:

Swimbaits

Rigged with weighted screw lock hook like the Owner beast:
Owner Beast

I would keep it simple at first. Get some soft plastic paddle tail swimbaits, and rig them up however you want that will work in the area you are fishing. Throw it anywhere you would a spinnerbait. I would use fluro, 15-20 pound line, im sure you rod will work well enough.

As Mark is eluding to, the topic of swimbait fishing is vast with some types requiring speciality rods/reels, while on a more basic level they can be thrown on the same rod you'd throw a spinnerbait.

I have no clue about any of those so that is why I am asking. Do I need to down size if I am fishing lakes that don't have many of the larger bass in them ? I have caught bass up to around 8 or nine pounds from these lakes, so what would be the best to use ? Just looking for anyone that has some experience with throwing them that can help. I kinda like the looks of some of the soft baits myself but hard baits are the way to go, then that is what I will throw. Just want to start somewhere, saw a 6th Sense Hangover slow sink that looked interesting but of coarse "The Legend" (said with a smirk) says that he was catching them on the 6th Sense Whale which from what I read is a smaller bait. As far as a glide bait, not really sure what that is or what it does, been bass fishing for a long, long time but just now trying to broaden my knowledge about all the newer ways to catch bass.

Thank you, this is the type of response that I was hoping for, I just have zero knowledge about using any of them.

I got started with Big Bite Cane Thumpers years ago, I rigged them weedless on a hook like this https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Owner_Weighted_Twistlock_Light_3pk/descpage-OWTL.html

I fished it around grass like I would a swim jig or anything else. Once I gained confidence I just started experimenting with different stuff.

Thank you, now I am getting some ideas. Gonna pick up a few things and try them out when I hit the water next.

If you want to start with confidence; throw them near post bass spawn through the first blue gill spawn…say April to July.

You might get bit now, slowly barely swimming one deep keeping bottom contact; but it will likely take a lot of dedication most won’t be able to tolerate without previous success.

Big seven inch flukes in staging areas and spawning areas when warm/sunny pre bass spawn can be great February to end of March.

I am pretty limited on that type of fishing but I have two rigs for it.
I use an Owner Flashy Swimmer Underspin that I put either a Lake Fork Lures Magic Shad or a Strike King Rage Swimmer on and really cover water with it.
I also have a rig that I saw from a popular swimbait angler that just seems to fit my style of fishing. I have a Texas rig set up with 5/16 ounce Tungsten weight and 4/0 Gamakatsu G Finesse Hybrid Hook that I use a Jawtec Punch Shad. This rig I really like to use in Heavy Cover and even flip it into that cover as I would flip a jig or soft plastic into. I also use this when slow rolling on the bottom off of points etc. I also use this same setup for those time periods when I am covering water early in the year with a Zoom Magnum Speed Worm.

They’re eating M.S. slammers pretty good in places you’d normally throw smaller topwaters and spinnerbaits now. Even if you don’t connect with them, they show you where they are so you can come back later and throw something like a fluke to entice them. It’s a reasonably lightweight bait so you can throw it on heavy gear like for a crankbait or jig with 20 pound mono or something similar.

Smash-Tech baits, which I believe is a Texas company has a good line of swimbaits. Bill Wilcox caught a couple of bigguns on his show using a Smash-Tech. I like their line-through swimbaits, they have a tube through them to run your line through and I believe they'll supply a treble hook so you're good to go right out of the pack.
I bet if you contacted them they'd give you some recommendations on line to use etc.

If you can find that HoneyHole Outdoors show where Wilcox catches that 10 lber, you'll get a kick out of watching it. I think it was on a Smash-tech Felon, but not sure.
https://smashtechbaits.com/products

Agreed. Rage Swimmers or other 4-5" paddle tails swim baits are a great place to start. Once you gain confidence start to move up in size. I like the 6" 6th Sense Whale with a 6/0 6th Sense belly weighted hook. You can throw that on your 7 1/2 foot rod.

One of my favorite bigger baits is the 8" Mag Draft but I cut out the treble hook harness and rig it with a 10/0 Owner Beast hook. You'll need a little more rod for this bait because when its rigged up with the Beast Hook it weighs about 3.5 oz.

Any suggestions on a GOOD brand of Floro ?

I think Sunline Sniper is hard to beat. I've tried many.

Sunline Sniper can't be beat. I use this primarily and it hasn't let me down.