Well have been wanting to try a swim bait and saw one I really liked the other day at bass pro and picked it up. I got a Spro 4" bbz in blue gill color in slow sink. Question I have is this a bait for fall and winter? It sure looks good I just need to learn where and when to fish it. I liked the spro's because the detailing and size looked very real. Let me know what yall think about them.....

They work best in clear water. Slow retrieve or yo-yo off bottom in the Fall and Winter.

Spro's are great! You can also fish the slow fall over submerged grass just fast enough to keep it out of the grass. Think rattletrap, but don't let it stick the grass nearly as much as you would the trap.

First thing to remember with swim baits is they are a "match-the-hatch" bait. While yes if you dedicate yourself to throwing them in the fall and winter you will most likely catch a few fish. When swim baits really show their stuff is the Spring and in the clearest water on your given lake. That's when you want to find one thing and that is blue gill/perch. The perch will be doing one of two things, either raiding bass beds or bedding them selves. Fish them more like a slow rolling spinner bait and hang on. When you got all conditions right the bite will be unbelievable and you will be digging the bait out from the back of every fishes throat.

cool thanks guys! Cant wait to get the right conditions to throw this thing and see what it will do!

I have way more than my share of all shapes & sizes swimbaits. I have some that I paid a dollar for and some that I paid $300 for.

In this part of Texas you will probably need a shad colored one too. The Spro threadfin shad works great too. I like the fast sinker because you can reel it faster and it stays down 3-4 feet. The cheap Storm Wildeye shad works great too, mostly in the 4" or 5" sizes.

The shad pattern will match the forage more often than the bluegill. I think the Gill will be more effective during pre-spawn/spawn but the other 9 months of the year I would go with the shad.

No bait is "magic" but if you happen to be on the water when the bass are keying in on a certain size baitfish and your swimbait matches it, Watch Out!

It happened to me and a buddy last fall and we landed 107 bass most of them between 4-6 pounds in 3 hours at a private lake in East Texas. The local had told us on the way to the lake that fishing had been slow and not to expect much.

That day was an exception but it is a testament to how effective they can be if the conditions are right. That day the Strike King King Shad was the hot ticket. It matched the big threadfin shad they were feeding on perfectly.

Just my opinion & hope it helps,


Ken