Gentlemen,
I fished a soft hollow body swimbait for the first time today. Had tons... I mean tons of followers. It was calling them out of the trees real well. But only two committed. Whats do you guys do to make them eat it? Thanks.

Try stoping the bait and let it fall, then pick back up.
I also twitch the bait and let it fall.
And try varying the speed during your retrieve.

I fished with something similar 2 weeks ago at a private lake near Hawkins and did really well with them. The only problem i had was reeling it too fast and also setting the hook to hard before they had fully taken it. Variable retrieve also worked well.

And try reeling as slow as possible.

In real clear water it helps if there is a good breeze blowing. With hollow body baits you really have to match the dominate forage either with color and/or size. You also need to be retrieving them where the bass is motivated to strike. If you are reeling them from shallow to deep your just going to pull the bass out of the trees in to open water. Bass are at a disadvantage to baitfish in that situation and will more times than not give up on the prey because they know this. You need to carefully anticipate every part of the retrieve and put the bait and the bass in a position where the bass has the advantage such as pulling the bait into shallower water or up against a break line or into a weed-line. This is a natural feeding technique and it really makes a huge difference in followers and strikes. You want the bass to feel like its cornering the bait during the retrieve.

if you can see them from far enough away,try burning the bait for a few feet then kill it...alot of times the bass will start to chase it at a faster pace,then when you stop it he really has no choice but to inhale it.not to mention,whens the last time you saw a shad slow down when a predator was behind it.

I'd throw a slow-sink hardbody swimbait if the cover would allow, reel it at a steady speed but throw in some direction changes. Something about a bait suddenly turning back and facing the bass really ticks them off.

balata is correct though, you have to give them a reason to eat it. Your retrieve angle and tempo need to be such that you make it easy for the bass to achieve his objective, which is to capture a high value, low effort meal. That's the whole concept behind the big swimbaits.

I did try burning it, killing it and twitching it. This was my first swimbait experience so I only had one size/style. So, I couldn't vary the size/color. I will get some other styles and brands and give it another whirl. It sure brought those big fish out for a look though. Felt like the pied piper calling them out. Thanks for the input.

i think if they are following it the presentation is close to being right but the color is usually off. try switching colors a little also size. what line are you using? also after they follow pitch a fluke or senko back where you casted this sometimes gets a bite. i do this with a spinnerbait alot.

3 things for you to try. This is usually key for me when fishing swim baits.

1. Instead of burning, killing it or twitching it slow it way down. If you see the fish start to follow it, slow your reel to almost barely cranking it, but still moving the bait. Usually they will strike.

2. Change up your angles - paralell, perpendicular, 45 degrees etc. Can't explain it, but if you change your presentation from deep to shallow or shallow to deep they may turn on.

3. Use a marker and add some color - preferably red around the gills and right under the belly. They seem to like it.

In my experience, you want to fish the swimbaits in either wind or low light conditions. I will throw them all day and get a lot of followers during the middle part of the day. However, on overcast days or when the wind blows, those followers become biters most of the time. Remember, when fishing the bigger swimbaits, a lot of the time you need to let the fish eat up on it. They won't always inhale it. Sometimes they will just grab the tail and because it's soft, they will keep coming back at it. I catch a ton of fish that will eat it 3 or 4 times before I hook them. It takes patience not to set the hook until you know they have it.

try throwing a suspending jerkbait over the same areas

Saw this thing on tv where a guy fished a swimbait more like a worm than a swim bait