Big Swim Baits Question

How many of y'all are throwing big swim baits in winter, and what's been your experience in Texas. Been watching videos and really interested in potentially picking it up.

Thanks

Don't watch behind it when it's 15 ft from the boat or you'll have visions you can't get out of your head. Shadows Man Shadows of Giants turning away...

Just depends on the body of water. They have a time and place. I caught a 13+ on nacogdoches fishing a big storm wildeye on the bottom like a jig on a cold January day. Clearer lakes tend to be more productive for traditional big swimbaits in my opinion

Haha, haven't ever stuck a monster bass, but I'm looking for that adrenaline rush.

I throw big topwaters and glides in the winter (slammers, Wake jr, rats, Bullshooters, shine glides, and just got a hinkle for this next season). Biggest is only around 6.5 lbs but that’s partly a function of where I mostly fish. This year I’ll be hitting some new waters. Mattlures hard gills are excellent too.

Winter days on Fork with AC Plugs seeing Brian Dup's 14 and numerous other 10+'s will be memories I'll never forget.

Yup, I was in Big Mustang that day and saw Brian casting what looked to be a baseball bat out into the water and winding it back in. I had been on several trips with him that summer and eased up near him and asked what the heck those giant baits were. He kinda hid it from the other boats not too far away and showed me. Caught his giant less than an hour later. First bait I ever paid more than $5.00 for. Caught LOTS of 4-8 pound bass along the 17 bridge that winter. I've never witnessed schooling bass of that size ever again once it ended at Fork. Do you guys?

I was in the boat with Brian the day after he caught his 14.25 on the AC Plug. Brian relived the story with us that morning. He said he was reeling the plug along and a big white flash caught his eye about 8 feet from the boat. He saw the fish torpedo his bait just off the trolling motor!

Our best that day was a 9.25 & 7.50 that morning. We had ten fish that morning all on AC Plugs. The big fish were chasing gizzard shad on top in 48 degree water! That was Jan 8th.

We saw a huge swirl and threw our baits at it. My partner hooked up with the 9.25. A minute after we boated his fish we saw a wounded gizzard shad floating near the boat. It was enormous. I scooped it up in the net and weighed it... 1.25 pounds! I sat it on the Check It Stick and it was 15" long! Made our 9" AC Plugs look tiny!

The line of thinking goes something like: "A huge bass, always aware of the amount of energy required to chase down prey, would prefer chasing and eating one large bait instead of 4-5 smaller baits."

As a younger kid, we had a pond that was fantastic at producing large numbers of healthy-size bluegill - that I loved to catch/clean/eat. I didn't understand at the time that THEY were the forage of the largest bass in the pond. Huge bass would hang out in water 12" deep looking for the opportunity to eat a full-size bluegill on my stringer! They swam off with the stringer of fish a couple of times before my dad put a re-bar stake at the water's edge for me to tie my stringer to. Of course I stretched my goals and moved on to catching the bass also.

I was playing in that Mustang area back in the day, never managed any monsters but saw several come into other boats. I have my "fish that got away" stories but no actual catches. I do remember a buddy of mine that lost a ten plus in the back of mustang on a spinnerbait. Head shake left, head shake right, head shake left, spinnerbait right - buddy dropped like a sack of feed and silence in the boat for at least 5 minutes at what might have been. We call it a ten plus because the marble like eyeballs bulging out were at least ten inches apart. Fun times for sure.

The 1 oz Milo and the AC Plugs were monster fish catching baits that just looked too big to be anything but hype, but they were the real deal.

Wait till one day you set the hook and think "dang a stump", then, that stump starts to move.

I had that happen early this year. The stump got heavy and wiggled.

We talked about this Ken when we had a chance to get together in Austin a few months back. Have you EVER seen anything like that since? For two or three years those giant gizzard shad came under the 17 bridge and all along that road bed and schools of 4 to 14 pound bass hammering them from about mid November to mid December! It was awesome to watch a 6 pound bass "sucker punch" a two pound gizzard shad, then come back and inhale it! Have never witnessed anything like it since.

It happened all up and down the main points from Ford, Dale, Williams and No Name.
We wore out the eyes on our baits and replaced hooks to keep the baits useable.
One of my favorites was the Castiac Shad in 8" waited a foot under the surface would get hammered.
Oh the days of sleepless nights in anticipation of the next hook up.

Oh and we quickly learned to keep our feet apart and braced.

From the sounds of it y'all have had great success and a lot of fun throwing the big baits. I watch videos and read, but I don't feel confident in knowing where to throw them, such as looking for rock bottom, or points that have ledges with access to shallower water. I don't have a boat yet and when I go out with my buddy in his he's more of a shallow water guy and fishes boat stalls a lot on lake Lewisville, so won't have the freedom to go hunting for them if you will. Figure if I stick one monster I could get him hooked on it and then we both would be looking for the best locations.

Grass flats next to deep water is where I'd start.
This time of year, sunrise/evening. Lighted dock areas at night.

I was duck hunting Fork near the time when Brian caught that big fish. I walked down to the 17 bridge ( in the east side ) at Big Mustang and threw an AC plug from the bank for about 20 minutes right at sunset. Had one giant "roll up/blow up" on the plug but no hook up. Always wondered , if maybe I was "this close" ! Brian is "the Man" on bass fishing Fork and a lot of fun to spend a day with.

Fish them where you’d fish other standard baits. Boat stalls are great for swimbaits like 3:16 Rising Sons, Spro rats, Mattlures hardgills, and MS slammers. Parallel the cover like you would with a spinnerbait or squarebill. There’s no magic to big baits, it just takes time on the water and a willingness to leave other gear at home and maybe go fishless for a few trips before you start getting confident in them. Like any other technique. The

Usually when I 'think stump" it starts to roll on the way in and slimes up the first two feet of line from my lure - Hello Kitty!

Anybody know where to get the original ac plugs

Have you thought about shopping at acplugs.com? Just a brainstorm idea.....

I've got 2 of these dudes left, the big version originals. I had more of the smaller versions, but just seemed to disappear over the last 30 years. We were throwing these monster baits around 1988-1992. Those were days I will never forget, ole' mutha forker!

I have several all sizes, we even made a few of our own biggest thing was the angle of the head and how it stayed just a lil subsurface. They would catch the meanest fish in the area.
D

Yep: https://acplugs.com/

Or your "former" buddy swings the slimy thing it on the deck before you can scream NO!

Former is defn'ly right!