Can anyone give me some insight on swim baits. I wanna buy some, but have no clue where to start. Are "storm" swim baits good? Size? How to present them? Any help is better than none. I appreciate it guys.

What is your budget?

What is your budget?

 

And your patience level? 

A good place to start would be to get a few soft swimbaits and a hard swimbait. Get a couple 6" huddlestons-one ROF 5 and one ROF 12. Another good soft swimbait is the osprey tournament talon. A good all around hardbait would be a spro 6" bbz-1.

And your patience level? 

 

Which can be dramatically effected by the loan you need from Guido to secure your needed tackle.

Sounds like I have some work cut out for me? Lol

Sounds like I have some work cut out for me? Lol

I would start with 1/2 oz bullet heads on 5" flatback shad soft swimbait, and work on swimming it right on bottom. 

You can throw it on regular bass rods, are inexpensive and wont scare you out of swimbaits. 

After you start catching big ones go up in size and price.

These are smaller swimbaits that are very effective:  

 

Shadalicious, Berkly Hollow Belly and Keitech Swing Impact Fat

Sounds like I have some work cut out for me? Lol

 

In all honesty, yes, unless you have someone around you that is knowledgeable on the subject. You can read all you want on the internet and while that is helpful, there is NOTHING that can replace time on the water with someone who knows their stuff.

 

It can get frustrating banging big baits and not getting feedback from the fish. Having someone encouraging you who has been there and understands the dedication it takes definitely lessens the learning curve.

I started with the 6" Bull Shad.  

look into LFT live magic shad. they make them in a bunch of sizes and good colors

So if I were to start on some cheaper swimbaits, just to get a feel, would I get a color that looks like the forage around my area? Maybe a bluegill? Is it cast and reel, or are there special techniques?

 

Speedbead, I agree with you 100%. The only problem is, everything I know about fishing comes from the people on this forum, and videos. Bassmaster magazine, etc. I pretty much just go out and teach myself. I have no one in my family who fishes. Some of my close buddies fish, but are new to it, and Im mostly teaching them.

 

Iv just heard of people catching really nice fish on swimbaits, and given the right circumstances, Id like to try it.. I just know nothing about them.

Get on youtube and search Bill Siemantle. Start watching videos. You will learn a ton. As for a short list of baits that wont break the bank and can be fished without specialized gear. BBZ jr., ms slammer, trashfish, osprey top hook & line thru, river2sea s-waiver, hud68, hud grassminnow, hud weedless shad, kietech swing impact fat, basstrix.   

Gobig, I just watched a video of Bill and roland fishing swimbaits. He seems like a good guy. Imma have to watch some more of his videos. Thanks for pointing me to that!

In that video, the lures they were using looked massive. I am limited to bank fishing ponds. Iv actually never even fished on a lake before. I wouldnt need anything that big, or expensive. I just wanna pick some up for around my local ponds. Are hard swimbaits better than soft, or do they both have their pros and cons?

So if I were to start on some cheaper swimbaits, just to get a feel, would I get a color that looks like the forage around my area? Maybe a bluegill? Is it cast and reel, or are there special techniques?

 

Hardgill man, hardgill. Kinda difficult to *not* catch fish on it, no matter how you fish it.

Start smaller so you can get some confidence in them is my suggestion, no special tackle needed that way too. The 4" Havoc Sick Fish is a good bait and only $2.99 for a 2 pack. Get some belly weighted swimbait hooks and fish them with a really slow, steady retrieve on a 7' MH casting rod with 15-20lb line. The Huddleston Grass Minnow or Weedless Shad are also very good, inexpensive baits to start out with that will catch all different sizes of fish.

I just bought a couple of packs of Swimsenkos. 1-4" and 1-5", so far I like the 5" better. I think the longer tail has better action. I haven't caught a fish with one yet but, I've only had a short time to fish them so far.

If you're gonna fish swimbaits, buy one quality hardbait and fish the crap out of it. You will learn SOOOO much only fishing one bait, it will make your head spin.

 

Like Deep said, pony up the money for a Mattlures Hardgill and start throwing. If you're not catching soon then you are doing something wrong. That's one bait that you don't need fish's feedback to be learning something.

I think Imma just go with one of the Spro 4" hard swimbaits, and see if I cant get the hang of it.

Good luck.

For the soft swimbaits, I have had good success with the Zoom Swimming Super flukes.

Has anyone had any luck using the Strike King Shadalicious swimbait?

Has anyone had any luck using the Strike King Shadalicious swimbait?

No, but I have caught quite a few fish on the king kong back in the day.

I think Imma just go with one of the Spro 4" hard swimbaits, and see if I cant get the hang of it.

the 4" is tiny. Go for the 6" IMO. You will gain more confidence in it when you see the bites it produces. Dont think its too big, 1lbers will eat it.