I fish in the SouthEast, Mississippi mostly. What time of the year is primetime for the big swimbait? I've had limited success with 3-3.5 hollow bodies over the summer and have not caught a fish on large hard SB's. I've tried SK's Sexy Swimmer, a 4in. Crappie(bought on ebay, can't remember name), and I ordered a Sebile Slow Sink Magic Swimmer yesterday to try this weekend. A sales rep at Mark's in Birmingham told me that the shad spawn is at the end of the summer and that's when the big swimmers are hot...is this true?

where you fishing fellow mississippian?

Think about the time of the year and size your bait accordingly, if you are really into matching the hatch.

People don't really understand the tremendous drawing power of a BIG swimbait until they see it for themselves. A 9" MS slammer or 8-10" Triple Trout will catch 2lb fish as well as the fat chicks.

Get yourself a High Power Herring, find shad, enjoy catching the shat out of some fish.

www.fishatl.com/swimbait

Mattlures SB's are a great way to match local forage as well.

www.mattlures.com

I have personally fished (and caught fish  ) on all the baits mentioned above.  They are quality baits and will last a long time.

Have you seen Mike Long 's videos at Huddleston 's website ?

He 's fishing huddies in the middle of the winter and ketchin ' them munster sized bass, so that pretty much sums it up, when ? anytime, specially for a good ole southern boy like you where water is always in liquid form.

Have you seen Mike Long 's videos at Huddleston 's website ?

He 's fishing huddies in the middle of the winter and ketchin ' them munster sized bass, so that pretty much sums it up, when ? anytime, specially for a good ole southern boy like you where water is always in liquid form.

Butch Brown

You should have seen the big old swim Speed was throwing at Raystown... It looked like he was heaving a yellow fin tuna

He's right though, you can't just go tossing random fish and expect it to be productive. Personally, I like the soft swimbaits more, but both will produce some nice fish!

Have you seen Mike Long 's videos at Huddleston 's website ?

He 's fishing huddies in the middle of the winter and ketchin ' them munster sized bass, so that pretty much sums it up, when ? anytime, specially for a good ole southern boy like you where water is always in liquid form.

Butch Brown

Sorry for the confusion, was checking Monster Jacks while typing the reply, proof that I can 't do two things at the same time like my wife.  ;D

Every video I've seen of the High Power Herring has been great.  Pricey lure though.  I'd hate to lose one of those.

Every video I've seen of the High Power Herring has been great. Pricey lure though. I'd hate to lose one of those.

You'd be surprised how hard they are to lose.

Unless you are shore bound or a toothy critter bites you off, hard baits are pretty difficult to lose. Most of the hard baits I fish are moving pretty quickly somewhere in the water column above the bottom.  If I need to bottom bounce baits, the soft plastics come out.

You owe it to yourself to try this bait. Seriously.

I probably will one of these days.  Thats a lure that I gotta plan on buying.  Thats not an impulse purchase.  I don't remember the weight offhand (Randall's site is down), I need to actually get some real swimbait gear before I start throwing heavier baits.

It hard to say there is one primetime in the Southeast. It depends on the lake and even forage. I fish them year round but will move from lake to lake because all types of lakes don't hit a primetime at the same time. This way I can hit a buch of different "primetimes". But I still don't put the swimbaits away at the other times either.

I probably will one of these days. Thats a lure that I gotta plan on buying. Thats not an impulse purchase. I don't remember the weight offhand (Randall's site is down), I need to actually get some real swimbait gear before I start throwing heavier baits.

Site is backup now. You can really fish alot of swimbaits without swimbait gear. Swimbait gear is usually better but some if the largest fish caught in my boat this year were caught with medium heavy flipping sticks.

Thats basically what I'm using right now.  One of them is a mod fast, great small swimbait rod.  I use it for paddle tails mostly, now small hard baits.  The second is my other MH flippin stick.  No complaints at all.

Thats basically what I'm using right now. One of them is a mod fast, great small swimbait rod. I use it for paddle tails mostly, now small hard baits. The second is my other MH flippin stick. No complaints at all.

I found it matches up quite well with my 7'6" Carrot stick (flippin' stick). The action works well with the bait and it has a short handle to give the bait a good rip without crushing yourself in the rib cage or banging your forearm all day. ;D

I would not feel at all under-powered if I had to throw the bait with a 7' MH rod. The bait weighs +/- 1.25oz and Randall has a smaller bait coming out soon as well. Tight lookin' little sucker.

A good weedless swimbait that you can bottom bounce with confidence is a 3:16 Mission fish. They come in various sizes, and colors. These do catch fish..

where you fishing fellow mississippian?

I live in Meridian and I fish Dalewood, Kemper Lake, Clarko, Okatibbee Res., Lake Tom Bailey and going to get after the Stripers at Ross Barnett in a few months. I also own a 10 acre lake that it producing some really nice fat girls. What about you?

It is my belief big swimbaits (I consider anything 8in or larger big) can be used year round any where in the country. I do not care where you live. If you were to eliminate all other fish species and bass were the only fish in the lake. A big bass will still eat another bass. There is no discrimination and if they think they can choke it down they will try. As far as matching the hatch it can be critical at times but a other times it will have no bearing. It is not uncommon to catch fish on trout style swimbaits in lakes that have no trout. One of biggest limitations keeping people from throwing big baits is that they are intimidated by the size of the bait and the feeling that they always have to match the hatch.

It is my belief big swimbaits (I consider anything 8in or larger big) can be used year round any where in the country. I do not care where you live. If you were to eliminate all other fish species and bass were the only fish in the lake. A big bass will still eat another bass. There is no discrimination and if they think they can choke it down they will try. As far as matching the hatch it can be critical at times but a other times it will have no bearing. It is not uncommon to catch fish on trout style swimbaits in lakes that have no trout. One of biggest limitations keeping people from throwing big baits is that they are intimidated by the size of the bait and the feeling that they always have to match the hatch.

I know this to be very true...I caught a 8.5 a few years ago that had a 12 inch bass halfway down it's throat.

I've had enough success this season that my winter project is to purchase rod/reel combo's that can throw large baits like 8" Huds etc.

I've been catching fish on the 6" Spro BBZ-1, 7" MS Slammers, a recently purchased Matt Lures Hardgill, 6" River to Sea Live Eye Bottom Walker, 5" Tru Tungsten and a few others and I'm confident as to the effectiveness of this category of baits and even these mid size swimmers are catching a better grade of fish than the other categories of lures that I've been using though Deep Diving cranks are up there as well. Though it doesn't seem to produce the numbers of soft plastics for example I've been pleasantly surprised at the numbers of fish I've caught especially with the RTS Live Eye Bottom Walker.

I'm sold on the effectiveness on these lures and will be utilizing them to a larger degree this fall and especially during 2011 once I acquire the gear to throw some of the 8" baits.

Speedbead I'm sold, just ordered one of the High Power swimbaits today in the Lanier Herring color slow sink. If you happen to see my post please give me tips on the retrieve. Thanks

Would have replied sooner, just came back from being near death sick.  LOL

It's really a cool little bait.  I have found that it will actually run deeper if you use it like a jerkbait.  It is really erratic looking when used in this manner as well.

I also like to burn it, burn and pause it, burn and rip it...etc.    Find submerged grass or shallow cover and go to town

There is a bunch of different stuff to do with the bait.

Shoot me a PM and I would be more than happy to discuss further.

Thanks for all your help.

I never have to break them out cause I don't put them away. Usually during the summer I will throw alot of slow sink and floaters. Then during the colder months when the trout are moving throughout the water column is when I will throw the big plastic swimbaits more. But there is defnatelt a swimbait bite all year long 8-).