I have never fished a swimbait. I want to get into it rods season and stay with soft ones like the swing impact and speed shad. When is the swimbait bite the most productive? Also how would you feel with using the swing impact fat on the Alabama rig?

Soft swimbaits are super versatile. You can fish them a lot of different ways in most conditions.  So long as you change size and terminal tackle accordingly, they work essentially year round. 

I fish them from early spring to late fall. They are one of my favorites 

What kind of cover do u fish them in? My lake is full of vegitation with a clay bottom. I assume swim it just over the vegitation like a lipless crank.

I'd say all season long. Just vary your presentation with them. In the coldest open water I like to slow roll them along the bottom on a jig head. Warmer seasons might get me to Texas rig them with a belly weighted swimbait hook and move them along quicker atop whatever vegetation there is on the structure you are fishing. The only presentation that doesn't work with these baits is not fishing them!

All year. Keep it simple. Huge percent of big fish diet is smaller fish... my big fish catch rate has gone up dramatically since I've focused heavily on swimbait fishing.  

I've got one tied on pretty much all year long. Very versatile baits that can catch them anywhere. 

The only time I fish them is from April to March ?

ALL YEAR! In the spring shad are smaller and after the spawn and into early summer I up size the swimbait abd fish it into the late fall.

here in florida you can fish them all year long. makes them such a good bait to use.

I'm very excited to try Them out this season. I know there Ida no-one that used them on My home lake

Fall has been the best time for me by far, but they work year round in the right conditions. Keitechs rock, I use swing impacts and the swing impact fats fished single and also on an a-rig some. As @Bluebasser86 about keitechs on an a-rig!

 

I've used the regular Swing Impacts on the A rig and the Speed Shads, never have popped for the Fats though. There's not a time of year when paddletails, especially the Swing Impacts, don't work. Might not be the best option, but they'll always work. 

4 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I've used the regular Swing Impacts on the A rig and the Speed Shads, never have popped for the Fats though. There's not a time of year when paddletails, especially the Swing Impacts, don't work. Might not be the best option, but they'll always work. 

Comparing the speed shad and the swing impact they look and feel exact same. I think I'm going to use the speed shad just because the price differential 

1 minute ago, Ohio Bassin said:

Comparing the speed shad and the swing impact they look and feel exact same. I think I'm going to use the speed shad just because the price differential 

It's a little stiffer than the Swing Impact, but for all but the very slowest retrieves you shouldn't see a lot of difference. I do know that I used the same 5 on my A rig last time for the whole day and caught several fish on them as well as got it hung up a few times and never had to replace a bait. I would have probably gone through 2 packs of Keitechs. 

2 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

It's a little stiffer than the Swing Impact, but for all but the very slowest retrieves you shouldn't see a lot of difference. I do know that I used the same 5 on my A rig last time for the whole day and caught several fish on them as well as got it hung up a few times and never had to replace a bait. I would have probably gone through 2 packs of Keitechs. 

I was thinking that the keitech durability woulda be an issue in the a rig since you have to use the entire package for one rig. That is way I bought some speed shad while on sale to just in case

One other item to get sometime, would be a bottle of MEND-IT.  It doesnt take much to fix any plastic, depending on how bad its beat up. I dont know if it works on elaztec baits though. I use repaired ones all the time, especially as jig trailers.

As mentioned, the swimbait bite is year round. It's more a matter of "where" you fish them on the lake that makes the difference between catching, or not catching them.