Will a trout imitating swimbait work for bass that haven't ever seen a trout?

Yes , savage gear real trout 6 in will smoke fish holding on deep structure anywhere.  It's less about color and more about natural swimming action in these situations .

Kinda like showing a cheeseburger to someone who's never seen one before if you ask me.  

18 minutes ago, Master Bait'r said:

Kinda like showing a cheeseburger to someone who's never seen one before if you ask me.  

This is perfect. But I think as long as it is moving and can fit in it's mouth, a bass will go after it. 

Bass don't have any comprehension of a baitfish being unnatural in their body of water. All they know is that fish is smaller than me and I could probably catch it and eat it. I've caught lots of bass on trout colored swimbaits in lakes with no trout. One of my favorite swimbait colors is Hitch, even though there are no Hitch anywhere in Kansas. 

I watched a video recently where Brandon Palaniuk talks about this. He catches bass in Florida on a 9" trout bait, hard to argue with that. 

If it moves and appears to be alive, a bass will try to eat it. And those big swimbaits prove this out time & time again. Just don't be bashful and toss it!

6 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Bass don't have any comprehension of a baitfish being unnatural in their body of water. All they know is that fish is smaller than me and I could probably catch it and eat it. I've caught lots of bass on trout colored swimbaits in lakes with no trout. One of my favorite swimbait colors is Hitch, even though there are no Hitch anywhere in Kansas. 

Would you suggest using the hitch color or the light trout color of the savage real trout swimbaits?

I´ve been saying it for years but apparently people are deaf: YOU DON¨T HAVE TO "MATCH" ANYTHING !

Where I live there´s only trout high in the Sierra, and we are talking about hatchery raised trout in private big ponds/little lakes, so in 99% of the water I fish even in the Sierra there is no trout, bass have never seen one and will never see one, trout pattern or trout imitators work, actually my first 10+ lber was caught with a Rapala Original Floating Minnow size 9 Rainbow Trout pattern in a pond where bass have never seen a trout.

You want to know why trout imitators work ? because Bass are bass and they hit what looks like food, they don´t have the comprehension skills to differentiate between one species and the other.

Talking about overcomplicating things ....  

1 minute ago, IndianaFinesse said:

Would you suggest using the hitch color or the light trout color of the savage real trout swimbaits.

I like Hitch because it looks like any silver/grey baitfish out there. 

If it fits in the basses mouth and they're hungry, they'll eat it.  When's the last time you saw a wild buzzbait swimming around?

Thanks for all of the advice!  I ended up getting the savage gear line thru trout in the slow sink hitch color.  First time out with it for only about an hour, and I already lost a big bass at boat side on it!  So I am extremely excited about this bait, can't wait to try it out in a gravel pit.

Do you guys rig the hook on the top or the bottom, and would rigging up a trailer hook kill the action?  I was wondering because I missed four other bites.

I prefer to go with the bottom hook, but I'll do the top hook in snaggy areas or around grass. 

Shouldn't be any need for a trailer hook, but you might bump the hook size up one size if you're missing strikes. Most likely those missed fish were mostly smaller ones anyways, big ones tend to swallow them. 

Won't work. Especially in Texas. They won't eat trout swimbaits.  

14 hours ago, IndianaFinesse said:

Thanks for all of the advice!  I ended up getting the savage gear line thru trout in the slow sink hitch color.  First time out with it for only about an hour, and I already lost a big bass at boat side on it!  So I am extremely excited about this bait, can't wait to try it out in a gravel pit.

Do you guys rig the hook on the top or the bottom, and would rigging up a trailer hook kill the action?  I was wondering because I missed four other bites.

Adding a trailer hook via braided line or steel wire behind the dorsal fin( ish ) will not affect the action, that´s what all those Cali big momma hunters do to their 2 lbs trout sized Huddlestons, add a trap hook on the top.

Top Trap Hook:

Instead of cutting the hook you extend the wire and hook behind the fin ( in case it has a fin ).

Bottom Trap Hook:

 

Yes.

 

If a bass will eat a Twizzler or wrench, a trout imitation is probably like a filet mignon.