I want to throw swimbaits (7"+) and was looking at smash-tech convict and osprey swimbait and rig the with owner 10/0-12/0 beast hook, I have a 7'4 heavy with 65* braid to 25* leader, my friend used a similar setup but with straight 20* mono and had great success, just wondering what swimbaits y'all use

Welcome to BR.

7'4" heavy rod, jig and worm or swimbait rod?

Big swimbaits over 7" tend to weigh 3 1/2 to 5 oz, requiring a heavy or Xheavy swimbait rod to fish them effectively.

For me the gold standard in soft big swimbaits are 68 and 8" Huddleston Delux.

Tom

Are you wanting to stick to the soft plastic baits or are you wanting to get into the hard baits as well? Do you have a price range? 

 

A lot of swimbait guys are going to tell you to lose the braid and go with a good fluorocarbon or copolymer. I fish my swimbaits on 20-25 pound P-line CXX. With braid, it's not a matter of if you cast a big bait off, but when. 

Try the savage gear bluegill, the livetarget trout and river2sea s wavers. Should get you started and these baits are not expensive

If you have a designated swim bait stick take a look at the 3:16 stuff. I really like the rising sons as they have good action, and I find them to be more durable than hudds. I tend to fish them high in the water column and even sub surface with a pretty quick retrieve to make it throw a little wake. The fish in my avatar was caught on one.

Spro BBZ-1 and BBZ-1 Jr.. Both qualify as big swimbaits. Both will positively produce big bass for you. I've had less success on the 8" Hudd and no success on the 6" Hudd. JMO.

21 hours ago, TheMississippiOutdoorsman said:

I want to throw swimbaits (7"+) and was looking at smash-tech convict and osprey swimbait and rig the with owner 10/0-12/0 beast hook, I have a 7'4 heavy with 65* braid to 25* leader, my friend used a similar setup but with straight 20* mono and had great success, just wondering what swimbaits y'all use

The Convict is getting hammered on Fork right now - actually it's been a great bait since the spawn. The Hudds are great baits but I can get 4 Convicts for the price of 1 Hudd. Try it with the 10/0 Beast Flashy Swimmer! Also look at Smash Tech's new Gizzard Shad - sweet Geebus!!

Edited June 27, 20178 yr by 1201vilbig
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18 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

 With braid, it's not a matter of if you cast a big bait off, but when. 

Being new dipping into the bigger swimbaits, I gotta ask. Why do you say this? Fishing with braid gives me great confidence in strength. I really don't want to lose any of these baits so any info would be greatly appreciated.

24 minutes ago, BassB8Caster said:

Being new dipping into the bigger swimbaits, I gotta ask. Why do you say this? Fishing with braid gives me great confidence in strength. I really don't want to lose any of these baits so any info would be greatly appreciated.

Braid doesn't stretch, and has no shock absorbancy. These baits are big and heavy. Get a backlash and there's a good chance that big bait hits the end of your line and just keeps on going. 20lb Pline CXX is super strong and is a great shock absorber. You can use braid, but you will cast baits off if you do it enough. I've lost 2 baits in the severalyears I've been doing it, both 68 Hudds snagged on deep wood that couldn't be saved.

8 hours ago, 1201vilbig said:

The Convict is getting hammered on Fork right now - actually it's been a great bait since the spawn. The Hudds are great baits but I can get 4 Convicts for the price of 1 Hudd. Try it with the 10/0 Beast Flashy Swimmer! Also look at Smash Tech's new Gizzard Shad - sweet Geebus!!

The 7" version weighs 3 oz's less the hook, the 5" could possibly be fished ok with a heavy jig rod. Still believe a heavy swimbait rod is well worth the investment.

Tom

Some good suggestions so far. Definitely heed Tom's advice, don't try and toss big baits on conventional gear. You can get away with it until you start to break the 2 oz mark and then you're asking for trouble. I would also advise against braid unless you want to buy an extra spool for topwaters. Like BlueBasser said there is little forgiveness on a backlash. Think of it like a collision. It takes a significant amount of force to stop something in a couple millimeters than to stop the same object in a couple feet. 

I learned the hard way and lost several baits until I got the appropriate gear.  Head Tom's advise