anyone had luck with these? whats the biggest and smallest fish youve landed on swimbaits in the DC area? ive caught bass on baits just as big as they were so im starting to think they might work in some waters.

I know flippin4it had some good luck with them earlier this summer not sure how it is now.  

I tried throwing the king shad earlier this year but had no luck. I'm waiting for the BBZ shad to come out before i give it another try.

Doesn't hurt to give it a try and tell us how it goes. If I get the chance I'll throw one out this weekend and see if it gives me anything.

On that note, what swimbaits ARE working?

I've given the King Shad several tries in the spring, summer and now, and haven't even had a follower... I want to try in the lower potomac soon though.  If it keeps striking out for me, it'll go on a shelf and stay there...

I do use the Lake Fork Live Magic Shad, a soft plastic swimbait, and do very well with it.  The Bass want to kill it.  Even in the heat of the day they would hit it.

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1217706012

I'm gonna try again next week while I'm off.

I have been catching lots of fish with 4 and 6 inch paddletails here in Harrisonburg and earlier in the summer in NoVA. My favorites by far have to the Reaction Strike Fatheads in Ayu

I forgot to mention, I've tried a bunch of Manns and Strike King paddletails also with no success... I'll give them another spin now that the bite is more aggressive...

        I was doing really good with the soft body swim baits earlier in the year, but it seemed like July was the cut off point. I will be throwing them this weekend so I'll keep you guys posted on it.

yeah, I should clarify that my swimbaits have really only been effective as topwaters right before dusk. They have an action similar to a rage tail topwater when worked quickly over the top of weed mats

This isn't a *, it's a southeast VA Bass.  But I nailed him and two others like him today on a Sebile Magic Swimmer.  All three caught around 1:00 PM in 3 feet of water which was 74.7 degrees.  

Remember, swimbaits can replace spinnerbaits so you give the fish something different to look at other than a spinnerbait.

So fish them as you would a spinnerbait and you should do well.

Of course, swimbaits would work better if the bass understood that they are supposed to hit them all the time.  

P.S.  I have put a weight on the line to get the hollow bodied swimbaits deeper.

I have caught a 3lb largemouth on a Mattlures yellow perch swimbait

in southeastern VA

I have caught bass in the potomac river up to 3lbs on the small swimbaits too

Threw a swim bait this weekend and caught a nice 4lb. 6ozer off a lake fork magic shad. The fish nailed it hard and put up a real nice fight.  I had a lot of missed strikes on the magic shad as well (probably too small to take the lure).

Also had some luck with flukes, but the majority of my strikes (and misses) were off a ghost minnow buzz bait.