There is probably no bait that has grown in popularity over the past 5 years than the swim bait! Understanding the differences of their make-up, and how size and texture affect the bait is the key to using the bait; hence the key to catching fish! One of the distinguishing characteristics of swim baits is the thickness of the soft plastic body, if it is thick it will deaden the action; meaning that the wobble and action from the head to the tail has less action if it is thick, vs. more action if it is thin. This alone has a lot to do with catching fish. Certain times of the year the fish prefer more wobble or action. The winter time or cold water time of year I believe the bass prefer the faster action than they do in the warm water period like the summer or fall. This point should drive you to the decision of which type of swim bait to use during the different seasons from cold to hot.
I know many of us that fish deep water really enjoy fishing crank baits; the swim bait is great alternative bait to the crank bait because it gives you more of a variety of ways to fish it especially in deep water. You can change speeds aggressively with a swim bait and that makes drastic changes to the baits action; slowing it allows it to drop and speeding it up forces the bait more into the suspending fish strike zone. Many fisherman present the swim bait on a variety of hooks, some are belly weighted, some are head weighted and some have flash from a willow leaf blade or comparable. All of these affect the presentation, I use weight in the summer so I can take thick five inch swim bait and get to the bottom. In the spring I like to put the thin swim bait on a fish head so the flash from the blade attracts the bite; when you combine the blade flash along with the thin action of the bait it is deadly for catching big fish.
Like any other bait, swim baits are all different, choose yours with knowledge and it will be more effective.
Fish Lake Guntersville Guide Service
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Email: bassguide@comcast.net
Call: 256 759 2270
Captain Mike Gerry