New Swim bait article

Here's a new article from Reins Prostaffer trevor Knight, just published on Basseast.com

Shake Things Up With Swimbaits

By Trevor Knight

The soft plastic swimbait has probably grown in popularity more than any other bait over the past 5 years.  Before they started showing up on the rods of tournament anglers several years ago, only a handful of tackle companies made them.  Now, just about every soft plastic manufacture has some version of a soft swimbait.  Some are hollow, some segmented, some have boot tails, and some are even shaped like sunfish and tilapia.  The one common aspect of all of them is that they have found their way into the tackle boxes of most anglers.

After throwing many of the soft plastic swimbaits on the market, I have narrowed it down to four that I rely on when tournament fishing.  The workhorse of the group is the 5” Reins Fat Rockvibe Shad.  It is a solid boot tail swimbait.  This class of swimbaits has become extremely popular on Florida fisheries.  The difference in the Fat Rockvibe Shad is that it has a fatter and wider body than its competitors along with a ringed tail section.  The design stabilizes the bait so that it does not roll over as much on the retrieve even at high speeds, while providing even more vibration and water disturbance.  The second bait I like to throw is the 4” Reins Bubbling Shad.  This is more of a finesse swimbait with a ringed body that I find works well in pressured fishing conditions and as a trailer.  My third choice is a Lake Fork Tackle Live Magic Shad in the 3 ½ and 4 1//2” sizes.  The Live Magic Shad has a very realistic swimming action that I like as a trailer or when drop shotting.  My final swimbait choice is a Matt Lures Bluegill Series swimbait that looks ultra-realistic.  I use it mainly for bed fishing.

The mistake I see most anglers make with soft swimbaits is that they fish them one way and one way only.  Yes, it’s true that you can just chunk and wind soft swimbaits and catch fish.  However, to unlock the full potential of these baits, an angler must experiment with different retrieves.  Here are some of the presentations I have had great success with soft swimbaits.

Let’s start with the Reins Fat Rockvibe Shad.  The reason this swimbait is my workhorse is because I can fish it so many different ways and cover a lot of water with it.  It really shines in the spring and fall when the fish are shallow and active.  During the spring, I like to throw the Fat Rockvibe Shad around spawning flats, especially if vegetation is nearby.  I rig the swimbait on a Gamakatsu 6/0 Monster EWG hook and attach a Paycheck Head Case screw lock.  The Head Case is basically a clear plastic bullet that screws into the head of the swimbait and helps keep vegetation from balling up on the bait.  If I want to get the bait deeper than 2 feet I will replace the Head Case with a 1/16 to 1/8 oz. Reins Tungsten Slip Sinker.  I will match this up with 65 lb. test braid and a medium heavy or heavy action rod.  I experiment with my retrieve speed until I find what the bass want.  Sometimes it’s almost a slow roll while other times it’s bubbling just under the surface.  This time of year, the bass typically just nip at the bait a few times then load up on it.  If you set the hook before the rod loads up, you will miss the fish most of the time.  A lot of fish will just follow the swimbait back.  If I cannot get the bass to hit the Fat Rockvibe Shad, it at least lets me know the size of the fish, and I can then come back and try a different lure to entice it to bite.

During the heat of summer, I will put the Fat Rockvibe shad on a 1/2 to 3/4 oz football jighead and fish typical summer haunts.  Ledges and channel swings with wood cover or shell beds are ideal.  I will let the swimbait sink to the bottom.  Then I will jerk the swimbait up off the bottom with quick hard pops.  This is much like stroking a jig.  The idea is to create a reaction bite as the bass see the swimbait quickly dart off the bottom and then fall back down.  Many of the strikes will occur as it is sinking back to the bottom.  If the bass are suspended in trees, I like to swim this rig just over top of the trees and occasionally twitch the swimbait.

In the fall, I really like to buzz the Fat Rockvibe Shad on top just as you would a buzz frog.  Fish are chasing baitfish this time of year, and a swimbait buzzed across the surface is a great way to catch lunker bass feeding up for the winter.  I can put the trolling motor on high and cover the backs of creeks and along grass lines quickly with the swimbait.  The hits tend to be much more violent with this presentation and can occur at any point during the cast.

As I mentioned before, the Reins Bubbling Shad makes an excellent trailer for swim jigs, buzzbaits, vibrating jigs, and spinnerbaits.  The boot tail gives these baits some extra vibration and a bulkier profile.  One of my favorite combinations is a 3/8 oz. Stanley Swim Max Jig paired with the Reins Bubbling Shad.  I like to fish it around emergent vegetation, docks, and marinas.  The 4 1/2” Lake Fork Live Magic Shad is great on the back of a vibrating jig as well.  Sometimes I will take the skirt off when I want a more slender profile.  Both of these swimbaits are great for schooling fish since they can be put on the back of an underspin or scrounger head and fished through the school. 

The Bubbling Shad and the 3 1/2” Magic Shad are some of my favorite drop shot baits too.  Fish do not see swimbaits on a drop shot rig very often.  The real benefit of drop shotting these smaller swimbaits is that fish will hit them even as the rig is being reeled in or sinking to the bottom because of the natural swimming action they possess.  They can also be deadly on the end of a Carolina rig.  I will even take the Bubbling Shad and rig it on a shaky head when I am looking for a kicker fish during tough conditions.    

The Matt Lures Bluegill is a swimbait I will utilize when fishing a bed.  Normally, it is not a bait that I am actually trying to catch the bass with.  Instead, I use it to aggravate the bass and get it in the striking mode.  If I am having trouble enticing a bedding bass, I will pick up the Matt Lures Bluegill and make several pitches to the bed.  More often than not, this will cause the bass to lock on and become very defensive.  After I get it to strike the bluegill, I will reel it in and then pitch in a bait with a higher hook up ratio to catch the bass.  Occasionally, I will throw the bluegill imitator when bass are targeting bedding bluegills.  Simply find areas with bluegill beds and slowly fish the swimbait around the area.  This can produce some quality bass eager to fatten up after the spawn.

These are the techniques and soft swimbaits that I use the most.  Even with all these great techniques, I still like to experiment and try to figure out new ways to utilize swimbaits.  The next time you find yourself throwing a swimbait, keep these tips in mind, and also try coming up with some new swimbait presentations that may help you catch more fish.