swimbait 101???

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jeff canterbury
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Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2010 8:43 am

swimbait 101???

Post by jeff canterbury »

There just aren't many people in the game back east when it comes to true trophy bass hunting. I currently use 4in big hammers mostly on a swimjig head crawling these baits somewhat sucessful enough to peak my interest into the swimbait world. I am leaning towards using the line through style baits due to loosing so many fish on the jump.

A little bit of background of what I am working with; The lake I fish has a good stock of trout from November to March before they go deep you can find these fish in huge schools usually tucked into a creek arm. It has several 5-9lb lm I know of and the world record smallmouth was caught here. The LM are few and far between compared to the smallmouth population, but that is due to a 16-21" slot. The primary forage for gamefish is crawdads, threadfin, aelwife and stock trout.

First question, will the smallmouth feed on these 6-9" stockers?

Also, what are some swimbaits (hard or soft) you guys are finding sucessful for both lm and smallmouth on a gin clear highland resevoir?

Any additional thoughts will be greatly appreciated...

Hopefully I will get into a bigger class of fish with the help of you trophy hunters. :mrgreen:
jcanaday495
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Joined: Sat Mar 27, 2010 7:06 am
Location: Colrain, MA

Re: swimbait 101???

Post by jcanaday495 »

The smallmouth will definitely eat those stockies. There are a number of great baits out there, I would think the realprey alewife or some of the Mattlures shads would be good. Also the Triton bull shad is an awesome bait for lakes with shad. If there are bluegills in there a must have is a Mattlures hardgill, they hammer those. A 316 baby wake would be another good bait for the smallmouth and large mouth. Mattlures also has a new line of baits out I believe they are called his tourney series. The Perch is a killer bait as i am sure other colors are in this line. That is just my two cents. I am an east coaster too and find these baits work best. I live in New England
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offduty
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Re: swimbait 101???

Post by offduty »

Google johnscrankbait, He will make what you want painted how you want. I have been using John's swimbaits for years and they work great. They have great durability and action and are not a bait that everyone is throwing so the fish are not conditioned to them.

Rich
Rich
bassdaddy
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Re: swimbait 101???

Post by bassdaddy »

I don't spend much time targeting smalljaws, but I do throw swimbaits a bunch for largemouth and I agree with Rich regarding John's baits. I don't know of anyone out there who does a better job with custom baits. He put together a couple of really nice baits for me back when he first started and over the years his work has only improved. If you can think of it, I'm fairly sure he can make it. His pricing is reasonable and he is excellent to do business with.
Tree
mark poulson
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Re: swimbait 101???

Post by mark poulson »

bassdaddy wrote:I don't spend much time targeting smalljaws, but I do throw swimbaits a bunch for largemouth and I agree with Rich regarding John's baits. I don't know of anyone out there who does a better job with custom baits. He put together a couple of really nice baits for me back when he first started and over the years his work has only improved. If you can think of it, I'm fairly sure he can make it. His pricing is reasonable and he is excellent to do business with.
Tree
Agree 100%!
His name is John Hopkins, and he is the gold standard when it comes to hand made custom hard baits. Amazing work, great actions, and excellent pricing.
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Johnny C
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Re: swimbait 101???

Post by Johnny C »

Hey Jeff,,How are you doing?...Check these out Jeff http://www.californiareservoirlures.com ... shers.html
http://www.dobynsrods.com
mark poulson
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Re: swimbait 101???

Post by mark poulson »

Johnny C,
Those are sweet!
Attitude plus effort equal success
CLEAN AND DRY
jeff canterbury
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Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2010 8:43 am

Re: swimbait 101???

Post by jeff canterbury »

Johnny, I am good man thanks for asking. I am hard at it fishing for those brownfish. They are eating that jig right now, so its hard to experiment with anything else. I will definitly be placing an order with you at the first of the year. Those toad thrashers are just what I am looking for. I also got some of those huddleston's we threw on New Malones in the spring on the way.
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