Bass Fishing Forum - Westernbass.com

Well, I have been updating my gear this year and trying to get some better quality stuff to fish with. In my search to cover all my bases, I bought a swimbait rod to throw on occasion (Loomis 956c) teamed with the calcutta 400b, and i'm very happy with the set up. I'm thinking either of getting the TripleTrout, MS Slammer, Wake Jr., or Plunker...but open to whatever. Truth is, I'm not going to throw a swimbait all day, or for that matter, half the day...which means I probably will never catch a fish on one (so I have been told)...so I really don't want to spend a ton of money on stuff I am not going to be throwing all day. I am a weekend warrior, and realistically hope to catch one or two fish a year on a swimbait.

Anyhow, I'm rambling...I bought the rod to mainly throw sub-surface swimbaits. However, was thinking that it might be a good idea to add a topwater swimbait to the arsenal (or two). Had a couple of questions and thought I would post for some help...

Question: Do you guys catch fish on topwater swimbaits? I mean, I know that they will catch fish, but is it an effective technique on a fairly regular basis?

Question: Are these lures mainly locater baits?

Question: If you had to pick one topwater swimbait...what would it be? Wakebait? Walking? Somthing else?

Lunker Punker or Wake bait!

I know that the MS Slammer has a rod that is dedicated to it all year long. Wakebait type baits are a key for me throughout the year.

So in short YES, I have cought more swimbait fish from the surface then from the deep divers.....

im a twice a month angler i throw swimbaits maybe a 1/4 of the time and i catch... half the fish on my photos page are swimbait fish and when i didnt have a camera they were swimbait fish...

questions...
-Yes they catch n on a fairly regular basis
-they are baits that get blow ups that will be ridiculous..n they catch
-TT 4 piece floater

Got to have a punker but get the Rago top trout for your top water. That has not been used or seen by the bass in 3-4 years and works great on top or sub surface if you speed up your retreive

ash wrote:I know that the MS Slammer has a rod that is dedicated to it all year long. Wakebait type baits are a key for me throughout the year.

So in short YES, I have cought more swimbait fish from the surface then from the deep divers.....

I too would start with a slammer. A simple swimbait with big rewards year round.

Good luck!

Tim

Orso Split-tail floater, Hudd ROF 0, Triple Trout floater, BBZ1 floater, MS Slammer, Lunker Punker, and the Daiwa DOA... stick with one or more of the above and you'll stick a pig, regardless of the body of water you fish.

Roger

Slammer, and Injected Punker. Get the IP in a 6 inch. Its smaller then the standard Punker. As you said you will not toss it much. This could help your Confidence in these baits. Then expand to other choices in your list, and more.


p.s. I'm not a swimbait guy!

Wake Jr. is my favorite top water swimbait. Very versatile and pretty much indestructible. The Punker would have to be my next. I would also suggest getting that triple trout. Those two baits have caught me the majority of my swimbait fish along with a mission fish.

i love throwing a punker, great action

If you're only buying one topwater swimbait, and don't want to break the bank, the BBZ 1 is the way to go.
It catches fish, period.

thank you all for the opinions, I guess I've narrowed it down to the slammer and wake jr., I thought the triple trout would have been a little more popular, but what do I know.

One more question if you all don't mind. I mainly fish Melones, Pedro, and Mcclure, if I went with the wake jr. would you just get the standard trout color or would it be a better idea to go with somthing like the chartruse shad?

You want to use a lure that looks like the baitfish the bass feeding on; size, profile and colors.
Northern strain LMB rarely eat baitfish over 8", FLMB will eat baitfish up to 12 " or longer. A few active smaller bass will strike anything on or near the surface, that isn't the bite you are looking with a swimbait.
Tom

Tom,
I had six topwater fish two years ago in the same morning at Cachuma, on the BBZ 1 floater, both smallies and northerns, and the largest was a 3lb smallie.
I think it has more to do with time of year, and size of the trout planted in a particular lake.
I make my own swimbaits, so I'm not trying to sell BBZ's, but they do catch fish. And they're priced reasonably.

birdi23nls wrote:thank you all for the opinions, I guess I've narrowed it down to the slammer and wake jr., I thought the triple trout would have been a little more popular, but what do I know.

One more question if you all don't mind. I mainly fish Melones, Pedro, and Mcclure, if I went with the wake jr. would you just get the standard trout color or would it be a better idea to go with somthing like the chartruse shad?

Go with the Kok...very genric in terms of what it looks like Kok, Hitch, Trout, bait etc... if you are going to get ONE that is where I would start.

mark poulson wrote:Tom,
I had six topwater fish two years ago in the same morning at Cachuma, on the BBZ 1 floater, both smallies and northerns, and the largest was a 3lb smallie.
I think it has more to do with time of year, and size of the trout planted in a particular lake.
I make my own swimbaits, so I'm not trying to sell BBZ's, but they do catch fish. And they're priced reasonably.

The days of Cachuma having a predominate northern strain LMB population are over IMO, same with Piru, as both lakes have a good FLMB population now. I believe, for the lakes mentioned earilier in this thread, the 6" to 7" wake baits or subsurface swimbaits will have a higher percentage strike ratio for big NLMB and Smallies. If the lakes have FLMB popoulation; go with the larger lures. Big NLMB and smallies can be aggressive fish at times, however the 6" to 7" lures should still get the aggresive fish strikes.
At the end of the day we have a collection of swimbaits ranging from 4" to 12" or larger, but you have to start with a few confidence baits. The Kok looks very interesting.
Tom

ya...my plan (or perhaps lack there of) is to mainly throw hudds but for those days when a wake bait will will work or to try something different...i figured a guy should at least have one.

If your mainly fishing the motherlode lakes, go see Manny at the Bait Barn. He'll hook you up with whatever swimbait/s you need. I personally recomment either the BBZ floater or the Wake Jr. These are in my opinion the two most vesatile topwater baits. Check out the Bait Barn website: www.baitbarn.net

For the mother load lakes you can't beat a MS Slammer, Wake Jr. and Lunker Punker. I would get a Slammer and Punker 1st, based primarily on price and the fact that they get bit. As for the color of the Wake Jr. go with the Kokanee or blue trout.

Sacto John wrote:For the mother load lakes you can't beat a MS Slammer, Wake Jr. and Lunker Punker. I would get a Slammer and Punker 1st, based primarily on price and the fact that they get bit. As for the color of the Wake Jr. go with the Kokanee or blue trout.

If price was not a factor you would get the wake jr.? I dont want to spend a ton on a whole bunch of baits right now, but If the wake jr. is an overall better bait, i don't mind spending the extra money.

Don't get me wrong the Wake Jr. is a killer bait, but I have a soft spot for the Slammer. I have caught more fish on the slammer than any other big bait I currently own. I also have only owned the Wake Jr. for one season. For that matter I have actually caught more and bigger fish on the Punker than on my Wake Jr. I think that the slammer is slightly more versatile than the Wake Jr. but then again I realize that I have not spent enough time the bait to unlock all of its potential.

So basically what I am saying is that you can't go wrong with any of those three baits, they all work.

I love my Wake Jr. The AC minnow or the Slammer are great baits also. Chad Martin did a True Bass with a slammer at folsom a year or two ago. great show to watch. Shows you how awesome a slammer can be. This year I will have to throw the punker some more.

As for color, you can't go wrong with a trout pattern for the mother lode lakes. Tons of trout in Melones and Pedro.

thank you guys again for the help on this, but had one more question a little off the topic...is there a particular swimbait swivel i could buy to make quick changes with lures without having to re-tie?

Yes, but you don't want to use one. Get used to tieing knots, and become proficient in tieing good knots - you will benefit forever. Sit with a spool of old line at night in front of the TV and practice, practice, practice until you can do it blindfolded.

Snaps and such will kill the action of many baits, unless they were designed with one in the first place.

Roger

I use the Berkley Cross-Lok snap; size #3 & #6 for several hard swimbaits and remove the split ring if the swimbait is supplied with one. The reason for doing this is damage to flurocarbon line when knot tying to a split ring due to the rings sharp ends. The San Diego knot works well for flurocarbon line, on a snap or directly to the swimbait.
You are constantly stressing the knot with each cast. The combined stress the knot applies to the line, plus the casting stress can cause knot failures. If the line flattens at all when cinching it down, retie. Do not leave lures tied on over night when using fluorocarbon line, the line cold flows and weakens at the knot. As mentioned; practice your knot tying and test the knot strength. Good luck.
Tom

Roger's right. If you tie your knots carefully, wet them well before you cinch them down, and cut them off and retie if they don't look right, instead of just throwing the lure anyway, you'll be fine.
Tom's right, too. Casting a heavy lure puts a lot of stress on the knot, and the first foot to two feet of line. Where the line goes through the tip on the cast get stressed big time. So retie often, and cut off two feet of line each time when you do.

good to know, maybe i should stay away from the snaps or swivels...and check my line often

another thing I like the snaps for is the extra freedom it gives the bait! On baits like the Triple Trout and the Orso baits...the snap allows the bait to do a 180 in the water more freely and better.

trust me...when that bait flips around like that...hang on for your life...they will destroy it!!!

Eric

TRIPLE TROUT 10 INCH. CUT TAIL WAKE BAIT, TRY ONE ON FOR SIZE

For me I have trouble getting bit on anything but a floating swimbait. Baits like the Lunker Punker, Shell Cracker, Go-2-Minnow, are my favorite topwater swimbaits and they are all blackdog. These are all great baits that even a weekend fisherman should have.

A lot of the swimbait fish I have caught that were not on top were either real deep or on structure on structure. I think when fishing deep sometimes it helps to have a swimbait that pushes a lot of water so they can feel it with their lateral line. Their is only one bait that I know of that pushes water like a fish's tail everything else just has a diving lip and that is a constant push and I dont think that is anything like the vibrations that are felt by a fish pushing its tail back and forth. If you want the fish to be able to feel your bait in their lateral line and then seek it out try a Stocker trout.

Oh I nailed a nice one on a 3:16 6" Real Deal today on top.

Rich

Nice Rich! Good to see that bait is working for you. I like the Wake Jr too, even though you might not want to spend the money, its worth it. Kokanee is one of my favorite colors, and we don't even have them down here. I do also recommend the Slammer and Punker. Id get one of those 3 if I were you...

Darth Baiter wrote:Nice Rich! Good to see that bait is working for you. I like the Wake Jr too, even though you might not want to spend the money, its worth it. Kokanee is one of my favorite colors, and we don't even have them down here. I do also recommend the Slammer and Punker. Id get one of those 3 if I were you...

Yeah I got those too.
Rich

Late to the topic but melones spots L-O-V-E LOVE! the wake Jr. The ospreys love them to so keep an eye out.

I also have the same setup as you , but I change the my crank handle to the "T" handle ,It's work awesome , I also throw the 8" punker . Basstackledepot has a sale on them for 29 dollars and they give you a shell cracker .

Deps swim baits, Optimum SOP's in 8in, Castaic 12in Floater. I have had good luck and the bass will follow these baits.If you have a partner have him follow the larger baits with a smaller one's sometimes the bass will attack the smaller bait.
Chief

Birdi - one last thing about when to throw these baits. I love the MS SLAMMER and the way I went about "unlocking its potential" I started throwing it instead of any topwater bait, then I would go through my standard topwater rotation - I learned over a years time that times when I could catch buzzbait fish - I could catch slammer fish and typically the slammer would beat the buzzbait in size. A little chop on the water is better, even though I have cought them on slick as snot days. Pre-Front and Post Front conditions = SLAMMER TIME


I am still trying to get my first punker fish - my friends are laughing at me for throwing it for a year without even so much as a follower or blow up.

ash wrote:I am still trying to get my first punker fish - my friends are laughing at me for throwing it for a year without even so much as a follower or blow up.

Yes we are, well at least I am.

What size plunker? wood or plastic? rattles? and were are you throwing it? mark chief torrez

Chief,

I'll start a new thread, I dont want to derail birdies posts.

elfish16 wrote:another thing I like the snaps for is the extra freedom it gives the bait! On baits like the Triple Trout and the Orso baits...the snap allows the bait to do a 180 in the water more freely and better.

trust me...when that bait flips around like that...hang on for your life...they will destroy it!!!

Eric

The snap does help, but like with anything else check it out once in a while . I had a snap break in half on a hook set and then I waited around for the bait or bait and bass to float up to the top. Lucky for me my bait did float to the top. lol
tight lines Chief

Sacto John wrote:

ash wrote:I am still trying to get my first punker fish - my friends are laughing at me for throwing it for a year without even so much as a follower or blow up.

Yes we are, well at least I am.

Well at least there are 2 other people who have thrown the sweet-mary-hell out of it. I have had one boil on it. Have no idea what that little male was thinking.

I'm loving everybody's posts. That's the best thing about these forums is to help us all, right?! Anyways, Black Dog's Go-2-minnow is a phenomenal topwater/wake swimbait. I've caught fish all over including clear lake, cal-delta, berryessa, just to name a few on that bait. On days (especially cold winter days) with that bone-chilling breezy chop, you can slow-wake this bait and draw deeper fish up. Sometimes you'll have to deadstick the bait just giving it a small twitch every couple minutes. The wake Jr. will give you the same options. Its hard to throw a bait of these sizes and just watch it sit in the water. It took me a long time to believe that it actually is a very effective technique. Matter if fact the first two fish I stuck deadsticking was when I wasn't paying attention lighting a cigarette and whoosh! Its all a matter of preference I suppose. For calm water days when there's not a breath of wind, throw the hudd 0 and creep it. Just like the sinking baits, slower is better. Like you've heard in the previous posts, confidence is everything. Dont give up, keep at it, and eventually you'll be graciously rewarded