First Bite On Swimbait Was A Reality Check

[Cpark]

I finaly got all my swimbaits in that you guys suggested and took them to lake Shelbyville to try them out for the first time. the bite was really tough and not good conditions for swimbait fishing but I did manage a few bites. Learned a very good lesson on the first bite. I was throwing a 6 inch Basstrix on a 7'1" Steez rod and a MG50 reel and I was just palming the reel and cranking it along at a med pace. My first bite hit that thing so hard I come as close to losing a rod and reel as you could come without actually losing it. They don't mess around with those things. When they hit it, they flat crush it. I've never experienced bites that were that hard.

After the first bite, I started going ahead and bracing the butt of the rod up against my side so I'd have some more leverage when they hit and started catching them after that. I didn't catch very many on them cause it was so tough but I caught enough that I'm already addicted to them.

I had bought 2 of the Matt Lures Ultimate Bluegill and lost one of those up there. Within about 10 casts with it a muskie about 4 or 5 foot long took my bluegill with it. After that I didn't break my other back out. Too many muskie's for throwing $25 dollar plastic baits. I have to say it was a fun fight while it lasted tho, just the muskie's teeth gave him the advantage.

I'm officially a swimbait addict now tho. They are a blast to fish.

[davej]

awesome... glad you are as pumped as I am about the SB bite... Have you seen those tru-tungsten titanium leaders? that might help with your muskie fishing.. can't wait to see some pictures. keep us posted

[Lightninrod]

Good report but we need to see some Bass pics .


Dan

[Cpark]

Ya, I went off and forgot my camera when I went up there. I took a few with my phone camera but they don't turn out very well at all. I'm going to see what my local fish think of them this weekend. I'm going to try them here on Smithland Pool, on the Ohio, and I'm going to lock out and run down to the Tenn River below KY Lake and see what the smallies think of them.

I've read a few posts here about guys catching small mouth on swimbaits so I'm going to give those a try for them also. My last trip down there I found a spot that has some big smallies on it. I had one on that was the biggest smallie I've ever seen anywhere. If I hadn't seen it finaly jump before it come off I'd have swore I had a huge trashfish. I put one in the boat that day that went 5 1/2 and another over 4, so I'm anxious to run those swimbaits through that hole and see what bites.

[Sully]

Way to get hooked Cpark! You're pretty brave... I never throw a bait that I dropped a Hamilton on when the toothy critters are in abundance. Nice report!

[Cpark]

I tried the swimbaits on the smallmouth on the Tenn River Sunday during a tournament. Looking for a big bite. It didn't happen. It was a super tough day tho. All they would bite was finnesse worms and things like that. We had a little less than 9 lb total and it was good enough for 3rd place, thats how tough it was. So I'm going to have to try the swimbaits again on a little better day when the smallies don't have a case of lockjaw. Well, almost every fish had lockjaw that day, not just the smallies. Only had 6 keepers total. So it wasn't a good day to be chunking a big swimbait. I had to at least try tho, cause we knew one big fish and we'd win.

I will catch some small mouth on them tho. Just a matter of finding the right conditions.