WHERE do you draw the swimbait line?

Bladerunner808 · Post by **Bladerunner808** » Mon Apr 08, 2013 5:00 am

Just a lightweight question here... It seems like the swimbait label is applied to WAY too many lures. 5" skinny dippers (greatest lure ever) are a soft plastic to me. A jointed Rapala? It seems by todays standards that would also have to qualify that as a swimbait. I think that the term swimbait (as a "Tackle Warehouse" term) should mean hard bodied, or soft bodied (Hudd style) - realistic lures 6" or greater. Its strange that we refer to a sub 5" spro shad as a swimbait. No?

Post by **Tokugawa** » Mon Apr 08, 2013 9:36 am

I tend to use the terms "big bait" for 5", 1oz baits and bigger. When it is a big topwater, I use the term "mag topwater". I also use the term "paddletail" to refer to Basstrix and Fat Impact type baits.

"Swimbait" is just a bait that "swims", IMO. A 3" Keitech Fat Impact is technically a swimbait...so is a Mister Twister Sassy Shad...and so is a Mattlures Dead Twitch. If a Giron is not a swimbait, what is it?

My 2 cents...

Bladerunner808 · Post by **Bladerunner808** » Mon Apr 08, 2013 11:54 am

Yeah, its weird. I guess I've been using swimbaits since the early 80's...

angry john · Post by **angry john** » Mon Apr 08, 2013 12:28 pm

I call anything larger than or equal to 6" a swim bait. There is tons of grey area, and marketing is always trying to get the new bait to fit into the latest class. Is a keitech swing impact a swimbait? I try not to split hairs, and if you want to call something a swimbait, far be it from me to call you wrong. If your swimming a curly tail grub is that a swimbait.

Post by **Tokugawa** » Mon Apr 08, 2013 3:41 pm

Bladerunner808 wrote:Yeah, its weird. I guess I've been using swimbaits since the early 80's...

There are big (7") rubber minnow baits from the late 1800's. Some SoCal guys think they "pioneered" big baits.

bigswaim · Post by **bigswaim** » Mon Apr 08, 2013 4:14 pm

Tokugawa wrote:
Bladerunner808 wrote:Yeah, its weird. I guess I've been using swimbaits since the early 80's...
There are big (7") rubber minnow baits from the late 1800's. Some SoCal guys think they "pioneered" big baits.

Those "pioneers" were crossover guys that took their Calico bass gear, specifically Worm Kings and started throwing them for green bass. Worm King then decided to make the Dinosaur, which was a larger bait they poured in rainbow trout, then came guys like Alan Cole. Also, most of these guys transfered their longer jig sticks that had been wrapped as saltwater bass rods over to throwing swimbaits. Makes me laugh every time a musky guy says they deserve credit for swimbaits and how we fish out here.

As far as drawing the line, I agree, there is a lot of gray area with what a swimbait really is.

Reel Old Geezer · Post by **Reel Old Geezer** » Mon Apr 08, 2013 5:46 pm

bigswaim wrote:
Tokugawa wrote:
Bladerunner808 wrote:Yeah, its weird. I guess I've been using swimbaits since the early 80's...
There are big (7") rubber minnow baits from the late 1800's. Some SoCal guys think they "pioneered" big baits.
Those "pioneers" were crossover guys that took their Calico bass gear, specifically Worm Kings and started throwing them for green bass. Worm King then decided to make the Dinosaur, which was a larger bait they poured in rainbow trout, then came guys like Alan Cole. Also, most of these guys transfered their longer jig sticks that had been wrapped as saltwater bass rods over to throwing swimbaits. Makes me laugh every time a musky guy says they deserve credit for swimbaits and how we fish out here.

As far as drawing the line, I agree, there is a lot of gray area with what a swimbait really is.

Tokugawa is correct. Everything cycles and Nothin's New. Those Californians might have thought they were doing something original, but... Henshall wrote about what today we call swimbaits in his BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS in 1881. And every generation or two since those days someone has "pioneered" using musky baits for bass fishing. Take a look at a Heddon Musky Vamp, or many other plugs from the 1920s and 1930s. Today, fishing is all about marketing, and swimbaits and accompanying rods and reels were a great market for tackle manufacturers.

GARRIGA · Post by **GARRIGA** » Mon Apr 08, 2013 6:34 pm

If I have to pull out the 867 or bypassers think I just caught something nice than its a Swimbait.

deep · Post by **deep** » Mon Apr 08, 2013 6:49 pm

Here's a nice article:
http://bassfishingarchives.com/western/ ... e-swimbait

The rest of the site is good too. There's an article Bill Murphy wrote about worms that's hosted there. Can't find it right now, but I'll be happy to email it to anyone who wants it (saved it as a pdf when I found it.)

P.S. George Perry's bass was caught on a swimbait too.

Post by **Tokugawa** » Mon Apr 08, 2013 7:25 pm

Reel Old Geezer wrote:Tokugawa is correct. Everything cycles and Nothin's New. Those Californians might have thought they were doing something original, but... Henshall wrote about what today we call swimbaits in his BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS in 1881. And every generation or two since those days someone has "pioneered" using musky baits for bass fishing. Take a look at a Heddon Musky Vamp, or many other plugs from the 1920s and 1930s. Today, fishing is all about marketing, and swimbaits and accompanying rods and reels were a great market for tackle manufacturers.

It is something you have showed me over and over again ROG. Once I started to just peek into the Pflueger roots of Akron, OH, I found a world of interesting things. We all truly stand on the shoulders of giants.

Don't get me wrong, the SoCal guys certainly added their flair, ingenuity and take on things. Perhaps they coined the "swimbait" nomenclature. They also had the technology/materials to make more efficient and optimized sticks. They just weren't the first.

Post by **Tokugawa** » Mon Apr 08, 2013 7:50 pm

angry john wrote:If your swimming a curly tail grub is that a swimbait.

No - that's a grub.

In my feeble mind, it must have a fishy profile and have a boot tail or hinges/joints to create a swimming motion. But then, some people consider a Lunker Punker a "swimbait", and it has neither a boot tail nor joints.

To make matters worse, arbitrary size gets used as a criteria, so a 8" LP is a "swimbait" (without a joint to boot tail) as is a 6", but a 5" LP is not.

Stop the madness!

angry john · Post by **angry john** » Wed Apr 10, 2013 6:25 pm

Tokugawa wrote:
angry john wrote:If your swimming a curly tail grub is that a swimbait.
No - that's a grub.

In my feeble mind, it must have a fishy profile and have a boot tail or hinges/joints to create a swimming motion. But then, some people consider a Lunker Punker a "swimbait", and it has neither a boot tail nor joints. To make matters worse, arbitrary size gets used as a criteria, so a 8" LP is a "swimbait" (without a joint to boot tail) as is a 6", but a 5" LP is not.

Stop the madness!

Your right I was just being an a## only to show I don't judge.

johns · Post by **johns** » Fri Apr 12, 2013 12:45 pm

GARRIGA wrote:If I have to pull out the 867 or bypassers think I just caught something nice than its a Swimbait.

I agree. If it isn't thrown on a swimbait rod {at least a heavy } it isn't a swimbait. Or if people aren't laughing at you when they see you throwing it, it isn't a swimbait.

dragon1 · Post by **dragon1** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 5:07 pm

johns wrote:
GARRIGA wrote:If I have to pull out the 867 or bypassers think I just caught something nice than its a Swimbait.
I agree. If it isn't thrown on a swimbait rod {at least a heavy } it isn't a swimbait. Or if people aren't laughing at you when they see you throwing it, it isn't a swimbait.

It's easier to laugh at most baits in some parts of the country, vs REEEELY BEEG BASS COUNTRY!

bassindon69 · Post by **bassindon69** » Sat Apr 27, 2013 4:55 am

A swimbait to me is not so much the style of bait. To me it is a bait that catches Big fish and limits that we dream of or even better. When they came out they were to catch "trophy fish", period. To me once you get under 6" I would just use a Crank bait/ Jig or somthing like that because your target size fish is not going to be as big. Sure you will get a good one here and there, you can with a Jig too. But to Target trophy or the Bigger fish , 8"+ baits are best for me to get that done. Some seem to just want more bites or fish, I don't see why some of those people even bother with swimbaits if that's what they are looking for. Even though an A rig has smaller baits and catches a wide range of fish it is in fact an A rig not a swimbait, to me. I don't use them anyway, one DD at a time is plenty for me

I guess it really doesn't matter as long as you are having fun, call them what you want.

WHERE do you draw the swimbait line?

WHERE do you draw the swimbait line?

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