Best Swimbait? 2025

MIbassin reply :

hey guys!

i was just wondering what you think is the best hollow body swim bait on the market and what size?

and also i was wondering if they are strictly big bass lures because i don't get to fish a lot and i want to make sure i will at least catch a few fish on them.

what are prime conditions and locations for fishing them?

thank you!!!

Raul reply :

Keep on fishing where you always do, keep on fishing the way you always do, keep on fishing what you always use, keep on fishing when you always do and you´ll catch what you always catch. There are no magic lures, swimbaits like any other bait are tools, but for your tools to work you have to be there, if you aren´t, and I quote: I don´t get to fish a lot ( your words ), you are not there, swimbaits are not going to perform a miracle.

In order to catch bigger than average fish you want to be there the most you can, it´s a matter of odds, the more you role the dice the higher are the chances of you hitting the good numbers, then put the odds in your favor, fish when the bigger than average fish are more vulnerable: spawn and fall, I´m not a believer of the moon phases 99% of the time, the only time when I pay a little bit more attention to the moon phase is when it matches the conditions that I know produce bigger than average fish ( weather pattern, season, pool level of the lake/pond ).

I´ve caught numerous double digits in my life, when I caught the most was when I could pound the water the most times, for several years I was able to hit the lake 3-4 days a week, nowdays I´m not able to do that, this year I´ve only fished once, ask me how many bigun´s I caught ---> 0, not only I haven´t been there, I haven´t even been at the right moment when those conditions I look for are present.

Catching bigger than average fish has more to do with being there at the right place at the right time than with what you fish for biguns.

Now back to your question, there are numerous good hollow belly swimbaits, my personal preference goes to the Basstrix Paddletail, and no, they are not strictly big bass lures, however, the bigger the bait the less likely is to catch smaller fish.

Curved reply :

Wow, what a response Raul. Thanks from that, and I hope you're able to get out more in coming time.

I've heard swimbaits only working on the west coast, but who knows.

Jim_M reply :

On 11/10/2012 at 10:37 AM, Curved said:

I've heard swimbaits only working on the west coast, but who knows.

Swimbaits only in work in water where bait swims

WRB reply :

Bassrrix created the hollow body swimbait along with several other hollow body soft plastic lures that all work extremely well. The 6" paddle tail is the most popular and comes in enough color combinations to work anywhere bass live.

You don't need special swimbait rods for the 5" and 6" hollow body, however you do need heavy enough jig or worm rod rated for 1 oz lures and 20 lb line; medium heavy to heavy, 6 1/2' to 7' worm or jig rod works OK.

Moaner's kneel weight swimbait hook in 5/0, 1/4 oz works good.

The big difference with any swimbait is a very slow retrieve and the vast majority of bass anglers simply can't learn to slow down and properly present a swimbait. My suggestion when starting out is not to start fishing a swimbait until you have gotten the urge to cast and retrieve lures and cover water, swimbait are a saturation presentation where you spend a lot of time in a small area. To fish any lure slowly you must have the mind set were you know bass are located where you are fishing, how deep the bass are holding and what those bass are targeting in regards to baitfish.

Good luck!

Tom

SirSnookalot reply :

Quote
Catching bigger than average fish has more to do with being there at the right place at the right time than with what you fish for biguns.

I think so too, not to mention putting in a lot of time. I personally put less emphasis on what baits I'm using as compared to selecting my fishing location. I agree with WRB about fishing them slow, I don't use too many larger swimbaits but 1/4 and 1/2 paddletails have been working well of late, they just aren't for bass.

roadwarrior reply :

Besides the Berkly Hollow Belly, I like the Shadalicious and Keitech Swing Impact Fat.

Pepul reply :

Yum money minnow

RyneB reply :

The strike king shadalicious in 4 inch size and blue shad color is a great fish catcher. Its a numbers bait, if you want size youll have to throw the bigger baits.

CWB reply :

Agree with RW on the Shadalicious. 4.5" works great up here. Keitech fat is a great bait but not a hollowbody.

Mattlures reply :

for hollow bellies I think the Basstrix is the best. They swim great and look better then the others plus they are the originals that everybody else copied. As far as throwing swimbaits goes, little hollow bodies are kind of inbetween real swimbaits and other baits like crankbaits. Real swimbaits are best used in specific spots making perfect presentations a few times and then moving on to the next spot. I never disect a spot with swimbaits. If I want to disect a spot I will drag a T rigged worm. Hollow bellies are a little different and I will throw it more before I move on. I dont fish cranks but I do fish smaller swimbaits similar to how cranks are used. I cover water with them.

Raul reply :

On 11/11/2012 at 2:52 PM, Mattlures said:

for hollow bellies I think the Basstrix is the best. They swim great and look better then the others plus they are the originals that everybody else copied. As far as throwing swimbaits goes, little hollow bodies are kind of inbetween real swimbaits and other baits like crankbaits. Real swimbaits are best used in specific spots making perfect presentations a few times and then moving on to the next spot. I never disect a spot with swimbaits. If I want to disect a spot I will drag a T rigged worm. Hollow bellies are a little different and I will throw it more before I move on. I dont fish cranks but I do fish smaller swimbaits similar to how cranks are used. I cover water with them.

What my good old friend Matt says is worth it´s weight in gold, I would pay close attention to his words, why ? Matt is a big bass enthusiast with a record of double digits that most of us weekend warriors can only dream of, before he became a bait manufacturer he spend a good deal of time learning how to catch biguns in territories and conditions where and when most of us don´t have to deal with, I have caught a good deal of biguns, I can brag about it but think of my biguns as being relatively "easy" to catch when comapred to Matt´s biguns, most of my biguns come from places where they don´t see a bait every 10 seconds, don´t come from crystal ultra clear water, many had to see the bait right at their nose before biting, "easier to catch" , however I seldomly see most of my fellow fishermen catch a bigun, and when they do they really lucked out.

Raul reply :

On 11/10/2012 at 10:37 AM, Curved said:

Wow, what a response Raul. Thanks from that, and I hope you're able to get out more in coming time.

I've heard swimbaits only working on the west coast, but who knows.

Man I ain´t living in the west coast, actually I don´t live in any of the 50 states of the Union, I live in central Mexico and swimbaits work here.

It´s a matter of visualizing a bait as for what it is ---> a tool, bass are bass and behave like such anywhere you put them and they respond to your tools if you are at the right place, at the right time, with the right tool, with the right presentation, the tricky part is being at the right place, at the right time, with the right tool and the right presentation, the tricky part is tricky because it largely depends on you, it really depends on your knowledge and skills, you want to learn to recognize when, where, how and with what. It´s not about which brand is good, there´s a big bunch of good brands, it´s about you knowing when one is better than another. The magic is not in the wand, it´s in the magician.

WRB reply :

The difference between west coast slow and the rest of the country is; west coast we stop the trolling motor and make several casts at different angles on a known spot. We often refer to this as a milk run, hitting several spots and making casts. Most of the country bass anglers put the trolling on a setting and fish while the boat is continually moving...too fast for most swimbait presentations.

The big difference between Matt and Me is I use jigs to saturate a spot more often than T-rig worm is because the presentation I use for jigs is faster than I fish a worm and have better success for big bass with jigs.

Matt makes excellent swimbaits, however this topic is about hollow body swimbaits, not small swimbaits in generally.

+1 on 'Matt's trophy bass skills, we both fish similar lakes.

Tom

MIbassin reply :

thank you all! and also have any of you had any experience with the huddleston weedless grass minnow? i just found it and it looks like its small enough to be a numbers bait but also bring out the big ones.

flyfisher reply :

I like the yum money minnow.

Crestliner2008 reply :

I happen to favor the SK Shadalicious. Especially the 5", dressed on a 5/0, 3/8 oz. weighted swimbait hook - the type with the coil retainers. Fish this bad boy with a steady, slow retrieve (just fast enough to get the tail AND head moving), close to the bottom. You'll get your arm torn off! LOL!

SPEEDBEAD. reply :

On 11/14/2012 at 4:20 AM, MIbassin said:

thank you all! and also have any of you had any experience with the huddleston weedless grass minnow? i just found it and it looks like its small enough to be a numbers bait but also bring out the big ones.

Good bait for numbers.

Think about it though, it's not even 4" long and not even an ounce. Swimbait? Yes. Big bait? Negative.

Just get out of the whole "west coast" thing. Bass are bass, everywhere you go. They eat a jig out west the same as midwest and east. They eat baitfish the same in all those places. They also exhibit cannibalistic behavior everywhere they swim. A bass has a huge mouth and the attitude to eat anything that will fit in there.

Don't be afraid.

scaleface reply :

On 11/14/2012 at 8:58 PM, Crestliner2008 said:

I happen to favor the SK Shadalicious. Especially the 5", dressed on a 5/0, 3/8 oz. weighted swimbait hook - the type with the coil retainers. Fish this bad boy with a steady, slow retrieve (just fast enough to get the tail AND head moving), close to the bottom. You'll get your arm torn off! LOL!

I have not used any of the new hollow swimbaits, but have used SassyShads for years. The head should be moving,like you stated,.With the SassyShad a short shank jighook is the best. I have never found a good jig head for it.Ive been forced to use crappie jigs with thin wire hooks, that I bend to make the gap wider and the shank shorter.Mister Twister should make a jighead specifically for this lure.When rigged perfectly ,the whole body moves and the bass inhale it.

I use the three inch ones and 1/8th jighead. I have caught bass up to 6 lbs on the little bait, but have had lots of bass come unhooked because of the poor hooks used. Im still searching for a good jighead.

jerzeeD reply :

The grass minnow is a great swimbait. If you want to you want to bulk up, try the huddleston weedless shad. It is about 1/2" longer and about 2 dollars a pop cheaper than the grass minnow.

MIbassin reply :

Hi mattlures, i just had a quick question for you:

i was looking at your soft 6 inch perch and it looks awesome! i was just wondering what is the ROF? and also I visit my dad a lot and he lives on long island and we do lots of fishing and i know its long island but there are lakes with bass up to 7 pounds in them. would your perch be good on these lakes or is it too big?

Mattlures reply :

The perch sinks about a foot per second. When I am fishing a slender(non panfish) 6in swimbait it feels kinda small. There is no bass worth catching that cant and wont eat a 6in bait. What I mean is that a 1 pound bass has no problem eating a 6in bait. I have caught a 1.5 lb bass on a full bodies 8in swimbait. An 8in bait is alot bigger all around then a 6in.

I beleive in matching the prey that the bass are feeding on. If those lakes have perch in them then a perch bait would be a good choice.

MIbassin reply :

ok thank you so much the lakes around her are filled with perch!

tennsopher reply :

I agree with Matt on this one,the Basstrix was the original and when introduced, were difficult to obtain.Why,because they flat out catch fish.I fish them with Owner keel weighted hooks with the centering pin.Slow retrieve.

MIbassin reply :

hi guys,

I'm really curious about getting into fishing swim baits, especially the 6 inch weedless hudds. i have lots of perch in the lakes around here and i think the perch color would be perfect. however there is something that tells me i wont catch fish on them.

do you think they are too big for fish averaging 2-4lbs? I just want to make sure i won't get skunked every time.

ps i fish mostly in the summer

thanks!!!

SPEEDBEAD. reply :

On 11/19/2012 at 2:12 AM, MIbassin said:

hi guys,

I'm really curious about getting into fishing swim baits, especially the 6 inch weedless hudds. i have lots of perch in the lakes around here and i think the perch color would be perfect. however there is something that tells me i wont catch fish on them.

do you think they are too big for fish averaging 2-4lbs? I just want to make sure i won't get skunked every time.

ps i fish mostly in the summer

thanks!!!

Couple things:

1. Attitude is everything. You're gonna need some confidence to throw swimbaits and KNOW they will get bit.

2. Why target fish 2-4lbs? You are fishing for ONE FISH and I'd be willing to bet that fish is bigger than 4lbs.

3. You're gonna get skunked, get used to it.

#3 is probably the hardest thing to push through. It's really, really easy to see someone catching fish on a shakeyhead and think to yourself, "Man, I gotta switch it up." I can tell you with 100% certainty, you WILL NOT catch swimbait fish if you are fishing anything but swimbaits.

6" swimbaits are a snack to a 4lb fish.

MIbassin reply :

thank you i will just have to raise my confidence level!

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