Tips & Techniques
Swimbaits &
Wakebaits in the Post Spawn |
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May, 2010
By Tom Redington
May in Texas marks the end of the bass spawn
and ushers in a month-long feeding spree. Panfish move towards the bank to
mate, as do the shad. In addition, the last of the bass spawners are still
guarding fry, and young-of-the-year fish of all species abound.
Spinnerbaits, crankbaits, topwaters, and plastics all work well during
this period but fish become conditioned to them. Recently, two categories
of baits have really become productive during the post spawn—swimbaits and
wakebaits. Swimbaits are realistic soft- or hard-bodied baits that swim
and look just like real prey. Wakebaits, sometimes a swimbait and
sometimes a crankbait, are simply lures that stay on the surface and bulge
the water, hence the name “wakebait”. Bass are almost bigger suckers for
new lures than fishermen, so check out some of the latest baits on the
market and take advantage of this active feeding time.
Just like soft plastics come in a craws, worms, minnows, grubs, and
creatures in a variety of colors; swimbaits come in all shapes and sizes.
From one day to the next, you’ll need to experiment with what works best.
For instance, if bass are keying on bluegill, a brightly colored fatter
bait will probably work well. On the other hand, if they are eating
spawning shad, a longer and thinner bait that resembles a shad and with a
white or chrome color scheme will probably work better. On Lake Fork,
swimming a Live Magic Shad on a weighted Ultimate Swimbait Hook has caught
fish each spring for several years now. The 3.5” and 4.5” sizes work well
for numbers of fish, or upgrade to the 5.5” or even 8” size and go for a
lunker. 4, 5, and 6 inch Hyper Worms, with their segmented body and
hard-throbbing tail, also work great when buzzed around the shallows on
swimbait hooks. Of course, hollow bodied swimbaits and boot tailed
swimbaits from 4 to 10 inches catch some big ones as well, so try a bit of
each. Hard swimbaits do better some days too, and Lucky Craft’s Lipless
Pointers, 3 Jointed Pointer, and Real California series are a few great
ones to try out. One tip to keep in mind: with almost all of these
swimbaits, the slower you retrieve them, the better you’ll do.
Wakebaits, whether a waking swimbait or a waking crankbait, shine when
fished over shallow grass that is growing near the surface in late spring.
The bulge of these baits will call fish in from a distance, especially in
clear water. By going with a slightly quicker retrieve or less weight on
your hook, you can wake a Live Magic Shad or a Hyper Worm, a great
technique in grass that is starting to mat up. As a matter of fact, Scott
Martin used these baits to help win the 2010 FLW Series tournament on Lake
Okeechobee by swimming them across and over vegetation. When you have a
bit more room on the surface, waking crankbaits will work all day and
generate awesome topwater strikes even when the sun is bright and bass
won’t touch a regular topwater. Lucky Craft RC 1.5, 2.5, and 3.5 Wake
Action crankbaits will stay on top of the water no matter how slow or fast
you reel them. For all day visually explosive strikes, it’s hard to beat a
wakebait this time of year—both for productivity and for the fun of it.
Unlike so many new techniques, swimbaits and wakebaits are easy to rig and
easy to determine where to throw them. Since you want to keep most of
these lures near the surface, I use 20 lb or larger PowerSilk mono line on
them, up to 25 lb. The floating mono properties and large diameter line
keeps baits high in the water column, plus the limpness of PowerSilk
allows me to cast even light baits on such big line. Depending on the
weight of the lure, medium and medium heavy baitcasting rods will cast all
but the largest baits well. For example, 7’3” Dobyns Champion rods in a 3
or 4 power, like the 733C or 734C cast Hyper Worms and Live Magic Shads
very well, yet have enough power to bring in big fish. For heavier
swimbaits, true swimbait rods like the Dobyns Mike Long swimbait rod
lineup will allow you to throw 2 to 8 oz lures without fatigue. Finally,
waking crankbaits work best with fiberglass rods, so I use the Dobyns
704CB GLASS or 705CB GLASS to allow fish to take the bait deeply and keep
them buttoned up.
Once you’re rigged, simply look for areas where shad and bluegill are
spawning or where the bass are finishing up their spawn. Large grass flats
in the backs of creeks and grassy or rocky points at the mouths of these
same creeks are excellent places to start. With all of the activity this
time of year, you’ll see bait and bass swimming around in productive
areas. If you don’t see a bunch of bait or bass occasionally swirling on
prey, you’re probably in the wrong place.
So there you have it, a few basics on some of my favorites in the swimbait
and wakebait category. I encourage you to give them a try and you’ll
probably find a number of these baits will be your new favorites, too. If
I can be of assistance, please contact me at 214-683-9572 or e-mail me
through my website,
www.LakeForkGuideTrips.com.
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