Big Baits Catch Big Bass

    I am sure by now, you have heard the old adage, "Big baits catch big bass."  Well I never really knew how true that was until I started my recent love affair with swimbaits.  I don't mean those soft, paddle tailed, minnow lures.  I am talking, big, bad, mean, swimbaits such as the 5, 6, 7 and 8 inch hard swimbaits made by Bullshad Swimbaits.  These lures have a segmented body that is made up of four sections held together with heavy duty pins.  These baits are made with heavy duty owner hooks that can swivel 360 degrees to help keep the fish from gaining leverage and throwing the lure.  The tail is made up of a hard section with coarse hair used for the tail and it gives the bait a very realistic look.

    I started out using the Tru Tungsten swimbaits, which are made similarly to the Bullshad but they are made much more cheaply.  I switched over to the Bullshad because the paint on the Tru Tungsten swimbaits will chip off very easily and the lure itself breaks if you hit anything hard.  Since switching to the Bullshad swimbaits I have been very happy with their performance.  In the first twenty minutes fishing this lure I caught a 4.5lb largemouth.

  There are floating and slow sink versions of the bait.  The floater is a perfect topwater lure while the slow sink can be allowed to sink down deep and catch those big girls that don't want to rise to the surface.  I am usually throwing the slow sink version because it's slow rate of fall is just irresistible to big bass.  I don't fish the lure on a straight retrieve.  You want to stop the lure and let it fall or if you give the rod a jerk and then give it slack, you can turn the lure around 180 degrees and make it face the bass chasing it.  This is an invaluable tool fishing this lure because if you think about it, a fish's only defense is to bite something so if you make that lure turn around and face the bass, it's like a challenge and the fish has to defend itself so it strikes the lure.  Probably 40-50% of the fish I catch on this lure miss the bait on the first strike and return to strike again when you kill the lure and let it sink.
    Many anglers are scared to throw big 5" and 6" baits, having the mindset that they're scaring most of the fish off with the large lure.  In most cases this is not true.  I have had bass, under a pound, hammer the large swimbaits.  I look at it like this, a big bass doesn't want to expend  more energy catching diner than it will get from the meal.  So a big meal will be more attractive to big bass because they will get more out of it.  Would you rather chase nasty, greasy fries or a t-bone steak?  Well, these big swimbaits are a t-bone steak to bass.  You may not get as many bites along the way but the ones you get will make it all worth it if you just stick to it. Don't put the big lure down until you've caught something that makes it worth your while and trust me, this will happen if you just keep throwing it.