Rob,

The 11" trout is a new swimbait by a muskie fishermen out of Illinois. I haven't seen the trout in the water, but I have a shad swimbait by Nate and they are pretty unique baits. They are made out of a tough material that is almost like a solid hard foam that seems to be almost indestructable, which is good if you are a muskie fisherman like me. I think they would be good for Bass too though. They are a sinking bait and are pretty heavy, so some stout tackle is necessary, although I thought Nate said on a muskie forum that he was in the process of making different sink rates in the future. Not sure what the weight is on the trout, someone may want to request that information from him. But I will say that if it swims like the shad, then I am sure that it will be a great swimbait though. Here is a link to Nates website.

http://www.natesbaits.com/

The giant suzy sucker is a good swimbait on there too, I'm surprised I haven't heard of any california bass fishermen using these on the site. At least the smaller versions, anyway. The one listed is a pretty hefty swimbait and maybe a bit big for bass, but they do make a 9" and 11" version that is a little bit easier to lob. They work well for muskie at least, but I haven't caught a bass on one yet.

Speaking of muskie baits, I've seen a lot of talk about the lunker phunker and have wondered why people are paying such high amounts for a large topwater walk the dog bait when there are so many walk the dog baits made for muskies that don't cost an arm and a leg. I've caught nice bass on muskie mania docs, poes, and especially weagles. Weagles are heavy topwater walk the dog baits that sit low in the water, and that do a number on bass. I've caught a few bass on them while in the process of trying to catch muskies and know a lot of other guys who have also. Just thought I would share the information. You can get most of these baits on muskie lure sites like Rollie and Helens or Thorne brothers baits.

Here is a pic of an Indiana bass around 3 pounds caught on a weagle while muskie fishing.



http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/6562-IMG_0050.jpg