Hey all,
I have been fishing with the Big(6") storm wild eye swim shad and the castiac trout(6") on my med/hvy baitcast combo and have been doing pretty decent, I am now set on buying a new swimbait combo rod/reel I am going with the Okuma guide series rod (xhvy) with a induron idx400 reel For now this are all I can afford but have read that they will be very sufficent for throwing big baits.Now my question is this...
I live In lake havasu city and fish here 97% of my time, We DONT have trout here so i know the big bass dont feed on trout and some of the best swimbaits I have seen so far are usualy Trout patterned.I do know that they feed on sunfish here as well as shad,But shad dont get that big here so throwing a 12" shad wouldnt make much sense and for bluegill I have been looking into Mattslures bluegills and the smaller storm bluegills what LARGE baits should I look into and am I wasteing my money on an extra heavy duty swimbait rod if the baits dont make sense here?..I hope that question doesnt sound lame but I have been almost satisfied throwing smaller baits,yet I know if I find the right baits to throw in the large size it might pay off..any ideas would be greatly appreciated...

I dont fish any trout lakes so I can relate I suggest the TRIPLE TROUT first it's a killer bait and you can fish it at any depth other good baits to concider MONSTER JACK, MS SLAMMER, MATT LURE BASS & GILL, for fishing deep I like the BIG HAMMER

this place has all of them except the triple trout

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/swimbaits.html?from=calfish

BTW I hear alot of complaints about okuma reels I would not suggest them save your money and buy a calcutta. Also I dont like the split grip on the okuma rod but alot of people do, Just my personal preference.

i was just checking out the mattslures blugill lures, im going to pick 1 of those up, nice looking lure, you might be better off with something like that.

"I have been looking into Mattslures bluegills and the smaller storm bluegills"

Matts baits are way superior to any mass-produced swimbaits. His baits have been my "go to" baits this year and they have served me well here in middle GA. I've caught scores of Bass with all of his baits, from a 1.5 lber to my new PB, a 9 lber.

I'm trying to use the bigger baits(Hudds, Slammers, etc.) and have had a little success with some except for the Hudds so far. If you're budgeting your bait purchases but still want to use swimbaits(and catch Bass), Matt's is the way to go IMO.

Dan

Dan is right Matts baits are great the detail on them is almost too good. But remeber storms are good too I got this nice fish on a 4" $0.50 cheapie so I always keep a few on hand
http://www.calfishing.com/gallery/1/aag

The 3:16 Baby Bass would be a good choice for there I would imagine. Bass just can't resist a small bass...

Cool Bass TM!

Dan

I fish alot of local smaller ponds in my area where the forage mainly consist's of sunfish or baby LMB, and trout are non-existent. I've had great sucess with some bigger Lucky Craft stuff from Japan, I would highly recommend them though they are not necessarily swimbaits.

http://www.luckycraft.co.jp/products/2005/0504/0504bull/index.html
The Lucky Craft B.U.L.L. searchbait is this massive topwater crank with a prop tail that's similar to a Deps Buzzjet. It weighs about 2 oz. and are 4". It really create's this obnoxious surface disturbance and lots of bass calling loud noise- it's hard to build confidence on it at first but has proven killer for me as a night time bait and i've taken probably about 20 total 4-5 lb. bass on them over the last year, with the biggest going just over 6.

http://www.luckycraft.co.jp/products/2005/0504/0504realvib/index.html
I've also recently started throwing the Lucky Craft Real VIB, it's pretty much a giant rattletrap style lure that is way more detailed. I've been working them like swimbaits, they're 4" and weigh an ounce.
The lucky craft stuff is hit or miss with availability, I've gotten all of myn either from ebay or www.plat.co.jp

http://www.lobinalures.com/swim.html
I'd also back-up the fish arrow swimbaits someone else mentioned, for some reason I have alot better luck with the monster jack lures on smaller bodies of water. They're also available through Lobina Lures in the U.S., but pretty pricey. They don't have any conventional patterns available in the U.S. for the sinking style spooky jack yet though, which is unfortunate because they are killer swimbaits. I bought the Bluegill pattern one off of ebay from Japan. It's kind of ironic that you can only find trout pattern swimbaits, I'm actually having a red ayu patterned spooky jack painted up like a trout right now because I think it will destroy some of the SoCal lakes out here, the spooky jack shares the same action as a triple trout but looks alot more realistic.

Sorry to go off, but hope this helps you stick some fatties in your area!

-Aesrock

Bluegill Pattern B.U.L.L.
http://i18.ebayimg.com/03/i/05/a1/a0/f9_1.JPG
Bluegill Pattern Real VIB77
http://i11.ebayimg.com/01/i/05/90/bf/b2_1.JPG
Bluegill Pattern Spooky Jack
http://i10.ebayimg.com/02/i/05/4b/e5/a0_1.JPG

You're not wasting your time by any means. Bass are bass, they like to eat other large fish no matter where they live :)

Most of my fish around here that have been caught on swimbaits in lakes that don't have trout have been on the 9" MS Slammer or on 5" big hammers. As already mentioned, the mattlures baby bass and bluegill and the triple trout are great bets also.

The most important thing is to not think in terms of limitations. If you think something may work, go and try it. And expect that the bigger the lure you use, the longer you will go between bites. Throwing a big bait on any lake (trout or not) for one day is rarely an indication of the potential. Throwing a big bait for 5 or 10 trips will give you the real clues about what the possibilities are.

good luck