but right off the bat, I have to tell you that you are facing the toughest part of fishing swimbaits effectively, and that is catching those first few big fish, and thereby gaining the confidence needed to just keep fishing them.

I must say that I fished swimbaits (mainly the 9" Castaic trout) more last year than I ever have. I also caught far fewer fish (total numbers), than I can ever remember. But I also caught far more double digit bass (27) than I ever have also, which of course was my goal.

I guess I would have to say that I averaged about 1 fish every 3 days, or 30 hours on the water (for most of the year) and most of those fish were over 10 lbs.
I probably sighted, on average, 10 double digit bass per trip (most were followers) and had an average of one "swat, bump, tap, etc" every trip. This is where the fallacy of swimbaits having a low hooking percentage originates. I don't believe these half-hearted attempts really count as "missed fish". Because believe me, when that big momma hog decides she wants to eat that trout, she won't have any problem inhaling it in one big gulp ! And when she does, your hooking percentage will be very high ! Probably 90% plus !

Set up a "milk route" of spots, and work through each spot, making 3 to 5 casts on each stop. No need to fish one spot for hours. If a hog is there and looking for a trout, she will hammer it the first time she sees it..... or she won't hammer it at all. Do make as many rounds through your spots, as many times as possible during the course of a day though, as you never know when a monster bass will move up to feed.

Just my .02 cents,
Peace,
Fish Chris