Hard Swimbaits marketed to fisherman or fish?

[camelbird]

Anyone ever use hard swimbaits for stripers, trout, etc?

They look awesome! So good I bought one on black friday from tackle warehouse just because it looked so cool - thinking that some of these lures are marketed to the fisherman and not the fish...hahha - will still be fun trying them out hopefully this weekend.

2 decently priced ones I was looking at:

- 4" Tru Tungsten Swimbait

- ABT Swimbait - 6 or 8" might be good for spring stripers

[surfdog]

been using them for years, Manns stretch 15 and 20, rapela xraps, chug bugs, zara spooks etc. troll a stretch 20 this weekend and see what bites

[DOGFISH]

I am a fanatical crankbait troller. I agree with Surfdog as to all of the same lures, among others such as YoZuri, Lucky Craft and Sebile. I mostly use X-Raps.

I have used the jointed Sebile swim bait casting to breaking fish. It is deadly fished that way.

[DanMarino]

Humm...

I've got one of those but haven't caught anything on it yet.

[camelbird]

Oh totally agree with the cranks you mentioned - did well with the yozuri lipless cranks and xraps on stripers this year, they also really loved the Excalibur lipless cranks.

I might have called it by a wrong name... I'm talking about the swimbaits that are 3 and 4 jointed. Like the ones they use out west to catch the monster LM.

Like this:

http://www.tackletour.com/previewtru...hswimbait.html

http://www.tackletour.com/previewabtbanshee.html

[ictalurus]

Someone on the board (Redfish, maybe?) caught some stripers on the Sebile swimbaits, but I think it eventually broke. I'm reluctant to spend anything more than what an X-Rap costs for a single lure. The hardest part about catching stripers (for me, at least) is finding them. Once you find them, they're usually not too picky about what you throw at them, so I don't know if I'd bother shelling out for expensive lures. Of course, my jigging performance (or lack thereof) at the Bay Bridge might suggest otherwise about the pickiness of stripers.

In other news, it looks like bass fishermen are starting to use umbrella rigs, which is kind of funny.

[ComeOnFish]

I am also a fanatical crankbait troller like Dogfish

joe

[camelbird]

x2 on the $$$... Wow some of these things are like $40.. I don't like losing a $3 crank...

The reason that sparked the whole thing was that tackle warehouse had one on sale for 6 bucks..

I'm fishing it this weekend I'll see how it works - 4" shad/herring colored

[ictalurus]

Gotta love the sales this time of year. If you slay 'em with the new lures, I might have to reassess what I consider an expensive lure.

[Redfish12]

I have had a lot of success on the sebile jointed minnow. Mine is about 4-4.5" and it sinks slowly. I have had some problems but they all stem from this lure being designed for freshwater. Replace the hooks and split rings and you're good to go. I did have a snakehead crush one but it may have just been a bad one or I may have cracked it banging it on some rocks.

Let us know how they work out!

[Southerly]

i've looked at the big ones, but haven't bought. if you wanted big; big plastic would be less expensive; storms, calcuttas. not quite the same i guess.

is anyone a fan of bass-style crankbaits for rockfish? i mean those pudgy round ones. i'm interested in idea of casting, but getting deep. situations where i have normally thrown soft plastic but using one of these with rattle and bumping bottom, etc. these are inexpensive and easy to throw but i haven't targeted rock with them. top one is rated at 18' i think.

anyone?

[ictalurus]

I think there's a couple posts on Kimbro's chesapeakelighttackle.com about light tackle trolling with those crankbaits combined with small bucktails. I've never tried them, but I haven't used crankbaits very long.

[ronaultmtd]

I use the various sizes of the Rapala XRaps- XR8, XR10, XR12, & XR14's...big baits- big fish- sometimes...but you cry when you hang one of these big baits up and lose it- $12 a pop

[surfdog]

outletbaitandtackle.com has some pretty good prices on cranks