Swim Bait fishing – How to fish Hollow Body Swimbait
You all have heard the latest rage in bass fishing- it’s the hollow body swimbait. We feel the Basstrix is one the best paddle bait on the market with the most tail action (and by far the most detailed color selection). As you slow crank our bait it starts the tail movement immediately. If you have fished the others you know most of them have to be rolled fast at first to get the tail going. Not ours. In hooking the 3.5 inch Basstrix, we suggest a 2/0 hook (included in package) with a 3/32 weight. For the 5 inch Basstrix use a 6/0 with a 1/4 ounce weight (included in package) We find this to work the best (see the diagram below). However some pros use a Texas rig with a 1/16th ounce weight, a Carolina and some times just the hook. Recently The Hook Up Guide, Mike McFarland of Phoenix, AZ. has been fishing with clients that have never caught fish, actually catching up to 35 fish in a half day. He likes to rig The ProMinnow with an exposed 1/4 oz. lead head (Coming Soon to our product line up)
As two time angler of the year Jay Yelas said in the FLW magazine ” the swimbait played a huge role in my success last year. Probably 90 percent of the fish I weighed in at Beaver and Norman came on swim baits I was fishing around boat docks. I also used it in open water situations at the Detroit River event and the Fort Loudoun-Tellico lakes event to catch a high percentage of my key fish over the course of those tournaments.” FLW tour pro, Art Berry, says in the FLW magazine, “a true test for the premium swim bait is to hold them by the head and if the tail flilps over to the side it is made of the premium plastic and those that do will have the best tail action.” Compare for yourself, do the tail test on our Basstrix. Our baits are the best plastic you can buy and they have the best action.
This bait is best fished and most effective when reeled with a slow to medium roll. The Basstrix will stay in a water column of about 3′ to 8′ of water. Most pros think you need a minimum of 3′ of visibility for them to work best. This bait skips well under hard to get to docks and with the weedless hook, its a great bait for heavy brush, over grass, over submerged timber and in those dark recesses.
One popular baiting system is the under spin, a lead head with a spinner. With the slotted body of the Basstrix, the bottom is open, initially for the weighted hook to slide up into the cavity, but it lends itself really effectively for this spinner. There is no ripping of the plastic like on the solid body baits. The lead head simply slips up into the cavity with the exposed hook on top of the bait and the spinner or blade down below. This is extremely effective in open water.
