Ok guys, wazup? I just watched the Clear Lake ELite on ESPN, how cool. I think this was the real breaking point for swimabits. It was awesome to see them become a real national thing But here's my question. WHAT WILL IT TAKE BEFORE THESE GUYS START THROWING SWIMBAITS ON THE RIGHT ROD?

Think about. Skeet, Double G, Swindle, Steve Kennedy just to name a few pros that did well out there on a swimbait. All of them are sponsored by rod companies that make specialty swimbait rods. And all of them were using flippin' sticks. How come? Lots of guys were complaining about losing fish on the big baits, time and time again. They aways blamed the hooks, the line, etc. How about the setup they're using?

Kennedy was throwing a Hudd on a Kistler Helium LTX flipping rod, for example. How many fish did he throw away because the trailer hook was on the outside? I know that sometimes the fish just don't hit the bait that well, and end up hooked on top of the head. But if he had used a rod made for a Hudd, maybe he would've hooked more fish with the top single hook? The rod had like no butt. There was no way you could set that Hudd hook into a fish with that rod. Granted, you will always lose fish when you're going with the big baits (always when you're fishing a tourney too :+ ). But these guys just lost a ton of fish up there. With the simwbaits being as popular as they have been in the last year or so, don't you think some of these guys would ask for a rod from their sponsors, like the Daiwa LT or Okumas?

Ok,here's my last thing. Everybody always talks about how the pros are doing their best to get the fish in as fast as possible, and not have to risk fighting them too long. So why would you risk that and fish a swimbait on a flippin' stick? If I was fishing an event like that (once again, IMO), I wouldn't take chances with the wrong rod. Like the Hudd at Clear Lake. I'd be going with the Okuma 7'6" or 7"11" XH and at least 20lb. line in that stuff out on the lake. So if you want that big gal in the boat ASAP, why fish with wrong rod?

OK, I'm stepping off my soapbox now.:+ Remember, this is all my personal opinion. So what do you guys think?

Bass + Fisherman= BAASS ADDICTT!!!

That was driving me crazy watching those guys throw those baits on flipp'n sticks. You would think the California guys for sure would of been prepared with real swimbait rods. It was painfull watching Kennedy throw the Hudd on that flipp'n stick, it looked like he was worried his rod was going to break everytime he casted. Hell, Kennedy dropped several thousand dollars on baits, you would of figured he would of spent the extra money for a real swimbait rod. He still won so who am I to talk about his gear...lol.....Maybe he could had 130lbs though. Also it looked like he may not of been burrying his treble on Hudd into the body, wonder if that could of caused some of his fish to be hooked like they were. With that treble just swinging freely I could see more fish being hooked like that.

Jake J

http://calfishing.com/gallery/v/members/jakej/

Greg was using the Okuma GS-C-7111MH and either the GS-C-761H or GS-C-7111H.

I just looked at it again, GG was using an Okuma swimbait rod, it was just not the XH i'm used to seeing.

Jake J

http://calfishing.com/gallery/v/members/jakej/

Yeah, my bad. Double G was using a Okuma. I didn't recognize it, bcz I'm used to seeing the split butt on the Okumas, must've missed it. Kennedy throwing that Hudd on the flippin' stick was scary. He looked afraid that he would taco into a travel stick :P

Bass + Fisherman= BAASS ADDICTT!!!

Did you see the Osprey Greg Gutierrez was throwing with two trebles attached? Is that something everyone was doing but me? I went and tied two up now I wanna going fishing again. I just went yesterday. I can never get enough......BassMan

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/4392-ranger_boats.gif

I just could not believe that they did know how to hook the stinger hook in the back by the tail on the hudd. This would have help with all of those fish hooked out side of the mouth.

The only pass I will give Kenny is this is the first time he said that he truely fished the large swimbaits like the Hudd.

It is interesting to watch / hear about what happens when guys who are unbelievably good fishermen arm themselves with the big baits. You know really, I can relate to a lot of what they are going through with the wrong equipment and odd rigging.

I seem to recall that the first swimbait fish I ever caught was casting a 7" AC Plug on a 9'4" Sabre 190-9 ocean rod with a Calcutta 400 ... from a float tube :) Talk about awkward. I also seem to recall that I was using an Arbogast AC plug with the stock hooks and it is so so painful to recall all of the fish I lost because of those garbage hooks.

Should guys who are fishing at a high level be a little more with it? Yeah you would think so. But it's also important to realize that many of these guys have caught only a handful of bass over 7lbs in their life. I'm not making that up, they say it themselves.

I had a chance to fish the FLW Delta National Guard tournament as a nonboater last month and was amazed by the swimbait tackle guys were using. Good fishermen too! It was the usual assortment of flipping sticks, low profile baitcasters and light line like 12-20lb test. Yeah 12lb.. believe it.

What I realized with two of my pros was that much like Steve Kennedy, they had not caught a lot of big bass in the past, especially in tournaments. Two of my pros caught the biggest bass they had ever caught in a tournament when I fished with them, and those fish were 7lbers!

What I've realized over time is that 95% of fishermen will not believe something until they experience it first hand. With swimbait fishing, it takes a long time (typically) to get the full range of experiences. It's not like you go out the first day and get your hook bent out, your trap hook leader broken, your line broken, and miss 15 fish in a day because your rod is flimsy, has a 10" butt section and only 8 guides.

It takes time on the water to experience those things and realize that catching 10lb+ fish on swimbaits is not like any other type of bass fishing. I'm sure many pros walked away from that Clear Lake tournament with some plans to re-tool their arsenal but it still might take them 5 more years to dial things in. Not because they are dumb or bad at fishing but because it might take 5 years to experience the full range of bad experiences that the wrong tackle can inflict on you.

And one last thought... From a sponsor perspective, some of these guys simply may have their hands tied. If you're sponsored by Kistler and they don't make a swimbait rod, what are you going to do on day 4 of the tournament when the camera is zoomed in on every detail? Just like you guys noticed these guys aren't using swimbait sticks, people would notice if Steve Kennedy was wielding a 7'11" Okuma XH :)

So, yeah... I look at this stuff and dockboy, I'm right there with you wondering what in the world these dudes are thinking but in a lot of ways it doesn't surprise me one bit.

Just saw an announcement that Kistler is going to be introducing an 8' swimbait rod.

Lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what have-yous

I dont think that this tournament was the "swimbaits breakthrough to national attention" deal. That occurred many years ago during the Clear Lake tournament where Velvick did so well (I dont know what year, but seems it was 7 or 8 years ago). I personally hate to see swimbaits get so much attention (for obvious reasons), but there aint much I can do about that.

Swimbait, you missed one of the "takes time to dial everything in." Kennedy lost a good fish because his split ring on the belly stinger straightened out! Somebody forgot to tell him he had better replace them. I still remember holding a very heavy split ring and saying "no way in hell is a bass gonna straighten that thing out." Well, sure enough I got schooled by a fiesty 8 pounder; to this day I cant believe what that fish did to that split ring. Next day every one of my split rings were replaced with the right ones:P

I am probably wrong about this... but isn't there some sort of rod length restriction in the pro tournaments?

Most team and pro/aaa tournaments have an 8' rod rule. The notable exception being FLW.

I read the thing about Kennedy getting his split ring bent out. Been there too. He made a comment that he had replaced the split rings on all his baits but that one. That's always how it goes :)

You brought up some good points man....

First off, I had no idea so many pros fished with swimbaits. I always thought swimbaits were for casual anglers and amateurs pros. Swimbaits take time to get a bite and need to be fished at a slower rate and only catch bigger fish (which isn't easy). Not really appealing to tournaments....

I don't have a clue in the world why they were using flipping sticks. I know Gerald was struggling to keep his hooked; along with EVERYONE throwing swimbaits. Kennedy was the one who really could have used a better rod. That Hudd was just murder on his flippin stick. With so much money on the line and such big fish to be caught, you'd think that SOMEBODY would be throwing them right?

On another note, I can relate with Swimbait. I started off throwing Jerry Rago baits on a regular MH freshwater rod with a cheap Bass pro Shops reel. Ghetto? Well it gets worse. 14 pound braid and the Mh action just ripped it right out of the fishes mouth no prob. After doing some reading I realized what I was doing wrong and quickly changed to an Okuma Big Bait rod, Abu Garcia reel, 20 Berkley Big Game and im still throwing Rago's.

All in all, I was actually excited to see so many big fish caught. More then that, it was interesting to see these pro's struggle with swimbaits.

Great tournament!
-----------

Go big or go home!

Damn its been a while since I've been here on the board. A month since the last reply..oh well. Yeah, I started throwing the small Castaics from Wally World when I first started. Was using a Basspro 7' MH Tourney Special rod and 12lb. First time I threw that bait was right after the last trout stock at the local lake. I missed like a 6lber. right in front of my friggin' eyes. Dull trailer hook... I learned my lessons that day. The rod I was using is now my Spook rod, which it's doing a great job as using braid and a Vixen. But swimbaits, no way. The rod would break before I got a hook in the fish. Oh yeah, thanks Rob. Your insght was much appreciated. Congrats on moving back to SLO dude. Nice to hear your getting your MBA. I start applying this year, trying to get to Davis if I can. Wish me luck man... Anyways, thanks guys.

Bass + Fisherman= BAASS ADDICTT!!!