What are the top five swimbaits needed in every tackle box?
take in consideration:
price
versatility
size/type

:7

Well, the ones that have worked for me down here in the deep South are these:

Matt's Baby Bass(L/M, Striper, etc.)

" Bluegill

" 6" Trout

Bettencourt's Real Fish

MS Slammer


Dan

These are just what I always have with me.

Huddleston Deluxe 8" ROF12
MS Slammer 9" dark trout
Original Castaic Trout, not the snapons
Osprey in whatever size/color I want to bring
A whole butt load of Big Hammers mostly in Pepper Trout and Green Sardine

Don't forget the 3:16 Baby Bass!! Its the smaller lake killer!!

Hudd ROF 12
9" Dark Trout MS Slammer
6.5" Trout LA Slider
Rago Rat
Mattlures Baby Bass

I have caught fish on all of the above and they cover most conditions, deep to shallow.

Wood (floating) - Get a 9inch Slammer in the flavor of your choice (Dark or light Rainbow) - $35

Composite (confused as wood - Sinker) - Triple Trout (7 or 10 inchers) - $50 - $65

Small baits - Mattlures Bluegill ($20) and Mattlures baby bass ($10)

Medium Rubber - Huddleston (5 or 12) (why not, everyone else has 1 or 18) - $35

Large rubber - Stocker Trout (10 inch) - One of, if not the best big fish swimbaits - $25

ms slammer 9" (light or dark trout)
hudd rof 5 (troutskie)
hudd rof 12 (trout)
mattlures bluegill (trout)
mattlures bass (bluegill)

The others SWMB8R mentioned are all good too, but I could live without the triple trout and stocker trout (maybe not if I lived in socal, though).

1) Castaic hardbait trout (inject)

2) Rago's soft live trout

3) Huddleston rof 12

4) 3 16 wakebait

5) 22nd century 10" triple trout

5) Rago's baby tool hardbait (floater & fast sink)

Sorry, could not decide between the last two, its a tie.

ROF 12 Hudd
ROF 16 Hudd
ROF 5 Hudd
castaic trout swimbait
ms slammer 9"

HUDD 5
HUDD 12
SLAMMER 9" DARK AND LITE
MATTS LITE TROUT
A.C. PLUG
RAT BAIT

DONT FORGET YOUR PATIENTS

nice...

I think I've narrowed it down to:
Huddlestons
Mattlures Bluegill
Mattlures Baby Bass
MS Slammer
and any one of the other helpful suggestions

:7
thanx for all the suggestions!

Thanks guys for recomending my baits. I would also add a Rago rat to your list

baby tool
large tool
huddleston rof 5
slammer 9 inch
stocker trout 7 or 10 inch

What lakes do you fish most often?
Tight lines,
Wade

usually dvl

For Northwest Oregon: (sorry, guys. I know this is "CAL"fishing, but I learn so much from you and there is nobody up here to talk to about swimbaiting- he he) In order: #1: Hudd rof12 RB or Kokanee. #2: Hudd rof5 for s l o w presentations and senko type falls. #3: Mattlures, 6" trout in Coho color or Male Bluegill, or baby bass in yellow perch color- all great. #4: the original Optimum!! swims great, goes DEEP and comes in lot's of small sizes for our small bass and smallmouths, plus you don't worry too much about deep probing with them cause there not too espensive, plus fish in Oregon arent wised-up to swimbaits, yet so they still look great to our fish. #5: Osprey 6" inline or 7" FBT in whatever color feels good. Now, please don't share this list with anyone from Oregon and yes, I know I need to expand to hardbaits and I eventually will. Babysteps. Dave

1) Hudd 12
2) Hudd 5
3) Hudd 16
4) Hudd 0
5) Everything else.LOL
This is tough because it depends on the water ways you fish. I feel I need Everything else also.

Best of luck to you all.

Don.

No message

Only 5, doh!!! :) I typically bring way too much crap with me.

Narrowing it down to 5 baits would be awful but...

9" MS Slammer - dark trout
Hudd ROF16
5" Big Hammer with 3/4oz leadhead in #13 baitfish color
Rago Live Trout Softbait (single joint original one)
Castaic Softbait Trout (original not snap on)

Other baits that I would hate not to have...

9 or 10" Stocker Trout
10" Triple Trout
Original Castaic hardbait (injected)
Rago Live Trout Hardbait
Other hudd variations

Those are the kind of baits that have proven themselves to me to catch big fish around Nor-Cal. If you're in So-Cal, many other baits might come into play. I haven't fished a ton in So Cal but I've hit a lot of the major big bass lakes down there and its all different than up here. You guys who saw the BASS Insider video saw me get some triple trout fish. I haven't done that well on the triple trout up here but it fit the conditions during that deal so that's what I had tied on. Every lake has its own personality, its own quirks and its own baits that work!!!

Best advice is ... don't get too locked in to any one bait, there's always bonus bites to be had on random stuff. And don't follow the crowd into everything. Try some random stuff now and again, act on a hunch or buy something that just appeals to you. Building a good stock of baits takes many years but you've got some great advice to start from on this thread. Good luck :)

My top four are Osprey, 3:16 wake, Big Hammer, and Matts Baby Bass. Really appreciate this thread! Most interesting result to me was that the Slammer received so many votes. This past Friday night I fished a very good private lake that has not produced that well for me on swimbaits on past trips. Caught one or two previously on the Osprey, several on the 3:16, and one on the Big Hammer. So Friday night from 9:00 to midnight I threw the Slammer very consistently and threw it fairly regularly on Saturday until about noon. No luck whatsover. (Surprising, we had no luck on anything at night except one missed blow-up on a Jitterbug. We had really looked forward to night fishing this place.) Late in the afternoon Saturday we found some intermittently feeding bass on a small point. When the bite slowed down in that area, the Big Hammer was clearly the best bait among the few we tried. My friend was throwing a shad color, and I was throwing firetiger with the red jig-head. At first his produced more than mine, but then they seemed to be about equal. Point of this is we have even more confidence in the Big Hammer now than previously. (General report: we boated 40 bass from 2.5 to 8.0 pounds during a long day of fishing. The largest came on a Yamamoto 7X cuttail in 222, and the next largest, a 5.7, came on a swimming Yamamoto Hula Grub in 222, my number one confidence bait.)