Author: Rob Belloni
Overview/History: The Mattlures 6” Swimbait was released in early 2006. This sinking swimbait weighs in at 1.35oz and uses a 4/0 Mustad Ultrapoint black nickel hook. There are currently four colors available: Light Trout, Dark Trout, Salmon, and Hitch. More colors including a Perch color will be made available in the future. Retail price on the Mattlures 6” is typically in the $15 range. Pros: Like all of the Mattlures baits, the 6” Swimbait features outstanding hand painted detail. If there’s one reason to buy this bait it’s the fact that it comes in natural patterns that really look like the forage fish that the lure is designed to imitate. There are plenty of small swimbaits on the market but the Mattlures baits set themselves apart with their realistic paint jobs.When you pick up the 6” Swimbait you’ll notice that the bait is very thin from side to side. I was pleased to see this design because thin baits fold up more easily in a fish’s mouth giving you a definite boost in bite to landing ratio. This is an especially nice bait feature when you’re fishing for smallmouth bass or spotted bass which will often hit a big swimbait but have a hard time swallowing it on the first strike. If you’re looking for a swimbait to throw for smallies or spots, put this bait high on your list. Even though this bait is relatively small and very much on the thin side, it still comes with a wire loop on the belly to attach a trailer hook. I like this feature because it gives you flexibility! There will be situations where you won’t want a hook down there (fishing in weeds, bottom bouncing, etc) but there will also be situations where you absolutely want a small treble on the belly. The fact that you can add or remove one in a matter of seconds is most excellent. Action wise the 6” Swimbait moves about how you would expect a 6” boot tail to swim. You do get a little bit of body wobble with this bait but it’s pretty much your standard boot tail swimbait action. I found that all of my test baits swam true out of the box with no modification. The natural cadence of the bait for me felt like a slow to medium/slow retrieve. At higher speeds the bait would start to plane to one side or the other so you shouldn’t expect to buy this bait for burning retrieves. Some of the baits may burn but these are hand pour type baits and there will be some variation in retrieve speed possibilities. The 6” Swimbait has a gradual fall, probably a little less than 1 foot per second. The Mustad Ultrapoint hook in the 6” Swimbait is excellent and should require no sharpening. Durability on this bait is going to be on par with any small soft plastic swimbait. You could get 12-15 fish per bait or you could get a psycho 1 pounder that shreds the tail up right away. The baits are small enough and thin enough that most fish will simply swallow them whole so hopefully your bait longevity will be on the higher end of the spectrum.Cons: If there’s one down side to the 6” Swimbait, it’s the price. For a soft plastic 6” swimbait, $15 is a fair amount of coin to drop. Let me elaborate though (insert philosophical discussion here). There are a lot of small cheap mass produced swimbaits out there. These same mass produced baits tend to come in a wide variety of strange and unusual colors most of which seem geared toward pike, walleye, or other such fish that have a hankering for chartreuse/orange/blue color combinations. I don’t know why mass produced swimbaits come in strange colors but maybe some of the R&D guys who choose the colors should head to San Diego to learn about what gets bit in western clear water style fishing. A Mattlures 6” bait may cost you five times what a similarly sized mass produced bait costs, but you won’t get a Mattlures paintjob on the cheapie bait. I still think $15 is a lot for this lure but a serious guy is going to stock a few in their box because color schemes like this are going to get bit better than your average bait on tough condition. Other than the price, this is a great little bait.
