UNLOCK the POWER of Hard Swimbaits this Summer with Bryan New!

Hey, guys, Bryan New here. I'm here with BassResource, and you know today I'm going to talk about using hard swimbaits, different ways of using hard swimbaits in the summertime. There's different models of hard swimbaits. You know, we can go from glide baits to even some wake baits. You can consider a swimbait, you know, because they've got that big profile. And then we've got the multi-jointed baits, you know, like the SPRO Sashimmy Swimmer.

One thing that I have done my entire life growing up fishing locally, I loved catching wolf pack fish. I love catching cruising fish, bream bed fish. That was my thing. I won a lot of tournaments back home fishing for those type fish, and it's really...it's three different types of fish. But they really do a lot of the same things. You know, the bream beds a lot of times typically get in the backs of pockets. They'll get on sandy places, and that's kind of where I start to look for those bream beds. Now, that's, of course, not the only place, but that's the number one place that I'm going to look for a bream bed, a bluegill bed. And those bass, of course, they like to eat bluegills, so they're going to get around them, and they're going to hang out, and when they decide to eat one, they're going to slide up there, and they're going to eat one.

Cruising fish, you know, it can be a single fish that's cruising. It can be a wolf pack that's cruising, and there's certain places I've seen over the years that you would never think it's a bank that you would want to fish. It's just a nothing-looking bank, but fishing the same lake over and over, year after year, day after day, you'll notice that this is a cruising bank. And, like I said, a lot of times it's those "I'm never going to fish that" looking bank, but they like it for some reason. I don't know why, but they do. So the why doesn't always matter. You just got to know that they're there.

So one approach that I like to use is, you know, I like to swim a jig. I like to throw a topwater. I like to move a lot of water, cover a lot of water, so I need a fast-moving bait, but a topwater and a jig has always been one of my favorites. But you do need different options. A glide bait and, you know, a multi-jointed bait are two of my favorite deals for that.

Now, I'm going to reach for the glide bait. To me, it is a bait that you can cover water, but it's slower. You can cover a target, a small target, a little better with a glide bait than you can a multi-jointed bait, which is designed more for moving faster. So that glide bait, to me, on a bream bed is going to be a good deal because a bream bed to me is a target. It's a small section. You know, it may be the size of, you know, the front deck of your boat. It may be the size of 10 boats, 5 boats. You know, they obviously vary, but it's still a specific target that you're throwing at. You know, it's typically a bunch of little domes in a circle, somewhat of a circle, and the bass will typically sit to the side of it.

Of course, the bluegill are on the beds, and the bass will sit to the side. So what I like to do, I'll throw my glide bait up to past the bluegill bed, and I'll just start chopping it. I'll start chopping it, and that bass is sitting to the side looking at all the bluegill there, and here comes this crazy bluegill that looks like he's been doing drugs or something, and he says, "Hey, I need to eat you. You look wounded." And it's an easy target, but it is also a big target, so it triggers a lot of big bites. You know, it's not a bluegill color, but I don't think that it's always important. I think it's the profile that's important. You know, I do have custom-painted, you know, Chad Shads, and even the perch color Chad Shad is a very good bluegill imitator. So, for targets, that's when I'm reaching for the glide bait. It's a slower, bigger-profile bait, but when I'm really wanting to cover water, when I'm wanting to run as many of those wolf pack, cruising banks as I can in a day to get as many options as I can, because what I've seen over the years, if I see the fish before the fish sees me and I make the proper presentation to that fish, he's either going to bite or he's not. There's no keep throwing at him and making him bite.

He's either going to, or he's not, and when he does, obviously, you catch him, but when he doesn't, you just got to forget about that fish. Move on. If you know the rest of the bank is good for cruising, keep going until, you know, you run out, and pull the trolling motor up and go to the next place. Now, I may circle back around. You know, I said forget about that fish, but I do remember later in the day, "Hey, that fish is there. He's cruising up and down that bank." I may go back and maybe come from a different angle. You know, maybe the wind's picked up. Maybe the sun's at a different angle. Maybe now there's a shade line. All of those different things can, you know, make me approach that bank and fish on that bank from a different angle or a different way.

But so one bait that I really like to reach for is the Sashimmy Swimmer or a multi-joined bait. You know, there's several different models. Before the Sashimmy, the Triple Trout. If you know, it's a high-dollar custom-made kind of garage bait, but it's a good bait, and that's what I reach for before the Sashimmy. So, with the Sashimmy, though, we're able to get better sizes, we're able to get better colors, and, yeah, it's a better swimming bait on top of all of that. But it's a fast-moving and it's easy if you just toss it and you wind it, you toss it and you wind it, and it swims really tight. You know, it looks like a lot of things. Obviously, this color is going to look like a perch. You know, this is the killer gill color. You know, I design this one for fishing cruising fish, fishing bluegill beds. That's where this color really shines to me. Of course, you know it can look like a shad as well, but when I'm targeting those cruising fish, I'm targeting fish that I feel like are feeding on bluegill more than anything.

So I said before I like swimming a jig and I like throwing a topwater. I do. I always do. I always have those tied on when I'm doing so, but I need another option to show those fish a different presentation maybe whenever I come back later in the day or the next day or later in the next day. I need a different bait to show them, and that may be when I'm going to reach for the Sashimmy over the topwater or the jig, or maybe it's windy, and they're just not...but it's too windy for that topwater, the buzzbait, or whatever your bait may be. The wind is actually my favorite time to throw this in this scenario where you're catching those cruising fish. Yeah, it's a fast...cover a lot of water with this bait. It looks really good. It catches a lot of big bass. And, you know, there's different scenarios where I use this bait away from here, where I do a little bit of tweaking. Maybe it's wading, maybe it's a feather hook, that type of stuff, I'm not going to do that.

I'm going to take it out of the pack, and I'm going to tie it on, and that's pretty much it. And when I do tie it on, the rod I'm going to throw is going to be a...it's an Ark Invoker Tour, it's a 7-foot, 2-inch regular action, so it's got a soft tip rod and it's a medium power. I like that a little bit more, you know, not too long but a little bit longer rod, make long accurate casts because a lot of times I'm throwing around a laydown or, you know, I want to get under the under that tree that's hanging over so I can get in that shade line. So a little bit more length for distance but also not too long so you're still able to have the accuracy. I'm always reaching for a 8 to 1 Ark Gravity Reel and 16-pound Sunline FC Sniper. That's my bread and butter set up for the Sashimmy Swimmer. Obviously, if we reach for, like, the Triple Trout or the bigger baits of this style, you may have to beef up your, you know, equipment rod-wise especially.

But then when we come back to the glide bait, you know, once again, the Ark Invoker Tour, this is the glide bait special rod. It's a heavy-action 7-foot, 10-inch rod, but it's a heavy action, but it's got a soft tip. Once again, same reel, Ark Gravity G7 Reel 6.4 or a 7 to 1. Typically, I'm going to go with a 7 to 1 because I'm trying to cover more water. Yes, it's about the target. I'm throwing the glide bait when I'm fishing a specific target, but I want to chop it and get more of a reaction bite off of that target, so that 7 to 1 is able to allow me to pick up a little bit more line. And I'm reaching, you know, from 20 to 25-pound Sunline FC Sniper Fluorocarbon, and the reason I would use 25 over 20 in this situation is obviously it's a bigger diameter line, so it's going to keep the bait up a little bit higher. It's going to not allow it to sink as fast, so we're fishing shallow, you know, well, less than 5 feet, a lot of times 1 or 2 feet of water.

So you want to keep that bait up off of the bottom a little bit, keep it moving, keep it chopping, grab those fishes' attention. You know, those cruising fish in the summertime, bluegill beds, wolf pack fish, it can be so much fun. I won a lot of tournaments growing up on my home lake, Lake Wylie, Lake Norman, and I've done it a lot throughout the country. But hard swimbaits, man, you use them the right way in the right situations, and it can catch you the biggest bass of your life, it can catch you, you know, the biggest bag of the tournament, so you can win that tournament. Man, it's a really fun way to fish, and just swimbait fishing, in general, is kind of like an addiction, you know. Us as fishermen we geek out on all these different baits, but swimbaits, it's a different deal. I don't know how to describe it. For me, it's like the sports car of fishing tackle. So try those tips out this summer. Find those bluegill beds. Find those wolf packers and those cruisers, and, man, it's a lot of fun, and, yeah, I'm probably going to slide up this bank and see if I can see one cruising.