Date: December 21, 2001
To: Pier Fishing In California Message Board
From: Leapin Bass
Subject: Swim Bait
If someone came up to you and asked you what the term swim bait meant or stood for what would you say?
You can't catch tomorrow what you kill today - please practice catch and release.
Name: pescare
That brings up an interesting question...Doesn't seem any harder to explain than jerkbait or crankbait.
Ed
Name: ORB
I think most of those terms are confusing to be honest. It’s like jigs and jigging, I still get confused by what some people term as jigs. I mean if you are using a plastic grub/worm with a leadhead, it gets referred to as a jig (by some people at least) and yet a plastic fishtrap with a leadhead is a swimbait??? Then again I'm easily confused.
Name: stinkyfingers
That is the whole point of Leapin’s post. You see, ORB: It’s not about what the composition of the lure is, it's about HOW YOU USE IT. A jig gets jigged. A swimbait gets swam. A crankbait gets cranked, and jerkbait gets jerked. Leapin’: Am I on target or way off?
Name: ORB
Yeah but you can jig with a Swimbait and it is still called a Swimbait isn't it? Anyway like I said I'm easily confused.
Name: stinkyfingers
Yes, it will still be called a swimbait because "swimming" is what it was designed for. As the rest. I imagine you could swim a jig, too... Anyhow - I think that the names merely reflect what their intended use was for. Geez, I hope someone can say for certain, though...because for all we know -I could be talking out my butt here. Although I have a feeling that I'm right.
Name: pescare
But can you crank a buzzbait? Or jerk a spinnerbait?
Ed
Subject: Name: stinkyfingers
Date: Dec-21-01 3:11pm
Crank buzzing has me spinnin' like a jerk!
Name: lucy
Ha! Sounds like a C-W song —
Well, my spinnerbait cranked when it shoulda spun
And my buzzbait wanted to join the fun
And I couldn't find my swimbaits to save my freakin' life.
So I pulled out a jig and a grub or two
Went rootin' in the cooler for a can of brew,
And said, "So THAT'S where I left my @#$($ fileting knife!"
Oh, can you crank a buzzbait when it's spinning?
And can your swimbait do the hootchie-koo?
With a bird's-nest on your reel
And lotsa nothin' in your creel
Fishin's gonna make a fool of you!
Ya know, that’s definitely got possibilities, don’t you think? Kind of a cross between “A Boy Named Sue,” “Okie from Muskogee,” a little of something else, I'm not sure what. Hell, in a genre that has produced everything from “I Got Tears in My Ears from Lying on My Back in Bed While Crying Over You” to “Don't Come Home a-Drinkin' with Lovin’ on Your Mind,” a song about the trials and tribulations of fishing would be right at home!
Name: Songslinger
Great Stuff, Lucy!
Name: Leapin Bass
Actually the point of my post...was just to see how different people describe what a swimbait is. Specifically, is it one specific lure, one specific type of lure, or a wide range of different types of lures.
You can't catch tomorrow what you kill today - please practice catch and release.
Name: The Fishin Magician
In that case I would consider a knob tailed soft plastic lure a swimbait. Optimums, Fish Traps, Sassy Shad, Basstrix, MC's, and Big Hammers come to mind. When someone says they were using a ‘jig’, well that’s about as useful as a bass fisherman telling you ‘they were biting platics.’
TL, Adam
Subject: Thanks...
Name: Leapin Bass
That's exactly what I was looking for - anyone else?
You can't catch tomorrow what you kill today - please practice catch and release.
Name: lucy
Yeah, I'd call it “A lure made of soft plastic, shaped generally like a fish, with a flattened, paddle-like tail that creates a wriggling motion when the lure is drawn through the water, so that it mimics the swimming motion of a fish.”
Name: stinkyfingers
I think that another one of the defining characteristics of a "swimbait" is that they are an independant piece of soft-plastic, and it's up to you to put the "head&"hook" on.
That right there is the difference between a true swimbait vs. one of those “lures” you buy that has the body of a “swimbait” already pre-attached to a head and hook - like the Castaics.
ALSO: **All swimbaits are made by pouring a mold**
I'm not aware of the history, but I don’t think that “swimbait” is proprietary, like “Kleenex” is.
Name: The Fishin Magician
Out of curiosity, why do you exlude injection molded (not poured) baits like the sassy shad and kalins swimbaits? Same shape, same action, just a different method of modling the plastic. Or did you just mean it had to be molded from soft plastic? What about Optimum swimbaits - one of the originals - which has the leadhead molded into the plastic? I would agree, the hard headed Castaics are not swimbaits, but I would argue that the completely soft ones with the paddle tail and molded-in-leadhead ones are.
Good stuff... Tl, Adam
Name: Songslinger
My try. A swimbait refers to a soft plastic lure that mimics the motion of minnows or small baitfish. Some people include crustacean and worm plastics in this category. Swimbaits are generally fished with lead jigheads (aka leadheads) or egg sinkers to facilitate casting and control over the lure's motion on retrieve.
Best way to end controversy or confusion: think of jig as a verb instead of a noun. Same thing with crank.
All I Want Is A Fair Fight
Name: The Fishin Magician
More on this and a question. I would exclude curl tails in the swimbait category and toss them in with “grubs” which includes all stout bodied, curl tailed plastics. Where is the line drawn between curl tailed plastic worms and grubs? Well, that’s a whole new thread right there. While we're on the subject, I'll be getting the materials to pour my own and I'd like to make some molds from the plastics I have (don’t worry, I’m not going to be selling the plastics). Any ideas on what type of stuff to make the molds out of? Flex coat or some other type of epoxy seems like it would work well, but I'd prefer a hard rubber type of mold over an epoxy one.
TL, Adam
Name: lucy
There are several places that sell molds for various types of swimbaits and grubs, so going through the mess and bother of making your own molds is kind of pointless -- unless you just want to do it for the experience.
Name: The Fishin Magician
Why bother? I can’t find molds I like. Most of them just don’t have the right shape or size I'm looking for. There are some swimbait ones that seem ok, but I can't find grub molds that are what I'm looking for.
TL, Adam
Name: Mikey
Adam’s right - plus, you feel so much better when you catch a fish on a homemade lure. In addition, if you “invent” a pattern, and it catches fish, you could get famous, hehe - it could have your name in it, haha.
Mike
To: Pier Fishing In California Message Board
From: Leapin Bass
Subject: Swim Bait
If someone came up to you and asked you what the term swim bait meant or stood for what would you say?
You can't catch tomorrow what you kill today - please practice catch and release.
Name: pescare
That brings up an interesting question...Doesn't seem any harder to explain than jerkbait or crankbait.
Ed
Name: ORB
I think most of those terms are confusing to be honest. It’s like jigs and jigging, I still get confused by what some people term as jigs. I mean if you are using a plastic grub/worm with a leadhead, it gets referred to as a jig (by some people at least) and yet a plastic fishtrap with a leadhead is a swimbait??? Then again I'm easily confused.
Name: stinkyfingers
That is the whole point of Leapin’s post. You see, ORB: It’s not about what the composition of the lure is, it's about HOW YOU USE IT. A jig gets jigged. A swimbait gets swam. A crankbait gets cranked, and jerkbait gets jerked. Leapin’: Am I on target or way off?
Name: ORB
Yeah but you can jig with a Swimbait and it is still called a Swimbait isn't it? Anyway like I said I'm easily confused.
Name: stinkyfingers
Yes, it will still be called a swimbait because "swimming" is what it was designed for. As the rest. I imagine you could swim a jig, too... Anyhow - I think that the names merely reflect what their intended use was for. Geez, I hope someone can say for certain, though...because for all we know -I could be talking out my butt here. Although I have a feeling that I'm right.
Name: pescare
But can you crank a buzzbait? Or jerk a spinnerbait?
Ed
Subject: Name: stinkyfingers
Date: Dec-21-01 3:11pm
Crank buzzing has me spinnin' like a jerk!
Name: lucy
Ha! Sounds like a C-W song —
Well, my spinnerbait cranked when it shoulda spun
And my buzzbait wanted to join the fun
And I couldn't find my swimbaits to save my freakin' life.
So I pulled out a jig and a grub or two
Went rootin' in the cooler for a can of brew,
And said, "So THAT'S where I left my @#$($ fileting knife!"
Oh, can you crank a buzzbait when it's spinning?
And can your swimbait do the hootchie-koo?
With a bird's-nest on your reel
And lotsa nothin' in your creel
Fishin's gonna make a fool of you!
Ya know, that’s definitely got possibilities, don’t you think? Kind of a cross between “A Boy Named Sue,” “Okie from Muskogee,” a little of something else, I'm not sure what. Hell, in a genre that has produced everything from “I Got Tears in My Ears from Lying on My Back in Bed While Crying Over You” to “Don't Come Home a-Drinkin' with Lovin’ on Your Mind,” a song about the trials and tribulations of fishing would be right at home!
Name: Songslinger
Great Stuff, Lucy!
Name: Leapin Bass
Actually the point of my post...was just to see how different people describe what a swimbait is. Specifically, is it one specific lure, one specific type of lure, or a wide range of different types of lures.
You can't catch tomorrow what you kill today - please practice catch and release.
Name: The Fishin Magician
In that case I would consider a knob tailed soft plastic lure a swimbait. Optimums, Fish Traps, Sassy Shad, Basstrix, MC's, and Big Hammers come to mind. When someone says they were using a ‘jig’, well that’s about as useful as a bass fisherman telling you ‘they were biting platics.’
TL, Adam
Subject: Thanks...
Name: Leapin Bass
That's exactly what I was looking for - anyone else?
You can't catch tomorrow what you kill today - please practice catch and release.
Name: lucy
Yeah, I'd call it “A lure made of soft plastic, shaped generally like a fish, with a flattened, paddle-like tail that creates a wriggling motion when the lure is drawn through the water, so that it mimics the swimming motion of a fish.”
Name: stinkyfingers
I think that another one of the defining characteristics of a "swimbait" is that they are an independant piece of soft-plastic, and it's up to you to put the "head&"hook" on.
That right there is the difference between a true swimbait vs. one of those “lures” you buy that has the body of a “swimbait” already pre-attached to a head and hook - like the Castaics.
ALSO: **All swimbaits are made by pouring a mold**
I'm not aware of the history, but I don’t think that “swimbait” is proprietary, like “Kleenex” is.
Name: The Fishin Magician
Out of curiosity, why do you exlude injection molded (not poured) baits like the sassy shad and kalins swimbaits? Same shape, same action, just a different method of modling the plastic. Or did you just mean it had to be molded from soft plastic? What about Optimum swimbaits - one of the originals - which has the leadhead molded into the plastic? I would agree, the hard headed Castaics are not swimbaits, but I would argue that the completely soft ones with the paddle tail and molded-in-leadhead ones are.
Good stuff... Tl, Adam
Name: Songslinger
My try. A swimbait refers to a soft plastic lure that mimics the motion of minnows or small baitfish. Some people include crustacean and worm plastics in this category. Swimbaits are generally fished with lead jigheads (aka leadheads) or egg sinkers to facilitate casting and control over the lure's motion on retrieve.
Best way to end controversy or confusion: think of jig as a verb instead of a noun. Same thing with crank.
All I Want Is A Fair Fight
Name: The Fishin Magician
More on this and a question. I would exclude curl tails in the swimbait category and toss them in with “grubs” which includes all stout bodied, curl tailed plastics. Where is the line drawn between curl tailed plastic worms and grubs? Well, that’s a whole new thread right there. While we're on the subject, I'll be getting the materials to pour my own and I'd like to make some molds from the plastics I have (don’t worry, I’m not going to be selling the plastics). Any ideas on what type of stuff to make the molds out of? Flex coat or some other type of epoxy seems like it would work well, but I'd prefer a hard rubber type of mold over an epoxy one.
TL, Adam
Name: lucy
There are several places that sell molds for various types of swimbaits and grubs, so going through the mess and bother of making your own molds is kind of pointless -- unless you just want to do it for the experience.
Name: The Fishin Magician
Why bother? I can’t find molds I like. Most of them just don’t have the right shape or size I'm looking for. There are some swimbait ones that seem ok, but I can't find grub molds that are what I'm looking for.
TL, Adam
Name: Mikey
Adam’s right - plus, you feel so much better when you catch a fish on a homemade lure. In addition, if you “invent” a pattern, and it catches fish, you could get famous, hehe - it could have your name in it, haha.
Mike