SW I MBAITS
Story & Photos
BY TYLER BRINKS
for smallmouth
F
or those of us on the west coast, swimbaits
have been a way of life for years. Now that
they have hit the mainstream across the
country they continue to evolve and get big- ger, smaller and more specialized. The smaller offerings
have been my favorites over the past few seasons as I
begin to use them more for smallmouth bass.
Before we get into the details of when and where,
here is a breakdown of my top-3 major swimbait
types for swimbait smallies.
TROUT AND KOKANEE IMITATORS
The jumbo trout imitators are better suited for largemouth (just for the fact of their size in relation
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to smallmouth), but that doesn’t mean the swimbait shouldn’t imitate a trout.
Some of my best swimbaits are trout and kokanee imitators, I just downsize slightly. Instead of using the 8” Huddleston, I prefer the Huddleston Deluxe 68 Special. This is still a big bait; but a smallmouth will not hesitate to eat it, if they are able to fit it in their mouth. One of my go-to swimbaits for smallmouth is the Triple Trout, again a smaller 6” size instead of the larger versions.
Another key bait in my smallmouth arsenal is the boot tail style swimbaits fished on a heavy jighead in deep water. MC swimbaits in 4” and 5” and KGM Custom Baits 4.75” swimbaits in trout and kokanee patterns, fished on ½ oz and ¾ oz Revenge
®