When I presented my Freshwater Surfcasting seminar this past June at the Plum Island Surfcasters, I covered a cross section of the presentations for targeting freshwater species. But! I failed to cover swim baits! Frankly, I had not fished them much. Until now! 😉
During my last trip to the Nashua River, I fished soft plastic swim baits in force. The first swim bait out of my Plano box was a Gary Yamamoto 5″ blue swim bait. I like the wide profile of this swim bait. I made on long cast up current along the shadowy river bank. Nothing! I made a second long cast. Fish on!! “OMG!! What did I hook?” Came to mind as I pulled in a lengthy 2 lb 1 oz chain pickerel.
I drifted with the current and continued to fish the shadowy shoreline. Nothing! I switched the color and profile of my presentation by switching to a Gary Yamamoto 5″ green pumpkin swim senko. My kayak got turned and was perpendicular with the current. Not an optimal postion to cast. Not wanting to lose my drift, I did a single handed side cast up current. I cranked the reel twice. Fish on! An aggressive large mouth bass hit the swim senko with a vengeance!
Swim baits is a large category of lures that encompasses wooden top water swimmers to deep swimming plastic swimmers with internal weights, and many baits in between. I really like the versatility and fish catching-ability of soft plastic swim baits. You can rig them weedless. You can weigh them to swim at the depth you need. I do a lot of surfcasting. So, making long casts up current and retrieving a swim bait just feels natural to me. I now carry a variety of swim baits in a Plano box that swim throughout the water column. I am still exploring these versatile lures. Stay tuned! 😉
