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How do you choose the right size swimbait for different water temperatures?
Selecting the appropriate size of swimbait based on varying water temperatures is crucial for maximizing your success on the water. Here's a detailed breakdown to help you make the right choice:
Cold Water (Winter)
- Water Temperature: Typically at its coldest, often below 50°F.
- Swimbait Size: Smaller profiles are generally more effective.
- Reasoning: In colder water, bass metabolism slows down, and they tend to prefer smaller, more subtle presentations. A smaller swimbait, like a 3-inch Megabass Spark Shad, mimics the smaller baitfish that are prevalent during this time and can entice lethargic bass to bite.
Pre-Spawn (Late Winter to Early Spring)
- Water Temperature: Begins to rise, usually between 50°F and 60°F.
- Swimbait Size: Medium profiles start to become effective.
- Reasoning: As the water warms, bass become more active and start feeding up for the spawn. A 4-inch swimbait, such as the Megabass Spark Shad, can be more appealing as it represents the larger baitfish that bass are targeting during this period.
Warmer Water (Late Spring to Fall)
- Water Temperature: Generally above 60°F.
- Swimbait Size: Larger profiles can be very effective.
- Reasoning: In warmer water, bass are more aggressive and willing to chase down larger prey. A larger swimbait, like a 4-inch or even larger, can attract bigger bass that are looking for a substantial meal.
Additional Factors to Consider:
- Water Clarity: In clear water, more natural and smaller presentations are often better. In murky water, larger and more vibrant swimbaits can help bass locate your lure.
- Wind and Weather Conditions: On overcast days with wind, bass can be more aggressive, making larger swimbaits more effective. Conversely, on bright, calm days, smaller swimbaits might be more successful.
- Depth: Adjust the weight of your swimbait head based on the depth you are targeting. Heavier heads for deeper water and lighter heads for shallower water.
Practical Example:
- Winter Fishing: Use a 3-inch Megabass Spark Shad on a 3/16 or 1/4 ounce head, making long casts and slow, steady retrieves.
- Pre-Spawn Fishing: Switch to a 4-inch Megabass Spark Shad on a 1/4 or 3/8 ounce head, targeting points and shallow areas where bass are staging.
By understanding these principles and adjusting your swimbait size accordingly, you'll be better equipped to match the bass's behavior and increase your chances of a successful outing.
If you need more specific advice or have additional questions, feel free to ask!
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Easy Way To Pick The Right Swimbait Size (November-March) by Intuitive Angling With Randy Blaukat → visibility and you have a 15 20 mile an hour wind and you've got overcast or if it's raining those fish will become more aggressive and they'll hit a larger swim bait in those situations the small one like i said really shines on tough conditions where it's bright not a lot of wind clear water but this will catch the more aggressive fish and it will catch the bigger one too obviously just because of the size size ahead on this i go usually go up a little bit i'll use a quarter to three eighths ounce depending upon the wind and how deep i'm fishing it and it's the same rule of thumb that i use for the little one i'm graphing to get a feel for uh you know the depth that those fish are using and i try to target that depth now another way that i'll fish this too the bigger one is say for example uh it's you know late fall water temperatures are not at their coldest say the water temperatures are still in the 50s and if you get one of those windy nasty days a lot of times those fish will pull up shallower on those points and they'll get into that five to ten foot zone and when they're like that i'll take the four inch spark shad i'll put it on an eighth ounce head and i'll simply cast it out there and just reel
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How to Choose The Correct Swimbait Profile | FTM Live Stream #74 by Bass Fishing Declassified → and i have a bunch of things that i focus on when i'm fishing offshore with swim baits but i know that randy has other things that he focuses on when he's fishing up shallows so we're going to kind of cover both spectrums there and give you guys some good stuff to think about but starting off here randy do you just have some high level guidelines on profiles maybe just take a one minute just quick summary just to kind of get us started here yeah i think a lot of it depends on like i said it's the combination of a lot of different things it's a combination of the lake you're fishing the size of the bass in the lake in general the water temperature water visibility and the average depth that the fish are using that time of year another thing that's really key in my opinion from what i found out all over the country is when you're in the dead of winter like we are right now where like right now our water temperatures all across the country are about at their coldest point right now it seems like to me that they want a smaller profile swim bait during those super cold times of the year but as you progress more into the pre-spawn when that water temperature starts rising up another five to ten degrees that's when the gizzard shad and the threadfin shad are the largest that they are
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Easy Way To Pick The Right Swimbait Size (November-March) by Intuitive Angling With Randy Blaukat → well not just winter all year long but really this time of year is where they shine and there's some keys to catching fish on them based upon the size that swim baits use so what i'm going to do today i'm going to talk about three of my three favorites and the first one is the three inch megabass spark shad the four inch megabyte spark shad and the uh the zoom z swim a swim bait three and a half inch so each one of these has a little bit different application and i'm gonna go over each one of them to sort of let you know how i decide um a lot of your swim bait sizes it has to do with a lot of different variables has to do with the water clarity in the lake you're fishing has to do with the predominant species of the bass you're fishing and the water depth that you're targeting and for the most part when we're talking about fish and swim baits this time of year we're talking about fishing basically out off the point ends and sides um sometimes paralleling bluffs uh steep banks and fishing them maybe in ditches you know the middle of coves and that's type of stuff particularly over like if they're standing timber in a lake like a lake like say lake hartwell in south carolina lake lanier and georgia some of the lakes here in the ozarks so
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Easy Way To Pick The Right Swimbait Size (November-March) by Intuitive Angling With Randy Blaukat → depending upon where you're fishing at the technique for the swim bait is going to be a little bit different but first of all let's start out with a small one here start out with the mega bass three inch spark shad this is a three inch bait this is probably my favorite size for for swim baits for this time of year because it it's it catches numbers and it catches quality both it's the same size of a lot of bait fish around three inches long and i like this particular bait anytime i'm fishing a lake that has three species in it spotted bass large mouth and small mouth and if the water visibility is over three feet actually over four feet would be more ideally so say four to ten foot visibility is where i key in on this a lot and one of the things about this thing that the a big key for me on this bait is matching the right head size and the right line size to it to catch some fish on it most of the time i like to fish this bait on like a 3 16 or a quarter ounce head make long casts with six pound test line a seaguar and visx four carbonaries on it straight fluorocarbon and i'll fan cast it in and around the point ends and sides and what i try to do to determine the correct depth to fish this thing on is
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Easy Way To Pick The Right Swimbait Size (November-March) by Intuitive Angling With Randy Blaukat → i'll graph around the point and i'll try to get some a feel for the activity the depth of the activity is at i'm not really i don't necessarily have to see fish but i've been looking for like you know balls of shad that type of stuff sometimes they can be in 15 feet of water sometimes they could be out over 60 or 70 feet of water but i try to get a feel for how far down the bass are suspended most all the time i'm focusing just on suspended bass with this little little swim bait so once i find that correct depth then i'll cast it out and i just you know count it down until i get to the zone start just reeling it back with the steady retrieve it didn't matter from fishing points ditches whatever that's the way i fish this but basically the small swim bait is for you know clear water situations mixed species lake okay the next size i want to talk about is the four inch this is the four inch megabass spark shed by the way guys all these are available bait bait works in springfield missouri here along i'll include the link in the description if you use that link it's a great way another great way to help the channel out here that would be appreciated and uh the four inch spark shad a little bit bigger as you can see here
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Easy Way To Pick The Right Swimbait Size (November-March) by Intuitive Angling With Randy Blaukat → it back in like a crankbait i'm trying to keep it maybe three to four foot under the surface and a lot of times uh almost warmer blustery late fall early winter days late winter days when that water temperature is over 50 degrees you can catch some good ones up shallow doing that but like i said most of the time i'm using either the megabass okay head or just a ball head the oka share head's a little small for the four inch so i'm usually using a ball head on there now the next one i use is the uh z swim uh you know the kite you know this this is you know basically a duplication of the keitech which is one of the most popular swim baits out there the times that i'm using the z swim a three and a half inch one is basically to mix it up and give it a different look the z swim like i said both of these are about the same size i mean they're similar in size but the profile's different sometimes these bass like this ring profile i don't know what it is about it but sometimes there'll be days when you can catch them on the shad looking realistic swim bait like the spark shad and then sometimes the z swim or the kytek is going to out produce it so a lot of times i'll have both of these on
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