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What swimbaits do y’all feel confident with in and around cover?

When fishing swimbaits in and around cover, there are a few key factors to consider. First, you want to make sure your bait is as close to the cover as possible, as this increases your chances of attracting big fish. In dirty water, it's common to use hard baits or soft baits depending on the time of year. If the fish are deeper and covered, using baits like a citizen or a battle shad in deeper water and getting your bait into the rocks can be effective. The fish rely on their lateral lines to feel out their prey in dirty water, so being in close proximity to the cover is important.

In terms of technique, when fishing big swimbaits around hard cover, it's often effective to make short, precise casts and fish the bait around isolated pieces of cover. This allows you to give the fish a different look and trigger their reaction. Sometimes, you may need to approach the cover from the opposite direction depending on factors like sun angle, wind, or current. Experimenting with different depths in the water column can also elicit a reaction from the fish.

When it comes to bluegill swimbaits, focusing on shallow areas and cover can be productive. These swimbaits can be used for sight fishing or during the spawn. Soft baits with wedge-style tails are often preferred due to their versatility. They can be fished with a slow, steady retrieve and are effective for swimming mid-column or skipping them under cover.

When gaining confidence in new baits and techniques, it's important to choose baits that can be used in various conditions. For example, jigs are versatile baits that can be fished in muddy or clear water, at different depths, and throughout the year. They can mimic baitfish or crawfish, making them a reliable choice. Hollow body swimbaits or solid body swimbaits like kite swimbaits are also versatile options that can be used in different situations.

In terms of fishing swimbaits around hard cover, it's crucial to identify ambush points and consider where the fish are naturally going to hang out and sit. This could be in laydowns, docks, or other types of cover. Making long casts and working the bait for a longer time in straight stretches can be effective. Shade lines and corners of cover are also key points to target. Once you start getting bites, you can pattern where the fish are sitting on the cover and adjust your approach accordingly.

Overall, it's important to have confidence in the right bait for the specific conditions you're fishing. Reading the water, considering factors like water color, temperature, and structure, and selecting the most appropriate lure will increase your chances of success. Confidence in yourself and your bait selection is essential, and making slight adjustments based on the fish's response is often more effective than radical changes.

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Swimbait Talk - Confidence In Different Water Clarity by crazybassfisher → varied a lot of officials excited to cover they put their body like up against the wall real tight light or if they're on a rock and you sit there because no these fish that normally will use your eyes they have to use like their their lateral lines on the side to kind of feel out where the prey might be and then just kind of kind of go out there and get so the closest to the cover is the better normally when you're fishing dirty water now when I fix dirty water I create heartbeats and soft baits it kind of depends on the time of the year on whether or not I will throw like a hard bait or softly but if I know that those fish are deeper and covered then I will go ahead and pick up like a citizen or a battle shad or like a mag and I'll fishing so I'll finish those baits down and like the deeper water to deeper rocks and I'll like literally get my feet into the rocks I'm not off the rock pile or I'm not off-the-wall anything like that I'm literally in and I'm snagging my bait in there just because since those fish can't see anymore they have to use their lateral lines to feel the prey The Closer your bait is to the fish the better the chances you have at getting big so you're even like the dirty water

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How to Fish Big Swimbaits Around Hard Cover by Wired2Fish → when i'm fishing these big baits i fish them a lot of times similar to how a guy would pick a part of lay down with a spinner bait or a square bill and i'll make little short precise casts and you're kind of fishing it around those little isolated pieces but you're able to give those fish a different look what will happen sometimes is you'll be fishing down the bank come to a piece of cover and you'll get a fish to follow and you're able to see how that fish is positioned and realize you may need to come from the opposite direction depending on the sun angle or wind or current and you may make three four five casts and then all sudden on that fifth one those fish show up right you trigger them you get just that right angle where they're able to get a good look on that bait and react so it's not always just on first cast deal [Applause] a lot of times the first the first cast i'll fish it a little bit higher in the water column try to get those fish to come up if they don't react let it sink just a little bit lower and just that difference in depth in the water column can get those fish to react too oh look at that just magnum they don't have to be giants to eat the glide they just gotta have the right attitude

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Bluegill Swimbaits - Everything You Need To Know! **Underwater Footage** by TacticalBassin → bass can sort of close off the entrance pretty easily you'll see a lot of that where there'll be a great big female or two that almost stands guard at the entrance to a shallow cove and then when they want to feed they go in there and just mow down on those bluegill it's really amazing so focus shallow focus around cover um and then of course a bluegill swimbait is an excellent uh spawn or sight fishing type bait as well there definitely is an element of that so the baits themselves let's go uh soft baits to hard baits and we'll start with the bigger soft baits then go smaller then we'll switch to hard baits so as a whole with my soft baits i focus on these wedge type tails and it's because i can do the most with them so they look amazing just swimming them mid column they look amazing skipping them up under cover i fish them on a slow steady retrieve wedge style tails there's no twitching popping ripping working them none of that makes it really easy it's just a steady retrieve so you're not overthinking it it's as easy as going out and throwing a crankbait a spinnerbait to chatterbait just a little bit different profile right now there are plenty of swimbaits that come with uh boot tails but i personally i prefer these wedge tails and again it pulls double duty so they're great

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How to Gain Confidence in New Baits and Techniques by BassGeek → maybe more confidence in these two baits then a lot of other baits is because you can they kind of span all four questions for example the jig a jig you can fish it in muddy water you can fish it in super clear water it comes in a variety of colors you can fish it with rattles you can fish it with blades there's you can fish it through a lot of different cover and around a lot of different structure question number two you can fish it and a lot of different depth levels you can swim it you can drag it on the bottom heck you can even with a vibrating jig really wake it across the top question number three is seasonal a jig catches fish year-round it's just what a jig does you can fish it slow and deep in the winter slow and deep in the summer you can stroke it you can fish it fast slow you can fish big or small jigs it's just so versatile and of cour first reason or question number four it can mimic bait fish or it can mimic crawfish so it can mimic a lot of different forage based on the color and how you're fishing it the second bait for me it's going to be a hollow body swim bait or a soft solid body like a kite a sort of swim bait and the reason why is again it answers all four

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How to Fish Big Swimbaits Around Hard Cover by Wired2Fish → no matter what type of cover it is i always try to identify those ambush points so it could be a lay down like we talked about the other day and how to approach that with current or it could be you know a giant complex system of docks or it could even be a single dock you always want to look at it and think about where that fish is naturally going to ambush where it's going to hang out and sit and so you know coming into a big place like this i'm looking at where are the straight stretches that i can make a long cast and work that bait for a long time and then as i move through here you know what are the places and the key points that i have it's those corners it's those shade lines you know if you watch like i don't pitch on the sunny side of the dock i always go to the shady side and you never know which one of these little stalls could have a fish in it so it's a little bit of a process of elimination until you get it figured out but one thing that's cool with docks is a lot of times once you start getting bit you can pattern what part of that dock they're sitting on you know sometimes they may be out here on the very ends of them sometimes they could be all the way up

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Secret Confidence Baits of the Pros! | Bass Fishing by Bass Fishing Tips & Techniques by BassResource → So I hear people say this all the time, "Man, you gotta have the confidence bait." Let me tell you what you have to have. You have to have confidence in the right bait. Always read the water. Always let the water dictate to you what you need to be using and go with it. And I don't care if you've got confidence in a top water bait and the fish are biting in 20 foot of water, no matter how much confidence you got in that top water bait, it's not going to pay dividends. And if the fish are hitting on the surface and you've got confidence in a football jig, doesn't matter how much confidence you got in that football jig. If they're hitting on the surface, it's not the right lure. So don't get hung up. Have confidence in every single lure you fish and have confidence in yourself. That is where you need the confidence. Have the confidence in yourself that you've selected the right bait and if it doesn't work, then make slight adjustments. Don't be too radical in adjusting your bait selection. Read the water. Choose the bait. The question that I ask myself every time I pull up to a certain area... The conditions are this. The water color is this. The water temperature is this and the structure is this. Now, what lure, under these circumstances that I have, that would most thoroughly fish this structure and I start at that point.

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