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Spinning 3 Inch Hammers

 

Just like Dolly Parton’s coat, my 3″ Big Hammer swimbait box, is of ‘many colors’.

The Big Hammer family of swimbaits has some prime real estate in my tackle boxes, boat, and ‘office’.  I spend a lot of time tinkering with the various flavors of Big Hammer swimbaits on and off the water.  The 3″ Big Hammer swimbait is a neat little bait, that fits into the “swimbait fishing with spinning rods” category. You can consider this a tackle review of the 3″ Big Hammer if that is what you’re after.  I score this bait a 9.99  (the only .01 deduction is because at times, a more rounded paddle/boot tail seems to be a better choice of swimbait for super finicky highly pressured fish) and give it an A+.   We shared how we fish bridge pilings with the 3″ Big Hammer swimbait in Southern Trout Eaters…one of the things that ‘just happened’ during the filming window we had.  I put together a little video clip of me fishing the 3″ Big Hammer swimbait on a spinning rod, with braided line + florocarbon leader, fishing the water intakes at the Kentucky Lake Dam.  Here are the highlights:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-EP0c86HXk]

 

Get the Lead Out

Swimbaits with an exposed lead head are something you need to pay particular attention to.  Exposed lead, like what the Hammer Head provides in the setup and rigging does some things that baits with internal weighting cannot.  Namely, the exposed lead head of the Hammer Head helps the bait fall straight down vertical, there’s no buoyancy or dampening of the weighting system by surrounding it with soft plastic.  Falling straight down makes a swimbait fish really well next to steep things, for example:  bridge pilings, dam walls, steep walls, man made structure, and fishing deep and straight vertical like you do in winter.   Also, you can fish the bait vertically under your boat and electronics really well, so when, for example, I was on Beaver Lake in the FLW Tour Major in 2011, the fish were in 15-35 feet of water suspended over cedar trees, the 3″ Big Hammer swimbait came thru for me, because I was able to count the bait down and fish it over top of the deep trees and yank the few fish I caught suspended around the tops of the deeper standing trees.   I just read about how the guy who won the BassMaster Southern Open on Smith Lake in Jasper, Alabama was using a small paddle tailed swimbait with exposed lead jig heads on 5# florocarbon…Go ahead and add the 3″ Big Hammer swimbait rigged on a 3/16 or 1/4 ounce Hammer Head ( you want both heads, same hook size, just have both for shallow to medium or medium to deep presentations), to the ‘single top hook swimbait’ conversation too.    The other derivative of the exposed lead jig head, and the fact the 3/16 and 1/4 ounce Hammer Heads were designed to match up perfectly with the 3″ Big Hammer swimbait tails, you get a swimbait that swims on the sink.  I repeat, swims on the sink.  The bait will spin and sorta meander slightly, depending how slack you give the bait on the fall, but in a controlled fall, where you keep slight pressure on bait as it’s sinking, that little square tail is twisting and recoiling and beating along on the sink.  There are a lot of garbage swimbaits out there that swim like crap on the sink….they tend to do nothing at all or sorta just fall like a blob, they don’t swim, they don’t orient nose down and swim on the sink and that is a huge deal, especially when fishing the deep and steep stuff.  You going to be pumping and yo-yoing your rod and bait a a lot.

 

How To Rig a Big Hammer Swimbait:

Step 1: Eyeball how the Hammer head jig head matches up with the 3″ Big Hammer swimbait tail. You want the top of the jig head/line tie area to match up perfectly with the top of the soft plastic flat top side of the swimbait tail. Pay attention to where the hook will come out of the bait…

 

Step 2: Use one of the edges of your thumb nail to ‘mark’ where the jig hook will come out of the Big Hammer tail….

 

Step 3, use the hook point to jab a little mark into the soft plastic where the hook will exit the swimbait, once you thread it on the jig head.

 

Step 3B, the mark should be dead center, and enough you can see it and use it to guide you as you thread the bait on

 

Step 5, very important. Insert the hook in the absolute center of the swimbait tail, whereby the top of the jig head lays flat (there’s no step up or down, the jig head and body come together clean and smooth). Use the line tie to touch the flat side of the bait to give you a guide, but pretty much, dead center of the “superman” shaped fat ‘v’ of the Big Hammer swimbait tail

 

Step 6: In one smooth motion, paying attention to push the hook thru the plastic keeping your North/South and East/West orientation as straight and plumb as possible, push the tail onto the jig head, and let the bait curl up in doing so, and time your exit angle so it comes out at the mark you did in Step 2 & 3.

 

Step 6 again…make sure you hook point comes out perfectly in the center of East and West, and also assumes you mark was accurate so you don’t have too little or too much length of swimbait tail threaded on the hook.

 

Okay, you’re done except for glue. Notice how the jig head matches up with the tail, at the top by the line tie perfectly. You can see how the jig head fits into the swimbait tail, thanks to the clear bait and some backlighting. You want things straight, centered, parallel and clean. No bunching or off centered rigging!

 

Once I’ve made a good rigging, I back the tail slightly off the head, and put a dab of superglue, where it runs down and gravity coats it all from top to bottom, and I push the tail back up and snug it tight to the jig head and let the glue dry.

Braid Connections

One of the more important developments in my fishing in the last year has been the move to braided line, almost exclusively, on all baits, all water clarity, and all rod types.  Not 100% but moving that direction.  The key is using floro and mono leaders at times, choosing the right knots, and matching your hooks and terminal tackle so your hooks and split rings and things don’t bend out or fail due to the power of braid.  I use Power Pro.  It has been really good to me.  I recommend 15# Power Pro Braided line and a 3-5 foot section (5 foot allows you to re-tie a couple times without putting a new leader on) of Sugoi Florocarbon.  I use 6-12# florocarbon leaders paired with 15# Power Pro braid on my spinning rods.  You change your leader sizes based on conditions and baits. I’ll fish 12# floro when fishing a small 3/8 or 1/4 ounce jig but will use 8-10# pound when fishing the 3″ Big Hammer on a 3/16 or 1/4 ounce jig head.   Braid has several advantages, especially on spinning gear.  First and foremost, line management. I find braided line handles and fishes really nicely on spinning rods.  I have 1000 and 2500 sized Shimano Spinning reels that both handle the small diameter of 15# Power Pro nicely.  You can ‘top-shot’ the braid, where you spool up 50-75 yards of 6# mono ( I formerly used 6# P-Line CXX on my spinning rods) and then tie on the braid and spool yourself on a good 75-100 yards of fresh braid, and then tie your floro leader to the end of your braid.   What knot do I use to connect my florocarbon leader to my braide?  The Double Uni Knot.  Google it, YouTube it….I use 6 wraps on each side of the knot, and it’s frickin’ excellent.  However, pay attention here, the Double Uni knot is NOT a good knot for attaching 80# or 65# braid to 25-30 pound mono.   The physics of bigbait fishing comes into play here.  DO NOT USE THE DOUBLE UNI to connect your bigbaits to your braid.  That is a separate conversation.  For some reason, that knot cannot handle the repeated casting/stress of lobbing >4 ounce baits.   I have 110% confidence in that knot though, in the smaller more conventional applications, like 15# braid to 10# florocarbon (my number one most common rig….3″ Big Hammers, Wacky Rigs, Shaky Heads, Jika Rigs, etc)

The Double Uni Knot is great for connecting

Braid provides you some additional advantages, especially when it comes to spinning rods and small swimbait fishing.  The braid is super sensitive, and I can feel my bait, the swim, and control the bait far better on braid than on mono.  When I go back to mono, my bait feels real mushy on the end of the line, and I don’t have the feel that I do with braid.  I can feel the bait swim on the sink and control the sink and depth the bait swims at so much better on braid. I know when I’m fouled up (tail gets stuck in the gap between a rigged bait and the hook), and I tend to be able to unstick myself or straighten out the lighter wire hooks of the 3/16 and 1/4 Hammer Head at times to get a hung bait free.  I re-bend my hook into place of course, and check the hook point to make sure all is well, and feel my floro leader to make sure it didnt’ get damaged too.  The hookset and hooking fish advantages are amazingly improved with braid.  I keep my drag fairly tight with the 3″ Big Hammer and braided main line setup.  A little line might pull off during a hard reel down and come up hard hookset, but not much.   The zero stretch of the braid gives you tremendous hook set capabilities you don’t get with 100% florocarbons or mono/copolymers.

You can use 1000-2500 sized spinning reels with braid, and they both work great. I love this little spinning reel, it just matches up with the tiny diameter of 15# braid nicely. Heck, I trout fish with this setup….Mepps and Roster Tail style with the braid + floro. You can throw light stuff (and heavy stuff) really well.

Miscellaneous

If you haven’t seen our Alabama Rig Super Nova blog post and video, click HERE to see it.  You want to have 3″ Big Hammers and Hammer Heads (3/8 recommended for the A-Rig based on hook size and strength, so you don’t bend out the 1/4 and 3/16 ounce lighter wire hooks) in your possession for your castable umbrella rig fishing.    Also, carry yourself some Super Glue and get in the habit of super gluing your Big Hammer swimbait tails to the Hammer Head and letting it dry BEFORE you go fishing.  You will make your baits last much longer by doing this.  If you get a good properly rigged Big Hammer swimbait and glue it the Hammer Head jig head, you can get 10-20 fish per bait.  You’ll get into bites where as quick as you can unhook and re-cast, you’ll just keep on catching ’em.

The 3″ Big Hammer was part of the Alabama Rig Supernova that happened on Kentucky Lake, the Fall of 2011, FLW Everstart Championship. Troy Anderson would win on the Co-Angler side on a handful of 3″ Hammers and heads I gave him, following our practice together. Hammers are a very important tools for all kinds of jobs.

 

The 3″ Big Hammer Photo Gallery:

[nggallery id=12]

 

3 Dot Olive Juice

 

Olive Juice! The 3 Dot Olive color is a great rainbow trout pattern for your Triple Trouts,  from Scott Whitmer and the 22nd Century Bait Company. We are glad to have access to it and provide it as part of our custom bait offering. It works really well, I find.

The 3 Dot Olive Triple Trout from Scott Whitmer at 22nd Century Bait Co is something we are proud to be fishing and offering.   This is just a killer color on a killer bait, and it works great.  How about 80# straight braid in super clear water?   That’s called a bait that is getting after it.  The 10″ Triple trout, gives them a look, a pause, a stall and a 180 degree cutback followed by a fluid driving swim which is why it gets bit.  It’s not an easy bait to fish.  There is a rhythm and flow, and probably the most important piece of equipment is the Calcutta 400 TE reel.  Shimano no longer makes/offers the Calcutta 400 TE  reel, so I’m going to have to recommend you go get yourself one of the new D Series 400s.   I want one.  I haven’t fished one yet, but hear they are killer.   The amount of reeling, speed, torque and physics and chunking and winding this bad boy around for more than 1 hour will make you believe in round reels and gearing.   Just saying.  Cover water boy, and don’t put it down, and any other reel I’m aware of, you’ll be whipped quickly.  You might get by with a Curado 300, but the Curado 300, IMO, is good for the 6-7-8″ Triple Trouts but lacks the torque for the 10″…but I know guys who throw the 10″ Triple Trout on the Curado 300.  I find the 400 Series Calcuttas and the 10″ Triple Trout to be a good match.

Been a minute since I caught one like this. Nice 7+ pounder.

I had an excellent couple days back in the Carolinas, visiting with my friend Rob McComas. I really enjoyed the time away from Arkansas. I was on a short mission to pick up a boat I had stored out that way (jon boat), so I can put it in service (or sell it) around Arkansas.   The conditions were Zeptember.  Hot, but cool nights and mornings, and the fish did just what they should in Zeptember—-eat the Triple Trout.   And that bite will continue until ?  I’m going to be experimenting how cold of water I can still get bites on the Triple Trout in the Ozarks this Fall into Winter just to see.  Here are some highlights from that day with Rob:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAlmDrzGQe4]

We are proud to offer the 10″ Triple Trout Bundle as part of our custom bait offering.   We rig our baits with 2/0  ST-36 Owner Treble Hooks and #6 Owner Hyper Wire Split Rings, and provide you a spare set of tails with each bait.  Click HERE to get the full fledged look at our 3 Dot Olive Triple Trout Bundles in 8 and 10″ versions.  The 8″ version doesn’t suck either.  Especially if big spotted bass or smallmouth are your game.  The 10″ is just a staple for big largemouth, and that is usually what I’m hunting.

 

The 10″ 3 Dot Olive Triple Trout Bundle:

 

$89.95

***10/8/12***NOON CST***SOLD OUT***CHECK BACK SOON

 

 

7″ Bubble Gum Bass Triple Trout Back in Stock

 

Okay fellas, just got another box of the 7″ bubble gum bass Triple Trout swimbaits, imported from Long Beach, California.   We sold out all  the 7″ bundled versions we had pretty quickly.  You can click HERE to get a feel for the bubble gum bass Triple Trout, and understand the ‘bundled’ packages we are putting together, where we rig each bait with Owner Stinger Treble Hooks and Hyper Wire Split Rings, and provide you a package of spare tails (and see some video of the bait in action, and photos).

 

7″ Bubble Bum Bass Triple Trout Bundle

 

$79.95

[nicepaypal type=”cart” name=”7 Inch Bubble Gum Bass Triple Trout Bundle” amount=”79.95″]

 

The Warbaits Slayer Swim Jig and Sledge Hammer

The 2 ounce Warbaits Slayer Swim Jig and Sledge Hammer swimming thru.  “and we confident, in the victory of good over evil” ……me say War (baits)

The WarBait Slayer Swim Jig

I haven’t been impressed by a bait company, a website, a video production crew, and just a group of fisherman like the fellas at Warbaits in a long time.  I don’t know any of them.  I know a lot of the fishing scene out West, but not these guys.  These are young men in their 20s and late teens for the most part, or way cooler than me 30 thirtysomethings!  hahahahahahah.  Anyway, young, and running wide open, running a good business, with a good product and fishing and filming and doing the things a company who makes baits should have and do———-have sick and real footage of your baits in action.  Your crew, your people, your vibration, your DNA, your ethos….our baits and gear are our lives, and the bass fishing media and industry is paralyzed into only doing tournament highlights and tradeshow + tournament guy in jersey highlights as their highlight reels….Which is fine, but after too many years of that stuff, it’s no longer credible because even if a guy wins a tournament on LURE X, the tournament itself is only a part of a the much bigger, more deeper, much more interesting fishing discussion about the bait or technique.    Take a look at the Warbait videos, the videos from Radio Silence Fishing, etc.  These guys are out there getting after it, and using the modern Internet properly, I enjoy their work and their baits.     Heck, these are my people.  I can relate to their style, the fishing, the water, the terrain, the boats, etc.   It’s not about right or wrong or about style, its about the fishing, and these guys are working hard to produce good products and good media, and work really hard at the on the water fishing part, and appear to be having fun with it (love the War theme and derivatives that play off that for marketing and sales things, just incredible), and my hat is off to them.    I’m going to suggest you look at both their Slayer Swim Jigs and Slayer Heads,  (and the Warblade—you didn’t hear that from me) and rig them with Big Hammer swimbaits (all shapes and sizes 5″ to Sledge) and Robo Ocean Tails (both 5&6″ versions), if you fish for bass in deep water, maybe even as deep as 80+ feet, but certainly 10-20-30-40-50 ranges for sure. Check out the video we put together of the Warbait Slayer Swim Jig rigged with a Sledge Hammer:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hma3FbDA76I]
I was first told about Warbaits by Brian Kettler at Big Hammer Swimbaits. He was telling me about these saltwater grade swim jigs I needed to check out.  Boy was he right.   You have to understand that the swim jig is probably the #1 best kept secret tool out there in most FLW Tour and BASS Elite series boats right now (the other two being head spins/tail spinners and chatter baits).   Swim jigs are just awesome, and the guys at Warbaits make a bait geared for catching giant calico bass, halibut and other offshore gamefish off the coast of San Diego.  The baits were made to fit the swimbaits that guys were already using (ie, Big Hammer).   The Warbait Slayer Swim Jigs, you have to see.  Big oversized heads, available up to 2 ounces with a 7/0 hook.   This is where swim jigs and bigbait fishing intersects.   There are now a zillion swim jigs on the market.  Take a look at how many swim jigs are available in a size >1/2 ounce.  Almost none.  The Warbaits Slayer Swim Jig family is available in these great saltwater based sizes, so 1, 1.5 and 2 ounce swim jigs.

Flared skirts and full figured baits, I can dig it.

The Intersection of BigBait and Swim Jig

So why do you need a swim jig that is upwards of 2 ounces and has the hook to match the Sledge Hammer?  Because you need to fish bigger, if you want to target the bigger fish.  That is the lesson of bigbaits.  You need to fish significantly larger (meaning, if you’ve never thrown a bait over 6″ long and 1 ounce, move up to 9-12″ long and 2-3 ounces…not just slightly bigger, way bigger).   Where would a 2 ounce swim jig work?  I’m not 100% sure all the places, but let me be clear and just tell you the entire Tennessee River system to start.   I am going to guess at the North Country, Great Lakes, where you have offshore, fishing done in deeper water.  The Ozarks, I will go ahead and volunteer to be part of that test group.   I’m going to be probing the depths of many Ozark lakes in the cold and in the heat.   Texas.  I have heard a lot about big fish being caught offshore in Texas.  So lets try and net this out.  The intersection of bigbait and swim jig happens in deep water for the most part.  You can swim the jig, but you can also drag, hop, and stroke the jig, and that is the key.   Grass fishing up shallow with magnum swim jigs is a whole other conversation, one we’ll circle back to someday.  The Warbait Slayer Swim Jig is the only tool I know that is geared toward catching fish in 15-100 feet (if necessary), besides just a standard lead head in 1-2 ounces, top hook style standard jig head.   The size of the bait, the skirt, the weedguard,  and ability to rig it with the good magnum kind swimbaits, makes it a unique tool.

 

The Sledge Hammer

I am a huge fan of Big Hammer swimbaits. I’ve been fishing them for years now, and have gotten pretty good with a few sizes of them.  The Sledge Hammer is one I’ve only the last 2 years really put time into.  The Sledge Hammer, is of course exciting to a guy who likes to throw bigbaits.  It’s way bigger, 9″ long to be exact, and has a huge oversized version of the Big Hammer square tail, and slender/thin profile.   Long and slender softbaits (think about big worms for a second) tend to get bit by big fish, and the Sledge Hammer fits nicely into a big, long, slender, swimming bait that almost nobody has an answer to.    The Sledge Hammer is one of a couple swimbaits that match up with the Warbait Slayer Swim Jigs nicely.   My other favorite swimbaits on the Warbait Slayer Swim Jigs are the 6.5″ Big Hammer, the 5.5″ Big Hammer, and the 5&6″ Robo Ocean Tail swimbaits.   The Sledge Hammer is hands down the largest (yet not obnoxious) of the swimbaits you can choose to put on the back of your Warbait Slayer Swim Jigs and put yourself in position to catch a biggun.

 

Underwater video, and just paying attention and messing around, I realized the heavier jig heads (when talking about exposed lead head, top hook, single swimmers) swim much better at times on the sink/fall than with lighter weights. Not 100% true the world over I’m sure, but pretty confident about it with regards to plastic square and boot tailed swimmers from 5-9″ long. Heavier than normal jig heads help get more ‘falling swim’ out of your bait at times.

The Harder They Come, Harder They Fall

Everyone needs to pitch a 1 ounce Medlock Jig on 80# braid with a Gambler Ugly Otter Trailer on it around reeds in 1-3 feet of water on Lake Okeechobee.  1 ounce jigs don’t fall that fast.  Especially with a big bulky skirt and bait with a lot of drag/resistance.   So, I’m going to let you in on a little secret.   Come closer….let’s talk softly now so as no one else may hear.  “The heavier your jig head is, the better your soft swimbait swims on the fall/on slack line”  So, 1/2 and even 1 ounces aren’t enough weight to get a bigbait swimming right at times.  You need 1.5 and 2 ounces to get the Sledge Hammer and 6.5″ Big Hammer fully swimming right, tail twisting and kicking, body moving, etc.   There are inherent buoyancy properties of soft plastic baits and skirts combined with your line and stretch, etc etc etc whereby it becomes noticeably better/significantly better, to have twice the weight than you would when fishing for freshwater bass.  The rate of fall, in this case, often is the key to the bite, or some of it, but I’m also weaving in, the heavier weight will pull your bait back down to the bottom harder and force a better swim out of your bait on the fall.  You don’t get quite the twist and body undulation on landing, nor the pock marks on the moon effect in sand and soft bottom effect with a 3/4 – 1 ounce head on the Sledge Hammer  as you do with the 2 ounce version.  You get more glide and less swim out of the tail with lighter weights on the jig head with big soft plastics, especially at depth.   And then of course the obvious benefits of better bottom contact, get the bait down quicker (more casts to more sweet spots on tournament day benefit vs. waiting for your bait to sink out), better at crushing rocks ( the 2 ounce Slayer Head crushes rocks and turns them to rubble when touching down each time, no, not really, but it does have more clank/noise/displacement than anything most guys are throwing).   Out West, I read a lot more about guys fishing the “1-Ton”  back in the day.  The Yamamoto Jig with a 1 ounce Football Head on standard 7 foot bass rods in deep water.   Same sort of deal.  The heavier weight creates a reaction bite, or the better swim out of the bait which creates the bite, or it’s just that much more fishable (where can cast it way out and literally drag the bottom while reeling at near full speed if you wanted to….power dragging/swimming style.   Anyway, the net net is try a 1.5 or 2 ounce Slayer Swim Jig and tell me it isn’t the shiz for fishing a top hook style swimbait out deep.

The Song Remains the Same

Everything I find myself doing is a ‘work in progress’ and part of other conversations and discussions.  I have found some outside/deep water swimbait bites, and plan on exploring a whole lot more it.   It’s the ‘single top hook’ swimmer vs. the A-Rig conversation, it’s the deep swimbait bite conversation, the TN River conversation, “swimbaits in current/moving water” conversation———but I will stop there.     This is WAR.   I have an ongoing war with the fish, war with myself, and war within the fishing industry about what is good fishing content and the dynamics of making a living fishing.   It’s okay, it’s a healthy war, one that I enjoy most times, and one I plan on sharing with you each time I update this blog.   You can expect some more on this subject sometime soon.  I have learned a lot about and taken my own fishing to new levels with the 1, 1.5 and 2 ounce Warbaits swim jigs and various Big Hammer swimbaits (5″, 5.5″, 6.5″ and Sledge)  for the last couple years, mostly fishing the TN River, things I plan on sharing, discussions backed up with film, photography, style and soul.

 

I hate that I killed this fish, but it didn’t go to waste and was an accident. Big old halibut destroyed the Warbait Slayer Swim Jig and Sledge Hammer (Sexy Dine) right off Trestles.

The Warbaits guys aren’t looking at my website or your website for ideas and stealing info and pirating stuff—they are out fishing, pushing, progressing, traveling and searching, and proving why their stuff is legit. These guys are leaders and are trail blazing their own paths with better products, and better media, all done and packaged better.   They tournament fish too.  Check out the SWBA  (Saltwater Bass Anglers) .  I’ll be fishing that SWBA for sure if I lived in the Dana Point/San Clemente, CA again someday.  Calico bass in kelp are just awesome, and you never know what you are going a hook, yellow tail, white sea bass are there too, but big calicos will eat a spinnerbait, swimbait, swim jig, and all sorts of freshwater bass baits better than largemouth do!   I swear, they are just awesome fish and it’s really cool fishing and its rad to see the Pacific Coastline become a good place for tournament fishing, especially bass.   They are catching 25-35+ pound limits too, these aren’t no small 5 fish limits they are catching of calico bass. They fish the entire Southern California coastline, so it’s cool like that so you go from San Diego north to Orange County and Long Beach.  Anyway, educate yourself on these guys and their baits.  This is a style you are going to be using someday probing ledges, points, high spots, vertical faces, fishing over standing timber, etc to hunt and catch bigger fish out deep with a swimbait.

Crossover fishing. Sand Bass on the WarBait Slayer Swim Jig and Sledge Hammer. I plan on sharing what I know about saltwater fishing and how it’s helped me with catching them in the freshwater.

 

The Warbaits Slayer Swim Jig and Sledge Hammer Photo Gallery:

[nggallery id=11]

 

 

Bubble Gum Bass Triple Trout

southernswimbait.com customs presents:

The Bubble Gum Bass Triple Trout

The Bubble Gum Bass Triple Trout.  A bit cheeky eh?

Bubble Gum is a great color for bass fishing.  I use pink a lot to add flare to my baits. How much of a fruit do I sound like saying that?  For the record, I have NEVER worn a pink button up shirt or gone there in the world of fashion!!!   I’m comfortable with myself, and this isn’t about fashion—this is about fishing and the fish have validated many times over that hot pink/bubble gum is good stuff, so I just go with it.   Over the years, working with Scott Whitmer to come up with colors and patterns that are legit, I’ve settled on this one as a go-to color than I’m in love with.  Bubble gum swimbaits are not about catching lake records, double digits and the biggest fish out there, but they might.  They definitely get attention from fish, and that is the idea.   Good fish, the 3-7 pounders, but shoot, it’s not out of the realm of reason to stick a real giant on bubble gum colored baits, especially under dark skies and dark conditions.   Smallmouth and spotted bass are particularly vulnerable to bubble gum colored baits, but so are largemouth.  How does that saying go,   “Fish don’t have hands”?  Curiosity and instinct takes over and fish just have to come up and take a look sometimes, and with looks come bites.  The more looks, the more bites.  If you notice I masked the hooks of my Nezumma Rat pink way long ago, and sorta assumed that one would be seen in Southern Trout Eaters, and having it as the banner on this website gives it away. I use pink tails on certain Triple Trout and rat baits, and always will.   You might be too macho to throw bubble gum baits, that’s fine, your loss.   Here are a few highlights from a summer Ozark fishing expedition, testing out the Bubble Gum Bass Triple Trout:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDYOiKgk18I]

 

 

The Bubble Gum Bass Triple Trout Bundle:

We are committed to partnering with and fishing the best swimbaits by the best bait makers.   The Triple Trout is a fish catcher, and I believe this Bubble Gum Bass color will help you catch fish, whether you hunt largemouth, smallmouth or spotted bass.  That is beauty of it, it catches fish, period.  You don’t need trout to catch swimbait fish and this is one of those colors you can throw anywhere: herring eaters, shad eaters, upland, midland, lowland,  the Chattahoochee River, Okeechobee and the Florida black water, any Ozark Lake, the Tennessee River, the North Country lakes like Champlain or Erie, and anywhere smallmouth and spotted bass rule.  Think of it like a merthiolate Trick Worm or something like that.  A color that you pull out anywhere and get the fish to react.   This is an excellent color for stained, and downright dirty water but is also outstanding in clear water too.  So, this is a great bait, in a great color, that applies in a lot of areas for whatever species of bass, so we are offering it as part of our custom baits.   We have rigged each bait with Owner Stinger Treble Hooks and Owner Hyper Wire Split Rings.  Each bait comes with a package of spare tails.

The 7″ Bubble Gum Bass Triple Trout Bundle:

$79.95

_______________________________________________

The 8″ Bubble Gum Triple Trout Bundle

 

$84.95

 

 

The Bubble Gum Bass Triple Trout Photo Gallery:

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