The first full moon of February is a special time in Southern California; we’re emerging from the winter months as water temps begin to rise, the days are getting longer, and big female bass are setting up on predictable staging areas. Despite the bite in the air and frequent rain, this period in the biological cycle of bass is one of my absolute favorite times to target pre-spawn BIG largemouth, specifically with soft swimbaits. I’ve spent the past two decades buying, casting, losing, and learning how not to suck with big soft baits when there were only a handful of options.
I’m going to go through some of the bass swimbaits that I use not only in California but throughout the United States, to target these big, sexually dimorphic female largemouth.
As convention season winds down after the Bassmaster Classic Outdoor Expo in late March, I’ll begin a four-month tour of the country fishing this pre-spawn period and following it as we travel into multiple regions to put myself in scenarios for catching the biggest bass I can at their heaviest weight potential of the year.
Buckle up, take a breath, make sure your Yeti cup is full of your beverage of choice as I attempt to condense decades of experience for you here.
Define Your Bass Goals
Who should be embarking on a mission to target the potential fish of a lifetime with a big soft swimbait in hand? If your goal is to hold the biggest bass of your life, then this adventure is for you. Understand that tying on a big bait means your total numbers of bites is going to diminish, and skunking is a likely result. If you’re able to accept this reality and are willing to take failure head on, then you’re ready for a chance at true success.
A consistently successful trophy bass angler is no stranger to long droughts: no followers, no bites, and at times, seemingly no hope. Hyper focus, determination, and sheer stubbornness are extremely useful traits for a dedicated trophy bass angler to possess. If that sounds like you, then it’s time to unbox those big baits, spool up those thick lines, and get ready for heavyweights!
Choosing Big Soft Baits for Bass
How does one choose from the countless and ever-growing array of options in the soft big bait category?
Let’s start with a little definition of terms. From my perspective, the term “big bait” starts at the 7-inch threshold. I’ve noticed a drop in engagement from sub 3-pound fish at this size across the country. I have the largest bass in the lake in mind when I’m fishing the pre-spawn; I want to catch the largest bass I can when she’s at her maximum weight potential, hopefully gravid (full of eggs) and with a big meal or three already in her stomach.
I really don’t want to waste time catching and dealing with bass that aren’t representative of the largest members of the population. I’m not tournament fishing in these trophy hunting scenarios, this isn’t Medium Bass Dreams after all.
When I’m fishing through the Northeast chasing pre-spawn largemouth in Vermont in April, a 7.5- and 9-inch class soft bait will be in heavy rotation. The same size range also works well throughout the Great Lakes and Finger Lakes regions and west into Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
In California, Texas, and even in the Carolinas, I’ll rarely use the 7-inch class of lure and will instead focus on the 8-inch+ options, simply because there’s a greater likelihood of encountering 10-pound or larger largemouth. Whereas in the northern states, I would be targeting 7- to 9-pound fish, which are GIANTS in relative terms.
Here are some of the options that will be on the AquaTraction deck of my boat this year:
Boot Tail / Paddletail Swimbait
The boot tail/paddletail-style swimbait is an incredible tool for me. I once watched a video where a popular fishing influencer clearly stated that this style of swimbait is ONLY effective in the warmer months due to its highly active swimming action. As an angler who continues to learn after 32 years of passionately pursuing these fish, I’ve found that any advice given in absolutes is a red flag. There are no absolutes in fishing.
With that said, I’ve had incredible results fishing a paddletail in cold water, even in the dead of winter, so as we are coming out of winter with warming water temps and a longer photoperiod, these lures are definitely in my rotation. They are highly versatile and with so many options and body styles, they each swim a little different.
Rigging affects their application in the water column and what kind of cover they can be effectively fished through as well.
Boot Tails Rigged with Treble Hooks on the Bottom
Harnessed, boot tail swimbaits rigged with treble hooks on the bottom are simple to fish, reasonably priced, and account for a lot of fish. I’ve done a ton of damage over the years with some of the earliest options that were available, like the Osprey Talon, Rago Generic Trout, and, for the past decade or so, the Megabass Magdraft.
How to Fish It
All these lures swim fantastic when you figure out the magic speed that creates that wide wobbling, water displacing, lateral-line-exciting action that results in some classic THUMP style bites. But I wish I had more range of use with this style lure; I always wanted the ability to implement different speeds in my retrieve.
That is the biggest limiting factor with these harnessed paddletails rigged with bottom hooks: they are typically a one-speed presentation. When fish are positively responding to this speed, they obviously work great, but outside of that range, if you try to slow down or especially if you try to speed up, they often “blow out,” meaning they lose balance and often list, turn upside down, or capsize. Most fish find this unappealing and off-putting.
Biwaa Kapsiz Swimbait
Enter the Biwaa Kapsiz swimbait; it gets its name from the fact that you can present this lure at any speed and it resists the tendency to capsize. The wider range of retrieval speed makes this one of the most exciting tools to trigger bites from big bass.
It also allows me to turn some followers into biters by varying my cadence and/or incorporating more vigorous manipulation of the swimbait to trigger more bites.
Do you like burning a spinnerbait and watching a big, pissed-off largemouth or smallmouth come out of nowhere and crush it at speed? Well, now we can do the same with a paddletail swimbait. Speed can be an incredible trigger for these predators. We’ve all heard the advice to not run from a lion, tiger or bear. Why? Because it triggers a predatory response from them.
They’re instinctually driven to pounce on you, because evolution has favored that behavior. In the case of a big soft hunk of plastic, there will be situations where you will absolutely want to RUN. Trigger that big bass into thinking her play thing or meal is getting away and make her react.
Another great thing about this swimbait is its size range. Finesse and tournament fishermen are going to love the unrigged version in 3-, 4-, and 5-inch sizes. There’s a version of 6- and 7.5-inch that comes with an internally harnessed treble hook that both tournament bass anglers and trophy anglers will love.
But the really exciting options include a 9-inch version in two different rigging options.
The first is the HD model, with the same harness as the 6- and 7.5-inch models. Unique to the 7.5- and 9-inch HD version is a swivel attachment on the chin, which can be used to quickly add weight via a grenade weight or even a dipsey sinker on a split ring to sink the bait out deep, a pretty novel innovation and unique in this category of swimbait.
The second rigging option comes in the Stinger model, which features an external wired rig with two treble hooks and modular weights with pre-molded cavities in the belly to accommodate them. This is a great option if you’re dealing with short-striking fish like smaller largemouth, big smallmouth, or spotted bass. It’s also gaining popularity with big pike and musky anglers here in the U.S., but has been a very popular softbait rigging in Europe for some time.
You’ll also notice that it has a pre-molded slot on the top of the lure that extends to the adipose fin. This allows the harness rig to be reversed and placed on top of the lure to allow you to fish it closer to bottom cover with less likelihood of snagging. Here’s another application where the weights come into play: You can insert them into the pre-molded slots in the belly to offset the weight of the hooks and rigging and ballast the swimbait properly.
It’s a welcomed addition to the lineup, gives anglers even more versatility, and opens up applications of this 9-inch bait.
The BIG Kapsiz Swimbait
If the 9-inch wasn’t big enough for you, there’s a 12-inch Kapsiz swimbait available. It’s a truly BIG bait at 9+ ounces; definitely a specialty lure.
When do I use a monster swimwbait like this? If the body of water I’m fishing has big prey items like gizzard shad, trout, carp, white bass, or anything else big, then this is a great way to represent that forage. If there are 8-plus-pound-class largemouth around, then I might also bring this lure into play. I’ve been getting bites on this lure from 5- to 7-pound largemouth, so don’t eliminate it from the realm of possibility on your home water if you have that class of fish.
How To Fish Kapsiz Swimbaits
These big soft paddle tails are a great search tool to cover new water and find these fish. The bigger the bait, the bigger the draw. I’ll use these baits on new water to locate high percentage spots as they will either bite the baits or at least follow them out of their holding spots. I can then develop a milk run of high percentage spots that I know hold big bass. Up high in the column and a medium to medium-fast retrieve will often reveal the location of these fish. One of the biggest advantages of the Kapsiz over other existing boot tails, especially in the larger sizes is the ability to fish them at multiple speeds, with bursts of speed without blowing out.
The other presentation that we started utilizing, going back to 2015, was to rig these baits — all the way up to the 9-inch sizes — on a giant weedless swimbait hook. Why would I do this? I needed the ability to cast the same lure into snaggy cover, rocky structure, that allowed me to fish efficiently with less likelihood of hanging up my lure.
Take a sharp knife or razor blade and meticulously remove the harness rig, deepen a hook pocket, and rig that swimbait hook like you would a small weedless swimbait. Now, I can have the same lure rigged for open water applications and another on the deck rigged for casts that need to be made where the exposed treble hook is likely to snag. It’s a fantastic one-two punch to have that maximizes opportunities.
Biwaa 8-Inch Submission Shad Split Belly
If you want a great swimbait that doesn’t need any modification, take a look at the Biwaa 8-inch Submission Shad Split Belly. They come two-to-a-pack, unrigged for $19.99 and are a heck of a value. They take a 12/0 swimbait hook of your choice perfectly, and are a great bait to practice with, both with rigging and fishing.
I’ve started to embrace more slender and slim profile swimbaits, even when I’m targeting bass that may be feeding on deeper-bodied prey, like gizzard shad or sunfish. They continue to trigger bites for me, but most importantly, the thinner profiles result in a higher hookup, and therefore a higher landing percentage for my soft swimbait fishing.
How To Fish It
Since this weedless rigging comes through cover so efficiently, I tend to fish this bait lower in the column. I’ll make a lot of contact looking to trigger bites from deflection, as the cover knocks the Kapsiz out of balance momentarily before it comes back to center.
Those of you who swim a jig or fish a squarebill may be familiar with how powerful a triggering mechanism deflection can be. It’s the same dynamic at play with a big soft swimbait as well. Take the weedless and play a game with yourself and drive it into everything. Hit that laydown, make contact with that dock piling, hit that boulder at a decent clip, and knock that bait out of center and hold on.
Line and Reels for Big Swimbaits
Depending where in the column I’m fishing these boot tails, I’m generally using a fluorocarbon line for most applications. I helped Defiant Fishing develop lines specifically optimized for swimbait fishing.
I needed in-between sizes, plus options beyond 20-pound to accommodate the baits I throw at these bass. For the 7-8-inch range, I use 18.4- or 23.6-pound; for 9-inch and 4-ounce baits, I feel very comfortable with 23.6- or 28.9-pound.
The 12-inch is a big bait, so it gets the 35- or 41-pound, depending on my target species.
Soft Casting Fluorocarbon
The Soft Casting Fluorocarbon was designed for open-water or mid-column presentations, like swimming the big boot tail up high. It has less memory and handles nicely, perfect for swimming the boot tail mid column. For dragging the weedless through cover, the HEAVY COVER Fluorocarbon is the ticket to deal with abrasion.
For fishing around shallow grass, I’m throwing these lures on Defiant Smooth Casting braid and a short Defiant SHOCK Leader Fluorocarbon. The neutral buoyancy helps keep my bait from sinking too far down into the water column and into the grass or submerged brush. The lack of stretch helps me clear the bait of debris easily.
Go up in size on your leader material. For the 7- to 8-inch baits, I’m using 28.9-pound; 9-inch baits get 35-pound, and the 12-inch gets 44.9-pound.
Rods and Reels
We fish these lures on 300 to 400-size reels with heavy drags and moderate bend on fast-taper rods. Keep that rod tip pointed right at the lure while you’re presenting it. This puts you in the proper hookset position when you get bit. Then, wind through that bite until you can feel it load with pressure through your reel handle. Continue winding, but increase your pace while smoothly sweeping your rod to maintain momentum to penetrate that hook and the barb!
Crush the fish’s will, and using that locked drag, muscle her straight to the net. Try not to boat flip her, if possible; it’s extremely rough on these big females, and may lead to delayed mortality. We want to harvest small bass out of the population, not the big ones, but that’s another topic of discussion.
Find Those Big Bass
Go fish all of your favorite pre-spawn locations on your body of water and look for deep water structures like humps, ledges, points, and saddles that are adjacent to flats and even leading to the backs of spawning coves. Then, fish these swimbaits in lieu of your thunder cricket or spinnerbait. Cast them in the same places you’d drag a Carolina rig or swim a football jig. Got a deep crankbait milk run? Fish those areas with a big swimbait. You will likely be shocked at what you discover with the power of a big bait.
I’m excited to fish this pre-spawn period for the next three or even four months, across the nation. I’m going to have a big soft swimbait in the form of a paddle/boot tail on my deck to do a lot of heavy lifting as I look for the biggest bass in every body of water I hit.
I hope what I’ve learned has helped give you a bit more confidence in your swimbait fishing, especially if this is your first foray into this niche genre of bass fishing.
Just keep in mind that you should use this advice as a foundation to build your own experiences. There are no absolute answers in fishing, so keep your mind open and free. Adapt, experiment, and be observant, and most importantly, enjoy the learning. I still do, and it’s what makes this type of bass fishing so special as it continues to change with fishing pressure.
Aim high, dream big and tie that new big swimbait on and send it! There’s nothing quite like that THUMP of a big soft swimbait bite in the pre-spawn! She could be the biggest bass of your life.
