Get Hook'd

California Dreaming
By: Chad Leton
GET HOOK’d Fishing Forum Field Staff Member

Here in Wisconsin where winter raged on and ice covered the lakes for 6 months (that’s half the year folks!) I sat in front of the DVR and watched the April Bassmaster Elite Series events—The Lone Star Shootout on Falcon Lake and the Battle on the Border on Lake Amistad. The common demominator I noticed in both events was the fact that majority of the Anglers that made the final 12 were fishing Swimbaits.

These baits have been popular out west with a class of angler’s that fish for hawgs (10lb+ class largemouth) that feed on calorie rich trout. In order to “match the hatch” and mimic the forage base, these Western Anglers typically utilize swimbaits ranging from 7” and up. As the popularity is spreading regarding the effectiveness of swimbaits across the country, particularly in their consistent ability to elicit the big bite, many companies are developing their prototypes in order to market these life-like baits to match the dominate forage base in their region’s lakes and river impoundments.

Reaction Strike Bait Company is one of those companies and my winter blues were cured once I received my product from Doug Cavin. I was excited for the ice to come off so I could get to the lake and utilize 3 packs Reaction Strike Fat Head Jr 4″, 1 pack Reaction Strike Fat Head Jr 5″, 1 pack Reaction Strike Plasma Point 1/4oz 5/0ewg hooks, 1 8 oz bottle Mike’s Original Recipe Lickerty Licorice fish attractant.

When I tore open my “care package” the first thing I noticed about Reaction Strike’s product was how it was packaged. It comes in a “cradle packaging system” to ensure that your Fathead baits keep their original shape and prevent warping. Their life-like tail action will be maintained whether you use your swimbaits right after purchase or 3 months down the line.

Rigging: I firmly believe that rigging depends on the type of structure and cover you plan to fish as well as the time of year/seasonal pattern you’re trying to discern. Swimbaits have typically been used in a variety of presentations to extract bass. They can used anywhere from the end of a Carolina Rig to an enticing bed-fishing bait (those darn bed-raiding bream and perch!) The most typical way I have found success in fishing Fathead Swimbaits has been in the prespawn and postspawn patterns on staging flats and points. In Wisconsin I’ve found success at both times fishing these baits anywhere I’d fish a spinnerbait or a rattle trap. In fact, I was able to extract these two beauties following behind two other anglers across the same flat who were using those two “typical” prespawn presentations while I threw the 4” White Fat Head Jr.

In those situations where an angler is fishing 5-8 feet of water I’ve found that Reaction Strike Swimbaits performed best on larger diameter line. 20-25lb Big Game or 65lb Power Pro allows you to fish your bait above and through the emergent vegetation that spring offers as haunts for staging largemouth. To complete the set up I fished it on a 7’ Heavy Action St. Croix Premier Rod with a Quantum Accurist Burner 7.0:1 Reel.

Now, this doesn’t mean you have to crawl this bait in order to trigger a strike. The novel feature I found with Reaction Strike Fat Heads are that they have a tight wobble when a fast retrieve is utilized (particularly in cooler water temps.) and they have a looser wobble when retrieved slowly. When trying to find the retrieve that promotes a strike on a given day it was encouraging to notice how much these baits represent a dying shad or struggling bluegill when allowed to freefall on a pause in your retrieve.

Last but not least I must mention the overall durability of these baits. They are not a “1 fish wonder” type of bait as other soft plastics. Their durable yet soft head allows for easy rigging on the screw in coil feature of the Reaction Strike weighted hooks. It withstood multiple fish (and bigger fish at that!) without needing to tap into a second bait.

The one accommodation I did make was to place a drop of super glue between the bottom of the head and right above the ¼ oz. weighted shank to ensure the bait did not twist off center.

Until the next article, my name is Chad Leton and you can be sure to find me as IMhooked on GET HOOK’d Fishing Forum

http://gethookd.net/forum/

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www.myspace.com/chadleton
www.onthewaterpromotions.com