When I hear the term swim baits I think about the monster swim baits that started with the Worm King Dinosaur.

The Dinosaur was first used in the ocean, then fishing guides experimented with it in freshwater. In the last few years the success of the big swim baits has spawned the use of a smaller series, followed recently by the development of hollow-body swim baits. We tested these hollow-body baits to see how construction affects them. The test included five-inch paddletail baits by Strike King, Berkley, Lucky Strike, Wave Worms, Manns and Reaction Strike.

Dissection

We started by cutting in half one sacrificial bait from each manufacturer and immediately saw that every bait was created differently. The noses of each bait varied in thickness from a quarter-inch to one inch, and the vertical hollow sections of the baits varied from an eighth-inch to a half-inch. The lengths of the hollow cavities varied from 3.75 inches to 4.75 inches. Two of the baits had slots for hooks, while the others were designed more like tube baits.

Bucket Test

When we placed the unrigged baits in a bucket of water we saw that not all the baits reacted the same. The Berkley bait sank to the bottom.

Next, the Wave Worms positioned itself nose down but stayed on the surface with the paddle tail at the top. The other four baits simply came to rest on the surface on their sides. We rigged each bait with a Gamakatsu one-eighth ounce weighted 5/0 wide gap hook and duplicated the test. Berkley, Strike King, Lucky Strike and the Manns baits sank. The Reaction Strike and the Wave Worms swim baits resembled scavenging fish feeding on the bottom at 45-degree angles.

Swim Meet

We retrieved all baits identically. Reaction Strike had a wide wobble to the whole bait at slow speed. At medium retrieve, its wobble tightened significantly.

The Berkley swim bait swam nice and straight with severe tail action when retrieved slowly, but rolled over at quicker speeds. At slow retrieve Strike King produced a side-to-side wobble, and at medium retrieve the tail really started kicking, resembling a fleeing baitfish. This was the kind of action we were looking for. The Lucky Strike bait had a very tight wobble at slow speed. Increasing to medium speed tightened its wobble and the tail started to kick from side to side for a lifelike impression. At slow retrieve the Wave Worm produced a nice wide wobble with slight tail kick, but a medium retrieve worked best. Under slow and medium speeds the Manns bait showed a lot of tail action. Unfortunately, when we retrieved at high speed, only one of the six performed well. We experienced impressive results when we inserted a quarter-ounce Stormin’ Hornet jig head with a willow blade spinner into the bait. The baits swam well at all speeds and I could easily feel the vibration of the paddle tail and spinner. You may have to work at positioning the jig head inside the bait but it’s worth the effort.Adding weight to any of these baits is easy with the open hole in the paddle tail.

Final Results

Thorough testing determined that all baits are not created equal. The key to fishing these baits effectively is to have a good arsenal to choose from and experiment with until you find the action fish are keying on.