Loads of fishing photos on my desktop and not enough posts on Hunting the River King? Let's fix that. Here are three fish from a previous trip in the last few months in California, two bluegills and one small largemouth bass. All caught on 2lb mono with a Strike King Bitsy Pond Minnow in my favorite Firetiger color. More to come!
Fairmount Park is a very tough place to catch fish at consistently. The water is usually quite murky and the anglers fishing with every lure known to man hit the water each day. Fortunately, most anglers are doing the "bait 'n wait" for catfish and carp, but there is a sizable population of lure anglers targetting other warmwater species here. The worst part is the number of anglers that keep everything they catch at Fairmount, ignoring the obviously foul water in hopes of some muddy water fish-fry. I strictly practice Catch-Photo-Release (CPR) at this local city park, be it for bass, carp or sunfish. Fairmount is no longer stocked by the State and it's a pretty limited fishery overall.
The sunfish population at Fairmount can offer a nice break from the challenge of catching largemouth. Still, it can be difficult to locate them as well, given the high fishing pressure and large amount of water. Fortunately, my last fishing trip to Fairmount worked out pretty well. I fished a variety of lures, including a Bass Pro Shops micro jerkbait, a Jet Tackle jerkbait, and micro jigs/plastic worm combos. I ran into a small school of tiny crappie, averaging 6-8 inches, with some bluegill and green sunfish mixed in. These guys were a blast to catch, although the school quickly dissipated to other regions of the lake at the onset of dusk. If you do go to Fairmount, please fish responsibly and practice catch and release.
There's currently a vast array of swimbaits being produced in Asia. Some of these are sold through major brands like Bass Pro Shops or Cabelas, while others may be found through more specialized fishing tackle distributors, with some very unique and interesting lures available. Such is the case with Real Fish Bait, based out of Modesto, California. Tackle Tour has featured Real Fish Bait on their website several times, mostly for their large selection of affordable swimbaits, both hard and soft. Most recently, Tackle Tour showed off some of the new offerings from Real Fish Bait at this year's ISE. I was fortunate enough to get to try some of the latest swimbait offerings from Real Fish Bait, including their impressive Hardbait Shad lures. (More after the jump with video)
The Hard Shad comes in 4 different patterns: threadfin, pumpkinseed, crappie and largemouth. They are done in a photo realistic finish-style, similar to the ABT swimbaits. Colors are sharp and the photo transfer process seems fairly seamless. Further setting apart the Hard Shad lures from many other swimbaits is the nifty "broomtails" feature. I haven't seen too many swimbaits that go for the bristle approach to create a realistic fin appearance, and the tails on the Real Fish Baits look great. It's a smaller swimbait, at 4'', built with six jointed sections, connected by metal pins/wires.
The Hardbait Shad lures are advertised at sinking at roughly 6'' ROF. They have a very natural, lifelike action in the water, even on slower retrieves. Being able to slowly work a hard swimbait through an area is definitely a something I look for in swimbaits; as too many hardbait versions (including the Spro Baby BBZ) seem to lose almost all their action at slow speeds. The Hardbait Shads maintained a tantalizing "S" wobble at both slow and fast speeds.
Do bass like the Hardbait Shad? Indeed! I had a lot of followers and strikes on one short urban creek fishing trip with this small swimbait, and managed to get a fish striking it on film with my Kodak HD cam. You can actually see the fish come after the lure on the first cast, in the top left side of the screen, if you look closely (watch it on 720p HD quality for best shots).
Durability is one point I am concerned about in regards to the Hardbait Shad. In the above video, you'll see a bass hit the lure twice, hooking up and getting landed on the second toss.
After catching this bass, I've gone on to use this same swimbait lure on several more California fishing trips. It's landed me some of my biggest urban creek bass and I've very happy with it. After getting hit by a particularly tough bass, you may find that the joints get a bit stiffer at the 2nd section. A few quick wiggles should fix the problem.
The 4'' Hardbait Shad looks great, swims great and definitely catches bass. It's a smaller swimbait with a whole lot of potential, at a fairly reasonable price. I'll be updating this post as I fish with this offering from Real Fish Bait in the future. Until then, if you are intrigued by this smaller swimbait, check it out at their website, available online for $11.99. Tight lines!
[Update March 12, 2012: I've since used the Hardbait Shad on several other fishing trips and have been impressed with its performance. It's definitely a keeper of a lure for me on my urban creek and lake bass trips!]
For the second lure in my series on wLure's Chinese swimbaits, I have the HS145F2, a jointed, chunky swimbait somewhat shaped after a bluegill. It sells for $5.49 online, with three different color options, length of 5 3/4'', and a weight of 1 2/3oz.
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The HS145F2 swimbait is pretty chunky. It's certainly not a "knock-off" of any specific lure I've encountered, and it seems to be a hybrid swimbait/crankbait style lure. The entire lure is hard plastic, complete with a nice set of fins sticking out both dorsally and laterally. However, the tail is a soft plastic/rubber piece, attached by two pins. If any part of this lure was to fail after repeated hits, this may be it. Still, it's fairly well attached and shouldn't present too much of an issue.
This swimbait will float, diving around 2-3 ft on retrieve. When using the HS145F2, I found it had excellent action, even at slower retrieval speeds. The added crankbait lip really helps increase the bait's enticing wobble action, for the better. Here is a few YouTube videos of the HS145F2 swimbait that I took while trying it out at Ford Park, in Redlands.You'll notice the excellent side to side action upon retrieve.
Details on this lure are fairly impressive. The paint job isn't amazing, but it certainly looks much nicer than many generic Chinese eBay lures. Of the three color options available for this lure, my favorite is the bluegill-style pattern. The other two, a goldfish (?) and a striped bass pattern really don't appeal to me. The finish on the lure seems quite durable and didn't chip, despite some rough handling on rocks on my part. Will it hold up to the smash of a toad largemouth or striper? I'm not sure, but the joints and attachments certainly feel tough.
Overall, I was pretty impressed with the HS145F2 bluegill swimbait. It's cheap, has great action in the water, and looks decent. I'll post updates with how it performs on the toads as the water starts to warm up. Tight lines!
Loads of fishing photos on my desktop and not enough posts on Hunting the River King? Let's fix that. Here are three fish from a previous trip in the last few months in California, two bluegills and one small largemouth bass. All caught on 2lb mono with a Strike King Bitsy Pond Minnow in my favorite Firetiger color. More to come!
