Paddle Tails

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Hey guys, curious if anyone has used any of the paddle tail style swimbaits begining to flood the market? Ive been looking to try some out and have been searching the web for different makers. Anyone heard anything have any opinions? What about local shops anyone carry them yet?

So far Ive been looking into the Rainbow worms bowfish, luck E strike bass magic and Kamakazee treats. Dont think Im willing to pay for the original basstrix.

[HellaBass]

I have used them, used the BassTrix, Money Minnow & Silly Rabbit. BassTrix is best of those 3. I have done a few write ups on them on My Bassin' Blog.

Bottom line, they will work and catch fish in MN!

[Central Bassman]

I will be trying Berkleys New PowerBait 5" Hollow Belly

[Deitz Dittrich]

Dpends on what your idea of a paddle tail is.. My idea of a paddle tail is a straight worm with a tail that is also straight but shaped like a paddle.. more like a beaver tail.

I do use those worms some, they are a great lure for throwing and then slow rolling back to the boat.

Swimming lures or Jigs like what CB posted above are also good... I've used the ones by Mr.Twister (Sassy Shad) and also the ones by Storm... I've caught quite a few fish on both.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Deitz, I too have used the paddletails you're refering to in the same way with some success this past season. Though Im looking into the swimbait paddletails like the picture shows.

Hella, any specific reasons why you consider basstrix the best? Did you use them in MN waters?

Central, In all my looking didnt even realise berkley was making one. Looks pretty nice and should be available sometime in February, Ill have to keep my eyes peeled. I checked the HSOforum and it appears their going to be $10 for three baits plus hooks and sinkers. Hopefully they will sell just the baits with out the extras for less. I was hoping berkley would make a cheaper option. I guess Ill have to buy some off the net to compare.

[RK]

Hiya -

Like Deitz, I always considered 'paddle tails' to be flat-tailed worms or grubs like the old Mann's Sting Ray grubs (as an example). I schooled a very good friend of mine on cold front bass with a smoke stingray grub many years ago, and he's never forgiven me

The bits like the new Berkley bait I've always called 'boot-tail' grubs, a term I think I picked up from Rich Zaleski eons ago. I don't fish them as much as I used to for a while - I kind of forgot about them, which is stupid. They're really an awesome bait at times. For cold front fish, I fish them on a fairly light jighead, and really just fish the weight of the jig. The tail doesn't actually vibrate much - it just provides lift. If you can actually feel the jig, you're moving it too much.

With some of the newer baits, they're better as actual swimbaits. Body shape makes these baits fish really different from one another too. Some styles fish better as true swimbaits, and can wobble almost like a crankbait - a Berkley 5" Power Swim Shad is a good example, or the Sassy Shad. They have a flat back and a tapered belly. Northland Mimic Minnows are the opposite, with a narrow back and flat belly. They can be great for slow crawling just fishing the weight of the jig.

I've fished them mostly for cold front fish, and they can be great. They're a lot more versatile than just cold front baits, and over the last couple seasons I'm fishing them a little more again. Worth messing with, for sure.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[HellaBass]

I used them down on Clarks Hill in November, the swimming action seem to be superior to the other baits, plus they were the only one I got bit on.

[Jakesbuds]

 Originally Posted By: HellaBass

I have used them, used the BassTrix, Money Minnow & Silly Rabbit. BassTrix is best of those 3. I have done a few write ups on them on My Bassin' Blog.

Bottom line, they will work and catch fish in MN!

Do you have any idea where to get any of these besides hsolist for $20 a pack? Thanks In Advance HB!!!

[DomW]

Look around online for tackle shops that sell them. The Berkleys might be gone everywhere, but I think you can find some of the Luck E Strike, BassTrix, and Reaction Strike versions online. The one place I bought BassTrix from required me to equal my BassTrix purchase amount with other items. Kinda lame, but this is supposedly their answer to all the enterprising folks who have put their BassTrix on hsolist for profit.

[Daze Off]

RK

I've been looking for the Berkley 5" Swim Shad for some time now and can't find them - even on the net. Any suggestions where to look for them?

Going to pair it up with some Owner saltwater jig heads and give it a rip (thanks to Doug Stange...LOL).

Daze Off

[ikeslayer]

i picked up some berkeley pogys the other day at gander. not quite the same but they are a swim bait. gander had 5 bags of powerbait for 6 bucks i just couldn't pass it up. ike

[ocf1]

The hollow bodies will come out after the classic. They are being kept off of shelves to "give the berkley pros a competitive edge". So just wait a little bit, they will be coming.

[st.crioxfishin]

You can pre-order the hollow bellys from their HSOforum. I have no clue when you will get them becuase the demand for these is probably pretty high. However, the longer you wait, the longer its going to take to get them. I'm really hoping places like gander or cabelas will carry them this summer.

[HellaBass]

 Originally Posted By: Jakesbuds

 Originally Posted By: HellaBass

I have used them, used the BassTrix, Money Minnow & Silly Rabbit. BassTrix is best of those 3. I have done a few write ups on them on My Bassin' Blog.

Bottom line, they will work and catch fish in MN!

Do you have any idea where to get any of these besides hsolist for $20 a pack? Thanks In Advance HB!!!

Drop me an email if you are interested in some BassTrix, find my email @ Rich Lindgren Com

[Central Bassman]

Hella im interested drom me a line!!

[rjohnson]

 Originally Posted By: ocf1

The hollow bodies will come out after the classic. They are being kept off of shelves to "give the berkley pros a competitive edge". So just wait a little bit, they will be coming.

Wrong. The hollow belly paddletail is available. I just got mine. I'm filming a big swimbait/paddletail tube test with the following models at the pool. Here's what I have

Lake Fork Live Magic Shad

Gambler Brutus--weird looking thing, curious to see what it does

Castaic 6" soft swimbait

Storm Kickin Slab, and

Wildeye Live Sunfish

Basstrix Fat Minnow Paddletail tube

California Swimbaits Tiny E

Berkly Hollow Belly, and

Realistix

Tsunami swimbait

Luck E Strike Bass Magic

Poor Boy's Silly Rabbit

Yamamoto 5" swimbait, and

swimming senko

Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper

Money Minnow

Reaction Strike Fathead Jr.

Canyon Plastics Swim Doctor

Fishbelly Kick S Shad

Rainbow Fish Bowfin

There are some other models that will be shown, but didn't arrive in time. They will most likely be filmed next week.

[HellaBass]

Hollow Bellys are out, but they might be harder to find then the BassTrix already, just about everybody is already back ordered...

[Saint Paul Dan]

Daze off- I saw some of those berkley 5" swim shads out at thorne brothers a few weeks ago. I didn't pay too much attention but I don't think they had a huge stockpile then.

Also, are these Bass Trix and Berkley hollow body baits just rigged on a jighead and used as a swimbait? I've used storm wildeye swimshads (I think thats their name) but those come pre-rigged with a hook and weight.

Dan

[st.crioxfishin]

Just like any other lure, you can rig them however you want, the possibilities are endless. However, most people are rigging them weightless with a wide gap hook, or with a weighted wide gap hook.

[Saint Paul Dan]

So do you fish them like soft plastic jerkbaits when you rig them like that? I thought the original post called them swimbaits. Sounds like these baits have created quite the buzz. I'm sure I'll find out more about them this year.

[st.crioxfishin]

I haven't fished with the "paddle tails" yet, but with other swimbaits I just use a steady retrieve. No jerking, or letting the bait drop, just a steady retrieve. However, once again, you can fish them and rig them however you want.

[rjohnson]

I'm having troubles with youtube right now, so be patient. I have 61 videos to get on there, and the quality is good on my computer, but is horrible after downloading. I'm not sure what's happening, because I used the same camera as before.

In the meantime, here's what I found out. Paddletails stink! Literally, they have a real strong plastic smell. Even the Berkly Hollow Belly had more of a plastic smell than a Powerbait smell.

Next, these things can be difficult to rig, and they will tear easily. If you hook them offcenter, they swim funny- which might actually be a good thing. I would not expect to get much life from them, alot of them seemed like one fish baits. I rigged up all the paddletails on the same weighted hook that uses a corkscrew that goes into the nose of the bait.

Poor Boy's Silly Rabbit and Rainbow Worms Bowfish are identical. The Silly Rabbit comes with a couple of weighted hooks and a different sticker on the same clear box. They both need more plastic over the eyes, I lost an eye on the Bowfish on my first pitch into the pool. The swimming action was good, with a strong thumping tail, slight body rock, and it falls nice and flat. Also, contrary to what other review sites said, the tail kicks great on the fall.

The Fishbelly Kick S Shad didn't have much action. The bait is slender and has a small tail. I tried rigging it with different weights, hooks, everything I could think of. This thing just doesn't have much action. On most retrieves, the tail didn't move.

The funny looking Gambler Brutus swims like a champ. Who knows what the fish will think of it, but that tail doesn't stop moving, including on the fall.

The Lake Fork Live Magic Shad swims like a fish, but the segmented sections don't look or feel very durable. On pauses, it falls flat with a tantalizing tail wiggle.

The Money Lures Money Minnow split open on the belly when I tried to rig them up. I tried every one in the package and they all did that. I'm not sure if that hurt the action or not, but they did swim great. They did nose dive fast with a tail kick on the way down when paused.

The Reaction Strike Fathead Jr. had a good tail wiggle. When paused, it nose dived slightly and fell slower with some tail movement.

The Luck E Strike Bass Magic is the thickest hollow bodied bait. It swims with a slight body rock and a nice thumping tail. When paused, it does a spiral nose dive with no tail action.

The Berkly Hollow Belly would probably be my pick as the best overall swimmer.

It has a slight nose twitch, body wobble, and the tail has a faster flashier kick. When paused, this bait looks great. It noses down slightly and the tails moves so that it looks like it's swimming to the bottom.

The Basstrix is the softest paddletail and the easiest to tear up. When it swims, the middle section of the body wiggles back and forth and the tail kicks fast. It's probably the nicest looking swimmer when it's moving, but when paused, it drops and does the nose down spiral with some tail kick. I'm not sure if there's a way to stop them from doing that.

The Yamamoto Saltwater Series 5" Swimbait was rigged with a 1/4oz darter head jig. I think it might be too bulky and solid to use anything but an exposed hook. The design is simple but effective. It has an active tail with a sligh body wobble.

The Yamamoto Swimming Senko is a combination of the Senko and the swimbait.

The tail kicks quickly, and the worm section has a slight wobble. When paused, it drops flat with some kicking from the tail.

The Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper has a solid body with a slightly cut belly and a groove on the back. The body doesn't move much, but the tail has a quick kick all the time. When paused, it nosed down and fell quicker than I expected, the tail kicke on the way down.

The Castaic swimbait was the most realistic looking in and out of the water. I got the trout colored 6" bait, and it looked like the real thing in the water. When paused, it did the nose dive, but it looked like it was swimming down to grab something.

The Canyon Plastics Swim Doctor is a solid bodied swimbait that comes with a hook. It is alot heavier than it looks. The tail has a tight kick and there's not much body movement. It nose dives with tail kick when paused. For the price of $12.95 per 1, I won't be buying another one.

The California Swimbaits Tiny "E" is a solid body hand pour that comes with a small treble hook. When rigged weightless with this hook, it has some body movement with a wild tail kick. When paused, it'll nose dive, spiralled sometimes, and that wild tail doesn't move at all.

The Berkly Realistix is a nicely packaged swimbait that has a strange plastic hood behind the head and a very heavy duty hook. The swimming action is a hard side to side body rock that makes it appear to have tail action. When paused, it did a spiral nose dive sometimes, and fell flat sometimes.

The Storm Kickin Slab is a cheaper priced, somewhat realstic looking swimbait. The treble hook isn't small, and this tended to cause problems. On 10 pitches, 4 of them resulted in the treble hook snagging the line. After tucking one of the points into the belly, there wasn't any problems. The swimming action is nice, but seems to require more speed. When paused, it was unpredictable. Sometimes it falls on it's side and flutters down, and other times, it did a spiral nose dive which resulted in more tangled up lines.

[HellaBass]

rjohsnon

what is your youtube name or link?

[rjohnson]

 Originally Posted By: HellaBass

rjohsnon

what is your youtube name or link?

The name on youtube is theluretour, add the last part for the HSOforum which I'm still working on.

I think I might have to reshoot the video. Every one is blocky looking and lacks definition. I tried google video as well, and they came out the same way.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Lots of good info! thanks for putting it up. I would love to see the videos.