How It Started:

It was the Friday evening before the Santa Barbara Sport Fishing Club's March 2003 Trout Tournament at Lake Cachuma in California. My partner Larry Heron pre-fished earlier that day and did very well trolling the usual spoons and minnow type crankbaits. Our other partner Matt Russell called me, told me about Larry's success and suggested bringing some unusual stuff to play around with. I thought to myself, "What's more unusual than catching trout on a swimbait originally designed for saltwater fishing?" Just then I remembered that Pete Bowman of Fish n' Canada reported catching Lake Trout trolling 5 inch Big Hammer swimbaits so it seemed a little less crazy. So I added several colors of 3 inch Big Hammers™ and a selection of ¼ and 3/8 oz. Hammer Head™ jig heads to my tackle which I already had packed and ready to go.

At the lake we trolled around a while with the usual stuff and got some bites so I knew the fish were around. I decided to put a swimbait back and within 5 minutes I had two short strikes. Matt suggested rigging up some kind of trap hook in the tail. My first concern was that it would affect the action of the bait. We scrounged around for an appropriate hook, rigged one up, put it over the side of the boat and to my surprise it swam fine. Within minutes we hooked and landed our first swimbait trout. Matt rigged up a second and put it out. For the rest of the day the two swimbaits caught more fish than the four minnow-type crankbaits we had out.

About six weeks later Larry and I finally got a chance to try it again. The water temp was up but the trout were still around.  This time we trolled four rods - all of them rigged with 3 inch Big Hammers™.  The results were over 40 hookups in just over 5 hours.

Trial & Error:

Rigging seems to be the stumbling block for most people when getting into trolling the swimbaits for trout. It has taken us several trips to discover problems and come up with the solutions. The rigging itself is relatively simple. A size 6 or 8 Octopus or Mosquito hook sticking out the back of the tail of the swimbait that is attached by line to the jig head.

The first trip we just ran the leader outside of the body of the swimbait and tied it to the bend of the jig head hook using monofilament. This worked fine but looked sloppy. Did the fish care? Who knows. They didn't seem to - at least not the during the first trip.

The second trip we started rigging the baits by running the line through the bait using a needle. This made the baits look a lot cleaner but there were some problems. With monofilament the leader needed to be exactly the right length otherwise we would have to cram the extra line inside the bait. This would result in a "bent tail" and the bait wouldn't swim as well. The small working space and limited amount of line also made it very difficult to tie the leader to the bend of the hook. We tried some of the "outer rigged" baits on this trip and they didn't get bit as well as the inner rigged baits. We also learned that 6 lb. mono was not strong enough as we lost several fish including a few large ones. Basically they would jump, shake their head, and use the weight of the jig head to snap the trap hook leader.

Spectra line was the solution to both of the problems with the "inner-rigged" baits. First of all you have a little more slack to work with because if you do end up with a leader that is a little too long the bait doesn't "twist up" when you cram the extra line into it. Secondly, we have used up to 50 lb. spectra without having it effect the action of the bait.

Internal Rigging:

We have discovered several different internal rigging techniques and I am sure that as this continues to grow people will discover more ways that work for them.  Click here to view printable step-by-step trap-rigging instructions in .pdf format.

The first and cleanest method has been perfected by Larry Heron. Start by tying 6 to 8 inches of spectra to the trap hook. Using a needle thread the spectra through the swimbait starting at the upper center of the tail and ending just in back of where the jig head hook comes out of the bait. Now pull the line so the trap hook goes into the bait as far as possible and continue to pull so that the tail of the bait bunches up. Now comes the hard part - tying the leader to the shank (bend) of the hook.

Steve Greanias has built on Larry's method by eliminating the need for tying the leader to the shank (bend) of the hook - which is the most difficult part of the rigging. Click here for Steve's step-by-step instructions.

Another rigging method which was first brought to my attention by Brian Kettler eliminates the need for a needle and makes the tying of the knots easier. Start by tying about 6 inches of spectra to the trap hook. Then tie the other end to the shank (bend) of the jig head hook without rigging it into the bait. Then, using the trap hook as the needle thread the leader through the tail of the bait starting where the jig head hook comes out of the bait. The trick here is to thread it as far as possible, come out of the bait (about half way to the tail), then re-insert the hook into the same hole and continue to thread it to the tail.  Click here for Brian's step-by-step instructions.

Fishing:

I have only trolled the swimbaits using 4 or 6 lb. test monofilament at approximately 2.3 - 2.5 knots. Ideally we would like to troll a bit slower but that's as slow as Larry's boat will go - dragging two buckets! My guess is that the baits are running 10 - 15 ft. deep with ¼ oz. and 3/8 oz. jig heads. I have heard reports that the swimbaits work just as well with downriggers or lead core.

Colors:

We have trolling many different different colors and most of them have produced. Some of the better colors have been trout colors, pearl or white colors, or bright colors. Specific colors that seem to catch more fish than others at Lake Cachuma are: #27 - Pepper Trout, #55 - Pearl, #78 - Firetiger, #36 - Prizm Shad, #60 - Sea Wolf and #59 - Wildfire.

Short Strikes - They Keep Coming Back:

One of the more interesting things we have found is how we rarely only get one short strike. More times than not a short strike will be followed by one or two more strikes - sometimes continuing until the fish hooks itself. I believe the soft plastic feel of the bait is responsible for the multiple strikes.

Trout On The Slide:

Well, sort of. When there is a strike and the boat is slowed down or stopped, let the other baits fall for a second or two, then either slowly start the boat moving again, slowly lift the rod tips or slowly start reeling them in. We have had quite a few doubles and even some triples out of a single troll strike.

Conclusion:

A few more benefits of trolling swimbaits include 1) Not having to play with the eye of the bait to get it troll straight. 2) Not having to un-tangle treble hooks from the landing net. 3) Having the baits sink straight down when the boat is stopped which not only helps eliminate tangles but also often entices more fish to strike the sinking baits.

Ever since I discovered swimbaits five years ago I have been trying them for every species of fish I can think of. So far with great success. I never dreamed one of these target species would be trout.

Questions: Click here.

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