Swimbait Rods buying guide

Are you getting trouble with reeling in the larger fish? Don't worry. Swimbait rods are here to the rescue.

These rods provide full control and power in the battle with larger fish. You can quickly lure them with the bait and catch tons of fish with the proper setup.

While selecting a particular rod, you have to look into the power, size, weight, and other additional factors. Researching for all the information from several pages can become a tiresome task.

You may not even get the correct details, which may lead you to invest in an ill-fitted product. An in-depth buying guide allows you to access all the information under one roof. You can analyze the information with your requirements and funnel down the best rod for yourself.

However, before all this, you must have a clear understanding of the product in your mind. So, let us start with a brief introduction to understand the benefits of the rod and then move further

into the guide.

What are Swimbait rods, and why should you buy them?

These fishing rods increase your chances of capturing a fish as they provide the right fishing equipment. Swimbait rods are specifically designed to catch large fishes by supporting large and heavy lures.

Swimbait rods can look similar when compared with crankbait rods; the only difference between them is that the swimbait rod is comparatively larger. The smaller counterparts of the crankbait rod are fitted with tips to keep the small-sized counterparts buttoned up.

A Swimbait rod is a better choice when compared with the heavy lures. Swimbait rods are technically designed to cast the big bait without breaking the bait. It also enhances the backbone for an efficient hook set for much bigger fishes.

The efficient hook set of the Swimbait rod develops enough power, which helps in tackling the much more challenging and bigger fishes.

These rods are the best choice as it has the perfect features which assist in yielding high performance. These Swimbait rods can be easily used in freshwater as well as saltwater, as they are large.

Things to deem about while selecting appropriate Swimbaits rods

Length

These Swimbait rods don't come with any ideal length guide. However, if you think of buying a more extended cast, the longer rod can be termed perfect.

Longer rods can also pressurize on the fish, which further enhances the chances of capturing the fish. The correct way to measure your rod's length is to measure the distance from the end of the handle to the end of the rod's top.

You will find that the majority of the Swimbait rods have lengths between 6 to 12 feet. Although shorter rods provide short casting distances, they are equipped to provide more casting accuracy.

When you are tackling fishes that put on an intense fight, one must use short Swimbait rods as you need a flexible rod that can be easily bent to put up with the consistent struggles along with the fish.

Deeper cast distances are provided with the help of longer rods along with delivering more pressure to tackle the fish.

Material

The perfect Swimbait rods are built with durable and robust material. The most common material used in the making of the fishing rods is graphite and fiberglass. There are manufacturers who combine two graphites to customize the overall performance of the rods and to enhance its durability.

1. Graphite

Graphite is a ubiquitous material that is used to make rods. Graphite is also known as carbon fiber and is built to provide stiffness and sturdiness. It is produced at excessively high temperatures in a process that includes two parts: establishing tensile strength and the other for stiffness.

It's a fact that the hotter the furnace is, the more tensile strength and stiffness will be established in the fiber, which results in less usage of the material in building the rod. There are parallel graphite fibers which are incorporated into sheets with resin.

One can reduce the graphite fiber cost using more resin and less graphite, but your rod will be a bit softer. More material is required in case you need a stiff and heavy rod.

When extra pressure is applied to a graphite rod, it can easily break. But this does not mean that graphite cannot be the ideal material for use. When the graphite rod is used in its parameters, its performance shows durability.

Graphite rods are light in weight as compared to fiberglass and can be easily handled. Graphite rod also provides longer casts and quick action, which indeed makes graphite an ideal material for the Swimbait rods.

2. Fiberglass

This material has been used to produce fishing rods since the 1950s. Glass is known for its soothing properties and toughness and is used to make some great rods.

Many anglers find glass rods better for throwing crankbait or any other applications in which medium or slow action is required. Some rods are produced with a combination of graphite and Glass, enabling the rod's designers to add extra effort to their product.

Power

One must examine the power rating while choosing the best Swimbait rods. The rod power, which is often known as the weight, is the rod's ability to leverage value. The power rating is the capacity at which the rod can support the lure and weight.

1. Ultralight

These rods are specifically built to provide support to the too light lines often used in catching small fishes like crappie. They have quite an incredible bend capability, which makes them very fascinating. These rods can support a weight that is around 1/32 to 3/8 ounces.

2. Light

They are more powered as compared to ultralight rods. Thus, they can be easily used for fishes that are small as well. These rods do not have a lure weight of more than 1/16 ounces.

3. Medium

These medium light rods have their power rating in the middle of light and medium. These rods have lure capacity lies in 1/8 to ½ ounce, which is suitable for small and medium fishes like smallmouth bass.

Medium-heavy rods can handle a wide variety of fish species. They can support a lure weight ranging ¼ to ¾ ounces; they are ideal for fish jigs and hooks.

4. Heavy

These rods are relatively stiffer, which are imperatively made to handle larger fishes and heavy lures. Their lure weight is between 3/8 ounces to 2. Anglers often term having a good backbone as being equipped with an extra massive powered rod. They are often used for salmon trolling or live bait.

Action

The working of the Swimbait rods effectively depends upon the action. This term means how much the rod can bend when a significant amount of pressure is focused on the tip for casting or while handling your catch.

The action is the point where the rod can bend or flex on applying pressure. The story can be categorized as fast, medium, or slow. For swimbaits, generally, an immediate action rod is suggested.

Faster action assists in a quick right hook set on the mouth of the fish. But for a Swimbait, which is more extensive, a moderate immediate action rod can be recommended to avoid the risk, which can include tearing the fish's mouth.

A fast rod can bend on the top ¼ of the swimbait rod. It indicates that the swimbait rod is ideal for huge fishes, as it turns significantly less. This design is highly useful for fishes that hide under vegetation or areas with weed.

Handles

The handles are often overlooked, but they are essential while choosing the fishing rods for swimbaits. The length is considered to be an essential aspect when you are using the fishing technique.

A heavy lure is used to trap a larger fish, so a short handle will be impractical to use. A longer handle offers more leverage and comfort when one casts or handles a catch. A longer handle also assists in using two hands while casting.

The material used in the rod handle also adds to the grip and comfort of the user. Different rods have been built with other materials, but the most commonly used materials are cork, foam, tape, wrap, and cord. Cork adds significantly less weight as it is a natural material. The contoured design provides an ergonomic and comfortable feel to the cork handle.

While using the cork handles, your hands will remain dry throughout as the material is favored with inshore and freshwater rods. The most commonly used handles are the foam grip handles.

Line weight

Swimbaits are, in general, giant lures, so you need to be sure that you are using the line of the proper size to handle casting and to retrieve them.

The long stout butt that the rod has helped provide maximum power for retrieving, cast, and hook. These heavy braided lines are essential for the swimbaits, which are larger like the predators.

You will need a swimbaits rod that can the size of the lure along with the weight of the line. It is essential to pair the line with the rod in the required synergy to fish at an optimum level.

Reels

If you want to ensure that your rod works perfectly fine, you need to get the perfect reel for use. You need to make sure that the rod you are using is set up for some specific reel, even if you choose a bait caster or a spinning reel.

A perfectly good spinning rod will differ in working when compared to the casting rod. New fishing material is introduced in the market every day, so it can be tough to choose a perfect reel for your Swimbait rod.

A spinning reel is essential as you apply more force and pressure to have a high cranking power for baits, heavy like crankbaits and spinnerbaits.

But you can face some jerks as the handle is fixed on the reel frame.

With the help of these reels, you can slow down the lure so that it can softly land in water without scaring the fishes nearby.

Durability

Durability is the most crucial feature that you will consider when choosing a good quality Swimbait rod with excellent build quality.

It is of enormous importance to get a good and durable rod capable of handling all those rigors of years on the water. You will require high-quality performance at every point of the rod.

The rod's blank should be of supreme quality; the guides should be made out of durable material. The grip of your rod should be stable and provide comfort to you at all times. All these qualities are available in a single rod if you go on for a précised quality selection.

You can encounter considerable fishes in the water, which will put up a tough fight, you can afford for your rod to break at that time, so durability holds so much importance.

Hookset

Suppose you are planning to catch a different variety of fishes and not limit yourself to bass. It is highly recommended to buy a rod that can support a good hookset, equipped with a healthy tip.

Different fishes require different amounts of strength and intensity of the hooksets to get them out of the water without much fight. There are fishes which escape and try to hide in the vegetation or areas with mosses.

Thus a rod that can support a fair and robust hookset is highly required by the fishermen to use their fishing techniques to yield in the best possible way.

A hook set is essential as the hook is set in motion with the fishing rod to fix a fish hook into the fish's mouth when the fish has bitten the fishing luring bait.

Other features

These incredible rods are created out of either graphite or fiberglass. Even though graphite is lighter in weight and sensitive, it has not overcome the demand for fiberglass in the whole fishing industry.

Fiberglass can be considered for swimbaits, which need to have a medium action rod as it has a parabolic bend while also being flexible all around the pole's length. Graphite rods provide strength and are sensitive, but they are highly expensive.

Rod blank is also essential along with the line guides. These supreme quality guides can assist you in sensing fishes quickly, and they also ensure a smooth line flow and avoiding the line from breakage.

When you are holding the rod along with the reel, the reel seat should provide you with a blank feeling. EVA or out of cork can be used to make the handle of the rod. A short handle is highly suitable for light baits.

How to rig and fish a Swimbait?

How can you rig a Swimbait?

Rigging can be a struggling concept for many people. We have listed some quick steps to follow while rigging:

1. Take a Swimbait and try using a screw-locked belly hook to rig the bait around the bait's mouth.
2. In the next step, you should pinch the hook through the bait made from plastic and take it out from the opposite side so that hooks have been positioned parallel to the bait's body.
3. Now you should hook swimbait along with the rod using a tough backbone.
4. According to the type of water that you are going to fish in, you can choose the bait accordingly. For example, tail swimbaits can be suitable for grassy water with high vegetation.
5. You can now attach your hook of the bait to the fishing rod, and now you are all set for fishing.

How to fish while using a Swimbait?

1. Swimbaits are suitable for fishing in clear or colored water. Muddy or unclear water is not ideal for fishing.
2. While you are fishing in the water, you must have more massive bait or a high sink rate in-depth. Following that, a lightweight lure or slow sink rate can be useful while fishing in areas that have shallow water or areas with grass.
3. Coldwater, currents, and slightly warm water are suitable for swimbaits. Once you are done hooking your Swimbait, you can cast that out.
4. If you want to know the depth of the swimming bait inside water, you can cast that out and roughly calculate the time taken to travel the distance.
5. Keep a note of the visible distance. Then according to the distance and the ratio of time to calculate roughly the depth of the swimbait in that much amount of time.
6. When you start feeling tugging on the rod, you can reel that above the water's surface, bring that up on the boat.
7. You can detach the hook of the fishing rod, and you can easily unhook the fish from your hook and bait.

Beginner's Tips for Swimbait Rods

1. If you just started fishing with a Swimbait rod's help, it is advised to begin with the small Swimbait first. You can then step up the swimbait's size and weight of Swimbait if you have mastered the next phase.
2. Swimbait rods are available in a wide variety of weights. They can be between one to five ounces and also from one to three ounces. If you require additional features, then you should try purchasing the one with a higher range.
3. The rods are also not expensive; this rod is known for its features to throw an efficient variety of baits due to its one to six ounces element.
4. You can also enhance the size and weight of the swimbaits gradually.
5. It is essential to choose the Swimbait rod, which has a high power rating and good lure capacity. If you don't consider this, you may end up with a broken fishing pole.

FAQs

1. What is the difference between Hardbody Swimbaits and Soft body Swimbaits?

Hardbody Swimbait

They come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes. Glide baits and swimbaits are a staple in the Swimbait fishing world for many years. These swimbaits are equipped to swim below the surface or in the mid-water column.

For instance, a trout patterned hard bait is suitable for lakes with trouts, while shad profiled bait is suited for some lakes with threadfin or gizzard shad.

It would help if you tried to discover the large forage fish that these giant basses are feeding on.

Soft body swimbaits

These plastic swimbaits have become so famous interestingly. They can be used all year and offer one an endless variety of options. Some swimbaits can easily match up with the preferred forage fish for this hungry bass.

Fishes in the mid-water column and even on the bottom, soft plastic fishes are fascinating for such fishes, and they quickly get trapped in the water.

Manufacturers have considered traditional lures and have developed the 'magnum' sizes to attract the giant fishes.

These soft plastic fishes don't come with hooks, so they are of enormous importance to ensure that the swimbait hooks suit nicely for you.

2. How to choose the right swimbait line?

Opting for a swimbait line is completely dependent on the bait type. Although for swimbait rods, the best option is to pick the monofilament lines.

3. What is the best thing about Swimbait rods?

These rods have a moderate action that gives them a higher chance to cast out more with high bending flexibility and fish better. Thus, you can easily grab fish in no time. You can catch tons of fish and enjoy the activity.

4. What is the ideal length of the Swimbait rod handles?

It is better to have a long length of the swimbait rod handles that assist in better, more extended casting and higher leverage.

Final verdict

Swimbait rods present a simple yet effective way to win the classic battle with larger fish. You can quickly reel tons of fish and enjoy your trip.

Here, in this guide, we have laid out all the critical pointers that define the usability of the rod. Skim through the minute details and purchase an elite rod for your upcoming trip.