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Tournament Angler Guide
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super shallow for fish held up in weed, and also down deep to fish stacked up in the main basin. “Swimbaits are very diverse, you get them in different sizes, actions, and sink rates so there’s a bait that you can fish in just about any situation. My favourite hard ones are the Gan Craft Jointed Craw and Megabass Limberlamber, while when it comes to soft swimbaits I like the 6 ½” Strike King Shadalicious, Storm Suspending Shad, and Imakatsu Bacurato,” explains Jon. “I think some people sell swimbaits a little short and don’t take full advantage of what they have to offer. They’re more than a one trick lure variety, and if you only see them as an upgrade option you’re missing out.” POLES APART When it comes to throwing big swimbaits, the gear used to do it is poles apart from standard barra tackle. “The demands and pressures on tackle when throwing swimbaits are immense. You’re talking about lures that are up to 30cm long and 8oz (226g) in weight. The load that a lure of this size puts on a rod is enormous, and the stress and shock it imparts on the reel and line is like nothing
Carl Jocumsen applied a bit of large mouth bass methodology to tempt this Faust kicker on a big hard swimbait. else in cast and retrieve barra fishing,” explains Carl. Successful swimbait fishing requires a dedicated tackle system and in many ways the system starts with the rod. A rod that needs enough flex to be a casting rod, yet the strength to launch a heavy lure a long way. A man that knows rods and rod building intimately is Ian Miller of Millerods fame. The man that makes the swimbait rods that Carl exclusively uses, Ian says there are many key
elements that a swimbait rod needs to have. “When it comes to swimbait rods, it’s important to keep in mind that it’s all about the lure. The main job of the rod is to cast a potentially big, heavy lure so it can be presented in the strike zone, and because swimbaits come in many sizes and weights, the rod must match the lure weights you intend to use. “While barra will take huge swimbaits, the majority of suitable lures currently in vogue are in the range of
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around 50-100g or so. Don’t get too confused by line breaking strains for the rod, just check rod specifications for recommended lure weights to make sure your swimbait rod is suitable for these lure weights (what you’ll likely be using). If you want to throw really ‘big baits’ then you’ll need a more powerful rod, and that will be a completely different animal... because one rod won’t do it all,” Ian says. “When it comes to rod action, the rod should load easily without a severe ‘lockup’ point on the blank. This is kinder to hook-holds of trebles and this smoother action will also assist you to cast more easily as the rod will do the work for you”. “Most swimbait rods are longer than we traditionally use for barra fishing. Quite simply, a long rod will cast further and more easily than a short rod and getting good distance is important when fishing swimbaits. A longer rod can incorporate a nice high reel position for comfortable casting, has plenty of tip length to swing hard with, and has room to incorporate that smooth action. The rod really needs to be getting toward 8ft in length to do this. Obviously, a long, powerful rod can easily become heavy and unpleasant to use, so it’s important to me that the rod should be relatively light in the hand, and well balanced. I also want sensitivity to get feedback so I know the lure is swimming properly, and where it is in relation to structure”. “A swimbait rod that’s designed for casting heavy lures of 100g or more should, by necessity, have enough inherent power to catch barra. But be aware that a swimbait rod that’s designed for smaller baits up to about 60g may not be quite up to the job, especially around bigger fish”. “Swimbaits were developed in the USA and many American rods can be used here, because
abt.org.au it really is more about the lure than the species. There are a couple of potential drawbacks though, such as one-piece construction that for rods of this length can be a hassle for many of us, and small guide trains. For these reasons it’s well worth considering the handful of ‘Aussie designed’ swimbait rods, which are already available. And the fact is this is one area of fishing where a good technique-specific rod design not only makes fishing big swimbaits possible, it actually makes it amazingly easy,” concludes Ian. Another man that knows much about swimbait rod design is Troy Dixon from Wilson Fishing. The distributor of Zerek lures and the manufacturer of Venom Rods, Troy has been instrumental in the design of the Venom Swimbait rod, a rod designed by Australians for Australia species and applications. “The rod was designed to cast lures, and not just to lob lures, but to actually load hard and power cast lures a long way. It does that and it will throw swimbaits up to 180g with ease. It also has the strength to allow you to muscle big barra, something
GETTING TACKLED The second import element in the swimbait tackle system is the reel, and traditional low profile barra baitcaster don’t quite cut the mustard, especially when throwing big swimbaits. “Big baits are hard on a reel, with their heavy weight prone to chewing out reel gears due to the relentless grinding of retrieving big swimbaits. Large barrel size reels in the 300-400 size are way to go to handle the rigors of this style of fishing,” explains Ian Miller. Carl has experienced it first hand what heavy swimbaits can do to a reel that’s not up to task, and for him it’s the Shimano Calcutta 300B and Shimano Calcutta Conquest 400 when it comes to hurling swimbaits. “You need the bigger spool reel to handle the power and rotational speed that’s generated during the cast, and you also need the extra line capacity that a big barrel reel delivers,” explains Carl. GET SWIMMING Swimbaits have definitely raised the roof when it comes to the size of baits that anglers will throw, the question is how big is too big and what’s the biggest swimbait that barra are likely to eat?
Fishing Monthly’s Steve Morgan started experimenting with swimbaits over 10 years ago, but found a lot of the earlier models weren’t well suited to barra. not every rod designed for barra can do. What a rod of this caliber does though is that it can then expose weaknesses in your terminal tackle due to the power that you can exert with the rod,” explains Troy. As I mentioned, when it comes to the tackle for swimbaits, it’s a complete system and for the system to work all parts needs to be up to scratch.
“We’ve seen barra with 300mm plus bonies stuck in mouth and we’ve seen the size of some of the bait swimming around in places like Peter Faust Dam. I don’t think barra eating swimbaits that are 300-320mm long is out of the question. Sure, it won’t be very common, but when it does happen it’s going to be like nothing else we’ve experienced in impoundment fishing barra fishing so far.