Presentation: We dropped our MattLures Baby Bass Swimbait right next to the boat to watch its action as it sank into the water. What we found is the bait has a tendency to spiral on a slackline decent mimicking a dying fish. When we snapped the rod tip in the middle of this decent, the head of our lure snapped up and our bait darted off as if lunging for one last gasp before we let it spiral back down on slack line. We were able to affect a very realistic impression of a dying fish with this technique. Retrieving the bait next to our boat we observed the Baby Bass Swimbait swam with a very realistic horizontal position with the majority of its swimming action coming from tail, as one might expect. At times, fishing in an area with a lot of
juvenile bass, we were able to compare its profile and appearance above water to that of the fish in the water and we were very impressed with the results.
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The MattLures Baby Bass has an impressive, realistic profile in the water
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While our most effective retrieve for this bait was a slow, steady retrieve, experimenting with other presentations also yielded good results. Aside from the afore mentioned hop and skip retrieve, we also caught fish burning the bait back to the boat with
occasional pauses, ripping, and slow rolling in and around weed beds. This is quite a versatile bait.
Weedlessness: Though not designed to be a weedless lure, we chucked our Baby Bass Swimbaits into some thick and scattered weeds to see what might happen. As we expected, our bait came through the scattered weeds fairly well but tended to hang up in the thicker clumps. Some of the traditional lead headed swimbaits can be fished in this manner because the wide heads part the weeds allowing the hook to come through if retrieved slowly. Due to its slim profile, we had only marginal success with this technique and our MattLures Baby Bass swimbaits in thick cover.
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All of our
test baits came
equipped with very sharp, quality hooks
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Durability: The plastic used to mold the MattLures Baby Bass swimbaits is a very soft plastic giving the bait a realistic texture and its excellent swimming action. Because of this characteristic, care must be taken when storing these baits. We found, when stored with other baits, and exposed to hot weather, the plastic in the baits can become deformed with small dents or other impressions depending on how the bait is being stored and what it's leaning up against. These indentations can affect the lures performance in the water. Under fishing conditions, the lure is also
susceptible to damage but mostly from fish strikes. We pulled our bait hard through some pretty thick weeds and also took some pretty aggressive hits from bass of all sizes. After each day of fishing, torn and nipped fins were common, but nothing that kept us from using our baits again and again.
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A
close-up showing the swimtail of our Baby Bass Swimbait
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Application & Effectiveness: What led Matt Servant to develop these baits was, in his words, "an obvious need for a realistic baby bass bait". As we all know, bass are voracious predators able and willing to inhale any form of prey that swims, floats, sinks, drifts into their strike zone.
What more natural and abundant food source is there in bass waters than a baby bass? In the lunker-filled waters of Southern California, Matt Servant has witnessed, on many occasions while playing a dink on the end of the line, monster bass rising from the depths or darting out of cover to smash his catch. Further fuel to the fire that led to the development of these baits.
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Not convinced? Don't take our word for it. Here's the
ubiquitous Dan Greene, Team Tackle Tour member since January of 2004, and fishing forum participant extraordinaire (Lightninrod is his handle), showing off several of his MattLures lunkers caught while fishing in his home waters near Macon, Georgia.
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In our own fishing, we found the MattLures Baby Bass to be a very effective bait in just about every situation
imaginable. It is a very versatile and impressively realistic bait designed in an easy to swallow size and profile that bass just can't seem to resist. Because you don't have to fish it with traditional swimbait gear, it's a great bait for those who want to sample the excitement that can be swimbait fishing but are not quite committed to acquiring the extra heavy gear some baits require.
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This hungry, hefty bass inhaled our MattLures Baby Bass and made us believers of this relatively small swimbait. |
Ratings:
MattLures Baby Bass Swimbait Ratings (?/10)
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Construction/Quality |
A couple of our testbaits had clogged tie eyelets that we had to clear out before using, but other than that, these baits are very well made with quality components. |
8 |
Performance |
Versatility without the need for traditional swimbait gear is the key. Unfortunately, due to the soft plastic, not the most durable of baits. |
8 |
Price |
A very affordable plastic swimbait. |
8.5 |
Features |
Very sharp hooks and the ability to attach a stinger hook for those short bites make this a feature
laden swimbait. |
9 |
Design |
Realistic fins and gill plates in a profile that
mimics abundant prey for largemouth bass. Soft, nicely textured plastic. |
9 |
Application |
Fish it deep, burn it at medium depths, hop it along the bottom and let it perform its death spiral dance - an amazingly versatile swimbait. |
9 |
Total Score
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8.58 |
Pluses and Minuses:
Plus Minus
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J Realistic size and profile |
L Lure can become deformed if not stored properly and is susceptible to damage from short strikes and strikes from undersized fish. |
J Very good detailing |
L Could very well lead to the purchase of swimbait specific tackle ;) |
J Quality, sharp hook |
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J Ability to customize the bait with a stinger hook |
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J Nice, soft plastic texture that fish hold onto |
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Conclusion: The great thing we found, with the MattLures Baby Bass was though it is a swimbait in every sense of the bait, given it's relatively small size, it can be fished with standard, heavy weight bassing gear using techniques with which the majority of bass fisherman are already familiar: cast this bait out along a weedline and slow roll it or burn it back to the boat; cast it past a submerged hump and drag it along the bottom until you feel that "thump" of a bass striking your bait; cast it along a steep bluff wall and hop it down each ledge until you find a fish; pitch it out to a fallen or sunken tree and let it do its death spiral down to where the fish are holding; or find your own unique way of presenting this versatile bait! In the world of heavy gear, big bait fishing, this bait can be likened to a finesse offering on ultra-light gear. It's not of an intimidating size or weight and it is a great way to introduce yourself to the swimbait craze without having to invest in an eight foot, super-heavy action rod and saltwater-like reel. Give them a call, order up half a dozen lures and hang on, your bassing experience just might be transformed into a world of big fish!