First of all, howdy and welcome to the forum.

Second: there are many manufacturers out there who started making swim baits. I found that Storm lures makes baits which look almost like the real thing. I had some pretty good success with those. You just have to find the lures which resemble the bait fish in your area. try to experiment with different brands, until you find the one that works for you and the fish you target.

The neat thing about those swim baits is that you can fish them deep, shallow, or anything in between. Pros started keeping them handy as a go-to bait. And as everything, it is a trial and mistake process, until you finally find a presentation which seems to be the sure fire thing.

I hope that helped. Again, welcome to the forum.

if it's those monster swim baits your talking about i think the size of fish would make the diffrents then....what is the record bass caught in your lake you fish? if you know that then you can try for a bait that those big ones you got can eat...if you fish a 12"inch long lure, chances are you will not have many hits, if you goto a 6"inch lure you couldhave a better day, and a 4" maybe better? but you never know, that big one could be waiting for you or someone to think out side the box... i think the best time for those big monster baits would be summer/fall as the bait fish have grown more(and all the mag suggest that too).... if rainbows trout are present i would throw those types of patterns(for cali anyway) in about a 4" lure then if you have alot of dinks i would step up to a 6" then 8" then go bigger!  but striper, pike & muskey and a few other monsters should have a blast with those monster lurse...i bet they work well on those types of fish too cuz the fish don't see um to much, so hang on! and let us know how it goes if/when you do try it....i would troll um too! it sure beats casting um all day...lol

Storm WildEye, Yum Sweet Cheeks, Berkley Swim Shad--all good swimbaits. Many of the companies that originally made only the mega-size swimbaits for Western anglers are offering smaller versions.

If you're new to swimbaiting, pick one and fish it. Learn how, when and where to fish it, and that experience will help you to branch out to different lures and new techniques.

I too have thought about the swim baits, but was concerned about their durability.  I would think they would tear up easy and are too expensive to keep replacing.  Any advice?

Gary