For the love of swimbaits...

 

By Terry Brown

 

When you think of swimbait experts and people who know everything about them names like Bill Siemantel, Mike Long, Ken Huddleston, Jerry Rago, and Butch Brown come to mind. Tournament anglers like Kelly Jordon, Aaron Martens, Matt Newman, Shawn Bailey and now after Amistad Jason Williamson come to mind. For my money another guy eaten up with the Swimbait bug and one that may have more history and has brought notoriety to the bait is Byron Velvick.

 

Recently I got to spend time in the boat with him at his home lake, Lake Amistad, and folks..plain and simple......Byron Velvick is a true swimbait dude and he loves Texas and he loves Amistad.

 

The first words out of his mouth that morning we fished was a two part question that went something like this. "Terry, do you want to go catch numbers, (boring, no-way, you have got to be kidding me)  or WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO THROW BIG SWIMBAITS AND CATCH A MULE!! I KNOW WHERE SOME GIANTS LIVE! When typing, capital letters show excitement or shouting.....DO YOU GET MY POINT? Byron wanted to go after biguns and he wanted to swimbait fish and to be honest....so did I. No limits were in our future today. We were trophy hunting. 

 

Throwing a big swimbait is similar to emploding a building. Its all about the set-up and when it happens it blows you away. "I can honestly tell you that in my 53 years I have never had a bass hit a bait so violently, so hard, and yet not get hooked. They blasted the bait and I got what the little boy shot at....NADA, nothing, zip. I told Byron my bait needed  more hooks. It had a stinger treble and a top main hook already. I wondered if velcro might work too but I can tell you that honestly I really didn't care if I caught them or not. The idea of throwing a swimbait with a renowned swimbait expert....toe to toe, in the same boat was a cool deal."

 

Byron is one great guy and a super host. Every bait in the boat costs about 20-100 dollars and he didn't wince one time as he suggested I try this or that. We had one occasion where my camera bag looked like a magnet for wayward swimmers. Six to seven piled up swimbaits latched on to the bag and we had to perform surgery to get them loose.

 

I have fished most of my life and I have never seen excitement over one technique or one style like the excitement I saw that day in Byron's eyes. He is totally engulfed in swimmers. We discussed being versatile and getting away from swimbaits when he needs too and he said "I know I sometimes rely too much on big baits. In order to maintain the competitive edge and keep my position in the sport it is imperative that I do that." He then looked back at me with a grin and asked if I wanted to throw a weedless swimbait in and around bushes. I busted up!

 

Eatin up with swimbaits....I would say yes but I would also say Byron is a great angler and spending that day on the water with him was very special. He is a great guy. Thanks Byron......I enjoyed the day!

 

 

One other note: Byron  and Gerald Swindle are two of the best for taking a regular fishing hat and customizing a visor out of them. They did it several times on this trip.