I throw swimbaits a lot when bass fishing. It’s probably my favorite way to catch them. So I’m always excited when a new swimbait comes out. While hollow bodied swimbaits are definitely not a new class of swimbaits, Zoom has finally come out with their version of hollow-bodied paddle-tail swimbaits called simply the Zoom Swimmer.
What I liked about them
I was excited to see their swimbait in action, because Zoom has always done a good job with their proprietary formulation of the plastic material used in their baits. While there are a lot of hollow-bodied swimbaits on the market, they are not all good, largely due to design and quality control that makes for inconsistent pours.
The Zoom 5-Inch Swimmers lived up to my hopes with a greatly added bonus of durability. That’s a tricky thing with swimbaits. They have to be pliable enough to have a good kick. But if they are too pliable, they will not kick consistently and they will tear up after a few fish.
The Zoom Swimmers swam well, have already caught a lot of bass and they have held up amazingly well. In fact we fished one full day with them, catching 30-40 bass to 8 pounds on them and only used 2 baits and they were still on the jigheads when we left the lake. That’s a testament to a good formulation of plastic.
Where you should use them
The nice thing about the paddle-tail swimbait craze comes in their versatility. They have replaced the spinnerbait for a lot of anglers, especially those who fish on clear water fisheries. But they can be fished equally effective in 1 foot of water and heavy cover on an offset swimbait hook as they can out in 25 feet of water on a big 1-ounce jighead.
You want a little weight to keel the bait and give it a fulcrum to balance on as it wobbles and kicks. The Zoom Swimmer has a nice consistent wobble without being too pronounced and a steady tail kick. The Zoom Swimmer works great on a 3/8, 1/2 and 1 ounce swimbait head. The head does tear, but even after mine tore, I could still keep it on the jighead easily.
I like swimbaits on a jighead best in open water fished at a slow steady speed. You can work down contours and fish multiple layers of the water column.
You can get the new Zoom Swimbaits already at retailers that carry Zoom products and online at tacklewarehouse.com. My favorite three colors are Hitch, Tennessee Shad and Ayu. They come three to a clam shell package for $6.99.
Visit zoombait.com/zoom-swimmer to see all 6 colors of the swimbaits. They are very labor intensive to create and have been in high demand already, so anglers that want to try them better grab some if you come across any in stock. You can see why in our video here where we put an absolute beat down on the fish!
