There has been talk about the spinnerbait being a thing of the past, about it being replaced by the swimbait. This is one of those things that it is more in the mind of the person using them, as swimbaits and spinnerbaits are great to work hand-in-hand.

Spinnerbaits have vibration and flash of different types with the arms and styles of blades. Colorado and Indiana blades will provide the most vibration while the willow blades will have a quieter vibration. Flash is different from each, with the willow blade having the best baitfish profile and flash.

Swimbaits also have vibration, much like the Colorado and Indiana blades with a harder “thump.” The flash side will vary with the tail color and fleck in the body.

With the skirt, the spinnerbait has a pulsing body. The skirt makes it larger and can also hold scent.

While the body isn’t as wide as the skirt, the swimbait has a solid body that—in most cases—is longer and holds scent better than the skirt on the spinnerbait. Some of the designs also have slits that will provide stability, create air bubbles and provide a good scent-holding area.

Swim heads

Heads are another consideration on the swimbait. Where the spinnerbait has one, there are several different types of heads that can be used with a swimbait, such as a Darter, B-Fish-N H20 and Blakemore Casey’s Runner (adds a spinner for flash). Some, such as the Blitz swimbait head, are designed specifically for such a bait to provide a straighter swimming action, bumping over structure and a flat rest when resting the lure on the bottom with a pick-up-and-fall retrieve.

The spinnerbait and swimbait can be retrieved fairly much with the same retrieves. There is the straight, constant pull, pump, and slow roll/bump. The other retrieve, already mentioned, is primarily for the swimbait in allowing the lure to go all the way to the bottom and resting for a second before picking it up. Swimbaits will set up with the right head, where spinnerbaits would fall to one side.

Tossing them both back

Both baits can be used together in a couple of ways. I like to throw a spinnerbait first. Then, if there are missed hits, toss out the swimbait as a follow-up lure (after I have added some Kick’N Bass attractant, or using a Natural Forage Baits swimbait which already has the Kick’N Bass).

The second way of working together is to use the swimbait as a trailer on the spinnerbait. This adds body, length and tail action. In some cases, it can also provide a little more flare to the skirt. On the color side, it can enhance or contrast by adding a swimbait with a similar color or a contrasting color.

Scents have been mentioned a couple of times. While there are many types, I prefer three for these two lures—Anise Shad, Crappie and Java. The reason is that the lures primarily represent baitfish, so the first two scents are more in that line. As for the Java, I have found it to be a good all-around scent that I would select for any lure and live bait.

There might be some advantages of one lure over the other, but the other one having another advantage will offset them. So, as said earlier, they can work together perfectly as a follow-up or combination.