Great Lakes Bass Fishing Forum

Anyone ever tried the slammer? I see alot of guys up in the northern states love those things and are always catching some beasts on it. What colors worked best for you guys. Thanks in advance.

Have not tried them. They are definitely priced in the range where I would probably be too afraid to throw them in pike and muskie infested waters unless I maybe won the lotto. If I did win the lotto and got around to trying them I would stick to natural and perch-type colors probably.

haha ya there pretty pricey. But just wanted to try and catch some big fish on swim baits.

Hello, new to the site. I'm from Battle Creek. Anyways back to the question, I've been using this bait for about 5 years along with other big baits up to about 9-10" range.

The slammer is a terrific bait but being made out of wood they tend to vary. Mike also makes a crank down version that runs a little deeper . The slammer is basically a topwater wake bait. Low light conditions / overcast skies are  ideal conditions . The sizes used the most are the 7" & 9" , 9" is my preferred choice . I recomend gear made for this type of bait over conventional tackle, my choice is a Dobyn's 795 swimbait rod, Shimano Curado 301 reel and 20 lb mono such as Trilene Big Game or Stren High Impact.

 After I make a cast I often deadstick it for about 30 seconds especially when fishing deeper. I often will twitch it like floating Rapala, slow crank it a few feet so it will wake and repeat a couple of times until it's time for the next cast or better yet there is a bite ! Sometimes a slow steady retrieve is best especially when fishing shallow grass in lakes with stained water. Often the strikes can range from explosive to a bass coming up and slowly taking it in. Cranking the bait with a medium subsurface retrieve will often work as well.

Another bait that I highly recommend is the 316 Wake Jr. Warning, this bait is hard to get and
expensive. I fish it similiar to the MS SLammer except I don't like to crank down as I prefer to fish it as a pure wake bait or pause and twitch. One thing that you can do with this is make the  tail slap the water. The slammer is the more subtle of the 2 baits while the wake Jr makes a clacking noise . If you can get both I highly recommend it if it fits your budget.

One place where you will find good info on these type of baits is to frequent a few swimbait forums as I find not too many anglers in this part of the country are enthused about big baits. I think this link will be helpful  http://www.tacticalbassin.com/blog/wakebaits-different-styles-and-retrieves-to-fool-finicky-bass  

I forgot to chime in on color, Baby Bass will work everywhere. Believe it or not Trout colors can be very effective even if there are no trout in the lake. Perch is another good option or have one custom painted as a Carp if you are willing to pay .