Big Hammer Swimbaits

If you fish the Southern California Inshore saltwater scene, you are familiar with Big Hammer Swimbaits.  They have become a staple when targeting Calico Bass, Sand Bass, Spotted Bay Bass, Bonito, Yellowtail, Halibut and more.  In addition it’s made some huge catches of Largemouth and Striped Bass throughout the rest of the state.  It seems that its finally/slowly spreading across the nation as the swim jig/Alabama rig has swept the nation.

Product Details:

Colors – Too many to Count

Size – 3” to 9”

Price – Starting at $3.59

FLL’s Take

You know you are fishing a Big Hammer Swimbait when you see the square tail (in photos below).  According to the website it is trademarked to insure that if you see the square tail you are getting a Big Hammer.  The Big Hammer swimbaits come in a variety of sizes and a plethora of colors.  If you can’t find a color that suits your needs, you must have a problem as they cover the spectrum.  In our tests and actual fishing, you could see the rhythmic wag of the square tail as you are winding in the bait.  Its almost mesmerizing watching the action of the tail.  Besides being square vs other sizes of the competitor, the Big Hammer tails seem to perform better than the competitors at lower speeds.  This  is key when you aren’t fishing for a fast fish like a Bonito and need to present the bait in a slower more natural setting.  You factor in the nice tail wagging of the bait with the slim fish shaped body profile and when fished with a jighead creates a nice wobble which fish seem to eat up.

For the FLL testing we fished it two ways.  First was as the tail of a swim jig and the second way was the more traditional way behind a shad shaped lead head.  Initially we matched our swimjigs up with a 4” Big Hammer.  You will find that the 4” Big Hammer has a fatter profile than say a 5” Big Hammer, the reason is that the 4” bait is roughly the same width of the 5” but the 5” is a little taller….( I know this is tough to imagine but look at the photos.)  We fished this and the bait does give a nice kick but almost seemed a little anemic in the swimming fashion.  We did make the change to a 5” Big Hammer and preferred the action a lot more.  The 5” bait gives a nice tail wag and works well with the swim jig.  Finally we opted to try the 5.5” bait as this has a larger tail and more wag.  Initially we had been using a ½ oz swimjig but opted to upsize to a 5/8” jig which seemed to handle the larger tail.  All three sizes provided great tail action for our jigs and certainly find a place in any serious swim jig fisherman’s tackle box.

The second way we fished Big Hammer baits was the more traditional way on the back of a shad shaped lead head.  We used both the 5” and 5.5” baits fishing for Striped Bass as well as some shallow water rockfish.  In the freshwater, we matched up the 5” Big Hammer with a 3/4oz lead head with a 5/0 hook.  While we weren’t able to connect on any monster stripers we were able to do the damage to the schoolies we were catching.  Even with a 5” bait the schoolies had no problem sucking down the bait and putting on a show.  While the water was slightly off color, the fish seemed to have no troubles locating the bait minus the flash/rattle which a hard bait may have.  In the end after 12+ schoolies we were still on the same bait.  This helps speak to the durability of the bait and whether it was a burning speed retrieve to a bouncing the bottom, the bait performed admirably.

The next challenge resulted in some shallow water rockfish.  We were fishing some structure in about 40-60 ft of water.  Matched up with the 5.5” bait was a 1 oz lead head with a 5/0 hook.  Instead of the usual cast and retrieve, we were fishing these more vertically.  We would drop the bait to the bottom, do a few cranks to get it off the bottom and just jig it up and down.  The fish today absolutely annihilated the baits.  We caught numerous rockfish, cabezons, lings, and calicos.  What was interesting and probably promotes the tail action of the baits is that on occasion the tail would be bitten off.  I would still try to catch fish jigging and would still manage fish but at a slower rate than a bait with the tail.  Once I rig a new bait and drop it down, I’d be on again.  No doubt the ocean fish have more teeth than freshwater fish and this certainly showed in the number of fish we would get before having to change out the bait.

The one downside with Big Hammer baits we found through fishing was the occasional splitting of the bait.  This happened only in the baits which had different layers of plastic in them.  We found a few baits where once the jig head was inserted in the bait, the bait would delaminate or split at the colors.  Also on one other occasion we had a bait rigged and used it throughout the day with no issues but left it sitting out and it eventually split.    While we don’t feel this is a big or pressing issue, it is something to be aware of.  Note:  1 of the baits we tested split, but we also have previous experience with the baits and have seen other baits split previously.

FLL’s Rig

Freshwater:

Reel: Shimano Curado 200E

Rod:  Dobyns Champion 705CB

Line: 15lb Berkley Big Game

Saltwater

Reel: Shimano Cardiff 400

Rod:  Shimano Terramar WC 7’11” MH

Line: 20lb Berkley Big Game