I know more and more of us here in the north are using swimbaits in our arsenal of tackle.When I chat with our brethren to the south a swimbait is a regular tool in the tackle box. Berkley has a new swimbait in their Havoc line that I am really looking forward to putting through it’s paces in 2013, The Sick Fish.

This bait was designed by Berkley Pro Staff, Skeet Reese. This is a very realistic swimbait that comes in 10 colours and soon, 3 sizes: 3″, 4″ and 5″.These sizes are very representative of the forage fish size bass are typically chasing. Species such as Yellow Perch, Bluegill, Pumpkinseed, Black Crappie, While Crappie, Emerald Shiners and Gizzard Shad just to name a few. The colours in this line of baits is really impressive.

Specifically I am partial to two colours: Clear Bream and Tennessee Shad. I believe Clear Bream is going to be a great bait for imitating not only ‘bream like’ species such as Bluegill but it should also be a decent imitator of Yellow Perch. FYI, these two species are some of the most abundant forage fish in Northern Lakes! In case you were wondering??

This swimbait will be a great choice for searching out predatory fish of all sizes. Sure, Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass will devour them BUT so will many other predatory fish such as Northern Pike, Walleye and Muskellunge. Regarding predatory fish and their need to feed let’s not forget that we can fish these on umbrella rigs like the Berkley Schooling Rig. The 3″ and 4″ versions of the Sick Fish would fit this application well!

So try them through shallow cover rigged weedless on an extra wide gaped hook (EWG), retrieved over flats with a bullet head or dragged on a football head down deep. I think these are going to be serious contenders in 2013!!

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