April 09, 2025
By Doug Stange, Editor in Chief
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What started it all for me with the Berkley PowerBait Power Swimmer was a cold November day at the end of the 2019 open-water season in west-central Minnesota, a last trip for the year, fishing for largemouth bass. The water temperature was 42°F and I was on a lake that I know well enough to have at least 50 waypoints marking what can be decent weededges. We’ve probably filmed a dozen TV show segments there over the years. The conditions were picture-perfect and classic for one of my favorite presentations of all time, a skirted jig dressed with a MaxScent trailer—the Creature Hawg.
But the fish were having none of it. I had by chance with me a spinning rod set up from a trip for Mille Lacs smallmouths . A 3.8-inch Power Swimmer was rigged on a 1/4-ounce ballhead jig. The Power Swimmer has what I now call a grinder-style body, because the design works well slow-rolled along, in this case through deeper remaining weedgrowth.
The fishing remained slow, but at least I was catching some fish—on the same spots that I had worked thoroughly before with my trusted skirted-jig combo.
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It was a memorable turnaround after hours without a bite. Occasionally, as you might expect, the skirted-jig combo being such a productive option for me in the past, I couldn’t help but pick it up to toss it again, here and there—with no effect.
Rigged on a ballhead jig , the traditional gold standard for jigheads, the Power Swimmer body produces a slight heading-nodding action as the main body rocks and swims slightly left-right, in combination with the paddling tail. But one must go beyond just saying “paddling tail,” because the Power Swimmer paddler doesn’t just paddle, but swings and swags, almost circling on itself, around left, and then almost around right, sometimes skipping a beat here and there, sort of broadcasting, “My name is Limpy. Please swim over here and put me out of my misery.”
Lure Performance I know about the swimming action of the Power Swimmer because, as I have previously testified, the 2,500-gallon tank in our office , once used to shoot underwater photography and observe fish, has for the last decade been my lure-testing domain, satisfying my curiosity about lure performance.
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It’s one thing to look at a lure and think you know how it’s going to perform. Little in fishing can take the place of seeing how lures actually work, save the recognized need to also put them in play at some point, out there on the real testing grounds among our finny friends. It is, however, unusual for a lure (in this case, a grinder swimbait body) that looks good in the tank to not do well in the field.
I write about what I know about and I spend so much time with Berkley softbaits because they are a TV sponsor and have been for as long as I’ve been at In-Fisherman . (I’m thinking 40-some years as a continuous sponsor, but I’ll have to dig to be sure. Must be an industry record of some sort?) I know there are other great grinder-style paddletails out there. The best of the rest (the Keitech Swing Impact comes to mind) resemble the Power Swimmer. Or vice versa.
A few other observations from my tank testing: The body material shouldn’t be too stiff, but it also shouldn’t be too soft, especially if the material floats. For a grinder to grind, the water has to flow straight down the body of the bait right past the tail to activate everything. Very soft-bodied grinders swim tail bent slightly up in a curve, which not only doesn’t look natural, the bend negates production of good grinding action. Of course, there are floating grinders with stiff enough bodies to do a good job of grinding—the Z-Man SwimmerZ comes to mind.
The Power Swimmer is available in four sizes: 2.8, 3.3, 3.8, and 4.3 inches, so it can be rigged on various jigheads for just about everything we fish for, from smallmouths to walleyes and largemouths, and, of course, pike. And crappies. I also always have one tied on a rod when
I’m on waters with white bass and hybrid stripers. I might be fishing with some other presentation for largemouths, but if by chance I run into a school of white bass, I pick up the Power Swimmer for a fun interlude. The 3.8-inch is just right. Schooling whities usually aren’t bashful.
Selecting Jigheads The Berkley PowerBait Power Swimmer, a grinder-style paddletail swimbait body, is available in 2.8-, 3.3-, 3.8-, and 4.3-inch sizes. The smaller bodies rig well on the Eagle Claw Trokar Tungsten Finesse Jig Head, particularly the 1/5-ouncer. Or use a round jighead with the same size hook. Meanwhile, 3.8-inchers work well with jigs with a 3/0 hook, while the 4.3-incher can take a 4/0 or 5/0 hook. The shaky-style jigheads are Eagle Claw Trokar Pro-V Tungsten. The 2.8-inch body needs a small compact jighead like the Eagle Claw Trokar Tungsten Finesse Jig , a Ned head weighing 1/5 ounce. The combo can be deadly on smallmouths, but it’s hard to fish in wind, unless it’s at your back. I fish this option on 5-pound braid with a 6-pound fluorocarbon leader. Medium-light rod, 7 feet. A bit longer is fine if wind isn’t a factor. But enough of such details. Let me just lay out the basic program and you can take it from there.
The 3.3-incher is more standard fair for smallmouths. Plenty small to tempt picky fish. I imagine Field Editor Ned Kehde , for whom the Ned rig is named, would find either the 2.8-incher or the 3.3-incher to his liking for his finesse-fishing for largemouths and whatever else he runs into.
The 3.8-incher also works well for smallmouths and is a prime offering for largemouth bass, walleyes, and pike, while of course the 4.3-incher works for those fish, too. Fishing for walleyes on Green Bay, the 4.3-incher is my choice most of the time. For smallmouths we fished the 3.3-incher on the lake side while both the 3.3-incher and 3.8-incher did well on the bay side.
If you run down a weedline with a skirted jig and trailer for largemouths, all you’ll be tempting is largemouths and pike. If you fish the same weedline with a grinder you may catch just as many largemouths and pike, but also pick up a walleye or two and perhaps big crappies. My approach often is to start with the grinder, but I always have a skirted-jig combo ready for the heaviest cover.
Most predatory response starts visually and finishes with fish liking what they sense (feel) with their lateral lines when they get in close. Grinders like the Power Swimmer offer realistic profile and irresistible vibration. PowerBait also tastes good once fish bite, so they don’t let go. It can all come together like a grand symphony on the water.
