For many people, April 15 is a day to be on alert, as their taxes are due. On April 15, 2000, the fishing community was on point for an entirely different reason.

Byron Velvick claimed the California BASS Invitational at Clear Lake with 83 pounds, 5 ounces, a weight that still holds the three day weight record in BASS competition. His astonishing dominance of that event, and the way in which he did it was a shot across the bow for bass anglers the world over; swimbaits had arrived on the national tournament radar screen.

Swimbaits and Bass
Byron Velvick

I’ve had an interest in swimbaits for many years, really since I started bass fishing on a serious level. Most of that in the early years was in the ocean. My first freshwater experience with them came when I decided to try big, heavy saltwater swimbaits in California’s trophy bass lakes. I was immediately rewarded with a good number of tournament winning bags.