13 Hitch-Flavored Soft Swimbaits
Most of us outside of the Western United States had never heard of the Clear Lake Hitch until B.A.S.S. started the Western Opens, and in particular when they held an Elite Series event there in 2007. Steve Kennedy won that latter event with a then-record 122 pounds 14 ounces. Much of that came on an 8” Huddleston Deluxe Swimbait in a rainbow trout pattern and a 6” Basstrix Paddle Tail swimbait in the hitch pattern. That’s when the rest of us really took note.
Since the only bodies of water I’ve fished in California are the Cal Delta and Lake Castaic, I’ve never had a clear reason to seek out a hitch-colored swimbait, but nevertheless I find it to be a good baitfish imitator in a lot of different situations. Just because you’re not going to Cali doesn’t mean you can’t fish ‘em.
The Clear Lake Hitch themselves may be threatened, but the number of swimbaits that purport to imitate them seem to grow every year. Here are a baker’s dozen of all shapes, sizes and different coloration that you might want to try:
Of course, not all hitch look the same, even within the same body of water. Accordingly, the following baits mentioned above come in multiple shades of hitch:
Bottom Dweller: KC Hitch and Lite Hitch
G-Ratt: Dirty Hitch and GC Hitch
Jerry Rago: Light Hitch and Dark Hitch
Little Creeper: LC Hitch, Light Hitch and Tucked Out LC Hitch
MC Swimbaits: Light Hitch and Dark Hitch
Osprey: Light Hitch and Dark Hitch
Smash-Tech: Hitch and Light Hitch
