Just about every major rod manufacturer makes swimbait rods —-many of them are quite good. At the same time, part of the allure of swimbait culture is supporting niche manufacturers. Fortunately, several of these companies don’t make you wait on “a drop” or know a secret handshake or password to spend your hard-earned money.

Swimbaits require special gear. When it comes to truly big baits, you can’t depend on most lodge/outfitter sticks, nor are they likely to provide the lures themselves. That means you have to come up with strategies to get your stuff to where the bass live. Full-sized rod tubes are an increasingly difficult proposition, and when you’re talking about rods 8 feet or longer, the odds get slimmer, so you need to find alternatives. That may mean three- or four-piece sticks.

There are plenty of creatively-named lures out there, as well as some pretty damn hilarious color patterns (think “Vomit” or “Munky Butt” or “Day Old Guac” or just about anything from Andre Moore’s Reaction Innovations). But there are also a few lures out there named after famous people.

Are peacock bass cannibalistic? I don’t know, but even if they’re not certainly there are other species in Amazonian waters (as well as those elsewhere, like South Florida) that eat young peas. Indeed, they’ve served as the inspiration for some killer paint jobs that are more exciting than standard old blue/chartreuse and Tennessee Shad.

For those of you not particularly obsessed with mail-order swimbaits and JDM lures, you might not yet be aware of Carolina Fishing Tackle in Mooresville, NC, close to Lake Norman. Owner Doyle Myrick has not only assembled an incredible selection of hard-to-find gear at reasonable prices, but he also seems to get a lot of the good stuff first. I’ve yet to visit his store, but I inspected his selection at the last Greenville Bassmaster Classic, and I fully intend to make a detour the next time I’m headed down I-77 or I-85.