2019 Review - Which lures/presentations caught largemouth over 5lbs for you? 2024
txchaser reply :
Inspired by the "which lures did you lose the most" thread.
I was going through notes today to see what worked well for me this year and to reflect on it and see what I needed to change for 2020 as I'm 100% sure I have some big gaps. The first of which is a better fishing log!
5lbs is a bit of an arbitrary cutoff, but at least in Texas has enough frequency to draw conclusions. Water clarity varied from mud to 10' vis.
----Consistent Producers----
Chatterbait - BG and white, mostly keitech upside down or a zako. Nearly always have one on now.
Swim Senko - one at 6.6 (black, dyed tail, 1' vis, spring), one at 7.8 (green/white laminate, 3' vis, fall) - both fished slow like a senko.
Buzzbait - two over six, lots over five. Probably one of the best big fish lures in my box, if it is on, it's really on. Cavitron with Chart body/red blade worked better for me than anything else regardless of water clarity. But I usually threw it before other colors. Size was better with a watermelon toad as a trailer. All the bigger fish were spring/summer. Fall was marginal, even with a white one.
Underspin w/Keitech - 3.8" or 4.2". blade depends on visibility. Ayu, bluegill flash, or something shad-ish depending on location/forage.
Mag Fluke - Lots. Spring/Summer. Don't know why I stopped reaching for it.
Frog - Black/Red outproduced every other color for numbers and size. Why do I have all these frogs in my bag?
BG Swimbait - 6.6lbs and quite a few over five. 3" livetarget my wife bought for me. I guess she had a knack for a snack-size gill presentation. Orange highlights consistently outproduced yellow over multiple lakes.
8" fat JDM worm - weightless on brush piles and docks
--------One-shot wonders----
6th Sense Minimag Squarebill - 8.0lbs on a grass point - summer - right place, right time. I think the silent helped. I don't reach for a squarebill often, but I got a tip and it was apparently dead on. Caught a few other large fish but not something I could deploy consistently to get results.
Jig/Pig - finesse jig with a GP chunk - mid-winter, pulled over a floating mat and dropped into it. 1 just over 5. Long and skinny. Had hooked up and broken off a weightless lizard I presented the same way. Got my lizard back.
Jerkbait - Vision 110 in BG on a weed edge, early spring. Just one over 5.
Whopper Plopper - Late summer in the AM. I think I only caught two fish all year on the WP. A big bluegull (what was it thinking??) and a nice 5+.
Popper - Yellow Magic in white with flake - late summer, just before dark.. choked it like she hadn't eaten for a week.
Fat Ika - I don't fish it enough, but it sure works.
Zero award goes to the Sprinker Frog. Not even a blowup. Put on a regular frog, game on, fish in the boat. Shrug.
For volume of bigger fish, the chatterbait, keitech with underspin, and the swim senko were the hands down winners. I fish them a lot, so I'm sure that's influencing the results, and more often that not I have weeds or wood, and not much rock. In most cases I got better results and bigger fish by slowing down, and being anchored or drifting e.g. off the trolling motor.
For 2020, I'm going to push harder on getting better at reaching for a jig in more situations besides pitching at laydowns and stumps.
How about you? What worked, what didn't?
JediAmoeba reply :
I do not like this game.
I caught over 800 bass in 2019. Only 6 were over 3 pounds... sigh.
A-Jay reply :
And second place isn't even close ~
A-Jay
detroit1 reply :
I don't like this game either.
scaleface reply :
Stanley Ribbet frog . 6.47 lb
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rboat reply :
On 12/31/2019 at 10:08 PM, A-Jay said:
And second place isn't even close ~
A-Jay
What swimbait is that? and was it all for SM or LGM? Thanks
A-Jay reply :
On 12/31/2019 at 10:41 PM, rboat said:What swimbait is that? and was it all for SM or LGM? Thanks
It's a 6 inch Storm Wild Eye Swim Shad ~
All Big Green Bass
I have to add that this was all in Mexico.
A-Jay
Hawkeye21 reply :
I caught one bass over 5lbs this year. It was Easter day and I caught it on a 1/2 oz. black/blue Jack Hammer Chatterbait with a Z-Man Diezel trailer. Bass went 5-11 and is my PB right now.
Dorado reply :
On 12/31/2019 at 2:54 PM, txchaser said:Inspired by the "which lures did you lose the most" thread.
I was going through notes today to see what worked well for me this year and to reflect on it and see what I needed to change for 2020 as I'm 100% sure I have some big gaps. The first of which is a better fishing log!
5lbs is a bit of an arbitrary cutoff, but at least in Texas has enough frequency to draw conclusions. Water clarity varied from mud to 10' vis.
----Consistent Producers----
Chatterbait - BG and white, mostly keitech upside down or a zako. Nearly always have one on now.
Swim Senko - one at 6.6 (black, dyed tail, 1' vis, spring), one at 7.8 (green/white laminate, 3' vis, fall) - both fished slow like a senko.
Buzzbait - two over six, lots over five. Probably one of the best big fish lures in my box, if it is on, it's really on. Cavitron with Chart body/red blade worked better for me than anything else regardless of water clarity. But I usually threw it before other colors. Size was better with a watermelon toad as a trailer. All the bigger fish were spring/summer. Fall was marginal, even with a white one.
Underspin w/Keitech - 3.8" or 4.2". blade depends on visibility. Ayu, bluegill flash, or something shad-ish depending on location/forage.
Mag Fluke - Lots. Spring/Summer. Don't know why I stopped reaching for it.
Frog - Black/Red outproduced every other color for numbers and size. Why do I have all these frogs in my bag?
BG Swimbait - 6.6lbs and quite a few over five. 3" livetarget my wife bought for me. I guess she had a knack for a snack-size gill presentation. Orange highlights consistently outproduced yellow over multiple lakes.
8" fat JDM worm - weightless on brush piles and docks
--------One-shot wonders----
6th Sense Minimag Squarebill - 8.0lbs on a grass point - summer - right place, right time. I think the silent helped. I don't reach for a squarebill often, but I got a tip and it was apparently dead on. Caught a few other large fish but not something I could deploy consistently to get results.
Jig/Pig - finesse jig with a GP chunk - mid-winter, pulled over a floating mat and dropped into it. 1 just over 5. Long and skinny. Had hooked up and broken off a weightless lizard I presented the same way. Got my lizard back.
Jerkbait - Vision 110 in BG on a weed edge, early spring. Just one over 5.
Whopper Plopper - Late summer in the AM. I think I only caught two fish all year on the WP. A big bluegull (what was it thinking??) and a nice 5+.
Popper - Yellow Magic in white with flake - late summer, just before dark.. choked it like she hadn't eaten for a week.
Fat Ika - I don't fish it enough, but it sure works.
Zero award goes to the Sprinker Frog. Not even a blowup. Put on a regular frog, game on, fish in the boat. Shrug.
For volume of bigger fish, the chatterbait, keitech with underspin, and the swim senko were the hands down winners. I fish them a lot, so I'm sure that's influencing the results, and more often that not I have weeds or wood, and not much rock. In most cases I got better results and bigger fish by slowing down, and being anchored or drifting e.g. off the trolling motor.
For 2020, I'm going to push harder on getting better at reaching for a jig in more situations besides pitching at laydowns and stumps.
How about you? What worked, what didn't?
Great post! I have a couple bags of swim senkos that I’ve never tried and this inspired me to tie one on this year.
Curious why you use a Keitech trailer upside down on your chatterbaits? Different action?
Jermination reply :
Several.
year round
sexy shad zman chatterbait with an electric shad rage swimmer produced multiples over 5 throughout the year
3/4 oz strike king football head with a bit off rage crawl caught quite a few
mud minnow zman 2.75 ned rig on 1/5 oz zman nedlock
prespawn
booyah double colorado blade solid chart with white zoom split tail
lucky strike tomato craw squarebill
academy brand lipless cajun craw
post spawn/summer
7 in strike king rage cut r on a 1/2 oz shaky head
DT16 carribean shad
3/8 pure poison jig w electric shad rage swimmer
fall
chrome/blue back bill lewis trap
heddon spook chrome/black
megabass 110 jerkbait or rogue
winter
deadly nedly
shad rap or lucky strike cb 350
DT 6 or DT10 demon
swhit140 reply :
My larger fish were on bladed jigs & square bills. Quantity wise was the the buzzbait & frogs for me.
galyonj reply :
On 12/31/2019 at 3:48 PM, JediAmoeba said:I do not like this game.
I caught over 800 bass in 2019. Only 6 were over 3 pounds... sigh.
On 12/31/2019 at 10:16 PM, detroit1 said:I don't like this game either.
I agree. This is a silly game. 
NHBull reply :
The Fat Ika in the Spring yielded my best results for size and numbers
fishballer06 reply :
I live in PA. A 5 pounder is quite a feat.
Cavitron. Caught in mid October.
This one gets honorable mention. 4 and change. Caught on a 1/8oz Megabass Okashira Screw head jig and a 3" Hazedong Shad. Caught in early April. Water temps were probably just getting around 50*.
N Florida Mike reply :
My biggest this year was 7.6. Caught on a golden bream Zoom super fluke.
I caught a few over 5 in the spring but don’t keep records of fish under 6 . They were all caught on soft plastics I’m sure.
galyonj reply :
On 12/31/2019 at 11:00 PM, Dorado said:Curious why you use a Keitech trailer upside down on your chatterbaits? Different action?
When you rig it rightside up, the tail curls up and just kind of sits there. Rig it upside down, and it actually has the sashay it's supposed to have.
Edit: And that sashay works in time with the blade so it's a more complete presentation.
BassinCNY reply :
I don't like this game either, but my only largemouth over 4 pounds was caught on a green pumpkin vibrating jig that I was yo yo'ing in and out of the top of weeds on a spawning flat. The weeds topped out at about 3 feet in 7 feet of water.
Tizi reply :
Biggest fish for me in 2019 was 4 lbs 2 oz, caught on zoom super fluke, bluegill flash.
Log Catcher reply :
My biggest bass this year was about 4 pounds. Caught it on a Zoom Baby Brush Hog. This was my PB out of this body of water. Oddly enough the same color of Baby Brush Hog which I won't mention caught my PB on another body of water.
riverbasser reply :
Was definately a slow year for fish over 5#. Caught several really close but only one that went 5.6lb caught on 3xd crank
Oh but all of the fish that missed my frog were over 5# ????
Sweet Tater Pie reply :
...sigh...
I’ve never caught one over 3...
moguy1973 reply :
Only caught one over 5 this year and it was my PB largemouth. Caught on a wacky rigged green pumkin/gold flake BPS Stick-o worm.
ww2farmer reply :
Biggest Largemouth of 2019 was caught on a hollow body frog...6lbs 10oz.
Biggest Smallmouth of 2019 was caught on a 5" neko rigged stick bait...5lbs 8oz.
Both caught in October, both on "fun fishing" days
Biggest Tournament Largemouth in 2019 were caught on chatterbait....5.12lbs, and ned rig...5.27lbs. One in June, one in August.
Never caught a 5lb smallmouth in a tournament this year or, another one at all besides the 5-8 in October, lots of mid to upper 4lber's though.
Caught a lot of 5lb largemouth fun fishing, on the usual suspects:
Frogs, jigs, chatterbaits, neko and wacky rigged sticks, ned rigs, suspending jerkbaits, t-rigged craws and beavers, and probably more I forgot about. It was a poor year for cranking for getting bit AT ALL on that (shallow, mid depth, or deep), I can only think of one good evening outing with a crank all year, and dropshotting produced less numbers than usual, and less size than usual as well, I'm not sure if one fish over 5 was boated while either finesse drop shotting or power shotting all year. I did have two upper 4's in two different tournaments caught on each technique, but they were not fish that got me anything other than middle of the pack finishes because I had nothing but average sized fish at best to go with them.
Fried Lemons reply :
Caught far fewer total bass but had a good year for fish over 5lbs. My total this year equaled my total from all my previous years combined.
Huddleston 68 special - 6lbs 13 oz in March.
3:16 rising son 6.75” - 3 from 5-6lbs in August
Working Class Zero Citizen 6” - 2 fish at 5 and change in August
Nezumma Rat XL - one fish at 5lbs 4oz in August
MS Slammer 9” - one fish at 5lbs even in June.
LonnieP reply :
This year I caught bass over 5lbs with a Spro Fat John 60, a Livetarget frog, Watermelon Senko, and a Chrome Rattle trap.
FishinBuck07 reply :
Black buzzbait with silver blade
webertime reply :
3/8 Jackhammers with a 4.5" LFT Magic Shad.
6lb (first fish of the year)
4" Senko won me over big this year.
BadBasser reply :
November first caught my PB of 5.18 on a white cavitron buzzbait with a Keitech Fat impact. Only bass I've ever caught over 3.5.
Dirtyeggroll reply :
I think I only caught 2 that I weighed that were over 5 lbs this year... which got me to thinkin I didn’t get out much this year.
The first came on a 3/8 oz Siebert Dredge Dock Rocker in Blue Craw Color with an Okeechobee Blue Rage Bug as a trailer. This was in the prespawn period.
The second one came on a 1.5 KVD Squarebill in bluegill color in early July.
In 2018 I had at least a dozen over 5 lbs. Geez I gotta make a resolution to get out more!
Bankbeater reply :
I never touched the 4lb mark this year, but my largest bass were all caught on jig and craws.
keagbassr reply :
Got a few this year:
5-5 moss mouse
5-12 jig
5-4 bps double plopper
5-7 double buzzbait
5-5,5-7,5-8,6-10 double wide beaver
5-9 spinnerbait
Bluebasser86 reply :
I caught a lot of 4.5-4.75 pound fish this year, which isn't a bad thing I guess.
For fish over 5 though, I caught them on;
Yo-Zuri 3DR Vibe, Real Glass Minnow
SK Tungsten 2Tap, Rayburn Red (BB of the year)
Yo-Zuri 3DS Minnow 2.75", Holographic Ghost Shad
Duo Realis Rozante 77, Neo Pearl (PB smallmouth)
Homemade flipping jig/Christie Craw, black and blue
Black Market Balsa squarebill, chart/black back
Black Canoe Lure Co. squarebill, River minnow
I caught a lot of fish over 4 on homemade jigs and bladed jigs, as well as a Big Bite Baits YoMomma, so those would be my picks for consistent quality fish.
Dwight Hottle reply :
All my fish over 5lbs came on SK red eye shad 3/4oz, vision 110+2, yellow magic popper, owner flashy swimmer with kalin grub, gan craft 178 glider, deps buzz jet & Seibert swim jig with boot tail trailer.
galyonj reply :
On 1/1/2020 at 6:52 AM, Bankbeater said:I never touched the 4lb mark this year, but my largest bass were all caught on jig and craws.
Jigs were consistently bringing my biggest fish (and biggest is relative, I think I had 1 that even got close to 4lbs).
salmotrutta reply :
MS Slammer 9" - 6-6,6-1,5-8
MS Slammer 7"- 6-4
CL8 Baby Possum - 5-0
WSB 125 rat - 5-0
Two more at 4-15 that came close on the MS Slammer.
All caught fishing at night.
The Bassman reply :
Caught four 5+ this year. Two came on chatterbaits, one on a Zoom finesse worm, and the most recent on a Ned rig. Caught many 4's, several coming on a Fat Ika, others on a number of things, my favorite being an Azuma Wake-Z wake bait.
FishTank reply :
Megabass Deep-X Leviathan caught several big bass for this year. I dread the day I loose one of these things.
Cdn Angler reply :
I live in Canada, so 5 lb bass aren't super common. I caught two this year, though one was in the USA (North Carolina).
The USA LMB bass was caught on a white tube.
The Canada LMB was caught on a River2Sea White Spinnerbait, on a narrow stretch of river.
lo n slo reply :
texas rigged worms and lizards
RyneB reply :
I caught 4 over 5lbs.
Megabass vision 110 (my PB)
Whopper plopper 130 Loon
KGB ChadShad
5 inch hand pour swimbait (homemade)
GReb reply :
Fished a lot of new water and had a slower year but these were my most consistent lures in order:
Swim jig - BG color skirt w/ orange head. Keitech BG trailer
Chatterbait - GP or white with matching Zako or Rage Craw trailer
Stanley 3/8 oz double willow spinnerbait. White/chart with gold and silver blades
3/8 oz flipping jig - GP with Menace trailer
Fluke - White or smoke grey
Various squarebills
j bab reply :
On 12/31/2019 at 2:54 PM, txchaser said:Sprinker Frog. Not even a blowup. Put on a regular frog, game on
That's interesting, it was the opposite for me! Had a lot of fun with the Sprinker this year.
As far as 5+ers go, I caught a few.
One on a 4.8" Pro Swimmer rigged on a Flashy Swimmer, one on a B5 line thru Swimbait, and one on the S waver 168!
RubberDuck reply :
Just one. Caught my 5.5# LMB on a 3/8 oz SK swim jig with a 3.75" rage swimmer in ghost shad.
Dangerfield reply :
Catching 5lbs up here isn't an easy feat. We saw a couple this year:
-6.01 lbs Smallmouth on a 4" Z-Man Swimmmerz (shiner) paired with a 4/0 gammy weighted ewg hook. (This bass was out of season)
-5.40 lbs Largemouth on a 6" Z-Man Swimmerz (sexy mullet) paired with a 7/0 gammy weighted ewg hook. This was a PB
-5.60 lbs Largemouth on a 3/8oz Nichols Saber Jig (bombshell) paired with a 4" Z-Man Diezel Minnowz (smoky shad). broke my PB 2 weeks later.
Biggest largemouth of the season came around mid-fall on a lunkerhunt prop frog in Leopard. I was flipping a beaver + 1/2oz weight in tullys and my father-in-law hooked up casting open water. I got him the blue gill option for xmas.
I proceeded to lose confidence in the Swimmerz as the season went on. It might just be a spring/early summer bite.
schplurg reply :
Used a white Super Fluke T-rigged with a maybe 1/4 bullet weight unpegged, fished maybe a few feet deep. 5 1/4 lb
Other one slightly lighter was a crank bait, I forget the color. Think it was shad, but I catch them with all colors at this spot.
Kdizzle reply :
Zoom Swimming Super Fluke on a 3/0, 1/4 ounce belly weighted swimbait hook. Twas a lovely largey.
I don't know how I actually got her in since she was just snagged by the skin on the outside of the lower jaw. Cray cray
Dens228 reply :
I caught a few over 5 this year
1 on a spinnerbait
2 on a jerkbait
4 on either a swim jig/paddletail or a pitchin jig Rage Bug
flyfisher reply :
Hollow bodied frog
Fluke
Jig
Crankbait
12poundbass reply :
On 1/4/2020 at 9:52 PM, flyfisher said:Hollow bodied frog
Fluke
Jig
Crankbait
There’s nothing better than throwing a hollow bodied frog to the thickest, nastiest slop on the lake.
I have grown quite fond of pitching jigs this past year too. I look forward to doing more of that this year too.
flyfisher reply :
On 1/4/2020 at 10:35 PM, 12poundbass said:There’s nothing better than throwing a hollow bodied frog to the thickest, nastiest slop on the lake.
I have grown quite fond of pitching jigs this past year too. I look forward to doing more of that this year too.
I always have a frog tied on and have caught some big bass in open water with them too. The jig thing I just got into this year really and it has been very good to me. Definitely looking to refine that part of my fishing this next season.
Dens228 reply :
On 1/4/2020 at 10:37 PM, flyfisher said:I always have a frog tied on and have caught some big bass in open water with them too. The jig thing I just got into this year really and it has been very good to me. Definitely looking to refine that part of my fishing this next season.
I've caught a few bass when I continue to walk the frog back to the kayak AFTER it gets through the slop. I've tried to convince my buddies to do the same as I watch them get out of the slop and just crank it the rest of the way as fast as they can.
flyfisher reply :
I have done particularly well fishing through stickups and any type of wood cover. I usually walk it a few times and let it sit for a while then repeat.
Bluebasser86 reply :
Skipping a popping frog way under docks is a really underutilized way of fishing them and exciting. Kind of like night fishing, because you can't see your bait, just listening for the blowup.
SK1 reply :
My best for 2019 was a 5.11 caught on a five inch Yum Dinger.
PourMyOwn reply :
Ice out largemouth on a 1/2 oz rattle trap. My only other 5 plus largemouth was on a Mann's Auger tail 6 inch worm.
One smallmouth over 5 this year, on a football jig with a Guido bug in 22ft of water.
txchaser reply :
Welp, first over 5lbs for 2020 was on a Ned Rig.
Soaking a Lifted Jigs EWG Ned Head (orange), with a GP/Orange TRD.
humbleangler reply :
Well, my PB LM is still just under 5, but caught on a Lindy River Rocker looking for Smallies, lol
Spankey reply :
I did not catch a personal best this past season. Did catch both a Smallie and Greenie over 4+. Very respectable fish in the North East.
Power Worm, RoboWorm and GY KutTail. Will be producers this season as well I suspect. I’ve jig fished more this past season and produce a mixed bag size wise. One particular jig I gotten huge hits on but have only managed smaller bass with it. Not sure if I have to modify something with the jig or possibly the huge hits were Muskies. Might not know the answer until I hookup a decent Mr. Green Jeans or a Muskie. I am sticking with that jig this season.
Primus reply :
Lots of good info in this thread, I definitely will be trying some these baits this upcoming spring.
Hewhospeaksmuchbull reply :
On 12/31/2019 at 10:08 PM, A-Jay said:
And second place isn't even close ~
A-Jay
Just when I thought I had lightened my load.
Goes to trash can, digs out baits!
On 12/31/2019 at 10:08 PM, A-Jay said:
And second place isn't even close ~
A-Jay
Just when I thought I had lightened my load.
Goes to trash can, digs out baits!
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