Cavitron buzzbait, 1/4 oz size. I never ever caught a buzzbait fish until last month- and I've been trying for almost 4 years. Now I can't keep bass- admittedly dinks- off the buzzbait.
Spinbait 90. Destroying, not searching! Catching bass, bluegills and crappies right where they should be. Sort of confirmation of my understanding of structure and seasonal patterns.
Sammy. Ok, so this is an honorable mention since I've caught tons of fish on walking lures before (the Rapala walker and the Spook); never tried a Sammy before. Catching fish on this in low 50s water this year. That's a new one for me. I think I have over a hundred bass on my Sammy now.
Here's the funny part though. I tacked each of these baits on different TW orders just to get free shipping!
What are yours?
Just caught fish on Tubes for the first time last week.
Pumpkin Chartreuse SK Coffee tubes hooked weedless on a 1 o Wide Gap with a 3/16 oz tungsten bullet.
Caught a stringer closing in on 15 largemouth with the smallest being 2 lbs. I have pictures to prove. Will upload within the next 24 hours.
Also hooked into a good 4 pound smallie with em but he got off right at the shore.
Lucky craft pointer 78? I think the small one. Read all the hype on in. Caught a bunch of fish on one this spring.
Academy Pistol Minnow. The Gunfish 95 knock of. Works great.
Excalibur Zell pop again the small one.
And the best part I bought all these lures over the winter for a grand total of $15.
Have caught more fish dropshotting and on squarebills this year. The Norman Fat Boy in Firetiger has been hot for in a local lake with heavily stained/murky water.
Flipping timber and skipping jigs under over hanging trees has paid off for me the past month or so
The new Bill Lewis Echo is a winner as is the Shadow Rap. One oldie, but used for first time this year by me is the X Rap.
As much as I would hate to say it, that goofy Ned Rig, have caught fish on something similar before, but this one wins because the bouyant plastic snags less.
I've lost all confidence in myself this year lol so therefore I have no new confidence baits. It's been a tough year for me.
Tried Keitech Fat Impact Fats this spring and haven't stopped catching fish on them since.
A huge confidence booster has been making a smooth transition to baitcasters and catching lots of fish while learning on them. Sure makes practicing a lot more fun.
Really lucked out on my rig as I found an Okuma Reflexions 6'6" Medium Heavy in a pawn shop. Traded my Abu Garcia Orra which was in HORRIBLE condition straight across for this still factory wrapped rod. It's a beast! Has the backbone and hooksetting feel of a loomis! Paired with my left Curado 51e from a couple years back is amazing. I can toss a wacky rigged 4" senko a mile on 12 lb flouro.
Still adjusting to river fishing but doing well I think. Smallmouth are my new bass favorite this season.
Fun learning process, and really I'm still using all the same lures I used to use for largemouths on lakes and ponds (senkos, poppers, spinnerbaits and inlines, grubs, worms, floats and flies etc).
My usual confidence baits are the same as they were back 10 years ago. I'm pretty set in my ways
Dep's 175 and River2Sea Bubble Walker 80 have both been really good baits for me this year. I just started fishing them but I think the new YUM Bad Mamma is going to be a good one too. The Biospawn Exostick has been really good too.
Small tubes and the Stanley Ribbit. That Stanley Ribbit is fun to use.
On 6/6/2015 at 11:10 AM, cgolf said:The new Bill Lewis Echo is a winner as is the Shadow Rap. One oldie, but used for first time this year by me is the X Rap.
As much as I would hate to say it, that goofy Ned Rig, have caught fish on something similar before, but this one wins because the bouyant plastic snags less.
Glad to hear about the Echo's I purchased two - Rayburn Red and Blueberry Perch. They just came in last week and I haven't had a chance to use them but next weekend I'll be fishing Fri-Sun and hope to test them out.
Reaction Innovations skinny dipper on a swarming hornet underspin has treated me quite nicely.
-Rage Craw and Cut'R worm: Can't put either of these down, they have fantastic action and the fish love them.
-Keitech Fat Impact: Really like these baits. I haven't technically haven't had a ton of fish on them, but I have been throwing them more.
On 6/6/2015 at 7:03 PM, Dypsis said:Glad to hear about the Echo's I purchased two - Rayburn Red and Blueberry Perch. They just came in last week and I haven't had a chance to use them but next weekend I'll be fishing Fri-Sun and hope to test them out.
The only thing I found is it didn't like to be burned, I could perhaps tune it a bit, but the thing was catching fish so I didn't mess with it.
T-Rigged Zoom Super Speed Craw, black/sapphire
Stick Worm, wacky rigged.
Torpedo-I had a day so good on this lure I had to adjust the blade twice.
Rat L Trap-continually from last fall
I got a bite on a Johnson Silver Minnow...I want to keep experimenting with that
Frogs
On 6/6/2015 at 11:20 AM, travis23 said:I've lost all confidence in myself this year lol so therefore I have no new confidence baits. It's been a tough year for me.
Rough spring for me too. Even my stick baits are letting me down.
Trinitrotoluene (Frostproof Munitions Depot)
Roger
I'm going to hold out my answer until I get back from Lake Baccarac later this month.
On 6/7/2015 at 5:24 AM, Dwight Hottle said:I'm going to hold out my answer until I get back from Lake Baccarac later this month.
Lucky Ducky. Hope you rip some sizeable lips..........
Norman Lures N XS. They will eventually replace my Deep Little N's if, or when I loose them. They're only available in five colors, but those five are my favorites.
GanCraft Claw has been incredible this year for me. The other, I wanted to hate this bait and have had terrible luck with other Savage Gear- the 8" bait has produced a ton of fish.
On 6/7/2015 at 12:06 AM, Comfortably Numb said:Rough spring for me too. Even my stick baits are letting me down.
Yeah you know it's bad when senkos don't work!
On 6/6/2015 at 11:20 AM, travis23 said:I've lost all confidence in myself this year lol so therefore I have no new confidence baits. It's been a tough year for me.
It should start turning very very soon, cause man it has been really hard for me to catch more then 1 bass in 5hrs and that 1 I was catching on it's best day was 1/2 lb. But today finally turned around for me (Two 2 or 3lbers and a nice 5.26lber made it to me today) so I think the fat girls are getting ready to start feeding aggressively. The only thing that worked was a swim jig with a MegaStrike 4' fat shad (very durable swimbait and great action fyi) swam slow.
So yeah right now a swimbait with a paddle tail is my confident bait (especially with all the grass in the pond I fish)
Crosstail shads have been my goto bait for a while now. I've gave up on them for a bit as I'm trying to learn how to fish a jig and crankbait more.
In the spring it was shallow running crankbaits, around the time of the spawn it was topwaters, and since Memorial Day it has been jig with a craw trailer.
Keitech Fat Impact has worked great for me this year. I wish the held up better but man do they catch fish. Great bait.
My preference is to throw big baits, but I hit a stretch where I couldn't get bit. So I decided to downsize & tried the Cabin Creek Spider Parts. Its a spider twin tail in which the skirts are separate. I bought about 5 different colors so I could mix/match. The skirt has one strand that is thicker to be used as the weed guard. Always have one tied on now.
http://www.cabincreekbaits.com/spider-parts/
On 6/7/2015 at 12:22 PM, Hooligan said:GanCraft Claw has been incredible this year for me. The other, I wanted to hate this bait and have had terrible luck with other Savage Gear- the 8" bait has produced a ton of fish.
Which Claw size?
Fishing topwater a couple of inches off the bank has produced a ton of fish this year!
Those stupid cigar worm things like the Senko, Stick O and Flat Dawg rigged wacky. They're a pain in the rear and I've avoided them for years but when I have to slow down and put fish in the boat bank beating then they are a proven winner. They're way too deadly under docks in clear water along with the BPS Flicker Worm on a shaky head for my own good. Havoc Money Makers and Powerteam Hammer Shads have been good to me on drop shots for smallies as well.
Stupid worms. All I want to do is power fish.
Pop-x
Keitech Easy Shiner
Wacky Robo's
All my fish have come on these three so far this year
I've fallen head over heels in love with the Storm Chug Bug. i'm a big fan of poppers and I've had like a 98% hookup rate with the Chug Bug vs other poppers I've been using for years. I should have gotten on the Chug Bug bandwagon a long time ago. My other popping baits don't hold a candle to it.
More on the 148, but the bruisers have put a hurting on the 178. I've caught 26 over five, with six fish over seven on the 178. I had a two day deal on Table Rock where everything just fell together right and caught close to 220 fish between the two of those baits. I was having to shuck loads of 13-15 inch fish off the 148, so I switched to the 178 and crushed em.On 6/8/2015 at 2:59 AM, Dwight Hottle said:Which Claw size?
I've never had a solid, solid swimbait bite on the Rock before this. I've always caught a few fish, and a few good ones but nothing like that. I really think that is never really mastered how to fish a glide bait up to that point so didn't have all that much confidence in them. My brother was smashing fish on Longs Creek from start to finish, and I was getting smoked. I started fishing a 148, and started matching him fish for fish. When I upped to the 178, I started pummeling him.
We started hitting similar spots on the lake and found quality fish in every single location. I'm still not 100% confident of what put those fish there, outside of the structure, and temps. We always catch fish in those locations year round, but not usually stacked in like they were.
Brother hooked up with a 10-2 green fish and a 6-15 spot. I caught a 9-5 and a 9-9.
Even on local water those two baits have been extraordinary for me. I've been fishing them in tournaments when I'm already on five, and they've added quite a few kickers for me.
When I asked Speedbead about the claw, I wasn't sure what to expect. There hasn't been a single time I've regretted them. I've caught more quality fish on them than any of the other glide baits I own.
I've been liking the Swing Jig or Biffle Bug some call it. Like it so much I ordered the mold to make them. For no more then those are they get a pretty penny for them.
On 6/9/2015 at 5:21 PM, Hooligan said:More on the 148, but the bruisers have put a hurting on the 178. I've caught 26 over five, with six fish over seven on the 178. I had a two day deal on Table Rock where everything just fell together right and caught close to 220 fish between the two of those baits. I was having to shuck loads of 13-15 inch fish off the 148, so I switched to the 178 and crushed em.
I've never had a solid, solid swimbait bite on the Rock before this. I've always caught a few fish, and a few good ones but nothing like that. I really think that is never really mastered how to fish a glide bait up to that point so didn't have all that much confidence in them. My brother was smashing fish on Longs Creek from start to finish, and I was getting smoked. I started fishing a 148, and started matching him fish for fish. When I upped to the 178, I started pummeling him.
We started hitting similar spots on the lake and found quality fish in every single location. I'm still not 100% confident of what put those fish there, outside of the structure, and temps. We always catch fish in those locations year round, but not usually stacked in like they were.
Brother hooked up with a 10-2 green fish and a 6-15 spot. I caught a 9-5 and a 9-9.
Even on local water those two baits have been extraordinary for me. I've been fishing them in tournaments when I'm already on five, and they've added quite a few kickers for me.
When I asked Speedbead about the claw, I wasn't sure what to expect. There hasn't been a single time I've regretted them. I've caught more quality fish on them than any of the other glide baits I own.
That's a pretty good testimonial. Thanks
On 6/8/2015 at 3:33 AM, Sea Salt said:Fishing topwater a couple of inches off the bank has produced a ton of fish this year!
This has been my experience this year as well. I fish mainly community park ponds so I am always dealing with tons of vegetation. Basically, the only things you can fish are soft plastics rigged weedless and moving baits that you are able to keep within one foot of the surface. Anything that runs deeper will get hung up badly.
Anyway, last year I fished wakebaits a lot but I always fished them subsurface as a super-shallow crankbait. For the last month I have been fishing them as intended. Sometimes the fish want them waked fast over the surface and sometimes they want them moving so slow they are almost standing still, but the fish have been killing them. At four different ponds I have been able to catch loads of fish, most of them coming from within 5 feet of the bank. It is my first real topwater fishing experience. While most of the bass I catch are less than 1.5 pounds, the topwater blowups are addicting and make me want to find some bigger fish and see what they can do to my little wakebaits.
I've been using the H2O XPRESS (Academy house brand) as my wakebait of choice. The only thing you need to change are the hooks, which are sharp out of the package but get dull and start to bend pretty quickly. I've swapped them out with size 6 Triple Grips and had better hook-up percentages.
Norman Lures- Fat Boy squarebill crankbait. color- Apparition. This color is similar to the ghost minnow.
I purposely try other sqaurebills and the Bass are like "meh". So it's back to the Apparition and they whack it.
Neko rig- Z man lures Finesse worm 4 inch. Two colors have been working the best. 1. Coppertruese
2. Easy Money put a Eco Pro tungsten Nail weight in thru the top of the worm.
Dragging and lightly shaking my rod tip as found the most success.
dropshottin' tubes