What's going on guys? What's your go to bait and favorite bait to throw?
my personal favorite is a frog. Hands down a frog is the most exciting way to fish for me. Next is flipping a kinky beaver. Otherwise I love throwing a swim jig or spinnerbait.
Go to when the bite is tough is a weightless senko around weed lines. I don't know why, but I can go all day walking around a lake catching nothing and tie a senko on and just do work.
I agree one hundred. Go to is senko just because of the different ways you actually can fish it (weighted, whacky, weed less, top water, swimming, etc.) and I've had the most success with it. Frog by far is the most fun. Nothing like a top water strike!
A jig if I'm around heavy cover, a bladed jig if I'm not.
Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw
Go to on a tough bite most likely finesse, drop shot or split shot a power worm.
Ned rig, unless the bass are very active, then I will usually go for a jig or bladed jig. Most people think that Midwest finesse style baits only catch small fish, but that's not true. Although they do catch small fish, they also catch big bass to. I have caught (and weighed) bass up to six pounds on the TRD.
Go to bait to me means when the bite is tough and nothing else is working. For me that is a senko type bait. Nothing gets bites when the fish are negative. It can be fished shallow or deep so you can find the fish where ever they are.
I'll take dinks and runts over getting skunked. Have had many days and had to settle for small bass. But, they were bass.
Booyah Spinnerbait or a Black/Blue Jig with a zoom super chunk...
frog for topwater, flipping a jig into heavy cover or wood and swiming a chatterbait
The black zoom trick worm. Works for me!
On 3/17/2016 at 12:25 AM, Centralinfinnesse said:Ned rig, unless the bass are very active, then I will usually go for a jig or bladed jig. Most people think that Midwest finesse style baits only catch small fish, but that's not true. Although they do catch small fish, they also catch big bass to. I have caught (and weighed) bass up to six pounds on the TRD.
Love fishing the Ned Rig... Solid bait..
Give me a ScumFrog or a Pad crasher on a hot day in a shaded cove and I'll drag one of those through the muck all darn day. love it. Second is a Red Shad or Pumpkin seed Fat Max on a swing head jig working weedlines or dropping them next to stumps. 3rd would be an H&H Spinner. 9 times out of 10 you'll find me working one of those
Anything green in the 3.5-4" size on a dropshot. If there's fish, it will bite it.
There is nothing more fun than catching bass after bass all day, no matter the size.
Ribbit frog as long as it has a red pearl bottom
Black spro popping frog
speed craw, d bomb, cut-r worm
humdinger or rumba doll spinnerbaits
My goto is a technique!
Give me a sack of bullet weights, straight shank hooks, some type of plastic.
I'll Texas rig it weighted or unweighted
I'll fish it on top, mid-depth, or on the bottom.
I will kick bass.
Hard question because my go to bait depends on time of yr and what water depth we start in which will determine what I start with. Or one of the baits on either of the 10 rods layin on the deck. This answer better explains my thoughts.
River fishing = Yum Crawbug or Bandit 100 bounced off of rocks, which one depends on the time of year
On the lake, I would have said a tube before last year, but by the end of the year I was always chucking a swim jig and caught fish both swimming it and bouncing it off bottom. The swim jig I use has a flat bottom head, so it stands up pretty well so it allows me to do double duty.
Senko
T-Rig baby rage craw, or drop shot w/ robo worm.
Catt is dead on the money, I also believes technique means more than which bait to use.
If nothing bitting Texas Rig, 6-10 inch worm, 1/8 Water Gremlen Split Shots and almost always a fish.
But for most fun is definlty the frog every time out always have a frog ready to go.
Rugby swinging head with a rage lizard, a 1/4 fish head spin with a white ice swimming fluke Jr(if the bass don't want it usually the stripers/hybrids will nail it), 1/4 Johnson silver minnow with a 3 inch curly tail on it
On 3/17/2016 at 1:27 AM, Catt said:My goto is a technique!
Give me a sack of bullet weights, straight shank hooks, some type of plastic.
I'll Texas rig it weighted or unweighted
I'll fish it on top, mid-depth, or on the bottom.
I will kick bass.
Hard to disagree with this... good post...
My go-to bait is a wacky rigged 5" YCB Senko. I have a set-up dedicated to this and always have it with me. But it's definitely not my favorite way. My favorite bait is a topwater like a popper or spook-type bait. Nothing beats a blow up on the surface.
My go-to would change with conditions and species but if I had to pick one for everything it would be a lipless crank.
Jig or trick worm are my go to baits ... When I can't catch a fish on a crank I will vary between swimming and pitching the jig or trick worm
Popper.
Doesnt matter what im fishing, where im fishing, i always try a popper first. Not my most productive, but my favorite
T-rigged plastics or a chrome rattle trap.
Tom
My favorite bait to throw is a jig.
My "go to" bait when the bite is tough is a t-rigged 4" YUM Dinger.
thanks everyone for the replies. It's great to hear what everyone likes and uses when it's tough. I thought about going out today but those 30mph+ winds told me to just hold off. Haha
I have lots of "go-to" baits............it all depends on the situation. I am not the kind of guy to go out and live or die with one bait all the time trying to force a round peg in a square hole.
I know guys that do nothing but throw big heavy jigs all year........
I know guys that do nothing but throw wacky rigged senkos all year.......
I know guys that do nothing but drop shot all year..........
I know guys that do nothing but throw frogs all year........
These guys all have their days where they smash a huge bag or two and look like world beaters, but they all have one thing common..........when they are not smashing huge bags, they are donating, there seems to be no in-between. On the other hand..........
I know a couple guys (and I'll include my self in this group) that roll with the punches, can catch them in the dirt with an anchor rope and a pool cue, can go offshore in 30 feet of water with sewing thread and fairy wands, and hold their own everywhere in-between.
Long winded, pontificating reply to the point.............yes.......I have go to baits for all the situations I am apt to come across, I just don't have a go to bait that I am married to and fish blindly hoping for the best.
I'd throw a 4" senko
Keitech Easy Shiner
Favorite: Topwater! Probably a buzzbait or a bronzeye shad
Go to: weightless fluke
Zoom trick worm or GYCB senko
4 inch senko,watermelon colors.Also zoom super flukes same colors
When the bight gets tough my go to is always a weightless wacky rigged senko in watermelon....
Jig with a craw trailer.
for me, i'd rather catch them on a jig. i love the jig bite and they no doubt catch the big uns.
that said, i seem to have some of my best days ever with the spinnerbait. something about it, when it's on, it's on.
Jig or drop shot I really love fishing a top water the most out of all though.
On 3/18/2016 at 1:24 AM, fisherrw said:Jig or drop shot I really love fishing a top water the most out of all though.
I can't seem to pick up a bite on the drop shot the last few times out. Don't know if Im not letting it sit long enough or if my roboworm is stuck in the weeds and fish can't seem to dial in on it.
For me a Senko,JIg, any top water,Big Worms in summer!
Zoom fluke white/chartreuse tail and 3/0 ewg.
Hand grenade.
I like jigs and senkos.
On 3/18/2016 at 8:42 AM, IowaBass15 said:I can't seem to pick up a bite on the drop shot the last few times out. Don't know if Im not letting it sit long enough or if my roboworm is stuck in the weeds and fish can't seem to dial in on it.
If you can adjust the length of the line below the hook to raise the bait above the weeds. I've had the same problem where I fish.
If you don't want to use the ned rig, dynamite is the closest thing to it. Kind of hard to do catch and release though.
Jigs and Z Hogs for flipping and spinner baits for everything else
Tough to pick one.
If I'm just trying to catch any size bass, a trigged 4" alive shad will bring em in.
Otherwise 4" senkos, super fluke jrs and a Spook Jr will catch me fish anywhere.
My go to is a jig. Hands down, it likely accounts for 50% of my catches for a season. My favorite is a ZaraSpook, but a hollow body frog is moving up the list and giving it a good run.
I have no go to bait . My favorite lure is a Lunker Lure buzzbait . Thats my favorite way to fish . The lure that has caught more fish for me than maybe all others combined is a T-rigged worm , lizard , craw...
Hands down, has to be the fluke for shallow bank fishing,
My go-to bait is a swim jig and my favorite bait to use...
On 3/16/2016 at 11:55 PM, IowaBass15 said:
Go to when the bite is tough is a weightless senko around weed lines. I don't know why, but I can go all day walking around a lake catching nothing and tie a senko on and just do work.
THIS !!!!!!
my go to is a good ole Texas rig with a strike king rage craw
t rig worm or lizard
for me a jig and trailer becuase Ive cost most fish on that and the texas rig worm because I have been fishing with it the longest. Im talking about one with a curly tail