Most effective techniques 2024

basspro48 reply :

Well, another year is coming to an end and we've all done different things to catch fish throughout the year, but I want to know what was your most effective technique/bait for the year.

For me it had to be pitching a t-rigged sweet beaver to shallow wood cover and matted vegetation, also burning a small homemade spinnerbait with 2 small willow blades through the deeper ends of laydown trees.

KU_Bassmaster. reply :

[move]CRANKBAITS, CRANKBAITS, CRANKBAITS[/move]

It was the year of the crankbait for me. In the past I hadn't really had much confidence in them, but this year I set my mind on learning how to use them. Mission Accomplished ! A lot of people don't think of the crankbait as a "big" fish bait, but it seems like I caught more 4 lbs. + bass on a crank (including a new PB) then all other baits combined.

I also fell in love with wacky rigging senkos. I can't remember catching any real good fish with it, but it will definately put fish in the boat. And lots of them.

In 2006 ........................ the Spinnerbait .................... some people may find this funny, but I have absolutely no confidence in them what so ever.

Keepin_It_Reel reply :

KU, i am the same as you i just can catch fish on a spinnerbait and i dont know why? This year was a big jig year for me, Last year i would have never said that a jig would be one of my go to baits but it is now. And i also produced lost of fish on buzzbaits and jerkbaits. Over all i would say that this was a good year for me I also became addicted to flipin around docks

Low_Budget_Hooker reply :

I went with Chris' addage "if you can find 'em, you can catch 'em"

I used same techniques as always, tried 6 or 7 new baits, but concentrated my efforts more on finding them.

Learned a bunch with special thanks to Roadwarrior and Chris, our local "tactics and presentation" writers. Some great posts this year guys, well done to all and thanks to the many whose 2 cents enriched my season.

phisher_d reply :

The spinnerbait was my #1 lure this year. I caught tons of fish on it, along with a new pb.

For smallmouths I had the best success with chartreuse and watermelon tubes on a 1/8oz tube head.

Next year I'm going to work on building my confidence with crankbaits.

Marty reply :

In a word---topwater.

Gatorbassman reply :

The best thing I did this year is joining this site and get involved. The second was to go fishing with Spotaholic. He kind of became my mentor. He helped me learn how to find the fish on Clarks Hill and I learned how to fine-tune my fishing presentations by watching him. My best bait this year was by far the Spot Remover Jig with a green pumpkin finesse worm. I came in the top 5 in 5 tournaments using it and I had several 30+fish days with it. Next year it will be crankbaits every day.

Nick_Barr reply :

My best this year was a crankbait, dropshot, and a texas rigged Ghost baits Split Tail

Like LBH said, its about finsing them. IN 2006 i am going to focus on finding and following fish and put together a well defined pattern. Because in 1 1/2 years i will be a boater in tournies and need to learn how to find fish more efficiently.

guest reply :

I would have to say that this was the year of the jig for me. I did well over the summer with senko's and in the fall with rattletraps, but once I started catching fish with jigs, it just seized ahold of me. Love pitchin them thangs.

justtrying reply :

our state has a 10 bass limit. ..therefore, lots of guys around here ask the question, "did you get your limit?"

jerkbaits, supe flukes & zoom trick worms have produced LOTS of limit culling days this year. ..i threw, & caught fish, on crankbaits, spinnerbaits, etc., but those three baits just consistently produced more "quantity" days than i've ever had before.

i plan to fish tubes & jigs the next couple of months til they become Very Familiar to me.

BassinSoldier reply :

The zoom super fluke prodused massive numbers for me while I was at home and not in Iraq. I caught my biggest fish thid year (7.9 lbs) on a buzzbait but I have always went to that for a big bite in the summer. I just got into the Senko and haven't fished it wacky rigged yet but plan on it. I plan on using jigs and cranks more this coming year.

Kana reply :

this past year i have gotten successful with vibration style baits, adding on to my crankbait and spinnerbait skills. starting a few weeks ago i have been trying to get used to jigs, finess and larger weights. i have spent many hours perfecting my flipping and pitching so now im ready to take hold of the jig, so i think. my idsadvantage is that i bank fish 90% of the time so i will have to adapt my technique for that situation. the finess jig has already got me bit, so i know a bit of the action it takes to gain interest of the big bad fishy! wish me luck, i think taking on jigs is going to be a doosie, but ive also heard it pays off!

Phishn_Phool reply :

I moved to central Florida this past year and that has really hurt my fishing. I guided in Mo for the past 25 years so catching fish was not a problem. Everything is different here. LM here, SM there...lake here...river there...plastic here,,,SB & Rogues there...Help!!! I need a mentor. I have started catching fish on Trigs and Crigs so that is my goal for next year..Also I am going to learn to "catch" with live shiners. I know that is a bad word, but it seems to be the bait for 10+ fish down here

CPR ;D

L.D. reply :

Jigs! In either a tube or a Yum Dinger. Also grub spinners worked well in the summer.

L.D.

.ghoti. reply :

I had resolved that this was going to the year I learned to use a jig. So much for resolutions! Caught one fish all year on the jig. Overall though, I had one of my best years lately, using tubes, senko's and cranks. Between my wife and I, we caught 14 over 5lbs. I know, I use a rapala lok-n-weigh. My best was a 7.5 and her's a 6.5 Mine hit on a shad rap, her's on a berkley frenzy minnow. All the rest came on tubes or senko's.

Last year, I discovered the senko and was nearly ruined. I fished that thing all year long. I don't remember ever tying on a crank all year. I had resolved to be more versatile this year, and I managed to do that, except for the jig thing. Next year I resolve to master the jig. HA! Like I'm going be able to put down the senko's, the tubes, cranks, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, flukes, spooks, power worms, lizards, salt craws, pop-r's, pointers, x-raps, grubs, etc. Not to mention the fly rod and the boxes full of bugs, poppers, sliders, wolly buggers, dahlberg divers, zonkers, bouface's, etc. Do I sound like a tackle junkie? Can I get an AMEN, brothers? I'm a card-carrying member af Tackleholics Anonymous!!. The bait monkey rides me like a chimp on a greyhound. ( Now that's a race I'd pay to see.)

Anyway, it's been a good year for me, and, I hope for everybody here. Cabin fever is just starting to set in. Can't wait for warmer weather. I'll spend the winter cleaning up all my reels, sorting and arranging, and re-arranging all my tackle and hanging out with the good people on BassResource.com.

I've learned a lot here. Thanks to everybody, and good luck to all.

Will reply :

Well it was not texas rigged plastics. For me it would be crankbaits. My favorite though was frog fishing, which I plan to improve on next year.

bassdocktor reply :

I caught more keepers this year than ever before by using a texas rigged Zoom Trick Worms. Seemed to be the one thing that kept catching them all year long. I also found more success with pitching and flipping tubes this year than in the past. Also in general thanks to alot of reading I did especially here, I was able to find alot more fish and actually figure out what they were doing. Just an observation but I bought my first bass boat this year and it seemed that the fish got bigger just like the boat. Seems like a pretty big coincidence but hey maybe I should have gone with the 21' instead of the 18'6".

bassdocktor

Bass Hammer reply :

Crankbaits was something that worked well for me this year.

I spent most of the year practicing working them through cover, rod position relative to the depth, etc.

I also worked a great deal on sonaring structure.

Next year I think it's tubes and jigs.

Chris reply :

This year I caught fish on everything just call me Mr. Junk fish. Top tournament producers jig, crankbait, spinnerbait, senko, kreature bait, paddletail worm, popR, Spit'n image, frog, jerkbait, zoom sweetbeaver wannabe, sweetbeaver, trap, tube, cuttail dropshot, yep I'm the poster child for the title Mr. Junk fish.

Shad_Master reply :

Every year I set a goal to try to improve on one technique or another. This year it was jigs, because I have been fishing for about 40+ years and had never caught a fish on a jig. I did manage to start catching some on jigs and it was a hoot , but I don't think I caught enough to feel that I have "mastered" this technique, so I will be reading posts about this over the winter and will probably keep it as my goal for next year. One thing I did do however, by accident, was discover the ZOOM Vibra Tail Worm. I caught more fish on this during the season than all the other techniques combined, including my 6#'er. Might have caught some of 'em on a jig, but it's hard to stop doing what's working.

h1x71 reply :

the worm "green pumpkin" for me was the bread and rat-l-traps "chrome" was the butter but the jam was a 'dbl willow chartuse spinner bait'

next yeat going to play more with cranks and pig-n-jigs

Hawg_Hunter reply :

I had three distinctive techniques this year that stood above the rest;

1. 1/4 oz Jig - Black-n blue with #11 black or black -n- blue Uncle Josh pork (I know....old school, but hey, if it aint broke, don't fix it)

2. 3/8 oz White double willow spinner bait, with a slow yo-yo retrieve in cold water! Yes very cold water (42degrees!)

3. Rapala DT Series cranks in crawdad color. I have never been a crankbait fisherman, but like many of you I wanted to expand my approach and it paid off more than once this year.

Matt Fly reply :

pre-spawn-yozuri red rattlin vibe

spawn- anything plastic

post spawn-buzzbait

dog days of summer- early june, c-rig in 3-4 inch plastic bait, shades of green

late summer 10 in plus worms. Buzz bait

fall- 10 in/ crank baits Buzzbait

winter? still a work in progress.

Upnorth reply :

The 1oz. black and blue jig in the grass mats and a dropshot on the edges were the two techniques that took the most for me.

mgmoore7 reply :

TRigged Senco style for me. It brought me out of the day after day skunks on the few lakes I fish.

roadwarrior reply :

Overall: Still Soft plastics, but my #1 producer for numbers of largemouth over 5 lbs was the Fat Ika. I had particularly good luck fishing for big bass with the Micro Munch Tackle El Gordo tube. Two other GYCB lures that really produced this year were the Kreature and Kut-Tail. A surprise bait was the Roboworm, producing numbers when nothing else seemed to work.

Most exciting: Crankbaits in general, Norman Fat Boy in particular. I never thought cranks were big bass lures until I caught my PB in September. Other crankbaits of note: Bagley BII, Bomber Square A, and DD22.

Most rewarding: Micro Munch Tackle jig, GYCB craw trailer. Jig fishing was my #1 priority for 2005. I had very limited success fishing jigs off and on all year. I finally caught a monster in November. This will remain my focus lure/ technique in 2006.

For smallmouth bass: Live shiners, split shot rig. My partner and I caught a total of forty-four smallies over 5 lbs in 2005. Last weekend was my last trip this year and we finished on a high note: thirty-five largemouth and Kentucky, three of the largemouth 5+; fifteen smallmouth, one 5 lbs; a gigantic blue catfish, 40+ lbs on medium light tackle, #6 Y0-Zuri Hybrid.

guest reply :

Well lookin over the log for this year my 2 best were a weightless 6 to 8 inch t rigged floating worm I use mostly Zoom Swap Crawlers and Trick Worms and Manns Jelly Worms in mostly green and purple shades I spin fish so I put a barrel swivel on the tag end of my line to revent twist then 12 to 14 in leader the hook and the worm If I had to go a little deeper I added ome split shot about 8 in in front of the worm Also very productive mostly at night were #7 to #11 jointed original floating rapalas

The most important thing I had goin this season is how and where to find them I got a little better at this and Its all due to the information the more knowlegable fellas on this forum share so freely Once again I am grateful to you all

Peter E. reply :

Hey Ya'll

For me the most effective technique i used this year was to take the time to break down an area with three or four baits before moving on. First i would locate the most active bass with a search bait like a spinner bait (I like a tandem spin) or carolina rig in deep cover (if ya'll haven't tried those 3x plastics by strike king for that then you are really missing out!) then move over it with a crank bait moving slower across the area then slowing down farther with a texas rigged plastic. Finally i would work the area with a slow falling jig with either a craw worm or pork rind. Slowing down and really working the area instead of running and guning has helped me to really improve the numbers and quality of fish that i can catch in one day. It seemed to me that I caught the biggest fish off of the crank baits and jigs.

Peter

Siebert Outdoors reply :

1 Jigs would be my first one.

2 tubes

Rattlinrogue reply :

My most effective was the floating Rogue in gold and chrome(just like KVD).Spinnerbaits were a close second.I learned and got pretty good at two techniques that I had never tried.Carolina-rigs with lizards and finese worms.I also fell in love with pitching tubes and jigs into cover.I'm most proud of becoming proficient with pitching because when those cold fronts roll in next spring ,I'm going to look forward to it instead of dreading it.Pitching tubes and jigs has become my favorite technique.I may have to change my name to Pitchnflip(not).

basspro48 reply :

Hey guys, I'm happy to report that I now have my most productive technique for winter, a suspending rogue in clown, a drop-shotted watermelon/red GYCB Kut-tail, and a 1/4 oz. pumpkin/craw Terminator finesse jig with a ZOOM tiny chunk.

abelfisher reply :

Two things for me.

T-rigged Senkos, and C-rigged Lizards. (Zoom Cotton Candy) and Doc Waters lizards. If I could only have one lizard brand, it would be Doc Waters. For what it's worth.

Lightninrod reply :

Matt's Baby Bass brought dozens of Bass to my boat after it was released in 2005 ;D, including my new PB:

9 lber/Matt's BB

5 lber/Matt's BB

6 lber-same bait

3 lber

4 lber--shallow

3 lber--his Yellow bait

I've caught Bass from 1.5 lbs to that 9 lber on one of his baits. They are hand-poured and hand-painted and have detail like very few other baits do.

The worst one was this little bugger which I gave away after being given it when I renewed my BASS membership. And they want $5 for that piece of .......... :ugly :nono

Dan

GobbleDog reply :

This year I gained A LOT of confidence in crankbaits.

But Carolina rigged plastic worms (Chompers) still put most of the fish in my boat.

BassNut reply :

Hi everyone!! First post here!

I've had an awesome season!

Spring time:

# 1 was a mini strike king spinner bait blue/black

for SMB.

LMB:

#1 was zoom superfluke white (3/0 TexposerHook)

#2 yumdinger blue/black t-rigged weightless (3/0 TexposerHook)

Summer:

#1 for top water in the slop salad spoons by LunkerCity (3/0 TexposerHook)

Monster Heart stopping top water hits!!! ;D

#2 c-rigged salamander

Fall:

#1FiveAlive craw (3/0 texposer Hook)

IllinoisBasser reply :

T-rigged Zoom ol' Monsters. T-rigged sweet beavers, both in watermelon/red or green punpkin.

carolina rigged french fry or 8 inch lizard.

1/4 or 3/8 oz. brown jig w/ Uncle Josh crawfrog in Crawdad color. I

Every now and then i throw a jerkbait (Rogue).

Superflukes produce well for me in the spring. Mostly i pitch plastics and jigs. Slow fishin suits me fine.

Spencer W reply :

For me it was the buzzbait it seemed like almost everytime i was out i had one on, i'll have to say almost all my largest fish came on a buzzbait this year. I did have great success on cranks and traps too. spinner bait always produces well for me too. I'm gonna try throwing more jigs and slower techniques next season, but its hard when you have good bites on the faster lures.

Bankbeater reply :

The top producer so far this year has been in this order:

Crankbaits

Texas rigged plastic worms

Tubes

I also learned how to fish a jig this year but by the time I was starting to know what I was doing the cold weather came in and froze everything up.

soldier reply :

Did best with the Rapala F-7 perch pattern jerkbait and the 1/8 oz. Strike King black buzzer. Took a ton of LMBs on each. Had a blast bringing them in on a Mitchell 310 ultra-lite.

mudcatwilly reply :

Being fairly new to the bass fishing game, but an experienced angler, I stuck with what the guys who catch 'em say works. I caught the most fish on texas rigged worms on a stand up 1/4-ounce darter jig. Every time I tried something else with no luck, I went back to the good 'ol worm stand-by and found a taker almost immediately. What I took away from this year was that bass like to eat worms.

CJ reply :

It was the year of alot of things for me.Crankbaits in the spring,followed by the t-rig,then the tube,to the ten inch worm,then the jig,then atlast the spinnerbait.

guest reply :

Seeing as how this thread is still alive and well I can update my response. Right now I'm going minner crazy. I'm having alot of fun working different minnow baits. Floaters, suspenders, deep divers, I'm throwin em all and lovin it.

Croatia reply :

Soft bait for bass

Spiners for trouth

and crankbaits for Nothen pike and Wally

Rattlinrogue reply :

Nice fish,Croatia!

Bass Hammer reply :

You look slick in that new shirt and hat.

basspro48 reply :

lookin' good rattlinrogue

J._Bricker reply :

Spring- pitching a T-rigged sweet beaver or brush hogg

Summer- pitching a Senko

Fall- Lucky Craft LV-500, split shotin' a super fluke.

Personal Best- in the Spring on a brush hogg

Best day- 50 bass, 48 large mouth (largest 8lbs), and 2 stripers (largest 14lbs), ALL on the LV-500.

Nice fish Croatia

RoLo reply :

Phew...that's a tough one because the answer hinges on conditions

Overall, it's probably a toss-up between a 3/16 oz self-weedless 6" culprit worm

(any color) and an unweighted 5" Yum Dinger (vertical delivery).

In murky water I normally reach for an overhead spinner, so in turbid water

the 1/4 oz Lazer Eye single colorado gets the nod.

During subdued light conditions with a flat surface, I'd say the Chug Bug

was most responsible for pegging the needle on the fun meter.

Jawjacker reply :

Overall this year it had to be a spinnerbait. I let the conditions dictate what size,color,blades,etc. I used. It produced in all seasons even though I've never considered it my go to bait. I caught at least one 6lb.+ in all four seasons. Mostly I'm a junk fisherman, on real slow days I force myself to try something new. I try not let myself become one dimensional. In 2004, crankbaits were king! That is why it's called fishing and not catching. :'( P.S. I love to dropshot, the size is not there at least not for me. ;D

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