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I sit here at my keyboard, staring out the window at “The Wintery Mix” of snow, sleet and rain. Not exactly the most motivating deal. Either way, I’m going to use this thread as a way to help take my mind to a better place. And here we go . . . . . . While many of the previous editions of this annual thread have include quite a bit of supplemental bait information, this one is going to be short & sweet. Meaning simply limited to reflect the title of this thread. Many of the same baits from last/past seasons are once again showing up here. Here’s the link to 2023’s entry if you feel the need. https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/258333-productive-baits-2023-~/ I will have to say that most all of the listed selections may be a direct result of where & more specifically when (time of year) I was on the water hunting plus size smallmouth bass. So without further ado . . . . Baits are listed after the picture. Megabass ITO Vision 110 – the Standard Bait, the Silent Bait, “LBO” model, the 110 +1 and the 110 +1 Jr. were all good. Letting the cat out of the bag right off the bat ~ The ITO Vision 110 in “shrimp” was easily my MVP for 2024. Just crazy good. #likeaperch SK KVD 300 and 300D LC 127 “Real Skin” – a perennial producer for me. Z-Man Jackhammer 3/8 & ½ with Yamamoto Zako Trailer SK Hybrid Hunter Jr. and Shallow Jr. Evergreen Grass Ripper Swim Jig – This one is like the Jackhammer of swim jigs – very High Quality. ¼ and 3/8 oz with a Keitech Swing Impact Fat trailer. SK Sexy Dawg Hard Knock Walking Bait Rapala X-Rap Sub Walk 5/8 oz. After my GoPro’s died during the post spawn, I had a day with this one. Megabass Pop Max – So Good. A-Jay’s Swinghead deal. Read last years installment for full details. I love fishing this deal. Jackall Drift Fry 4.0 & 5.2 On a Keitech 1/8 oz 3/0 jighead Megabass Giant Dog X Walking bait (this ones pretty small and NEEDS calm water to be effective). Freedom Tackle Freak LM/SM Willow Kilter Spinnerbait ½ & ¾ oz. I use a SK Blade Minnow Trailer. Had some ‘problems’ with A-Rigs failing past few season. Needed choose a new one and stick with it to see what it could do. Decided on the Hog Farmer Baits Tactical Bassin Mini Flex Rig. Changed pout terminal tackle to Sampo Ball bearing swivels and Owner Hyper wire split rings – so no clips. Head are Dirty Jigs Tactical Bassin Finesse Swimbait jigheads all 1/8 oz. Bait are either 3.8 or 4.3 Keitech Swing Impact Fat swimbaits. Managed a few plus sized fish – one just under six pounds. I use 17 lb mono on a MH Mod stick and I landed every fish that struck. So no gear failure. I like that. So there it is – now let’s hear and see what carried the load for you and maybe even a bait or two that actually saved your bacon. Stay Warm A-Jay https://youtu.be/V3OYj82bUXQ?feature=shared

Wasn’t specifically targeting them much yesterday, but ran into one anyway. Hopefully back out after them later today - highs in the mid 60s 😎

Won the 3rth place in trout war tournament and eat it after back home 😅

I find speed cranking on Champlain in February to be exceptionally fruitless. Lots of broken baits from hitting the ice.

Got to fish below Pickwick dam the other day. The temp was in the 20s the previous night. It had probably warmed into the upper 30s by the time we started fishing. The sun was supposed to come out, but it never happened. It was tolerable, but didn't warm up liked we hoped. The fishing started out as cool as the temps. We had good current. We were drifting 3 mph without the trolling motor. We did a 2 1/2 mile drift and caught nothing. We tried the other side, and only caught one. We went back to the other side again, but all we caught were drum. Hopefully @roadwarrior won't be too disappointed that we don't have pics of those. 🤣 Since we were having no luck on the bank, we decided to try fishing along the channel. Turns out that the fish were in the middle of the river. We only caught 3 in the first 5 hours along the banks, but got 6 in the last 2 hours in the middle of the river. Nothing too big, but one solid 3 lb 6 oz smallmouth. The most interesting part of the day came as I caught the first fish along the channel. We noticed a boat speeding toward us. While I was reeling I said, "He sees us, right?" He sped right up to us, and turns away at the last second. When he turned we see "Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency" on the side of the boat. I pulled the fish out of the net as he pulled up beside us. I said, "I'll get my license out in just a second." He said, "I don't want to see your license. I want to see the fish." I was confused since it was just a dink smallmouth. I held it up for him, and he said, "No, I want the fish." So I gave it to him. He measured it, and asked me if I wanted it back. I said, "no" so he released it. I thought we were about to get checked by the game warden. Turns out that he was with the TWRA Angler Survey. He asked us several questions about our fishing experience. He wanted to know where we were from, how much our trip cost us (counting gas, meals, etc.), how satisfied we were with our experience, if we'd fished there before, and if we planned to fish there again. It was actually a fun, and interesting experience. We had a nice chat. He seemed like a good guy. He went on his way, and we started catching fish. Too bad he didn't see us when we caught a bigger fish. 🤣

My personal 2024 MVP 2nd place wasn't even close. Mine came straight from the motherland. A-Jay

Rainbow, brown, and landlocked salmon.

Segue for an essay - I hope building reels counts. I made my mark restoring OP's valuable antiques. (this one happens to be mine) I have friends who religiously clean and rebuild their reels every year. Granted, they fish inshore. Could also count as fun winter tinkering. But the only thing I do that fervently is oil spool bearings (drop or 2) before and after every (salt) trip. Also a chance to inspect critical parts for salt exposure. (rust in the magnets came from a non-salt-resistant spool bearing, and both got replaced) Given the quality of modern lubes, and the quality of seals on reel drive cases - even with salt exposure - I'm inside my drives every 3 to 4 years. (a different case would be dunking a reel). Recently overhauled a 25-y-o Daiwa, and it was pristine inside. I could tell the original owner had never been inside, because he stripped the loctite'd PH1 screw head trying to get inside. Drive and LW, the old grease overflow had all turned to wax residue, so all parts were cleaned and ultrasonic'd where needed. Stiff bearings replaced, etc.

I haven't connected all the dot yet but I'm convinced this incident is somehow connected to the drones that are currently terrorizing New Jersey. 😆

Had an hour after work, caught one lost one

We can take the dog out of the snow, but we can never take the snow out of the dog ~ Remembering Miss Fenway ❤️ A-Jay

The rule is you need to learn your own waters. Learn how your fish relate to any visible cover and structure that exists. Learn how different weather conditions can effect thier movements. Once you get that figured out any meaningful seasonal changes if any, will be easier to decipher. Mike

No. I’ve stated this before but one of the (very few) negatives on this forum is that we have posters all over North America. Bass behave differently in Michigan than they do in Texas. Northern strain are also different than Florida strain. Then there’s smallmouth too. What someone says is working in North Carolina should be taken with a grain of salt by someone fishing in Arizona.

First fish of my Christmas break. Caught on a watermelon seed speed worm.

Trey McKinney made some costly mistakes this past Elite series tournament trail. People trashed him and he’s a kid, 18 turned 19. He was shown no mercy and he actually is a phenomenal fisherman unlike Ben. Folks didn’t really give Trey a pass even though he was 18 to start.. Ben is a grown Man and half as good as Trey. Ben is brash and arrogant, I don’t watch him on the tube but I’m thinking he’s the Jake Paul of the fishing world..he should stick with the tube, he’s got a army of like minded followers over there. Trey even reported hisself in one instance. I think it’s safe to say there is a character disparity between the two Elite series fisherman.. we need more Treys and less Bens..

The issue I have with water temperatures is we're reading surface temperatures. Bass don't live on the surface. Learn the structure, learn the cover, learn the baitfish.

Went fishing this weekend both days. Went to the lakehouse to grab my wife’s kayak, paddled it across glass slick waters to load it up on the daily driver Honda and go to a different ramp on the same lake where people are catching nice big smallies. Somehow this access point was in a sunny hurricane with the wind blowing the same direction as the current. Two older guys with a huge boat were sitting in the parking lot saying it was too windy, and here I am with a kayak. Well two of my buddies pulled up with a bass tracker so I left the kayak in the parking lot and hopped in with them. Right as we are about to launch, a guy pulls up and asks if we have a scale. He had a 22” 6 lb 10 oz meanmouth and two other really nice smallmouth. Said he had launched at 3 am trying to catch walleye haha. Anyway here’s a pic of that monster so now we are fishing, but can’t do a thing on the main channel with the wind and current going through same direction. We retreated to a creek arm I knew held small largemouth and caught a bunch of those, better than braving the sunny hurricane so Sunday rolls around and I can’t stop thinking about the potential for PB so I go back to the same spot in the pouring rain, this time the wind isn’t blowing tho. I paddled upstream and broke off a fish , re rigged and found out why I broke off, I was amongst the toothy critters. Got one for the ice box !

I don't use a huge variety of lures when I bass fish anymore, so my list is much more limited than some others. I cannot name a single day in 2024 when the fishing was "poor." Every single outing (35 total) was at least somewhat productive. - Perch jerkbait did OK (smallmouth) - Neko rig (green pumpkin) - Wacky rig (chartreuse w/ black specks) - Terminator spinnerbait 3/8 oz - Zman Elite Evo Tungesten 1/2 oz I'd say that those 5 presentations accounted for about 75% of my total catch in the largemouth and smallmouth realm this past season. Plus a few walleyes and way too many pike to count on accident. Two particular time periods were excellent: July 3-5 and the month of October.

You tell me ~ 😎 A-Jay

I just know that no matter what bait I throw, I can't catch a winter bass. I've dragged surface lures, soft plastics, crankbaits, spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, and jigs across the ice and didn't even get a hit. Seriously, @gimruis is right. Bass vary by location. I can catch bass in Lakes Michigan and Superior, on the Mississippi, in northwestern Ontario, and Maine, but drop me on a lake in Texas or Arizona and I wouldn't have a clue. Give me enough time in Texas or Arizona and I'll start catching bass, which is @Mike L's point: We all need to take the time to crack our lakes. There's a lake in northwestern Ontario where I've spent months of my life fishing, from four in the morning until last light. One time, I was fishing in a canoe with my dad. We were both steadily catching smallmouth, including a 21-incher that I landed. A pal was in another canoe about 25 yards away, catching nothing. "They aren't there," I said. "Come fish by us." "How do you know they're not here?" he asked, clearly disbelieving me. I knew from fishing his spot many times over many years and catching nothing there. Not in June, July, August, September, nor October. So, a HUGE part of fishing is failing on a particular body of water, which is how we learn where they're likely to be and what they're likely to hit. So, when you fish and fail, that was time well-spent. You've learned what not to cast and where not to fish next time. Last May, at one lake, I learned that the bass moved into a zombie reed field to chase golden shiners and that for about two weeks before the new reeds emerged, it was game on. The new reeds ended my bassfest because they were so numerous and tough and the bass freed themselves by banging into them. So, all winter long, I'll be thinking about that zombie reed field on that lake and becoming ever more excited to return to it. I learned the cover and learned the baitfish. When the reeds started to grow, they were still in there and feeding, but harder to catch. Still, I caught quite a few this size before I started losing them on thicker, taller reeds: But catching bass in an emerging reed field works on ^this^ lake in Maine in May. I have no clue if it works anywhere else. I got lucky and saw bass chasing shiners in the reeds, which is why I spent many fine mornings there.

This thread is going to cost me a couple hundred dollars!

Rules? My fish clearly are illiterate.

Believe or not I never caught anything with the drop shot before. The cold waters in Florida is so frugal that I decided to make it my primary weapon, and success! Two catches, I didn’t photograph the bigger, first one, because of gator danger. May you get logs and lunkers this christmas season!

Those kind of "rules" are meant to be broken. If bass always followed the rules, it wouldn't be so intriguing to catch them reliably.

No. One of "our own" doesn't do stuff that winds up in the headlines if they do what's right and follow the rules like the rest of us.

Cold foggy morning on the river. Post front, pre front, all the fronts conditions. First fish of the day, 23" didn't get a weight, pulled off the bottom near a flowing pump with a 3/4oz swim jig. Second and last fish of the day, also swim jig on the bottom. Mr. Owl did not approve

For those with a lot more experience than me, do winter rules really apply everywhere? I live in AZ, last weekend the water temps were 55-60F, I started off following the advice for Winter fishing and wasn’t finding any bait, hi or low, so I threw it out the window, went far up the creek channel to shallow water and started casting at cover on the bank and caught a bunch of fish when everyone else didn’t. Only a couple were decent size, but when everyone else caught a couple, I caught close to 20 in a 1/8 mile stretch of bank that everything said fish shouldn’t be there. So my questions is, do seasonal changes apply across the board? Yes, the water is colder, but it doesn’t match up to most peoples winter water temps. If my waters never get down that cold, will fish really go deep? I thought it was the change in temp that controlled their movements more than the overall water temp, but from what I have seen the last couple weeks, the fish aren’t all going deep and slowing down. Will it only happen below a certain water temp regardless of how slow that change comes?

@new2BC4bass our page sponsor, DVT, gets great reviews for his service. I sent Mike an FFR friend with a valuable Hardy Altex (By Appointment to HRH, etc.) - also happened to live nearby - and he was delighted with DVT reception and results.

I wasted a lot of time sampling new brands as they went on sale, but recently started converting everything to the Curado 150 MGL because it just makes me smile. I have a Curado 70 mgl for jerkbaits, and a Curado k 200 in a lower gear for swim baits. Only outlier is a Daiwa Tatula CT I snagged on sale for my frog rod and a few SLX reels that i just cant come up with a reason to get rid of.

I’m going to wait until more is known. No matter the outcome, not going to crucify anyone for fishing without a valid license. While I’ve never fished without a license, I can certainly see how it can happen to Ben, to me or to anyone else.

As usual, my lure collection grew, but the baits that caught bass shrunk. My biggest bass a 10.2 pounder caught in June was on a June Bug Zoom Ole Monster. I might as well have lived on the Tennessee River measured by the success of my favorite spinnerbait this year. The list is small, but the Bait Monkey hasn't abandoned me yet. Zoom Ole Monster 6th. Sense Crush 50 X square bill Zoom Magnum Trick Worm Magnum Rage Bug Rapala DT 10

Minimal fishing this year but I'll play. Seems every year my tactics from the previous year dont work and I find something new. 1) Vision 110+1 JR.: Elegy Bone and GP Pro Blue, Matt Shad takes honorable mention in this bait. 2) Dirty Jigs Compat Swim Jig 3/8oz: Pearl Ghost Shiner 3) Seibert Supreme Arky 3/8oz: Henderson Craw 4) Zoom or Culprit 10" purple worm w/ 3/8 or 3/16oz weight. I listed 4 but 1, 2 and 3 were in my hands the most and #1 by a long shot. It just flat out worked everywhere. Obviously others like a frog, chatter/spinner but they were harder to make work for some reason this year.

@AlabamaSpothunter, only a very, very small portion of tax dollars goes to Twra and it’s only a tax from purchasing fishing or hunting gear (see wallop/Breaux and dingell/johnson acts). They are funded almost completely by license sales and boat renewals (which are going up again this year). They were 8 million bucks in the hole last year and they don’t spray the grass, that is privately contracted out by TVA

Deps Cover Scat continues to be one of my favorites to throw and I have one always tied on. Was really pleased with the availability of the new 3" size since I wanted bigger than 2.5" but the 3.5" was too heavy for my Light gear. I fish the Free Rig lots, so I experiment here often. The Raid Hira Tailor is probably the best of the bunch I tested. The Raid Egu Chunk was most surprising. On the lift, the rod tip vibrates nearly like a chatterbait. It's really something. Since the Keitech Fat Impact is uninspiring on the weightless drop, I wanted a better performing swimbait for the Free Rig. OSP Dolive Shad fits the bill and glides beautifully due to the keeled belly. Not sure it's as spectacular as the Dolive Stick though. Fished the Flick Shake lots using the actual Flick Shake worms/tackle. Caught plenty! However, the real winner was the Flick Shake worm wacky rigged on a Dropshot using a Nishine DS hook. This thing gets bit!! Surely my biggest, most pleasant surprise. Continue to have great success with the Chatterbait Mininax in 1/4oz I think those are the highlights.

I wouldn't consider 55-60F winter conditions and maybe that's where your thinking took you, In most of the south, bass would be chasing baitfish and up creek arms is a prime area to find them. In your neck of the woods, I doubt water temps will get much below 50 and until they do, keep an open mind about fish location. After all, you have to find them before you catch them.

Before I had a single Megabass 110 - I fished the heck out of that KVD bait - still do. Not sure what it is about it, whether it's the profile, the sounds, the movement or the little roll it does right before the pause, but some of my BIGGEST SMB have De-Molished both the 300 & the 300D. Three most fished /productive patterns for me are Clown, Ayu and Yellow perch. all seen in a fishes face below. https://youtu.be/s5YAlFDZ_C4?feature=shared&t=991 https://youtu.be/8p_YjczqvhE?feature=shared&t=454 https://youtu.be/zHxHdDmKudQ?feature=shared&t=740 Although not pictured here (yet) but if you have some "Deep" jerkbait spots, the new Strike King KVD 300 Sinking Deep Jerkbait is making a run at 'best deep bait' in my boat. A-Jay

Here's a few that are currently tied on: Top one is the hog farmer mini 3 wire 3 blade rig w/ some 3.2" 6th sense divines on it. Under that a 6th sense cloud 9 c10 in lavander citrus (my kayak park is about 9-10' deep and the water is usually dirty and this thing did well). Below that a lucky craft pointer minnow 100 in chartreuse shad. Under that we have a strike king double willow with a spunk shad on it. Additional ones that aren't in the picture: Drop Shot (tried a ton of lures this past year and made a post about several of them...main ones I've been using lately have been the roboworm straight tail or a yamamoto sensei). Underspin (skinny dipper with a 5/0 flashy swimmer). Mag 2 (or sometimes an ultravibe) on a texas rig. Bladed jigs (been going with the EVO lately but still like the thunder cricket and have also been throwing the mini max more lately). Shakey Head (3/16 owner ultrahead w/ an xzone deception worm or zman smh worm)

He literally was charged with tournament fishing fraud. The thread title is correct, as written.

@J._Bricker @Catt I didn’t write the title either a moderator did by changing my original title posted in Everthing Else.

@Fishlegs Great report, and great to hear our tax dollars are being spent to help our fisheries. That seems like a really good thing especially the question about how much you spent on the trip. Ultimately at the end of the day, dollars and cents matter the most, and if the powers at be see how big of an economic impact anglers make, they'll be more inclined to listen when we say DON'T SPRAY THE GRASS!

The other thing that made last weekend more fun was they were letting water in, so from one week to the next the lake was up 10 feet, and they are going to continue until Wednesday at about 2ft a day. The weeks previous I knew fish were chasing bait up creek, but after they let the water in, the bait was GONE! I didn’t see any bait all day. That also makes the “knowing your waters” a little harder, this lake can go from 40ft below full pool to 10ft below full pool in pretty short time. I’ve been marking the cover I can see because it had been down 40ft so when the water goes up, I’ll have a better idea of where things are. And yes, knowing your waters is great, but I’ve only had my boat for 2 months, haven’t had time for that yet, that’s why I was trying to follow some of the “guidelines” of bass fishing.

Red Eye Shad Jig (too many to even list - mostly choice Seibert offerings in cool colors!) Drop Shot Buzzbait Spinnerbait Frog (strike king/scum frog/snag proof/spro) Mag Speed Worm Mag Speed Craw Fluke Glide bait (BPS Swerve)

Now were talking. All the cool kids use Ande Premium for leader, 30-60 lb. NJ ocean has been on fire.

Since you're using them for trolling, you should consider multicolor braid since you'll be able to get a rough calculation of how much line is out. This will let you find a happy medium between depth and speed so you can pull bait past suspended fish. You'll also get a much better calculation of how much line is on the spool. Much of the multicolor stuff is metered and will change color every 5 or 10m. Most of the Great Lakes guys use multicolor in the absence of a line counter.

Nice fish. The bottom looks.like a brown tho. Tail is too.square for a salmon

Since you're not casting, you should fill it up. My reels below, the logic is long runs from mackerel and cobia. Also extreme eyesight of these fish. While fluoro invisibility doesn't get a lot of respect on BR, it can be all the difference for fish looking up. Nylon mono absorbs UV, making a shadow, while fluoro transmits UV. Then of course, especially in the salt, fluoro has a sink-rate advantage because it's 70% denser than the water, and 60% denser than mono. This is my trolling reel (Seigler SGN), which has 350 yds 40-lb braid, with 25 yds of 30-lb Seaguar blue on top. The lure is Halco 110, kinda famous for taking kings even sitting still. I also have a slow-jigging reel which can double up for trolling. This one I use for casting, but it's casting 1-4 oz dropped on a slow flutter around platforms. It's backed with 200 yds 30-lb braid, and 50-yds 20-lb Seaguar blue on top. Spiral-wrapped rod. Caiman 150 is Ambassadeur 6000 size.

There are a ton of salmon and trout opportunities here that you'd never think of. Atlantic salmon go into a half dozen lakes and hold over year to year. There are lake trout in a couple more. All of the lakes that have those also get stockings of rainbow and brown trout which get pelagic in those lakes. Certainly some big ones are caught every year. You're talking about lakes that go well over 100' of water and in the case of Merrill over 200'. This time of year is supposedly the best time too for shore guys because the trout/salmon will cruise up close in < 10' of water (even at round valley). In the summers they will be well offshore following bait. Last time I fished round valley I marked TONS of fish at 50-75' depth in 100-125 total fow. That's downrigger territory there. If you head over this way, drop me a line.

Green Sunfish were the deal today. Beetle Spins and lite tackle.

Smart fish that are still reluctantly whacking it. Honestly I prefer side hooking them with a jerkbait to digging the hooks out of their crushers/gills/stomach - but that's just me. Popping a hook out of their scales isn't as fun as knowing they got it good but it beats a murder scene and dead fish. Honestly - it's just a way that fish accidentally get hooked by an artificial lure that tricked them some of the time. You can try changing colors and going bigger or smaller to see if they choke it instead of swipe at it. Also try some different cadence/retrieves.