Saltwater Lures For Freshwater Bass

[basslover12345]

Anyone ever use saltwater lures for bass? What lures? Experiences? Way saltwater colors work for bass?

[Hanover_Yakker]

If you can target redfish or speckled trout in the salt, then you have a portion of the lures that will work for bass as well. I know the following lures are cross-water and work perfectly:

Topwater: Bomber Badonkadonks, Heddon Zara Pup and Spooks, MirrOlures, Rapala Skitterwalks

Suspending: MirrOlure MirrOminnows, 17MR, 18MR, 52MR, STTRs, Rapala X-Raps/Subwalks, LC Pointers, SPRO McSticks, etc.

Crankbaits: wakers like Mann's -1, SPRO BBZ-1 floaters, Tru-Tungsten floating shads or Strike King King Shads; Lipless crankbaits or Rapala deep divers.

Soft Plastics: ZOOM Super Flukes, Bass Assassin Jerk Shads and Sea Shad/Swimming Mullets, etc.

Spinnerbaits: Betts 1/4oz Beetle Spins (#4 gold blade and a large beetle in craw or chartreuse), SK Redfish Magics or the Bomber version.

Spoons: ADLs, Kastmasters, Johnson's Silver Minnows, Hopkins and Blades or Manns Little Georges.

Jigs: 1/4-3/8oz finesse skirted jigs in brown/orange (I know reds love these! hint hint)

Jigheads: 1/4 oz ballheads paired with a 3-4" curly tail grub, paddle tail

Alabama or Flounder Rig: add the jigheads above or even weightless flukes on the outer arms and a spoon or larger bait on the center arm.

Vertical Jigs: the single tuna vertical jigs also work in deep holes for bass, walleyes, pike, etc.

If it's a lure that mimics any of the forage that the target species chases, it will transfer between both water types! I use almost all of my gear between both.

The key is to make sure you rinse off the lures and the rod/reel combos you used with warm water after each use to prevent corrosion.

LMK if you have any other questions!!

[MCS]

Anyone ever use saltwater lures for bass? What lures? Experiences? Way saltwater colors work for bass?

 

Rage has a saltwater lineup, shrimp, crabs etc. in another thread I was asking Big O about them for bass. He indeed said he has used them with success. Here on the St. Johns you can catch a bass on a live shrimp too.  Besides a shrimp and a craw are similar in profile. As far as colors many of the plastic shrimps I have are white, chart/silver flake, oranges/copper, rootbeer chart. I would use them in a pond, seem all pretty typical colors. dunno about eletric chicken but if you score them on the cheap then try them.

 

Also checkout bomber saltwater grade. They have a website and you can score some decent stuff like the badonka donks, heddons, and swim jigs for 2-4 bucks

[DeadEyeDavey]

I found out that every Bomber I own are salt water lures. I guess that's why each one cost me $2.50 here in Michigan. This one is my favorite  (sorry if the image isn't shown this is my first time uploading an image.)

[SirSnookalot]

Anyone ever use saltwater lures for bass? What lures? Experiences? Way saltwater colors work for bass?

Assuming you already have S/W lures, because if I you didn't just buy freshwater lures.  Most lures are pretty universal as far as what kind of water and what kind of fish you can use them for.  For the most part I use s/w lures in salt and freshwater lures in fresh.  Only exceptions are a plastic fluke, spoon and bucktail jig.  I'd be paying more attention to matching the lure to the rod, rather than a specific lure.

Not that I haven't used every single lure mentioned, but 30 years of saltwater fishing has taught me 1 thing, all I need to use is a plastic fluke, bucktail, top water lure and a spoon, anything else is just for the sake of variety.

One thing I would to try if I'm ever up north is to use one of my surgical tubes on muskie or pike, I think they might be killers.

[WRB]

Boot tail type swim baits with fish head jigs started out in salt water, migrated to fresh water. The drop shot rig with octopus hook was originally a salt water rig. A-rig started out as a water trolling spreader rig. As mentioned spoons, jigs and surface poppers are common salt water lures.

Most salt water lures have galvanized steel XX hooks that should be changed for fresh water, if that is where you plan to fish them.

Tom

[0119]

Exude Brand Mr. Twister soft plastics like the Dart.

Bomber Ba-Donk-A Donk

Redfish Magic spinnerbaits

[RyneB]

A Pop-A-Dog is one of my favorite topwater baits for bass. Its a saltwater bait.

[Deleted account]

I find I use more bass lures in the salt than salt lures on bass, but I'll do it both ways. I've only had 1 fish ask me if the lure was "technique specific" before biting it...

[Raul]

You answered your own question, the common denominator is the magical word "lures", or in other words, lures are to lure predatory fish and pretty much most prdatory fish will be attracted to lures. In practical terms most "salt"water lures are modified versions of "fresh"water lures, the paint job may be different, the hooks may be upgraded to stand corrosion, it may be larger or heavier but they are pretty much the same, same thing applies to most plastics; so to answer your question, yes I do use saltwater lures for bass fishing, for example Rapala Magnums are deadly bass baits, I found a couple of decades ago that small size ( about 4" long ) hollow head octopus soft platic lures made killer punching baits and so on.

 

The most lethal bass weapon in your arsenal is not in your tackle box, it´s in between your ears.

[Jigfishn10]

Rattletrap type lures in mulllet and mackeral work great. Most chugger type baits work great...Heck, try the larger versions of the senko type baits. I use these for both freshwater and saltwater bass.

 

My first saltwater striper was on a 1/2 oz deep diving Strike King freshwater Crankbait on a freshwater rod.

 

Fear not the saltwater/freshwater mix...LOL

[SirSnookalot]

The biggest difference between freshwater and saltwater lures are the size and hooks used, predatory fish in either environment will strike both types of lures.

The above mentioned Poppa Dog is my favorite, IMO Mirrolure uses the strongest hooks.

[Sam]

Don't forget the saltwater line.

 

I use 15 pound test Ande mono for some bass presentations.

[CayMar]

I bought a package of rage tails with a scent inside. It was on clearance at Dick's for like $3 bucks. I threw it in my buggy without looking at it, I saw rage tail and jumped on it. When I got home I figured out it was for saltwater. I don't remember exactly what they are but I know they are clear with silver glitter inside with a yellow tail. Maybe 4 inches long. Do you guys think they will work in fresh water? I rarely fish saltwater or I would save them, but right now they are just collecting dust.

[SirSnookalot]

^^^ I have no doubt they will work ^^^

[CayMar]

Awesome. I knew you would know. Thank you sir.

[craww]

Xrap Walk 13 in glass ghost...Dont blame me if you get your arm broke!

[papajoe222]

I've used some saltwater baits fishing for muskie and ended up catching some nice largemouth.  Since then, I've added a couple to my bass tackle.  The most productive has been the saltwater version of the ChugBug. Switched out the hooks including adding a feathered treble  on the tail.  The others are soft plastics that were poured in bass colors after making a mold of the saltwater version.

[jhoffman]

The original berkley gulp shad in white/chartreuse was packaged as saltwater. I saw them and just KNEW they would work and they worked well. I dont live anywhere remotely close to salt. About 6-8 hours of driving.

[SirSnookalot]

I fish both salt and fresh everyday, fish are fish, it doesn't make a difference what the package says.  I catch snook and tarpon with a senko or any creature type bait on a jig.  I catch bass on a salt water poppa dogs.  The key to catching any fish is not the bait, it's learning the various nuances of each species.  Before any one gets in an uproar, yes there certain fish that will only hit live or cut bait, or crabs, but for the most part most fish will hit anything.

[Raul]

I ain´t gonna rise in uproar SirSnook, I love fly fishing for carp, but I´ve caught several nice carp while bass and bluegill fishing with senkos, grubs, tubes, creatures, cranks and those carp were not caught accidentally by hooking them on the body, they had the lure in their mouth so evidently they were chewing it.

[ColdSVT]

I plan on throwing my trusty mirrodine this spring...love me some early suspending twitchbait action

[SirSnookalot]

I plan on throwing my trusty mirrodine this spring...love me some early suspending twitchbait action

I like throwing a twichbait for bass, I usually buy catch 2000 or catch jr, pretty universal lure.