New Englanders Help Me With Lures And Weighted Baits

[Khan of the Res]

I'm from Massachusetts and through my years of fishing I have never caught a fish on a a hard plastic lure (crank bait, spinners, poppers, etc.). Last year, I tried a rubber swim shad and caught only 1 juvenile bass on them. I religiously use texas rigged rubber worms which the bass seem to love when they are feeding from the bottom of the shallows but, whenever they are feeding on the top, I can't get them with the worm and when they go deep, the lightweight worm doesn't cut it. Whenever I put weight on the worm, it just dredges the bottom and gets stuck on everything - the same goes for any sining lure, especially spinners. Theres a reason I don't have a tackle box and that is because I have never in my life caught something on a lure that wasn't rubber and unweighted.

 

Help me out guys. I really want to get a bait caster this year but its pointless if I don't know how to work hard lures. If anyone from the New England area knows what kind of lures the bass (and more specifically Chain Pickerel, my favorite fish) around here enjoy.

[BaitMonkey1984]

I live in Mass on the border of the New Hampshire. My local lakes are small and shallow (max depth) 25 ft. My lakes have LM and smallmouth, blue gill, perch, crappie, and some small cats.

I would throw white and yellow spinner baits, some jointed rapalas, and some storm square bill cranks. These are easy to get started on, and easy to hook the fish once they bite. Try these and PM if you want more info.

[Shane J]

I don't know, man. I'm just a hop, skip, and a jump up 93 from you, and 97% of all the bass I catch, are on jigs and weighted Texas Rigged plastics. Sure weightless plastic worms and stuff have a time and a place, but probably only account for 0.5% of my fish. If you're having problems with getting mucked up with bottom presentations, then try pegging your weight, and make sure you are rigging your baits so the hook is not exposed at all. 

 

[Mainebass1984]

I don't know, man. I'm just a hop, skip, and a jump up 93 from you, and 97% of all the bass I catch, are on jigs and weighted Texas Rigged plastics. Sure weightless plastic worms and stuff have a time and a place, but probably only account for 0.5% of my fish. If you're having problems with getting mucked up with bottom presentations, then try pegging your weight, and make sure you are rigging your baits so the hook is not exposed at all. 

 

 

What lure is that ? Never seen one. There are bass in New England ? 97 % of the fish you catch are on soft plastics and jigs ? You must know your numbers. You ever heard of this contraption called a crankbait ?

[BaitMonkey1984]

I don't know, man. I'm just a hop, skip, and a jump up 93 from you, and 97% of all the bass I catch, are on jigs and weighted Texas Rigged plastics. Sure weightless plastic worms and stuff have a time and a place, but probably only account for 0.5% of my fish. If you're having problems with getting mucked up with bottom presentations, then try pegging your weight, and make sure you are rigging your baits so the hook is not exposed at all. 

 

 

d**n that looks like a tasty morsel Shane. I was referring to the original post and he was looking for hard baits, thus the scope of my answer dealt with hard baits. I love to fish crank baits as it fits with my high speed personality but I have a Ranger and garage filled with enough soft plastics to make Strike kIng and Zoom jealous. If I am not cranking, I got plastics on and fish them in all presentations that get a bite. 

 

Also, I too would like the name of that bait. I have lots similar but not with the length of the tentacles. Plus, with a few more months of hard water I need to pacify the BaitMonkey.   

[InfamousBG]

I live in MA on the NH line.  Rapala X-raps. Look them up online. They have shallow and deep running baits. They come in all sorts of colors. I live by these baits. Smallmouth love them as well as largemouth. Jerk baits are where it is at. When the spawn happens and bass are in the shallow rocks/brush these baits tick the fish off and they come and bite. When the bass are a bit more deep throw a deeper running jerkbait and twitch it good. You will find success. Good luck. 

[NJBasstard]

What lure is that ? Never seen one. There are bass in New England ? 97 % of the fish you catch are on soft plastics and jigs ? You must know your numbers. You ever heard of this contraption called a crankbait ?

 

 

Also, I too would like the name of that bait. I have lots similar but not with the length of the tentacles. Plus, with a few more months of hard water I need to pacify the BaitMonkey.   

 

 

That looks to be a Strike King Structure Bug in PB&J color.

[Mainebass1984]

That looks to be a Strike King Structure Bug in PB&J color.

 

I was being sarcastic. I have a bunch of rage bugs. They work very well texas rigged or like I fish it, on the back of my jig.

[Angry John]

The large rc stx in pearl white and the black one. Strike king 1.5 square bills in bluegill and perch. 1/4 and 3/8 jigs in watermelon with a beaver in watermelon red flake spro popping frog the brown one. And a river 2 sea bubble walker 88 in trout. Not an expensive lineup but worked for me all over CT. There are a ton of baits out there but these have all produced for me again and again.

[Shane J]

d**n that looks like a tasty morsel Shane. I was referring to the original post and he was looking for hard baits, thus the scope of my answer dealt with hard baits. I love to fish crank baits as it fits with my high speed personality but I have a Ranger and garage filled with enough soft plastics to make Strike kIng and Zoom jealous. If I am not cranking, I got plastics on and fish them in all presentations that get a bite. 

 

Also, I too would like the name of that bait. I have lots similar but not with the length of the tentacles. Plus, with a few more months of hard water I need to pacify the BaitMonkey.   

That is in fact a Rage Bug, Blue Craw color, with red JJ's Q-Tipped onto one side, creating the custom color " Tequilla Sunrise", AKA, My favorite.

[NEjitterbugger]

Definitely try to get the jig in your arsenal... There really isn't a time when I'm out on the water and a jig isn't tied on at least one of my rods... Besides there being multiple different kinds of jigs for specific types of fishing whether it's a swim jig, football jig, flipping jig, etc. you can really personalize your jig presentation which is probably one of the main reasons why I'm so attracted to them. That and that they flat out catch fish once you know what you're doing with them.. It wasn't to long ago before Shane taught me the ins and outs of jig fishing and it boosted my fishing skill and IQ a lot! As soon as you tie a jig on the window is wide open, selecting your trailer and or trailer color and then going as far as adding some JJs gives you the angler the power to be as creative as you want. 

 

Caught my PB on this jig - Outkast RTX w/ caffeine shad as trailer

 

V&M Pacemaker swim jig w/ Rage Tail Shellcracker as the trailer

 

Other jigs with some Rages on the back

 

And like Mainebass was saying cranks can be a good bait to add too... Last year was my first year seriously fishing a crank and boy it was fun, had some really fun days with largemouth and smallmouth ~ same with jigs of course

 

 

 

[Khan of the Res]

I don't know, man. I'm just a hop, skip, and a jump up 93 from you, and 97% of all the bass I catch, are on jigs and weighted Texas Rigged plastics. Sure weightless plastic worms and stuff have a time and a place, but probably only account for 0.5% of my fish. If you're having problems with getting mucked up with bottom presentations, then try pegging your weight, and make sure you are rigging your baits so the hook is not exposed at all. 

 

definitely gonna try this. is that electrical tape you have put above the weight to keep it from sliding up and down the line? what kind of bait is that? it would work well as a trailer on a grass jig.

[NEjitterbugger]

definitely gonna try this. is that electrical tape you have put above the weight to keep it from sliding up and down the line? what kind of bait is that? it would go work well as a trailer on a grass jig.

 

That' the Rage Tail Structure Bug

[Shane J]

And that's not tape, it's a bobber stopper. Yes, the Bug is the real deal. 

[massrob]

Op anything that Shane says you should listen to actually all of these guys that posted. I've seen what they catch and I was shocked at the size of the fish and numbers. I just started fishing last year and I mostly fished a senko but at the end of the season a squarebill and a chatterbait were all I could catch them on. Just try different types of lures and see what works. I caught a bunch of pickerel on hollow body frogs if that helps you any. All I know is these forums are the only thing that has helped me learn to fish so take a little bit of info from everyone and use it where you can.

[Khan of the Res]

Op anything that Shane says you should listen to actually all of these guys that posted. I've seen what they catch and I was shocked at the size of the fish and numbers. I just started fishing last year and I mostly fished a senko but at the end of the season a squarebill and a chatterbait were all I could catch them on. Just try different types of lures and see what works. I caught a bunch of pickerel on hollow body frogs if that helps you any. All I know is these forums are the only thing that has helped me learn to fish so take a little bit of info from everyone and use it where you can.

thanks for the info. where are you from? I feel like I have seen you somewhere before as weird as that sounds haha.

[Master Bait'r]

I'm from down around Springfield... You can make the T-rig do anything and it works great. Either unweighted or pegged as shown before, or the Carolina rig can be very effective deep. If you want deep baits you can run with weeds and muddy/weeded bottom, jigs and things like the weedless Huddleston grass minnows/shads as well as covered hard baits like the yo-Zuri prism crayfish are made to target that too. The options are endless but that doesn't mean the concepts are complicated.

The best advice I can give though is to read, pay attention on here and fish as much as possible. Get to know your water and think about presentation on what's there. There's way too much to tell you in a simple response.

[massrob]

I'm from Norwood. Maybe you have seen me I'm 29.

[Khan of the Res]

I'm from Norwood. Maybe you have seen me I'm 29.

Ha! I'm in Ashland which means i'm only 3 towns over from you.

[grampa1114]

King...I remember fishing the Res a long time ago......when I lived in the area....for 35 years....there are plenty of fish to be caught on the ridges that are adjacent to the Islands. Try a Zara Puppy in the cove behind the big island in the spring for Largemouth and  in the corner to the right of the dam. The area in front of the little brook to the right of the ramp and the whole face of the dam will work for medium running crankbaits. The squarebills should work just fine at the point before you go around to the beach. Keep your eyes open for the ridges that extend off points. Oh yeah...twitch baits work all over the Res. Crayfish and Baby Bass along with Perch are usually good choices. 

 

Grampa

[DogBone_384]

I fish mostly on the South Shore, in and around Plymouth.  I switched to baitcasters (B/C) three years ago.  If you're interested in switching to B/C, just do it.  There is a learning curve, but the payoff is worth it.  I cast farther and  more accurately with a B/C than a spinning rig almost all the time.  I use them for every type of lure I throw except for the few soft baits and spinners weighing less than 1/4 oz.  I recommend a BPS Pro Qualifier (or Shimano @ same price point) and a 7' M/F rod that feels good to you. 

 

As far as hard baits, I'm no expert by any means, but I have my best luck with suspending & floating yellow perch Rapalas: they look like the baitfish in the waters I fish.  I don't fish buzz/spinner baits that much, but you can't really go wrong with a chartreuse one and a blue/black one (for dusk/night).  Don't worry about becoming an expert quickly.  Buy a couple lures you want to learn and focus on just that technique for the whole season and don't be afraid to try any retrieve you think of.  A lot of members here keep log books of their fishing trips to better learn what works/doesn't work in specific environments.  That might help too.

 

Like I said above, I switched to B/C only three years ago, so I spent that first year just casting different lures to learn only the B/C.  The second year I focused on T-rigged worms and Senkos.  Last year I used hard baits most of the time to discover what worked and what didn't.  This year it might be jigs, who knows.

 

Lastly, read this forum.  There's an infinite amount of information here for members, from members.  

 

Best of luck this year, and go get yourself a B/C rig.  You'll love it.

 

[Ratherbefishing75]

I've been using lizards and have had lots of luck with them I live south of Boston and the large mouth down here like those

[Khan of the Res]

King...I remember fishing the Res a long time ago......when I lived in the area....for 35 years....there are plenty of fish to be caught on the ridges that are adjacent to the Islands. Try a Zara Puppy in the cove behind the big island in the spring for Largemouth and  in the corner to the right of the dam. The area in front of the little brook to the right of the ramp and the whole face of the dam will work for medium running crankbaits. The squarebills should work just fine at the point before you go around to the beach. Keep your eyes open for the ridges that extend off points. Oh yeah...twitch baits work all over the Res. Crayfish and Baby Bass along with Perch are usually good choices. 

 

Grampa

 

I practically live at the Res. Always great to here from other people who fished there. Everyone always tells me theres nothing in there but I pull up great fish all the time. The biggest fish I ever caught was last august at the Res right at the boat landing where I was wade fishing. Pulled up at ~24 inch chain pickerel. Gonna get my canoe out there this year.

[DogBone_384]

Found this, which might help a little: http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dfg/dfw/habitat/maps-ponds/dfwashl.pdf

[Khan of the Res]

Found this, which might help a little: http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dfg/dfw/habitat/maps-ponds/dfwashl.pdf

thanks i've seen this before. I know that theres a 40 foot channel leading up to the pump house on the north eastern side of the lake. 47 feet at its deepest point mean depth of 26 feet. sunfish, bass, pickerel all stay in the shallows, trout stay at around 13 feet, and the brown bullhead cats are down on the bottom.