Most Productive Baits ~ A Seasonal Review

[A-Jay]

16 minutes ago, WRB said:

Repo Man is a knock off of R2Sea Vixen when they stopped making it, now it's back in the R2Sea offering agian. Glad to see that the Repo Man works, less expensive lure than the Vixen.

Excellent review, well done!

Tom

Thank you Tom - I appreciate the support.

A-Jay

[Scarborough817]

This year my most productive baits were a chatterbait fished around laydowns as well as the ned rig. i also did well on a buzzbait and t rigged worms 

[BrackishBassin]

6 hours ago, cgolf said:

Do you fish T rigged soft plastics on the bottom? I have found bass jigs to have about the same to less gunkupability than a standard Trig. I was really impressed how they came through millfoil.

I do. Usually weightless. Any weight at all and they get hung up. The issue with jigs is that they sit down in the grass where nothing can see them. At least the bass get a look at the plastics ( weightless) on the fall.

4 hours ago, Paul Roberts said:

Nichol's makes a 1/8oz Mango Jig that covers 0 (slop) to 4 feet. Killer.

I'll check it out. Thanks!

[WRB]

As most of you know I am not into soft plastic jig trailers and use GYCB Huls grubs when not fishing hair jigs with pork trailers. 2015I made a change and added Berkley Chigger craws and also tried a verity of SK Rage craws. This year 2016 I discovered making a Hula grub by welding GYCB spider skirts to Chigger craws was the hot ticket for soft plastic on plain painted jigs. This gives the Chigger craw a little added flake color and movement that trigger strikes for me. I even caught a 6+ lb NLMB at Big Bear lake in 50 degree water on this jig, big bass at Big Bear!

Also continued having a good year with Yo-Zuri lipless Vibe 3DB in prizim silver black and gold black everywhere this year including some good striped bass.

Tom

[j bab]

20 minutes ago, WRB said:

Yo-Zuri lipless Vibe 3DB

What do you find to be the advantage over, say, a RES? I don't hear yo-zuri get talked about too often, but I've always liked the look of their baits.

[WRB]

54 minutes ago, j bab said:

What do you find to be the advantage over, say, a RES? I don't hear yo-zuri get talked about too often, but I've always liked the look of their baits.

The 3 DB Vibe has a unique action on verticle fall where must other lipless tend to sink with little action. Instead of the typical fast crank retreive a stop and go works very good similar to a slow jerk bait retreive. The Vibe also works good as a fast retrieve lipless. If the bass are feeding on smaller size bait, the Vibe excels.

Tom

[Catt]

Great write up Jay...as usual

I spent the bulk of 2016 honing my shallow water techniques fishing nothing over 10' & heavily vegetated.

#1 setup: Zoom's Ultravibe Speed Worm in Watermelon Neon, 1/8 oz bullet weight, 2/0 straight shank hook.

#2 setup: Zoom's Finesse Worm in Gooseberry, 1/8 oz bullet weight, 2/0 straight shank hook.

#3 setup: Bass Assassin's Tap Out Worm in Trickster, 1/8 oz bullet weight, 3/0 straight shank hook.

#4 setup: a tossup between a Culprit Worm in Red Shad or Tequila Sunrise, 1/8 oz bullet weight, 3/0 straight shank hook.

My top water bite was near nonexistent, caught few on hollow frogs, solid frogs,  & buzzbaits. Couldn't establish a pattern all year & from what I've heard I wasn't alone!

Spinnerbaits smoked chatterbaits hands down. #1 Santone Matt Herren Got 5 Spinnerbait, a smaller profile that will attract big fish!

Any & all flipping/pitching/punching was done with a Strike King Swinging Swim Jig 3/4 oz, Rage Structure Bug.

[00 mod]

Without a doubt, the single best lure for me this year was a 1/2oz or 3/4 Siebert brush head jig with a Rage Swimmer/Keitech/Skinny Dipper trailer.  This combo alone accounted for more than 20 fish over 5lbs and up to 9.30lbs for me this year alone! Tell anyone and I will kill ya!  

PS- This is fished on or near the bottom.  Drug, hopped, and sometimes but rarely swum. 

Jeff

 

[A-Jay]

Nice Jeff ~

A-Jay

[DubyaDee]

On 11/25/2016 at 0:57 PM, A-Jay said:

It should also be noted here that a good percentage of my fishing especially this season, was done on new to me lakes.  A couple are much larger than what I’ve been able to fish so there was a requirement for quite a bit of prospecting.

It's been great watching you fish my dream lakes this year in the new Lund. One day I hope to vacation in those spots regularly and hunt those smallies down. Figuring out new water is a challenge with a sweet reward. 

This year I've been addicted to throwing a spybait for smallies. Spinbait 80 is easily #1 in my book. I hope you give these a shot in 2017.

1. Dou Realis Spinbait 80 in morning dawn

2. Canadian mist tube jig

3. Vision 110 in yellow perch

4. Evergreen SB 125 in Skeleton Chartreuse

 

 

[A-Jay]

Thank You for saying - I appreciate it. 

Give me a heads up on where & when you plan on heading north, I might be able to offer some local & current intel . . .

A-Jay

[burrows]

Chatter bait, senko, rage menace, shad rap, rc scarebill.

[ErikmonBillsfon]

14 hours ago, Catt said:

Swinging swim jig

I got one of these and I like that it's a jig that bass have no leverage and most importantly I can make a swimbait weedless. I thought it would be more of a moving or swimming jig. As some one who wants to learn more flipping and pitching why do you prefer that to a Trig or something like a hack attack jig? It's so weedy where I fish I'm always afraid to use a jig but if I can use that swinging jig to pitch and flip? I really want the confidence to use jigs more

To the threads question I would have said kietech swing impact fat 3.8 male perch 4/0 weighted screwlock with the SK structure bug a close second

[Will Wetline]

I fish smallmouth in very clear water. I have a lot of baits that produced for me this year. Some are fairly new to me while others I've been using to trick smallies for the past two decades.

 

You can be sure I'll have a LC Pointer in a perch pattern tied on, either a 100 or a 78 size, when the water temp is in the 40ºs to low 50ºs. The 5/8 oz. blade bait is assembled from Barlow's components. The sharp-eyed will note that I've deleted the front treble. Don't think I missed fish by doing so. I lift and drop this bait off the bottom when the water is in the 40ºs. I grin whenever I think about small (1/8 oz. approximately) bucktail jigs - they've produced so well for me in cold water. Don't think that a double tail trailer won't work in water in the 40ºs, either on a jig or on a GYCB Hula Grub (an all-season staple of mine for years). With water in the 40ºs and low 50ºs, drag it, pause it, drag it, pause it . . .  It was my first season throwing the LC Staysee 90. I ordered a backup on sale.

 

This was my third season slowly working a Duo Realis Spin Bait 80 through the water column. Its magic started to work when the water hit the mid 50ºs. When the water reached 60º I added a Strike King Denny Brauer Bitsy ElazTech trailer to the small hair jig that had been producing undressed at colder temperatures. My trailer looks chewed on after several decent smallies but I think it will last until I wedge the jig between the rocks.

 

I bought a Duo Realis Pencil 110 because one of BR's most prolific posters, A-Jay, spoke highly of it. Well, Hell's bells, on my first cast with it this year it produced a 4+ lber. before I could even start it walking!  On the next cast it made a zig, a zag and a zig before getting crushed by a 3 1/4 lber. You might wanna get one. I wacky rigged a 4" Senko when I noticed "dimpling" on the surface of the 69.9º water, informing me that a hatch was happening. Would this little stickbait approximate whatever kind of insect was struggling out of its casing and making its way to the surface? Yup. You want a slow, twitchy retrieve. This 1/2 oz. tandem spinnerbait (made from Barlow's components) is what you want to be throwing on a sunny, windy day. This design has worked for me for years.

 

Started using Z Man's Hula StickZ during June when the sandgrass was thick. That's a Gamakatsu 1/0 standard wire EWG hook which turned out to be thin enough and sharp enough to set using 6 lb. Tatsu and a 7' ML rod. My strange human logic was disappointed that the tentacles on the tail of this little bait clumped up but that didn't bother the smallies whatsoever.

Next year I'm looking forward to fishing more of Z Man's ElazTech products and replacing baits only when I break them off. Projects while Quabbin is covered with ice will be molding, painting and dressing jigs from Do-it's new Midwest Finesse Jig mold and their Poison Swingtail mold.

Winter well, smallies. I'm comin' after ya in April . . . 

 

[Mike L]

For me it's been....

T Rig...Rage Craws, Bugs, Brush Hog

Swimming Plastic...Cut R and Sluggo

On Top...Spooks and Pop R 

Frog...Scum and Live Target

Swim Baits....Skinny Dipper for action, Big EZ for thump

Jerks...Bomber Long A

Spinnerbait...War Eagle double willow

Traps...Red Eye

Crank...Bomber A

Punching...Sweet Beaver and Rage Bug

 

Mike

 

 

[CTBassin860]

I'd have to say my KVD swim jig with a Bruiser baits twin tail trailer,T-Rigged Yum dinger,Booyah Pad Crasher.

[fishwizzard]

8 hours ago, Will Wetline said:

.My strange human logic was disappointed that the tentacles on the tail of this little bait clumped up but that didn't bother the smallies whatsoever.

This drives me crazy too.  If you give each one a good long stretch and lube them with a bit of megastrike they sway around nicely.  

[Columbia Craw]

These baits have been berry berry good to me.  Have you tried a Hot Lips yet A-Jay ?

[A-Jay]

Nicely Done ~

What's that drop shot bait on the left, third one down with the hook in it ?

I think I like it

A-Jay

[Columbia Craw]

It's just a Robo Worm FX Sculpin in Aaron's magic. I did catch some fish on a Dream Shot, and a couple of jigs but they weren't the players I expected them to be.  The body of water they do well was impossible to launch on almost all year. I missed the late fall bite on the Super Spook altogether.  I expect this upcoming season will be very similar. These are my bread and butter lures.

 

Doug

[A-Jay]

Thanks Doug.

Looking ahead, Good Luck to you.

A-Jay

[Cgolf]

Funny thing, I was looking through my RESs last night and I have a silent one that has a faint click like a weight is loose, and it dates back to the timeframe they came out. It appears to be the same color as yours, but with all the chrome because I have never tossed it. Will be tossing it a lot next year though to see how it works. 

[jr231]

Yea I like kalins lunker grubs, zoom or Berkley twin tails, paddle tail swimbaits and the rage menace on my swim jigs. But you could put almost anything on the back of one. 

[CTBassin860]

Try the Bruiser Baits Evil Twin tail on the back of a KVD Rattlin swim jig.That setup gets smashed consistently for me.

[Cgolf]

The kalins grubs are awesome, doesn't take much to get the tail moving and they are both soft and durable. The 5" seems to be the right length for a lot of swim jigs.