How do you choose a search bait

[jeff25]

If you go to a new lake or new area how do you choose your search baits? How do you choose based on structure, cover, water temp, water clarity ect. 

 

So why choose a crankbait over a spinnerbait, jerk bait, small swimbait ect?

 

So what situations do you lean toward one bait over another?

[Deleted account]

Monday, Wednesday and Friday: Inny Minny, Minny Moe. Tuesdays, Thursdays: One potatoe, two potatoe, Weekends:Last three of total take at Aqueduct..(you can take the kid out of Brooklyn...) Free lure to the first who knows what that is.

[Raul]

Simplicity pal: spinnerbaits & lipless cranks, those work for me anywhere.

[Scarborough817]

i choose by time of day and what i'm fishing 

if it's grass i pick up a buzz bait and then go to a bladed jig or swim jig

if it's hard bottom i pick up a spook early and then go to a crankbait

if it's deep water i pick up a spook or popper early and then go to a jerkbait

if it's stumps i pick up a buzz bait or frog and then go to a squarebill or spinnerbait

 

but there are times when it honestly doesn't matter you can throw whatever you want and they will eat it, so don't get to caught up on specifics

[FCPhil]

I always use treble hook baits if I can because their hookup ratio is so good even if the bass just swipes it. 

 

My usual go-to is a lipless crank if I can get away with it. If the grass is too shallow for it though I go to a shallow running crankbait. If it is too shallow for that I like a whopper plopper. If I'm still getting snagged up in grass then maybe a buzzing frog or a buzzbait. 

[buzzed bait]

6 hours ago, reason said:

Monday, Wednesday and Friday: Inny Minny, Minny Moe. Tuesdays, Thursdays: One potatoe, two potatoe, Weekends:Last three of total take at Aqueduct..(you can take the kid out of Brooklyn...) Free lure to the first who knows what that is.

 

you talking about the racetrack in NY?  I think we drove by there once while visiting my wife's grandmother in Queens.

[scaleface]

Just try to make good decisions . Spinnerbaits go though cover better than cranks , that  is why I'll sometimes choose one over the other .

[Columbia Craw]

This is the formula I apply:

 

Seasonal pattern ( winter, pre spawn, spawn, post spawn)

Depth

Water clarity and Temp

Cover type

 

I pick a bait that can effectively work the ZONE to get a bait and get the fish to show themselves. Baits that can move as fast as possible but not too fast allow me to cover water faster.  Baits that you can speed up or slow down are preferable. 

For smallmouth I apply the saying, find them with crankbaits and catch them with plastics. 

[CTBassin860]

I simply "search" for one.? Sorry...I had to.

They are all search baits in my book

[Deleted account]

1 hour ago, buzzed bait said:

 

you talking about the racetrack in NY?  I think we drove by there once while visiting my wife's grandmother in Queens.

 

Yes, but why is that used to make a decision?

 

To answer the OPs question, it depends on the conditions, time of year and cover. I'll start with the lure that will go though the cover best and matches the fishes mood, and adjust from there. That usually means a spinnerbait, chatter, swim jig, crankbait, fluke, buzzbait or smallish swimbait, but no lure is off the table.

[Mike L]

As you can tell there are no hard and fast rules...Each body of water is different but all have the same qualities. You just have to make an educated decision based on conditions.

 

If you're in deep water..a deep diving crank, slow rolling a spinnerbait, drop shot etc.

Shallow water....Jig, plastic, chatterbait, swim bait etc.

 

If its windy, throw a spinnerbait 

If its calm, throw top water

If in pads and heavy vegetation, frog or t rig plastic

Etc

Etc

 

You just gotta try one, then the other, then the other, then the other. 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[Bankbeater]

Sometimes I look at the wind, water clarity, temp, cover, and structure.  Other times I will go by what has worked in the past in the body of water I am fishing in. 

[WRB]

Lures are intended to catch fish not search for them. 

I search by studying maps and using my sonar unit, determine what seasonal period it is and what depth the bait and bass are using, then I go fishing using lures I have confidence in using for the current conditions.

Tom

[ww2farmer]

In no particular order:

 

Season

 

Depth

 

Cover

 

Structure 

 

Weather conditions

 

Water clarity

 

Water temp.

 

Location

 

And what color bass I am targeting....IE smallmouth vs. largemouth.

[Bucky205]

Water here is pretty clear.  In daylight I tend to use a white spinner bait with silver willow leaf blades for searching.  I can throw it most places on the water without hanging it up.  I'll fish it deep and jig it along, rip it along near the surface, bring it through the weeds, or throw it under a dock.  I think I like it because it is so hard to hang up and bass will definitely hit it.

[fishwizzard]

5 hours ago, reason said:

 

Yes, but why is that used to make a decision?

How else are you going to pick lottery numbers? 

 

If I am truly lost, I prefer a spinnerbait, the size/color/blades dictated by the specific water.  I take more risky casts with them than say with a crank.  However I am starting to give lipless cranks a go, I am finding that a 1/2oz Red Eyed Shad casts well on all but my lightest rods and carrying a pair of them adds little in the way of bulk or weight to my gear.  

[Catt]

5 hours ago, WRB said:

Lures are intended to catch fish not search for them. 

I search by studying maps and using my sonar unit, determine what seasonal period it is and what depth the bait and bass are using, then I go fishing using lures I have confidence in using for the current conditions.

Tom

 

Map study, on the water conditions, down imaging/side imaging & lures to effectively fish the selected area.

[RoLo]

When planning to fish a new waterbody for the first time,

all my searching, studying and site selection is conducted at home, long before I wet the boat.

Using an AC/DC converter, I create all my waypoints with the bathymetry in my Lowrance chartplotter.

 

By the time I finally launch the boat, the lake will be as familiar to me as my backyard.

I'll hopscotch from waypoint to waypoint, while totally ignoring the rest of the lake.

If the lake is very large, I'll probably be fishing less than one percent of its area (the best 1%).

 

Although the expressions 'search lure' & 'locator lure' are in my vocabulary, they're not in my repertoire. 

To my mind:   No lure is a search lure   Every lure is a search lure.

 

Roger

[Catt]

6 hours ago, RoLo said:

Every lure is a search lure.

 

Roger

 

Every lure is a search lure & every lure is an reaction lure!

[LBASS01]

It's all just a matter of confidence.  Whatever search bait you have the most confidence in, is the one you should throw first.

[Senko lover]

You've gotten some great advice. I'm nowhere near the level of some of these guys, but here's what I do. I usually look at two things: water clarity and cover.

 

If the water is clear, I'm more prone to go with some lighter colors and something more like a swim jig or a swimming plastic.

 

If the water is dirty, I pick up something with flash and vibration, like a chatterbait, spinnerbait, or lipless. I often throw those in clear water, too, for what it's worth haha.

 

And then if there's a ton of grass or cover to get hung up on, I usually try for something more weedless. It just gives me more confidence to get in the cover where the fish are.

[Sam]

Jeff, you have asked one of the $64,000 questions.

 

Everyone has their preference.  Some of us like vibrations while others like the flash. A noisy buzzbait as opposed to a quiet KDVD 2.5 square bill crankbait.

 

I usually start early with a buzzbait, then go with the Whooper Plooper followed by the Pompadour and then a Sammy style walking bait.  RICO's are mixed in, too.

 

Which one works first wins!!!!!

 

After the sun comes up it is on to crankbaits and spinnerbaits with Chatterbaits thrown in the mix. These baits allow you to cover a lot of water.

 

So to answer your question...everything written above is correct. It is up to you to throw the search baits you have confidence.

 

It boils down to confidence in your presentations.

[scaleface]

When I'm fishing a small craft propelled by an electric motor only [ kayaks for a lot of anglers] then I'm going to be doing a lot of junk fishing  , going down the bank and fishing it all . I'll have four or five combos and each one will have a lure carefully selected for the areas I'm fishing . If the lake has vegetation then those lures are not going to be the same as a lake void of vegetation . So simply match the lures to the conditions and change when an idea hits you.

 

 

[Ads7633]

A lot of search baits can be used interchangeably. Go with the one you are most confident in.

 

For me if the the water is dirty I like a lipless crank if cover will allow, but if there is too much grass or wood I will throw a spinner bait or square bill.

 

clear water I usually will throw a jerkbait first or maybe wake a spinnerbait.

[Mr Swim Jig]

As everyone has pointed out there is no correct or wrong answer to this...for me I will use a spinner bait, swim jig and either a lipless or square bill crank bait...