lures for times of the year?

[Gus Heinze]

I was watching a youtube video where Flair talks about organizing his tackle in different ways. Seemed like a good idea. He mentioned at one point when he was talking about his jerk-baits that he's now ready for spring fishing (when he was talking about jerk-baits, so I assumed jerk-baits means spring fishing??). I'm pretty new to all of this stuff so I wonder, are certain baits better for certain times of the year?

 

What I'm asking is should I only be trying a few different lures depending on the time of the year, water temps, etc...? I don't want to be the silly person throwing the wrong thing at the wrong time of the year only to get skunked each time out. Is there a rule of thumb to this?

 

Thank you for your insight and tips.

 

 

[iceintheveins]

No doubt certain baits work much better at certain times of the year. I use a lot of different lures much of the year, but I don't often use suspending jerkbaits for water over 60 or topwaters in water temps under 55, for instance. I can give you a seasonal breakdown.

 

Early Pre Spawn - Suspending Jerkbait, Lipless Crank, Tight Wobbling Finesse Cranks (shad raps ect), Wiggle Warts, Some deep cranks, spinnerbaits, jigs with low action trailers, swim jigs, ned rigs, drop shot, carolina rig

 

Later Pre Spawn - Squarebills and shallow cranks, spinnerbaits, Ned Rig, Jigs with higher action trailers, medium crankbaits, flukes, senkos, and topwaters once the water hits 60

 

Post Spawn Through Early Fall - Jigs, flippin' creatures, worms of all types, buzzbaits, all sorts of topwaters including frogs, cranks of all types, spinnerbaits of all types, Ned Rigs

 

Mid Fall to Early Winter - Lipless cranks, suspending jerkbaits, many of the same things I use in the early pre spawn.

 

 

This is just a generalization, not a hard and fast list. There are variables like water clarity, amount of wind, light level and cloud cover, pressure, lake specific forage ect.

[BraytonM]

1 minute ago, iceintheveins said:

No doubt certain baits work much better at certain times of the year. I use a lot of different lures much of the year, but I don't often use suspending jerkbaits for water over 60 or topwaters in water temps under 55, for instance. I can give you a seasonal breakdown.

 

Early Pre Spawn - Suspending Jerkbait, Lipless Crank, Tight Wobbling Finesse Cranks (shad raps ect), Wiggle Warts, Some deep cranks, spinnerbaits, jigs with low action trailers, swim jigs, ned rigs, drop shot, carolina rig

 

Later Pre Spawn - Squarebills and shallow cranks, spinnerbaits, Ned Rig, Jigs with higher action trailers, medium crankbaits, flukes, senkos, and topwaters once the water hits 60

 

Post Spawn Through Early Fall - Jigs, flippin' creatures, worms of all types, buzzbaits, all sorts of topwaters including frogs, cranks of all types, spinnerbaits of all types, Ned Rigs

 

Mid Fall to Early Winter - Lipless cranks, suspending jerkbaits, many of the same things I use in the early pre spawn.

 

 

This is just a generalization, not a hard and fast list. There are variables like water clarity, amount of wind, light level and cloud cover, pressure, lake specific forage ect.

This is a great rundown. Snap a picture of this and you are golden. 

[Bluebasser86]

The only thing I add/remove from my tackle during the year is taking out my topwater and big worms when the water gets cold, and putting them back when it gets back above about 50 degrees.

 

Too many times I've caught the fish on a bait that wasn't supposed to work at that time of year or water temp. One of my best days last year was fishing a big suspending jerkbait in 72 degree water in early summer. 

[CroakHunter]

I second what blue mentioned. I don't throw big worms and topwater from November to may. (that's a rough time frame dependant on seasonal temp) Also I don't do a whole lot of shallow cranking in the summer due to the abundance of thick vegetation that is found in less than 15ft of water where I fish here in southern indiana. But I always have a jig or two tied on as well as a spinnerbait/chatterbait, medium sized shakey head, and some type of finesse tactic on a spinning rig

[Catt]

I don't buy spring lures

I don't buy summer lures

I don't buy fall lures 

I don't buy winter lures

 

I buy bass fishing lures

 

More records have been broken by the silly person throwing the wrong thing at the wrong time. 

[Oregon Native]

Even though I enjoy throwing topwater....if it boils down to one or two bites on top verses 5 or 6 down under.....I'm going down under!!

[scaleface]

The further north you go the more seasonal lures play into it . You being from Texas  , not so much .  

[Gus Heinze]

21 hours ago, iceintheveins said:

No doubt certain baits work much better at certain times of the year. I use a lot of different lures much of the year, but I don't often use suspending jerkbaits for water over 60 or topwaters in water temps under 55, for instance. I can give you a seasonal breakdown.

 

Early Pre Spawn - Suspending Jerkbait, Lipless Crank, Tight Wobbling Finesse Cranks (shad raps ect), Wiggle Warts, Some deep cranks, spinnerbaits, jigs with low action trailers, swim jigs, ned rigs, drop shot, carolina rig

 

Later Pre Spawn - Squarebills and shallow cranks, spinnerbaits, Ned Rig, Jigs with higher action trailers, medium crankbaits, flukes, senkos, and topwaters once the water hits 60

 

Post Spawn Through Early Fall - Jigs, flippin' creatures, worms of all types, buzzbaits, all sorts of topwaters including frogs, cranks of all types, spinnerbaits of all types, Ned Rigs

 

Mid Fall to Early Winter - Lipless cranks, suspending jerkbaits, many of the same things I use in the early pre spawn.

 

 

This is just a generalization, not a hard and fast list. There are variables like water clarity, amount of wind, light level and cloud cover, pressure, lake specific forage ect.

Thank you sir! It's nice to be pointed in the correct direction. I take my kids fishing, they use worms or minnows and catch fish left and right. I'm over there using a senko or something else....I'm fishing, they're catching.

 

My wife says, "Why don't you just use a worm or other live bait?" I'm kinda thinking I like the challenge more, there isn't much to a real worm and tossing it in, only to have it hammered within 30-60 seconds. Maybe that makes me stubborn, but I like the idea of catching something on a lure.

 

[Gus Heinze]

Went out today with my kids, tried a few different lures mentioned in the above posts. No such luck did a have a few bites on a smaller jerkbait.

 

We had a great time, the owner of the land suggested the kids use hot dogs??!! I'd never heard of such a thing but they put little pieces on a small hook and it was bam bam bam one right after the other. Some of them were decent sized panfish, about twice the size of my hand. I didn't get to snap any pictures of them catching fish as I was too busy taking fish off one hook then the other. Have you ever heard of hotdogs for bait? It was amazing! They would use a small piece, for the money compared to worms I'd use hotdogs all day long, they keep (don't die like minnows or worms) and they are very cheap.

 

 

[Way north bass guy]

On 2018-03-14 at 9:13 AM, scaleface said:

The further north you go the more seasonal lures play into it . You being from Texas  , not so much .  

Not sure I can agree with this. One of my best mid summer dog days baits up here is a suspending jerkbait. Seems like a lot of guys only use it in the spring. I think no matter where you fish, it differs from lake to lake and even different parts of larger lakes. On Georgian Bay, where I fish a lot, there can be big differences in how a certain lure works from one side of the bay to the other, there’s a huge difference in the overall bottom composition and even rock type from one end to the other. 

[scaleface]

1 minute ago, Way north bass guy said:

Not sure I can agree with this.

I  was referring to all lures . Not many bass are going to be caught on  a buzzbait here   for awhile yet .

[Way north bass guy]

That makes sense now, sometimes I read things wrong. Not the sharpest tool in the shed sometimes ?

[BrackishBassin]

On 3/14/2018 at 6:58 AM, Catt said:

I don't buy spring lures

I don't buy summer lures

I don't buy fall lures 

I don't buy winter lures

 

I buy bass fishing lures

 

More records have been broken by the silly person throwing the wrong thing at the wrong time. 

Like my new PB caught on a topwater in February. My new mantra - throw it, because you never know. 

[Raul]

On 14/3/2018 at 4:58 AM, Catt said:

I don't buy spring lures

I don't buy summer lures

I don't buy fall lures 

I don't buy winter lures

 

I buy bass fishing lures

 

More records have been broken by the silly person throwing the wrong thing at the wrong time. 

Too danged right !

 

[FishDewd]

On 3/17/2018 at 2:36 PM, Gus Heinze said:

We had a great time, the owner of the land suggested the kids use hot dogs??!! I'd never heard of such a thing but they put little pieces on a small hook and it was bam bam bam one right after the other. Some of them were decent sized panfish, about twice the size of my hand. I didn't get to snap any pictures of them catching fish as I was too busy taking fish off one hook then the other. Have you ever heard of hotdogs for bait? It was amazing! They would use a small piece, for the money compared to worms I'd use hotdogs all day long, they keep (don't die like minnows or worms) and they are very cheap.

 

Yes, actually hotdogs are a very good bait here for panfish and catfish. I've also heard of people encasing them in strawberry jello as well somehow. But they work great by themselves. I've used cheap vienna sausage from the can and it was catching some decent catfish out of ponds.

On 3/17/2018 at 2:36 PM, Gus Heinze said:

 

 

 

 

Future bass fishing legend right there! She's what, 3? And already using a baitcaster?! Outstanding!

 

[Gus Heinze]

16 minutes ago, FishDewd said:

 

Yes, actually hotdogs are a very good bait here for panfish and catfish. I've also heard of people encasing them in strawberry jello as well somehow. But they work great by themselves. I've used cheap vienna sausage from the can and it was catching some decent catfish out of ponds.

 

Future bass fishing legend right there! She's what, 3? And already using a baitcaster?! Outstanding!

 

LOL I thought the same thing after I posted it, been laughing all weekend. It's amazing how there's 0 backlash!

 

"Never to young to learn a bait-caster." Good guess Emma's 2 & 1/2 has a great time going with us, enjoys the water, wants to go swimming and lays on the dock with her stick she found (see stick next to her) sticking it in the water saying, "I'm going fishing". I guess to her that's what it looks like we're doing holding our rods near the water "going fishing". When the fish are caught she wants NOTHING to do with touching the fish, she did once and kept saying, "yuck, wipe my hands?"

 

She'll probably be the next future pro. LOL

[Ruy Lopez]

On 3/13/2018 at 10:20 PM, iceintheveins said:

Early Pre Spawn - Suspending Jerkbait, Lipless Crank, Tight Wobbling Finesse Cranks (shad raps ect), Wiggle Warts, Some deep cranks, spinnerbaits, jigs with low action trailers, swim jigs, ned rigs, drop shot, carolina rig

 

Later Pre Spawn - Squarebills and shallow cranks, spinnerbaits, Ned Rig, Jigs with higher action trailers, medium crankbaits, flukes, senkos, and topwaters once the water hits 60

 

 

Very informative list.  I've already snapped a pic of it.  One question though; what would constitute low-action trailers and what would constitute high-action trailers?

[iceintheveins]

21 hours ago, Ruy Lopez said:

Very informative list.  I've already snapped a pic of it.  One question though; what would constitute low-action trailers and what would constitute high-action trailers?

High action trailers would be stuff like rage and paca chunks. Low action chunks would be stuff like a Zoom Super Chunk or beaver style bait, that more just has a gliding action on the fall but will wave a little bit when stood on the bottom.