Have you got a lure you refuse to give up on?

[Russ E]

1 hour ago, A-Jay said:

And then there's The Glide Bait - Got a whole box of'em.

Been tossing this one around for twice as long as the A-Rig; sort of hate these foolish things. 

I just don't Get it ! 

Even fished it south of the border where I totally expected the bait to get Hammered . . . . . nope.   

It was like I was fishing a shoe. 

I'll keep at it though because at this point - it's personal..... . . . . .

 

I like the shoe analogy. it just feels awkward.

Like you said it is now personal. I spent a lot of money on these things and sooner or later I will catch a big fish on one.

[kenmitch]

Not yet....But thanks to the bait monkey I've got plenty that I haven't even tried yet.

[MO_TightLines]

For me, it’s Jerkbaits. 2 years ago I was determined to improve my skills and start catching some cold water bass with Jerkbaits.

So I went out and bought some Strike King KVD’s & Ima Flit’s. Fished them the entire winter and NOTHING.

 

So the fall of 2018 I addressed it again, yet this time I decided if I spent the $25 for MegaBass then I would surely start catching more cold water bass. Did I, sure...ONE(1). Yep one Largemouth and still going at it.

 

I’ve decided to take a different approach for 2019. I plan on fishing them in the early spring during prespawn & spawn when I know they will be more active, so I can put fish in the boat and acquire that confidence needed to throw a bait. Then come the colder water of fall/winter, I will have my cadences down and the confidence to throw them and trust they will produce.

[TnRiver46]

16 hours ago, Hank. said:

This is a big one for me. I've pretty much given up on them, but will still throw one every blue moon. I've got several of the H2O Academy multi-jointed hard body swimbaits. They look great in the water, but I'm pretty sure I've never caught a fish on them and I've thrown them in the middle of schools of bass in a feeding frenzy more than once. It's not a real complicated bait to work, I mean there aren't a lot of options or different techniques to try.

Those h20 baits are good stuff. Slow steady retrieve. This one is my favorite, the fish that hit it are usually bigger........ This is just the first pic I found 

[TnRiver46]

29 minutes ago, MO_TightLines said:

For me, it’s Jerkbaits. 2 years ago I was determined to improve my skills and start catching some cold water bass with Jerkbaits.

So I went out and bought some Strike King KVD’s & Ima Flit’s. Fished them the entire winter and NOTHING.

 

So the fall of 2018 I addressed it again, yet this time I decided if I spent the $25 for MegaBass then I would surely start catching more cold water bass. Did I, sure...ONE(1). Yep one Largemouth and still going at it.

 

I’ve decided to take a different approach for 2019. I plan on fishing them in the early spring during prespawn & spawn when I know they will be more active, so I can put fish in the boat and acquire that confidence needed to throw a bait. Then come the colder water of fall/winter, I will have my cadences down and the confidence to throw them and trust they will produce.

The cold water jerkabait thing can be fun! The first time I got a bite when it was sitting completely still it was crazy! I was just standing there........in the sleet....... Watching slack line. All of a sudden it zipped through the water million miles an hour and I felt a strong hit. Guess what? 9 inch crappie haha. But, once I learned to leave it sitting still, on a SLACK LINE, I started catching. I was initially worried about not being able to feel the strike on slack. They hit it way harder than I thought. 

[fin]

8 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Those h20 baits are good stuff. Slow steady retrieve. This one is my favorite, the fish that hit it are usually bigger........ This is just the first pic I found 

Good to know. A lot of times I rip it and then let it slowly sink, because it looks really good falling. The next time I try it, I'll stick with a steady retrieve and see what happens.

[TnRiver46]

1 minute ago, Hank. said:

Good to know. A lot of times I rip it and then let it slowly sink, because it looks really good falling. The next time I try it, I'll stick with a steady retrieve and see what happens.

Well that rip/sink can work too!!! It does sink nicely. I seem to get more just swimming it though , it doesn't sink that fast so you can go pretty slow

[fin]

9 hours ago, MO_TightLines said:

I’ve decided to take a different approach for 2019. I plan on fishing them in the early spring during prespawn & spawn when I know they will be more active, so I can put fish in the boat and acquire that confidence needed to throw a bait. Then come the colder water of fall/winter, I will have my cadences down and the confidence to throw them and trust they will produce.

I think this may be a key to my problem. I try new things when they aren't biting. When they are biting, I want to catch as many as I can. I do experiment sometimes when they're biting, but probably not as much as I should.

[WVU-SCPA]

For 2018 it was the scrounger head with various trailers.   Every time one runs beside the boat I utter the words " I would eat that".  The amount of wobble with that a super fluke jr. creates as a trailer has to elicit some strikes even when its not deflecting off things. 

 

It did catch a decent fish the first time I threw one,  which led to 100's of fishless casts the rest of the year.  They have to work,  just haven't put them in the right conditions. 

 

 

[roadwarrior]

 

[riverbasser]

Jerk bait for me as well. They look great but are poor producers. Only positive is that when I fish one fish show themselves regularly by coming up to look at it, but they rarely eat it

[FCPhil]

On 1/12/2019 at 9:29 PM, Russ E said:

Big swimbaits and glide baits.

They look like they should catch big fish.

Still waiting for a fish to take a sniff.

 

One other for Black Bass is the blade bait.

White bass won't leave them alone. I have only caught a few small black bass with them.

 

On 1/13/2019 at 6:50 AM, A-Jay said:

For the past few seasons, it's been the A-Rig or Umbrella Rig, whichever name you like.

Whatever it's called, I threw that thing until one or both of my arms were about to fall off but with much less than the desired results. 

But last August, I got on some fish with it.  Still not exactly certain if I was 'doing it right' or if perhaps the bass were feeling particularly suicidal, either way somewhere during the next 2 months "the light went on". 

I'll be throwing it again too - as soon as my casts stop bouncing. 

  

 And then there's The Glide Bait - Got a whole box of'em.

Been tossing this one around for twice as long as the A-Rig; sort of hate these foolish things. 

I just don't Get it ! 

Even fished it south of the border where I totally expected the bait to get Hammered . . . . . nope.   

It was like I was fishing a shoe. 

I'll keep at it though because at this point - it's personal..... . . . . .

A-Jay

 

I spent awhile trying to figure out glidebaits and still am. After awhile I realized every fish I have caught with them was by short turn of the reel, causing the bait to “walk” back and forth underwater. Kind of like a slow motion jerkbait. Only once did I catch a fish on a steady retrieve with them, and that when I was retrieving it over a beaver home and the fish struck just before it was out of reach. 

 

Also, I stick with the 5”-6” glidebaits because the big ones get bites so rarely. 

[the reel ess]

Big swimbaits. Especially glide. I know they require patience. But when you can get big bass to bite the usual stuff, I just can't make myself throw the swimbaits for long. I want to take about 6 hours and go to my local dink factory and see if I can catch the biggest bass in the pond, throwing only the biggest baits I have.

[the reel ess]

10 hours ago, riverbasser said:

Jerk bait for me as well. They look great but are poor producers. Only positive is that when I fish one fish show themselves regularly by coming up to look at it, but they rarely eat it

My buddy and I mopped up on the bass one spring with the floating rapala minnow in gold. I have only caught one jerkbait bass since. I see it as a clear water bait. And we rarely have very clear water here unless it doesn't rain for weeks.

On 1/14/2019 at 3:19 PM, roadwarrior said:

 

I have one of these. I used it ata place where there are monster bass to no avail. I took it to my buddy's dink farm and caught 12 dinks on it. LOL. I was amazed those little bass couldn't leave it alone. That was a very steamy summer evening. I have the natural mouse color.

On 1/11/2019 at 2:48 PM, Derek1 said:

Hollow body frog never a single bite. 

This is one of my best producers in mid spring to late summer. It produces best in a place that has no real deep water. Bass just seem to respond to topwaters better in a place where they can see the surface from almost any spot. The trick to it is to use it when you know bass are in the weeds. I mean, you see bass attacking bream or minnows in the lilies or mats. They'll usually let you know they're there. Another tip is to spot cast it to any wood or other cover or structure in the mat. If there's a bass there, you usually won't even move the bait before it gets bit. Trim the skirt legs to about the same length of the body or a little less.