The one lure fisherman

[Mobasser]

Most of us take a lot of baits with us for bass fishing, usually, many more than we use on an average fishing trip. We always want to be prepared for any scenario. Have you ever known a bass fisherman who fished one type of bait exclusively? I knew one years ago. I belonged to a bass club, and became friends with an older guy, Frank, who used nothing but plastic worms. Various sizes from 4" to 10", rigged different ways. T- rig, weightless, split shot, or on his own version of a shakey head, before shakey heads became a big thing. His catch rates were impressive, and I saw him place in the top three in club tournaments many times. He had fished for many years, and tried most all other bass baits on the market, some with success, some not. He had the utmost confidence in his bait of choice. It would be hard for me to limit myself to only one type of bass bait. I like having at least a few different choices. But, maybe we over think much of this? Maybe we should be driven by confidence first.That was Frank's simple concept, and it worked surprisingly well for him. Fish the one that works most often, and keep it simple. Many trophy bass hunters, who specialize in targeting big bass, have relied on one bait to target the biggest bass, focusing on seasonal patterns, location, and presentation to catch the biggest fish. Have you ever known a one lure bass fisherman? I tend to think there's not many around anymore.

[Todd2]

Not exclusively but I know several guys that keep it to two or three. If I was going to throw only one..it'd be a worm too. 

[Tennessee Boy]

I've said it many times on this forum.  You will catch more fish being great at a few things than being average at many.  You can't catch every fish in the lake with one bait but who among us can catch every fish in the lake.  Many tournaments,  even at the highest level have been won with just a worm.  

[TnRiver46]

I'm pretty much "Frank" except less successful. Worm is the best!!!

[Jermination]

there's old men around here that seriously do nothing but throw buzz baits and regularly take us all to the woodshed. No idea how they do it, but they do lol

[Cory430]

I would get so bored limiting myself like that, part of the excitement for me is trying new things. 

[redmexican5081]

Worms are a very versatile bait.  The options on how to rig and use them are enormous.  Topwater, fish them fast and weightless.  Subsurface you can swim them at any speed.  On the bottom, where do I start? Texas, Carolina, split shot, mojo, jika, neko, on a jighead, need to punch, just up the weight.

Give me an assortment of worms, hooks, and weights and I honestly believe I can catch a fish anywhere.

[king fisher]

Beware of the man with one gun, he probably knows how to shoot it.  Same goes with fishing lures.  When I was a kid I would go a whole summer with one lure.  One summer it was a River Runt I found on the shore just after loosing my only Heddon Sonic.  It didn't dive deep so I caught most of my fish near the surface.  Sometime I would put a weight ahead of the lure and catch some a little deeper, I avoided the bottom at all costs, because if I lost the lure I would be back to bobber fishing with a night crawler.  Now I have a more disposable income, and the bait monkey and I are best friends.  I don't catch any more fish than I did back then, but I have a great lure collection.

[Todd2]

1 hour ago, Jermination said:

there's old men around here that seriously do nothing but throw buzz baits and regularly take us all to the woodshed. No idea how they do it, but they do lol

I fished with an older guy for several years that threw the "ol wood chopper" as he called it a bunch. He always got me number wise it seemed.

 

 

[NittyGrittyBoy]

I keep a rod in my work car with one bait from spring to fall. And catch lots of fish! Buzzbait for a little river I walk off graveyard shift. 

 

Anywhere else is lots a lures. So technically I'm not a Frank! ?

[DanielG]

Part of the fun is trying lots of stuff to find out what doesn't work. As for me, I've exceeded that expectation.

[GreenPig]

One lure! That's crazy talk. I know how that works, if I only took worms they'd be crushing spooks, if I only took topwater they'd be crushing swim jigs etc. If my boat will plane off then I don't have too much tackle.

[DropShotHotShot]

I had a lake that I fished for a few years out of a  canoe that I only took one rod and senkos.  Caught my 5 largest fish in my life doing that. Never got bites off other tackle so I stopped bringing it

[Mike L]

You know why Frank is successful with just one bait??

You said it yourself.,

”Maybe we over think this stuff”.....
“He had the utmost confidence in his bait choice”.....

“Maybe we should be driven by confidence first”.....

All so true. 

Most of us think that if “this” isn’t working then “that” must be better. 
Then we add in the different colors, sizes, action of every new choice and before we know it we’re more confused than when we started.

‘Ol Frank might be old and set in his ways but most of us can learn a lesson from the ‘ol guy. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

 

[M Bruns]

"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."   -Bruce Lee

[Manly Studson]

I have spent days throwing one lure, because it worked really well.  But I didn’t do it intentionally. Poppers, spooks, worms, jigs, spinner baits, and crank baits are always at the ready.

[georgeyew]

I am pretty sure that Ned only uses one type of lure. And he's pretty good at it.

[papajoe222]

I was paired with 'Frank' on more than a few tournaments. He only used ribbon tailed worms, but he could cover the entire water column from top to bottom and from fast to dead sticking it. He was in the same boat as I was when it came to first place finishes,0, but I lost count of the times he or I finished 2nd or 3rd. Sadly he passed a few years ago, but I learned a lot from him.

[DitchPanda]

I had years where all I threw was a spinnerbait or a cheap 4inch renegade worm from wal mart...now that I think about it I probably caught more fish back then..makes me wonder why I have all the boxes of lures in my basement 

[FishTank]

I have fished with three guys like that over the years.....

 

One would only throw a green pumpkin zoom lizard, another a 7in berkley power worm in june bug, and the other, most annoying, was a guy that only fished a 1/4oz Strike King black and blue jig.  

 

The jig guy would fish a few feet away from the bank, drop or flip his jig in and keep the trolling motor going full blast.  If he didn't catch anything on that jig, it didn't matter, he wouldn't switch up, even though he had 4 other set ups sitting on the deck of the boat.  If I didn't cast a country mile off the end of the boat, we usually wouldn't catch more than 2 or 3 fish between the two of us.  It was not uncommon for him to get skunked every other outing. 

[Mbirdsley]

I have had days like that and call it the perfect day.  Get lucky, figure it out right off the bat That what ever you are throwing is what they want. Than the rest of the day is easy like it should. Super easy, and just catching fish.  Not having to worry about color, sun, wind speed, clarity, and Mercury’s alignment to the moon to get a fish to bite .

 

 

try it the next day and the fish won’t even look it.  Usually I’m crank fishing or wacky rigging when the perfect day happens 

[Bird]

Interesting thread, makes you think. 

 

I use to throw Buzzbaits, Spinnerbaits, plastic worms, spooks, frogs , Jerkbaits you name it, on the same rod. 

 

Now the back of my boat looks like a bamboo forest due to bait specific rods.

 

If I was limited to using only a plastic worm I'd be catching fish.....it's the GOAT.

[GReb]

Find active fish and you'll catch them on most anything

[Hammer 4]

There's  guy, in his 60's that had been fishing a local park lake. He only used 1 type of worm, a 7" ribbon tail in Grape. Not so unusual, but he's caught the biggest bass out of lake, one went 12 lbs, and a few over 10 lbs..And as you may have guessed, a bunch of the locals started tossing the same bait.

[rtwvumtneer6]

I remember times when my dad would take me to the local sportsman's club lake.  They stocked it with trout, and a lot of them.  The guys to our left would be catching fish.  Same with the folks on our right.  We wouldn't get a bite.  So, we would ask what they were using?  We'd go buy the same bait, but have similar results the next time out.  What we failed to ask was how they were presenting the bait.

 

There are endless lure options and combinations, but knowing where, when and how to present them all is a near impossible task.  Frank's success is no surprise as it sounds like he mastered the plastic worm.  Confidence, knowledge/experience and skill with such a versatile lure can absolutely produce consistent results.  

 

As for myself, I'm too far down the rabbit hole to keep it that basic.  But, I do make an effort to try and learn something about each lure I use and presentation I make every time I'm on the water.