Proven baits that don't produce, perhaps.

[TnRiver46]

4 minutes ago, scaleface said:

Drop shots . I dont think I'm doing it right . Fish keep getting off . Heavy football jigs too . I'm talking 3/4 ounce in deep water .I get the fish to the boat then they come unbuttoned .

Did you run the line back through the hook eye after the Palomar was finished? That helped me tremendously

[scaleface]

2 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Did you run the line back through the hook eye after the Palomar was finished? That helped me tremendously

I use one of those swivel hooks .

[Jermination]

11 hours ago, Bird said:

Just trying to to get a general consensus of particular baits that some of us adore and some of us simply don't waste the time.

 

I have my confidence baits and won't stray from but like to dribble with new techniques, maybe from a pro, maybe from a member here. 

 

But can say after many hours of non productive fishing, moving on.

No way am I applying that your technique is not justified, just having some fun. 

 

For me personally, # 1 would be hands down the Chatterbait, I love and use more Z-man than anything but detest the chatterbait, give me a spinnerbait, chatterbait gives me a workout though. 

 

I'm trying to love the Neko rig but every technique I try in its place produces fish " Ned " .

 

What have you found that simply eats up time ? 

 

 

Whopper plopper. Cast, cast, cast, and cast it some more to no avail. Pick up the spook and get blown up on immediately....

[Fishes in trees]

I'm not a fan of the Carolina rig - never did get the hang of it.  While we're writing about baits that maybe didn't produce like the hype, lets not forget the Banjo Minnow.  Surely we remember the bait that would elicit a "genetic response"

 

Actually, I did have some modest success with that bait, one day,  springtime, throwing down a line that later in the year would become a deep weed line, but in April was just a modest drop off that for some reason congregated fish.  I tore up most of the kit in a couple of hours - caught a few dozen or so slot fish, drift the drop off for a couple of hundred yards, then troll a wide circle back to where I started and do it again.  I switched over to flukes when I ran out of the banjo minnows and the action didn't slow all that much.  Gained some degree of confidence in minnow style soft plastics, although these days I prefer the Strike King Caffeine Shad to the Fluke.

 

The notion of nose hooking baits stuck with me and these days, when I'm throwing the bubba drop shot I prefer nose hooking over Texas rigging nearly all the time.   So the banjo minnow wasn't a total bust, there was some learning that happened.

 

I have had issues throwing the larger soft plastic swim baits, but I'm pretty sure that is because I'm throwing them at the wrong time into the wrong places - maybe this year. 

 

[Mobasser]

Another thing that hasn't worked for me is not one specific bait, but a color. Green Pumpkin is my worst color in worms and plastic baits in 40yrs. Lots of guys like it, but I quit throwing it, and I don't carry it anymore

[NYWayfarer]

Flukes.

 

The only time I have caught anything on a Fluke is when I used it as a trailer on a Chatterbait.

[Bass Ninja]

Jigs and Crankbaits for me. Its gotten to the point where the Jackhammer Chatterbait and hollow body frog work so well I don't really throw much else. Maybe the occasional spinnerbait and punch rig...

[InfantryMP]

I know this is going to sound crazy, but I have never caught anything on a popper. I have casted frogs, ploppers, jitterbugs and any other top water, and I catch em. I have even caught bass with the mouse top water baits,   I think perhaps this year I will try em out again. I just do not have the confidence in them. 

[Derek1]

Yup chatterbaits for me also. Every time I buy a couple of jackhammers I loose them. They never last mor then a couple hours. No bites then snagged, shortly after that I’ll cast the next one off. Unbelievable. 

[RichF]

48 minutes ago, scaleface said:

I use one of those swivel hooks .

If you're using the VMC spinshots, 100% blame the hook.  I like the idea but those hooks just do not keep fish buttoned. I used them a handful of times and lost more than I landed.  Went back to gammies and it's night and day different.

[EWREX]

7 minutes ago, RichF said:

If you're using the VMC spinshots, 100% blame the hook.  I like the idea but those hooks just do not keep fish buttoned. I used them a handful of times and lost more than I landed.  Went back to gammies and it's night and day different.

i used the VMC EWG spinshot all of last year. drop shot by far out produced every other technique for me and i don't recall losing more than 1 or 2 fish. partly might be the EWG hook compared to the regular dropshot hook. i also like to set the hook pretty good even with "lighter" line

[RichF]

12 minutes ago, EWREX said:

i used the VMC EWG spinshot all of last year. drop shot by far out produced every other technique for me and i don't recall losing more than 1 or 2 fish. partly might be the EWG hook compared to the regular dropshot hook. i also like to set the hook pretty good even with "lighter" line

Yeah, I was referring to the drop shot hooks.  Never used the EWGs.

[EWREX]

can't buy a bite on a jerkbait, probably because i give up on it very easily. can't buy a bite on a spook, probably because i've caught a gazillion on a whopper plopper and prefer that for my open water topwater bait

[Spankey]

1 hour ago, Mobasser said:

Another thing that hasn't worked for me is not one specific bait, but a color. Green Pumpkin is my worst color in worms and plastic baits in 40yrs. Lots of guys like it, but I quit throwing it, and I don't carry it anymore

I was the same way. I had a tough time with that color on the river. Should not have. 
 

Mother Nature has hurt me on the river the last few years and my new home is a lake recently. Green Pumpkin kicks butt there. Go figure. 

[Finessegenics]

1 hour ago, NYWayfarer said:

Flukes.

 

The only time I have caught anything on a Fluke is when I used it as a trailer on a Chatterbait.

Flukes are one of my confidence lures for fall time. It works well when you know that the bass have baitfish pinned in a cove against the shoreline. Might not even be obvious this is happening if you’re fishing deeper water, even from shore. If you’re fishing deeper water I suggest taking a 1/32 nail weight and screwing it underneath the eyelet of the hook, starting through the hook slot on the bait. Still has that swirling erratic action but gets down there much quicker and can even be jigged off the bottom. I don’t like the zoom flukes, my favorite is the Berkley “Jerk Shad” which is not the same as the “Power Jerk Shad”. The Caffeine Shads are also great. Besides during the fall, they don’t really produce for me so give them a shot then.

 

http://www.berkley-fishing.com/berkley-bait-soft-bait-berkley-powerbait/powerbait-jerk-shad/1285513.html

 

[Ratherbfishing]

My success with a Carolina-rig (almost none) does NOT justify the amount of time, effort, hardware (swivel, beads, knots) necessary to set one up.  I won't waste my time on them.  I feel almost the same about a drop shot except I have caught a few bass on them.

[Titan]

13 hours ago, keagbassr said:

Lizards and rattle traps/ lipless cranks.

Rattle Traps!!!  Me too!  Caught a lot of white bass on them but can't remember ever catching a largemouth.

[WhittyPoo]

Popper for me. Only bait I got skunked on last season. I bought a popmax and a bps popper over the winter, so I’m not giving up. 

[Steveo-1969]

The Ned Rig was my nemesis for a couple seasons. Last season I started catching fish on it and now it's one of my confidence baits.

[TnRiver46]

2 hours ago, EWREX said:

can't buy a bite on a jerkbait, probably because i give up on it very easily. can't buy a bite on a spook, probably because i've caught a gazillion on a whopper plopper and prefer that for my open water topwater bait

Spooks work a hundred times better than ploppers in my watershed

[Glaucus]

I have a love/hate relationship with spinnerbaits. 90% of the time they are hot garbage, but 10% of the time they're the only lure I want, so I'm essentially forced to keep some around. 

[DitchPanda]

Paddle tail swimbaits... On a swim jig you bet... on there own just throw them in the trash!

Ned rig... I've caught fish on them but lost way more jig heads than caught fish... I've done much better on a shaky head or light T rigged finesse worm.

Until last year I woulda said the same for lipless but after forcing myself into figuring them out I have tons of confidence in them...last weekend a buddy caught our first open water bass of the year a nice chunky 3lber on a spro aruku shad jr. Ice had been off like 3 days water was maybe low 40s. I know that I've caught them on lipless in high 30 degree water up to high 80 degree water..that's pretty versatile.

[Jaderose]

Jigs.  Thrown them for years.  Tried and tried and tried.  Caught total of 2 fish in the whole time.  I dunno

 

[Log Catcher]

I can't catch anything on any lipless crankbaits, top water frogs and toads, or a ned rig. I have never used an A rig and don't plan to. As for colors black and red flake and watermelon red are are absolutely worthless for me.

[RB 77]

While I have had some success on them, a broad overall picture would be Buzzbaits and Square Bills. Whopper Plopper? I have tore them up on that thing as well as all other top waters for that matter (spook style, Poppers, frogs, etc)! Lipless Crank (and even all  other regular lipped cranks)? knocked the snot out of them with them. Even had a double with one last year. All other baits/ styles I have had great success on at some point in time and continue to do so regularly IE: Plastcis, jigs, jerkbaits, spinner baits, swimbaits etc. The list could go on and on. Those first two mentioned though for the amount I have thrown them have just been so so for me though. Meh...