My Most Productive Baits ~ 2020 Edition

[TnRiver46]

Standard fare: Purple worms, grubs, tubes, jerkbaits, and some nice ones on toads and toad runners. No bites on standard hollow frog or popping frog this year 

[Catt]

After 2 hurricanes & a tropical storm my #1 was not lures or techniques!

 

 

[MN Fisher]

This year it was swim jigs for the win.

 

Most of the bass I caught in my (cough) six (cough) outings in the canoe were on swim jigs - green pumpkin with some shade of green trailer by far was the favorite. Other colors got bumps, but switching to the green and casting to same location made them take it hard.

 

3/8oz willow/colorado spinnerbait in bluegill with PB&J trailer took second place. Other colors/blade combos were pretty much ignored

 

Lipless cranks in perch or bluegill took third.

 

And that was it...they were real finicky this year for some reason.

[Mobasser]

Overall, a light T rig worm caught most of my fish. Mostly Zoom, Culprit, and some old Mr. Twister Phenoms I found last year. Spinnerbait scored in the Spring, but the spinnerbait bite didn't last long when it started getting hot. I caught three fish on a jig/ trailer combo this fall, then, didn't have a lot of time to go after that. Not my best season by any means. Looking forward to next year already.

[swhit140]

-Bomber Square A crankbait

-Frogs

-Buzzbaits

-Spinnerbait

-Soft Plastics- Brush Hog & Bass Pro Stik-O

[Smells like fish]

Excellent lure selection @A-Jay If you plan to add any new lures for 2021 (no, you wouldn’t do that would ya) I’d like to hear of your take on the amazingly awesome Evergreen Showerblow 105 on the waters of the ever mysterious Menderchuck. 

[A-Jay]

29 minutes ago, Smells like fish said:

Excellent lure selection @A-Jay If you plan to add any new lures for 2021 (no, you wouldn’t do that would ya) I’d like to hear of your take on the amazingly awesome Evergreen Showerblow 105 on the waters of the ever mysterious Menderchuck. 

Thanks ~

The SB 125 lives in the walking bait box and has slithered across  Lake Menderchuck a few times.  Killer bait but it has yet to connect with any bronze bigness. 

 

A-Jay 

[heavyduty]

Tubes by far for smallmouth followed by Zman hula stick and spinnerbait. If bite is very tough, I'll drift a weightless 4" senko with the river current.

[roadwarrior]

Topwater:  MegaBass PopMax

Squarebill:  Norman Fat Boy

Jerkbait:  MegaBass Vision 110

J-Rig:  Structure Bug and Space Monkey

Bladed Jig:  Rage Blade/ Structure Bug (white on white)

Rage Menace

Senko

GYCB Kreature

BPS Tender Tube

Siebert Outdoors Grid Iron G2: Black/ B&B Rage Craw, PB&J/ PB&J Craw,

Kent Craw/ Blue Craw

Most Recent: Drop shot Berkley Maxscent Flat Worm

Honorable Mention: Siebert Swim Jig/ Structure Bug 

[GReb]

Had a kid this spring so wasn’t able to fish as much I’d have liked. However when I did it really seemed to be the year of the squarebill. The three that really shined were the Brat, LC 1.5, and Little John. They consistently produced from January through December especially on days where nothing else was firing. In other words they saved a few awful days. 
 

However my two most productive days didn’t include a squarebill at all. Both were exclusively Texas rig days with either a Menace or Pit Boss. I’ve really taken a liking to throwing a Menace on a Jungle flipping 3/0 and 1/8oz bullet.

[KCFinesse]

A tokyo rigged menace stayed in my hand a lot this year. I caught smallies dragging rock secondaries, largemouth punching, big spots at night pitching trees and everything between. I'm really really impressed with the versatility of it. 

[Mbirdsley]

Most productive lure for 2020 with out a doubt was a black/blue chigger craw either t -rigged or on a jig.  The smallies can’t get enough of those on Saginaw or Tittabawassee river.

 

most productive lake lure was either a bendito bug or rage Menance in summer craw color.  Benito  bug was t-rigged and the menance either on watermelon or green pumpkin jig. 

 

PB large mouth came on size #5 delta craw Shad rap in the last week of March 

 

other than that I struggled all year to get on a consistent crank bite.  I would have success here and there but, lost a bunch.  Same can be said for spinner baits.

 

in the spring I’m concentrating on jerk baits and cranks.  I also purchased a new crank rod to help with them staying buttoned on 

 

 

I had other tackle that I would have good days with or be good for specific lake but, couldn’t  get it to go the next time out or on different lake 

[wasabi_VA]

weightless t-rig blue black lizard 

[DitchPanda]

I started my year out fast for size...caught a 6 on a finesse jig and a 7 on a lipless the first few weeks of April. My best bait by far was a bluegill swim jig with a menace on the back. Spinner bait and kvd 1.5 shallow also did some serious damage for me. I spent alot of time in the dead heat of summer relearning the Ned and was very happy with the results. One bait that surprised me was the Berkley Frittside...had heard the hype so I picked up a few with interest but low expectations. Several times this fall it was all they would touch out fishing typical fall baits like lipless, jerk bait and shad rap.

 

 

[WRB]

Having 1 time in 2 1/2 years it’s easy to determine 3 jig fish and 1 bass on a Senko.

Tom. 

[Junger]

By far it was a popper (Evergreen OB Magic Gill) from June until October for both numbers and size. It was a really weird spring bite for me, when COVID hit in March, we had a stretch of 60-70 degree days, and then it went back into the freeze during April and a really cold May. I had no idea where they were in the spring, so they didn't really start to bite for me until late May.

[jimmyjoe]

   Somehow, I think that what catches the most for everyone is what everyone throws the most. I threw spinnerbaits and spoons the most, and that's what caught me the most fish. Squarebills (Norman Fat Boy) and #5 Mepps Aglias were third and fourth.

   I guess you could say that I am NOT .... I repeat am NOT .... a highly complicated fisherman.  ?    jj

[txchaser]

Not necessarily most productive by numbers, but here are my big fish baits for the year:

I'm really trying hard to get more results and more skill with different baits, but this list looks a lot like last years. I beat my head on the deck lots of days saying "I'm not throwing X even though I want to" then getting marginal results, only to put on one of the standbys and start hauling them in.

 

1) Only a few fish, but got my PB in prespawn - 6th Sense 75x flat-sided squarebill in red/orange. Much of what I fish makes squarebills impractical except for cleanup, but this particular lake isn't grassy.

2) Homemade teckel frog from a post on BR - made for some of the best topwater days I've ever had. White belly with a little red by the mouth (they call it shad) with a chartreuse tail. W/o the red mouth it was slightly less productive. Maybe in my head, but no matter, I just buy the one with the red mouth. Little fish eat it. Big fish eat it. Fishes well in weeds. Fishes well in open water.

3) Buzzbait - cavitron with clacker, red blade, chart/white body. In my head this bait screams "I dare you" as it whizzes by. Will pull fish that other topwaters don't get, especially if they are big

4) Jackhammer. Tried more of the zako instead of an upside down keitech this year. Not sure if I can tell the difference one way or the other.  Brett's bluegill shallow or on weed edges, something white-ish if I know they are on shad. Tail is always dipped on the bluegill presentation.  Experimented with more weights this year, and more structure presentation (mostly deep and near or on the bottom). 

5) Keitech 3.8 on a colorado underspin. Usually bluegill flash, which frankly doesn't look like a bluegill at all but looks a little bit like a lot of things. I throw this where one would expect, and in nasty sloppy places you'd throw a frog or a toad. Does just fine drug across a weed top and dropped in a hole.

6) GP/watermelon laminate senko, dipped tail, texas rigged.

 

Other notables:

1) Jig - given how many people keep talking about throwing a jig more, I decided to do just that, and most outings it's giving me at least one extra fish, and they are usually decent size. Every now and then one gets hookset all the way out of the water, little guy going for a ride. I need to learn how I want to fish this around grass - I feel pretty confident with it on hard cover, and have videogamed a few out where I drove over them and threw a jig back in their direction.

2) Stealth Jackhammer - downsize the trailer, get bit. A lot. If the chatterbait is 'too much' this has been a really effective presentation. Oddly it catches like the ned rig. Little fish, big fish, medium fish. Pretty much they just love to eat this. I bet this time next year this bait will be in the winners list for me.

 

[MIbassyaker]

Always a pleasure to read @A-Jay's yearly installment of this topic.

 

[roadwarrior]

 

[Columbia Craw]

So several of you have mentioned the Max Scent Flat Worm.  Some have even touted it to be “ the deal” drop shot bait.  When I first learned about this bait it from Berkeley pros so the credibility was already in question.  Now that folks here have endorsed it, those who buy their own,  I’m going to risk making a bunch of my baits sit on the bench.  My local tackle store had the green pumpkin only which is fine.  It looks very similar to the Yamamoto 176 color.  With the after Christmas sale , I couldn’t say no.  Full report to follow.?

[roadwarrior]

Just found them a couple of weeks ago and so far...KILLER!

 

[Bluebasser86]

Caught a lot of fish on jerkbaits this year, with the Strike King 300 in sexy shad or blue chrome, 6th Sense Provoke 106 in French Pearl or Violet Panda, and the Headhunter in French Pearl or Banana being the most productive.

Bladed jigs were big players, as always. The red craws were big in the spring with the cold dirty water, then the solid blue was big in the summer like it always is.

Ned was steady, and produced some bigguns, including my 2 biggest largemouth of the year and 2 of my top 5 smallies of the year. The LMB fell for a big TRD in hot craw and a 10,000 Fish sukoshi bug in green pumpkin/orange. Both smallmouth went for a purple death TRD ticklerz.

 

A spinnerbait caught a lot of big fish. Didn't matter what color, as long as it was white with gold or copper blades.

The swinging football head with a rage bug or menace was really good for a good stretch in the spring, especially for big smallmouth. It accounted for 2 of my biggest of the year, including the biggest that was a crawdad short of 5 pounds.

The 6th Sense Catwalk exploded onto the scene, and tons of fish subsequently exploded on it.

A Black Canoe Lures balsa crank was extremely productive later in the year when the fish got up really shallow chasing shad. It was the best bait going for weeks it felt like.

 

A jigging spoon was hot for several weeks during the heat of the summer. The 7/8oz War Eagle was catching everything that swims and was gorging on the newly hatched shad in the deeper, cooler water.

Jigs, both my homemade 1/2oz flipping jig and a 3/8oz Trashmaster jig caught lots of quality fish.

Of course the plastics for flipping were steady. Mostly a YUM Wooly bug, YUM Bad Momma, or Big Big Baits Yomoma flipping them into the water willows.

 

 

[roadwarrior]

[r3825]

I can honestly say this has been my worst year ever,  but the KVD swim jig has done the best for me out of anything and made for some good days.