What is your confidence bait/technique?

[BrianMDTX]

Without a doubt some sort of weightless Texas rig. 5" Senko, Zoom Trick, Neko Macho and a few others. A 5" Senko wacky rig is close, but I can fish a TR in more types of structure and cover with less chance of snags than I can a WR. 

[Dens228]

Bottom jig or a swim jig........

[Tennessee Boy]

30 years ago, every time I hit the water I would grab a Texas rig and fish the bank.  If I didn't catch anything after an hour,  I would start trying different things.  If I didn't catch anything after a hour of experimenting I would head back to the nearest bank and fish with my Texas Rig for the next 6 hours.   The Texas Rig was my confidence "crutch" and that was no way to fish.

 

Now I'm focused on trying to find the right location and I use the techniques that I think are best for the location.  That usually includes a Texas Rig and a Jig of some sort.

[roadwarrior]

Bottom bait:  Senko

 

Moving bait:  Rage Menace

 

[TheBasslayer]

My confidence baits are the ones that I always have on my 2 main rods, and I'll switch when fishing if I need to.

1. Weightless Texas-Rigged Senko

2. Suspending Jerkbait

[the reel ess]

Different ones for different seasons. Right now frog and jig are my go-to.

Year-round would be jig and lipless crank.

[redux]

It changes during the year, but I always have a weightless watermelon red stick bait and a 3/8 ounce black/blue jig w/ a green/blue craw trailer. I live in SW FL so...there is not much difference between winter and summer.

 

During our short "spring" I like a 3" white/chartreuse swimbait.

[Bankbeater]

Jig or a T-rig.

[keagbassr]

Spinnerbait 

[E-rude dude]

Texas rigged plastic mostly a structure bug or rage craw on a Fin-Tech title shot hook. Rigged that way you can do anything with it. Including adding a skirt. 

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Fin-tech_Title_Shot_Jig_2pk/descpage-FTTSJ.html
Jig is a close tie maybe a little more so.

[Functional]

I fished for years with nothing but a grape purple worm rigged either as a shaky head or t-rig, weightless paddle tail zoom fluke and from sun down to sun up a big 2 piece black jitterbug.

 

It was a rare day to get skunked using just those 3 and are still with me at all times. I cant tell you how many of those 2 piece black jitterbugs I have stocked up in fear they will be discontinued.

[Bankc]

Crankbait.  Deep, shallow, big, small, anything with a bill and a wobble.  Most of my other lures seem to work best in one or two situations.  But crankbaits tend to produce for me anywhere and anytime.  

[Fishes in trees]

My answer might be a little different.   I'm pretty confident that any bait that I select is likely to work if I put it in the correct place.    When I fish by myself, which is most of the time, I'm a junk fisherman, by this I mean I seldom start out with a defined notion of what the fish are doing and therefore I have 20 or so different rigs on the deck, ready to go with different baits.   If I pitch to an object twice with no results, my reasoning suggests that there must have been something about that object that drew my attention and therefore I will generally throw a different bait at the object, just to see.

If I'm leading off with some soft plastic - my next choice will generally be some reaction bait - spinnerbait - crank, something like that.  I keep experimenting with different choices til something hits.

[bowhunter63]

Going gets tough Rage craw t rigged or swimming a worm 

[whitwolf]

R.I. spicy or sweet Beaver or a jig in the nastiest stuff in the lake. 

[txchaser]

Keitech 3.8 has been a winner for me in the versatility or can't-get-on-fish department.

Drag it across a mat like a toad, swim it, pitch it, burn it, fish it on the bottom, etc. Usually on an underspin, with bias towards the colorado. Bluegill flash with a dipped tail, unless I know for sure there's some preference for shad where I am. Almost always tied on, almost never start with it. 

 

In terms of what's going to get fished hard, year-round a chatterbait... only time it seems poor is in the dead of summer. Even in winter it's been good out deep, although what usually passes for winter here is water in the mid-40s.

 

Jig is coming on strong... once I figure out the intersection of jigs and weeds it'll be even more so. I think the spot there is the transition out where the weeds get more sparse, but it's not yet a high confidence way to fish it.

[Steve84]

Zoom fluke on top water 100% if not a chatterbait, my worst nightmare would be jig fishing

On 5/10/2021 at 11:27 AM, the reel ess said:

Different ones for different seasons. Right now frog and jig are my go-to.

Year-round would be jig and lipless crank.

What's a season? In florida we have hot and hotter amd throw topwater year round ?

[scaleface]

I use to be a texas rig jig man but anymore I'm throwing spinnerbaits and  crankbaits an awful  lot .

[the reel ess]

11 hours ago, Steve84 said:

Zoom fluke on top water 100% if not a chatterbait, my worst nightmare would be jig fishing

What's a season? In florida we have hot and hotter amd throw topwater year round ?

I know right? I threw topwaters for two days in the Everglades two Decembers ago. Day one was in that canal that comes out of Okeechobee and runs through Rotenberg. It was blazing hot to me. Went home to SC and zeroed twice in a row. It's a life goal to get to a location where I can fish topwaters longer. We'll see how it goes. The wife is retiring in a month. I could do my job from anywhere with good internet.

[DogBone_384]

Keitech fat Swing Impact / Easy Shiner, along with Swim Senko's are my 'confidence' baits. 

 

I've stayed away from wacky rigging anything any Ned rigs.  For me, they're a 'crutch' when other baits don't produce.

[Bubba 460]

In the spring/summer, once the water temps hit 60 and above I mostly target large shallow flats or shoreline cover. That is what I enjoy doing. Like I always say, everyone is different. My confidence bait it the Whopper Plopper 130. I don't want little fish so big baits have a somewhere better chance of eliminating those.  If you absolutely, positively need a big bass today, that has worked for me time after time. Put the time in throwing it and it will happen. Morning and evening are best but all day too. Now I'm not talking spending 10 or 15 minutes with it, I'm talking hours. Sure you can put a smaller bait on, a crank, wacky, senko, or bottom crawler and catch more fish... But I want a decent bass. The Whopper Plopper cast a mile on 50# braid, covers a lot of water quickly. All the bass in the vicinity know it's there, they either want it or not and they don't play around when they do take it. Just done it too many times to not be a believer. 

 

Winter it's deep jerkbaits mostly (shadow Raps with added weight tabs)

[Krux5506]

White Spinnerbait in various weights. Usually 3/8 or 1/2oz depending on where I am. 

 

 

Some of you are reminding me though to focus better on T-rigs. Had one summer where I got addicted to T-rigged power worms because they just flat out worked every time I was out. 

[TnRiver46]

Worm 

[GReb]

Over the last 12 months I’d say thunder cricket, spro little John, lucky craft 1.5, pit boss, and menace. Those 5 baits have really been consistent producers for me the last year. 

[J Francho]

I'm pretty confident with whatever I have tied on. I've fished the same half dozen basic rigs/baits for decades and they all work. New rods, reels, line, or even a knot can throw me off and take a bit to leave my mind. As long I can fish focused, then I'm confident I can catch something. Changing to some special "confidence bait" isn't going to magically turn a slow day into a blockbuster.