Confidence Bait

[Micaiah Freels]

My confidence bait is a green pumpkin strike king rage craw texas rigged.

[JoeDeal55]

5 minutes ago, PressuredFishing said:

I have confidince in every lure depending on the conditions, but my favorite lure right now is a jerkbait or spoon or spook, why? because there is something that makes me happy when I have caught so many fish on a hard bait and they still work great, It creates a connection between me and that specific bait, even though its just a bait I guess. I have a rapala balsa jerkbait that is beat up and caught many fish, but If I get snagged or loose it you know d**n well im swimming into 20 ft deep water to get it back in the dead of winter with a snorkel because I love it so much.

Lmao! As a new angler, I have lost numerous lures already. I lost a brand new hack attack jig after thinking I had a bite, set the hook real hard and snapped my leader right off my 50lb braided mainline. The "bite" must have been a tree lol. But that one hurt more than the rest because my wife bought it for me. I almost went swimming for that one.

[rtwvumtneer6]

6 hours ago, Mike L said:

1) Bottom contact plastics in grass, the thicker the better. 

2) Swimming a UV Speed Worm in, over and through fairly scattered grass flats and isolated weed clumps. 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

Your ability to do this year round makes me jealous, Mike ?

 

@JoeDeal55 I'm in PA where we get 4 distinct season.  Assuming you do, too.  It's a very seasonal question you are asking.  Sounds like you have accumulated a lot of lures in a very short amount of time.  The trick is to learn when and where each excels.

 

My simple answer is I can't pick just one.

[scaleface]

15 minutes ago, JoeDeal55 said:

So far I only have access to 3 ponds in WV. One is a small farm pond with mud bottom and few rocks, muddy water color with approx 2 foot visability. Another is a large pond that I assume used to be a brush field before flooding it for a pond. About 8 ft deep max but dense dead brush and trees to where it is difficult to get around in a kayak without getting hung up. 3rd pond is new to me only fished once. Deep deep large pond with 3 coves and a lot of tall clumps of vegetation. Every retrieve I have to remove 2 pounds of weed/grass. These are the only 3 ponds I have access to at this time. Only the farm pond I can bank fish from. The other 2 I have to use a kayak.

The first pond mentioned sounds perfect for a beetle Spin . I have a lot of confidence in those things . Get the big ones or assemble your own . 

 

The second one mentioned sounds like a place to throw pegged Texas rigs , jigs , spinnerbaits and buzzbaits . 

 

The third weightless worms Texas rigged , toads and frogs . Not all grass is the same . Some of it is not even rooted to the bottom like the chara algae that I am real familiar with . I still use spinnerbaits and buzzbaits around the edges of it  , often getting fouled  but they still produce a    lot of bass .

[Hammer 4]

Mine depends on when, where and the conditions I'm fishing in, and what the fish want.

[Tatsu Dave]

5 hours ago, Catt said:

Plastics! ?

 

I don't care how ya rig it, shallow water or deep water, grass or wood, winter, spring, summer, or fall.

 

Got my Worm Rod in my hand I'm happy, happy, happy!

Thats it! I got 7 rods rigged for tomorrow and all plastic lures sticks-craws-worms-bugs-and wacky's......gonna be a good day to be on the water. 

[mike_t]

definitely a ned rig/drop shot. for the ned rig, i use a small finesse trd in coppertreuse paired up with a 1/5 or 1/6 oz ned head. For the dropshot, i know i might get hate for this, but the googan baits drag n drop in pink has done wonders for me from big smallmouth to walleye. Also jackall crosstail shads roboworms are perfect for more "finessey" drop shot-ing. with these two techniques i seem to catch fish no matter how bad the fishing gets.

[PotatoLake]

8 hours ago, JoeDeal55 said:

What is your confidence bait and how it came to be? 

I've landed 1 bass on a crankbait (foul hooked), 3 bass on jigs, and 3 bass on yum dingers. All under 2.5lbs.

 

 

So your comment about struggling to catch bigger fish made me think about location, location, location. If those three ponds don't have a population of bigger fish then you can throw whatever you want and they aren't going to produce fish over 2.5 lbs. Like @A-Jay said, he has confidence locations. He may mean specific locations on his waters , but I have certain bodies of water I fish that I have much more confidence that I can get into a bigger class fish than others. If you have the means maybe try some new places to fish if you're wanting to tangle with a big girl. 

That being said and it was mentioned earlier, time creates confidence. Time on the water with trial and error develops confidence when, what and where to throw a certain lure. Enjoy and welcome to the addiction of bass fishing. 
 

[JoeDeal55]

16 minutes ago, PotatoLake said:

So your comment about struggling to catch bigger fish made me think about location, location, location. If those three ponds don't have a population of bigger fish then you can throw whatever you want and they aren't going to produce fish over 2.5 lbs. Like @A-Jay said, he has confidence locations. He may mean specific locations on his waters , but I have certain bodies of water I fish that I have much more confidence that I can get into a bigger class fish than others. If you have the means maybe try some new places to fish if you're wanting to tangle with a big girl. 

That being said and it was mentioned earlier, time creates confidence. Time on the water with trial and error develops confidence when, what and where to throw a certain lure. Enjoy and welcome to the addiction of bass fishing. 
 

My brother in law snagged a 6 pounder out of the farm pond. On a small live bluegill. I pulled it out of the water for him. So I know theres at least 1 big one in that pond. The other ponds ive heard rumors of monster bass but have yet to see proof so my quest continues lol. 

[Marshall92]

Definitely a wacky rigged senko or a 3.3 swimbait.

[GRiver]

17 hours ago, Catt said:

Plastics! ?

 

I don't care how ya rig it, shallow water or deep water, grass or wood, winter, spring, summer, or fall.

 

Got my Worm Rod in my hand I'm happy, happy, happy!

Me too

[N Florida Mike]

1 hour ago, GRiver said:

Me too

Me three…Esp. these 3:

1. Weightless T rigged Fluke

2. Weightless T rigged senko

3. speed worm with a little weight , T rigged.

I have at least 5 others I regularly use that are always on hand.I call them my “ circle of trust “ baits…

[PressuredFishing]

19 hours ago, JoeDeal55 said:

Lmao! As a new angler, I have lost numerous lures already. I lost a brand new hack attack jig after thinking I had a bite, set the hook real hard and snapped my leader right off my 50lb braided mainline. The "bite" must have been a tree lol. But that one hurt more than the rest because my wife bought it for me. I almost went swimming for that one.

it hurts man, ive lost about hmmm 300+ dollars in tackle, but to be fair over half of that would be terminal tackle which is a hard thing to not loose.

[Bankbeater]

Either a jig and craw, or jig and chunk.

[evilcatfish]

There are a lot of baits I have real confidence in, but my number one is probably the lowly tube. Gimme some 2.5 and 4” tubes in a green pumpkin/variant type color with an assortment of heads/hooks/weights for rigging and I can probably do ok on any bass containing body of water in the country, any time of year 

[JoeDeal55]

50 minutes ago, evilcatfish said:

There are a lot of baits I have real confidence in, but my number one is probably the lowly tube. Gimme some 2.5 and 4” tubes in a green pumpkin/variant type color with an assortment of heads/hooks/weights for rigging and I can probably do ok on any bass containing body of water in the country, any time of year 

Unfortunately I have yet to try tubes. It has been added to my things to try list. 

[Jaderose]

I guess I have 4 depending on conditions.

1. Weightless T-Rig Grn Pmpkn Senko

2.  Owner Ultrahead Ball jig with Old Havoc Pit Boss or Rage Craw

3. Chrome Rat-l-trap.

4. Scumfrog Trophy Series Natural Grn/Black

 

I fish other things but these are the 4 I always come back to

 

[BlakeMolone]

On 9/13/2021 at 10:03 AM, Mike L said:

1) Bottom contact plastics in grass, the thicker the better. 

2) Swimming a UV Speed Worm in, over and through fairly scattered grass flats and isolated weed clumps. 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

So I’ve tried swimming the speed worm a time or two, when I do it rolls like crazy, like a hollow bellies swim wait, it just looks kind of stupid to me. Is this how it’s supposed to be or am I doing something wrong?

[Mike L]

2 hours ago, BlakeMolone said:

So I’ve tried swimming the speed worm a time or two, when I do it rolls like crazy, like a hollow bellies swim wait, it just looks kind of stupid to me. Is this how it’s supposed to be or am I doing something wrong?

Blake

The only time it will have a tendency to roll is if you’re throwing it weightless and reeling with speed. 
I really wouldn’t worry to much about it tho, as long as that tail is moving you’re good. 
 

What I do is I’ll always throw with some kind of weight depending on the depth. 
1/8 in really shallow, 3/16 and 1/4 as it gets deeper. You don’t need anything else. 90% of the time I use a 3/16. 
 

If skimming on top I’ll use an 1/8. 
You’re reeling just fast enough to keep it up and you have just enough weight to let it drop in any holes you come across 
 

Tip..To get the best action out of it rig it tail down with the point in line with the hook. 
 

Good Luck

 

 

 

 

Mike

[WRB]

I have confidence in several lures. Hair jigs with pork rind trailer is my big bass confidence lure. Hand poured finesse soft plastics for numbers of bass, my least favored presentation but it works.

Tom

[J Francho]

My confidence is built up by so much more than just a lure.  It almost sounds like a silly thing to me.  What happens to your confidence when that lure stops working?

[the reel ess]

Shaky head worm. It came to be that I just decided it was time to try this bait since I had the heads and worms for about a decade. LOL. First time out I caught a 6.1 lb on it. I've caught more bass on this bait than all others combined over the last couple months. There's a PVC attractor in the reservoir I fish and I've caught a bass off of it with the shaky head the last three times I fished. It doesn't really seem to matter what the worm is. I've mostly used 6-7" finesse worms. But I've used the UV Speed Worm with some success.

 

I also have good confidence in a jig/craw and lipless crank, specifically a gold CC Spot. More often than not I can get a bite on a hollow body frog.

[bowhunter63]

Hair jigs or T Rigged plastic Craw 

[Catt]

59 minutes ago, J Francho said:

What happens to your confidence when that lure stops working?

 

Switch from a Speed Worm to a Speed Craw!

[the reel ess]

2 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

Switch from a Speed Worm to a Speed Craw!

I was going to say something similar. I don't think any of us are married to one lure. I just switch over to another confidence bait. That's why I have 6-7 rigged rods with me.