I've Never Caught A Single Fish On A?

[lunkerboss923]

Deep diving cranks. Never really needone since I don't have a boat. 

[Phelptwan]

Super deep diver (10xd, DD22's, etc).

 

or

 

Glide Baits

[Chaos10691]

Swim Jig for me. I tried them a little bit in my more grassy lakes and nothing. That being said I’m gonna change that this year just bought some heads and skirts from ol Siebert. Gonna make some up and fish the crap out of them this year.

[Spankey]

I’ll admit I bought these, maybe not ready to totally give up on them yet but certainly will not be kicking the upcoming season off with them. 
 

Savage 4 1/2” 3D Suicide Duck in Wood Duck

 

Savage Slide Gill Topwater in Bluegill

 

Routine to come across baby mallards and woodies. Numerous times ran across injured or dying bluegills in pads and grass. Thought lures would be a no brainer. No brains for buying them. 
 

Thought by some outside chance a smallie might just show some interest. I’ve caught musky while smallie fishing and thought they’d be all over these 2 lured. Not yet. 
 

Should have know better because I do not do well with like image or real image type baits. 

[thediscochef]

Jerkbait, Texas Rig.

I primarily catch fish on Chatterbaits 

[Aaron_H]

I have never caught a single fish on a topwater popper. Now if I throw topwater it's a spook, a whopper plopper, or a frog.

[Last_Cast]

Whopper plopped for me..

[Trox]

Glide baits... Just haven't really gotten around to throwing 'em. My buddies catch huge fish all the time on them in the lakes around my area but I just haven't gotten into it... When I see a $40+ price tag on a single bait, I start thinking about how many jigs that could buy me... then I go buy the jigs instead lol

[Jmilburn76]

Chatterbait, but Im going to throw them more this year.

[RDB]

On 1/6/2022 at 5:20 PM, A-Jay said:

Next to trying to learn to stitch a worm, they were my next biggest bust.

Don’t give up on this one…your experience is what motivated me to read the book and try.  I can’t speak for smallies but it has been great for me with largemouth around rocks, shells, and brush.  Next time your on a spot and know there are fish but can’t get them to commit, give it another shot.  If you don’t like the fingers to palm retrieve, try holding the rod above the reel with the line pinched like on a cast and retrieve with short pulls with your other hand like fly fishing.  Since you already are holding the line with your rod hand, at the end of a set,  you just reel in the slack on a tight line.  I often do that on windy days because the slack line can get fouled on my reel with the fingers to palm.

[Deleted account]

6 minutes ago, RDB said:

Don’t give up on this one…your experience is what motivated me to read the book and try.  I can’t speak for smallies but it has been great for me with largemouth around rocks, shells, and brush.  Next time your on a spot and know there are fish but can’t get them to commit, give it another shot.  If you don’t like the fingers to palm retrieve, try holding the rod above the reel with the line pinched like on a cast and retrieve with short pulls with your other hand like fly fishing.  Since you already are holding the line with your rod hand, at the end of a set,  you just reel in the slack on a tight line.  I often do that on windy days because the slack line can get fouled on my reel with the fingers to palm.

 

Sure it can be the ticket at times, but I would need to have someone hold my belt and shoe laces...

[A-Jay]

15 minutes ago, RDB said:

Don’t give up on this one…your experience is what motivated me to read the book and try.  I can’t speak for smallies but it has been great for me with largemouth around rocks, shells, and brush.  Next time your on a spot and know there are fish but can’t get them to commit, give it another shot.  If you don’t like the fingers to palm retrieve, try holding the rod above the reel with the line pinched like on a cast and retrieve with short pulls with your other hand like fly fishing.  Since you already are holding the line with your rod hand, at the end of a set,  you just reel in the slack on a tight line.  I often do that on windy days because the slack line can get fouled on my reel with the fingers to palm.

Thank you very much for the kind words and the support.

I do appreciate it.

While I'll never target brown bass with a worm like that,

the few times I'm focused on green bass,

it's usually south of the border.

There's rarely a need to be that finessey.

A-Jay

 

[Calebp]

I have never caught a single bass on any kind of bait meant to move, from any cranbait, to any chatterbait, spinnerbait, topwater bait, swim jig, buzzbait, etc. and almost no success with jigs other than 2 catches on completely different days and areas.

Soft plastics are my go to as I have caught many on them, but if I put it as a trailer on a jig or pick up a different type of lure, it's as if the bass say, "You might ass well go home buddy."


I caught a small one on a crankbait in the may with a spare pole not even trying but when I got into bass fishing, have yet to catch one.

I will say I have a good size bass hit my spinnerbait as I reel it through wood in the water and it got off.


Over 5 months of purposely bass fishing, I have never have any success other than that spinnerbait incident.

[rboat]

On 1/6/2022 at 4:04 PM, islandbass said:

Many here already know this about me—Traditional skirted jig and trailer. I know, embarrassing but true. 
 

 

Same here, I know they work, the bottom composition here is soft muck and I believe the jig gets buried and hidden, at least that's my story.

[islandbass]

4 minutes ago, rboat said:

Same here, I know they work, the bottom composition here is soft muck and I believe the jig gets buried and hidden, at least that's my story.

I finally got that monkey off my back this summer. Caught two bass on the traditional skirted jig trailer now. Still, it’s a poor track record for a bass angler, lol. Hang in there! The odds are in your favor to get that monkey off of your back if you keep trying. 😎

[rboat]

4 hours ago, islandbass said:

I finally got that monkey off my back this summer. Caught two bass on the traditional skirted jig trailer now. Still, it’s a poor track record for a bass angler, lol. Hang in there! The odds are in your favor to get that monkey off of your back if you keep trying. 😎

Thanks. I will keep chucking those. Maybe if I catch one on a swim jig it will give me more confidence.

[LrgmouthShad]

22 hours ago, Calebp said:

Soft plastics are my go to as I have caught many on them, but if I put it as a trailer on a jig or pick up a different type of lure, it's as if the bass say, "You might ass well go home buddy."

 

4 hours ago, rboat said:

Same here, I know they work, the bottom composition here is soft muck and I believe the jig gets buried and hidden, at least that's my story.

I fish a pond occasionally in NC when I am visiting family that I call Ol Muddy. It has a muck bottom and often dirty water. Same as y’all describe, those bass almost exclusively like plastics. I have gotten them to strike a Megabass PopMax and 1/4oz trap, but those bass for the most part like plastics and little else. Jigs do very poorly there. Sometimes you just gotta listen to the fish 

[Pat Brown]

8 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

 

I fish a pond occasionally in NC when I am visiting family that I call Ol Muddy. It has a muck bottom and often dirty water. Same as y’all describe, those bass almost exclusively like plastics. I have gotten them to strike a Megabass PopMax and 1/4oz trap, but those bass for the most part like plastics and little else. Jigs do very poorly there. Sometimes you just gotta listen to the fish 

 

 

One of the many reasons one should always have a worm and a jig tied on!

 

For me I would have to say top water is my weakness. 

 

Hear me out. 

 

I fish a frog and a buzzbait a lot and I do really well with both of them but I don't consider them traditional top water baits. 

 

Poppers and Spooks and devil's horse and wake baits and things like that. I have had very, very little success with in my life. Try as I might. 

 

I've had a couple really good days with a popper and a couple really good days with a spook but that's about it and it's not for any lack of trying. 

 

But then I tie on a frog or a buzz bait and it's game on. 

 

I think the Frog is basically a floating Texas Rig and the buzz bait is basically a spinner bait meant to be reeled on the surface, which is why I don't really count them as traditional top water baits. I think they're more specialist categories.

 

There are a few categories that I don't use very much, but it's mostly because the cover around here isn't really right for it. Not because I've given up on them or because they aren't fun.

[Rockhopper]

Frog, lipless crank, huge swimbaits, underspins (flashy swimmer)

 

I am very unsuccessful with frogs, though I have had strikes.  It's a fisherman issue.

 

I don't fish lipless cranks as I think they are incredibly boring to fish.

 

I just got into large swimbaits.  Haven't had enough time on the water with them yet.

 

Have no idea why I have never caught a bass on a flashy swimmer as I catch them all the time with spinnerbaits.  And I have put in plenty of time fishing them.  Usually with a 4" trailer such as a keitech.

[MIbassyaker]

There are lots of lures I don't really like using, and don't catch fish very often with, But I can't think of any that I have really tried in earnest, putting in reasonable amounts of time and effort, and not caught something. 

 

Buzzbaits, frogs, jigs, walking topwaters, swimbait-underspins, lipless crankbaits, spybaits, jerkbaits, drop-shot -- all things I was unsuccessful with for awhile...until I wasn't.  Some I kept using and still use, some I don't use much at all. 

[Aaron_H]

18 minutes ago, Rockhopper said:

Frog, lipless crank, huge swimbaits, underspins (flashy swimmer)

 

I am very unsuccessful with frogs, though I have had strikes.  It's a fisherman issue.

 

I don't fish lipless cranks as I think they are incredibly boring to fish.

 

I just got into large swimbaits.  Haven't had enough time on the water with them yet.

 

Have no idea why I have never caught a bass on a flashy swimmer as I catch them all the time with spinnerbaits.  And I have put in plenty of time fishing them.  Usually with a 4" trailer such as a keitech.

 

 

They're so versatile!

[Darren.]

Never caught on a Sluggo. Back when I lived in WNY,

a buddy took me fishing at a small, private lake his 

folks lived at. He said Sluggo weightless is the greatest

bait and will catch monsters there. We were skunked.

Since then I've tried a few times, but zilch. I wonder if

they would do well in saltwater...hmmm.

[scaleface]

On 11/20/2024 at 4:43 PM, Darren. said:

Never caught on a Sluggo. Back when I lived in WNY,

a buddy took me fishing at a small, private lake his 

folks lived at. He said Sluggo weightless is the greatest

bait and will catch monsters there. We were skunked.

Since then I've tried a few times, but zilch. I wonder if

they would do well in saltwater...hmmm.

  I dont remember catching one on a sluggo . There use to be  a pork sluggo .It may have been called a Pork-O. I   dont think I caught any on it either.

[Munkin]

On 11/20/2024 at 5:43 PM, Darren. said:

Never caught on a Sluggo. Back when I lived in WNY,

a buddy took me fishing at a small, private lake his 

folks lived at. He said Sluggo weightless is the greatest

bait and will catch monsters there. We were skunked.

Since then I've tried a few times, but zilch. I wonder if

they would do well in saltwater...hmmm.

 

Sluggo was the magic bait for me as a teenager.  I caught 100's of fish on the 4.5" alewife one.  Stopped using them for some reason?

 

Allen 

[Columbia Craw]

Lunker Punker