What lure(s) have you struggled with and did it finally workout for you? I’m

[DitchPanda]

Ned rig- first time throwing one I smoked em then I tried stuffing it into a box it wasn't designed to fit in and went fish less for years on it. Then I did my research and went to work with it. A couple summers back I was fishing the middle of the day, from shore in 100 degree weather and I caught like 15 on it including several over 3lbs. Since then I almost always have a Ned rod with me and I bet its caught me several hundred fish on it.

Dropshot- this one ticks me off. Won't rant to much but no it hasn't worked out and it never will. If I had to resort to this as my last ditch effort I'd just go home and watch fishing on YouTube.

[TnRiver46]

11 hours ago, king fisher said:

Plastic worms.  Yes, I said plastic worms.  Please don't send the bass police to have me arrested or locked away in a mental institution.  I bought my first pack in 1976.   All I was able to do was snag the bullet weight in the rocks. I didn't start catching fish with them until 2020.  Weightless Senkos were the first to score, then finally last year I started catching fish on a traditional T rig with a Zoom Trick Worm.

[LrgmouthShad]

All the time I tell myself I need to fish plastic worms more and it never happens.  
 

This ends now! 

[TnRiver46]

4 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

All the time I tell myself I need to fish plastic worms more and it never happens.  
 

This ends now! 

[LrgmouthShad]

1 minute ago, TnRiver46 said:

I fish em! Just not enough. I picked up some zoom magnum finesse worms on sale though and I am mighty excited to try those. Think I can get em on both a shaky and that weird weedless Ned rig, possibly wacky/Neko too. Gotta check my equipment

 

[TnRiver46]

1 minute ago, LrgmouthShad said:

I fish em! Just not enough. I picked up some zoom magnum finesse worms on sale though and I am mighty excited to try those. Think I can get em on both a shaky and that weird weedless Ned rig, possibly wacky/Neko too. Gotta check my equipment

 

I fish worms most of the time, but I’ve never neko’d, only tried wacky a couple times and stayed hung up, and I don’t ned rig. 
 

regular old ways still work 

[papajoe222]

Jerkbaits. It took me a few seasons to work out the force of the twitch, length of the pause. It's still a lesson in progress, but I've been catching fish on them all season long, so I figure a B- or at least a C+ on last year's report card.

[JustJames]

It is not really struggling but more like no patience enough for , swimbait type, paddle tail, spinnerbait swinm jig underspin, you name it. I can swim 1/33-1/16oz jig for crappie/bluegill all days and catch a bunch, but I just don’t like to fish with it for bass. I would give up after a few cast . I do catch bass with it though but after a bass or two  I would change to bottom contact type. 

[Mbirdsley]

Jerk baits and do nothing baits.
 

 like fishing the Ned rig and bucktails, and hair rigs how they are supposed to be fished.  Meaning slow do nothing retrieve rather than hopping along the bottom.  
 

took me a while to get the right rhythm with a jerk bait. 

[Scott804]

Cranking. I switched from a graphite rod to a glass rod and suddenly it all began making sense and I started making progress. Now I love to run down a bank winding a squarebill! 

 

I am hoping spinnerbaits are next on the list... I have caught fish on them, but I just really can't figure them out still. There are some things, like a lipless, that I can't figure out and have no desire to, but I want to love spinnerbaits and just cannot. 

[Aaron_H]

Jerkbaits were something of a nemesis of mine for a few years. I would tie one on every now and then, caught a few fish sporadically on them, but never managed to gain any confidence in them. I would look at them wistfully in my tacklebox, knowing they *should* be putting fish on the board but I just couldn't get the hang of it. Finally made my fishing resolution for this year to tough it out and figure them out and I've managed to have some pretty good success on them; my three biggest fish of 2022 so far have been on the jerkbait, including my personal best.

 

It's given me a lot of confidence to tackle another low-confidence presentation next year. Haven't decided yet, but maybe the spinnerbait.

[TnRiver46]

59 minutes ago, Aaron_H said:

Jerkbaits were something of a nemesis of mine for a few years. I would tie one on every now and then, caught a few fish sporadically on them, but never managed to gain any confidence in them. I would look at them wistfully in my tacklebox, knowing they *should* be putting fish on the board but I just couldn't get the hang of it. Finally made my fishing resolution for this year to tough it out and figure them out and I've managed to have some pretty good success on them; my three biggest fish of 2022 so far have been on the jerkbait, including my personal best.

 

It's given me a lot of confidence to tackle another low-confidence presentation next year. Haven't decided yet, but maybe the spinnerbait.

If you figure out the spinnerbait secret, feel free to tell me 

[Aaron_H]

3 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

If you figure out the spinnerbait secret, feel free to tell me 

 

So far my secret has been to just throw a Chatterbait instead. But who knows, the jerkbait has far surpassed my expectations this year, spinnerbait next year could be no different.

[LrgmouthShad]

1 hour ago, Aaron_H said:

but maybe the spinnerbait.

[J Francho]

Jigs. I will say that whipper ploopers are pretty dumb and don't catch, so maybe that's another for me. 

[gim]

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

If you figure out the spinnerbait secret, feel free to tell me 

Come up here in September with a spinnerbait and you WILL catch pike.  Better bring a bunch too because they will get bent and kinked relatively quickly.

[KSanford33]

Knee jerk reaction is obviously jigs for me, but that’s not what I want to post about. 
 

Is there anything better than using a type of lure you don’t have confidence in and feeling that thump for the first time and you’re like, this thing actually works!

[Aaron_H]

26 minutes ago, J Francho said:

whipper ploopers are pretty dumb and don't catch

 

 

I do think they're overpriced, but the 110 is one of my favorite topwaters. Had a 6lber crush it yesterday.

[TnRiver46]

I’m also 0 for lifetime on whopper plopper 

[gim]

2 hours ago, Aaron_H said:

I do think they're overpriced, but the 110 is one of my favorite topwaters. Had a 6lber crush it yesterday.

I am fully on board with what @TnRiver46 says on the whopper plopper.  Mine are now Chistmas Tree ornaments.

[TnRiver46]

48 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I am fully on board with what @TnRiver46 says on the whopper plopper.  Mine are now Chistmas Tree ornaments.

Oh I’m going to catch a fish with it! I’ll keep throwing it, im not smart enough to quit 

[Aaron_H]

I think the hype for them originally was overblown, but they are effective for me. I reach for them about as often as a spook, I like that I can run it super tight to grass lines or other cover compared to walking style baits that might swing a little wider from it. But the guys touting it as some sort of topwater fish magnet are full of it IMO.

[IneedAnewScreenName-98161861]

The dam Ned rig. I think I just hate the idea of it so I don't really try with it and then after 2 casts without a bite I immediately deem it to be ineffective lol. 

 

Oh also the dark sleeper. All I hear is how amazing this thing is for smallies and I tried so hard last year and I've yet to get a bite. 

[gim]

8 hours ago, Aaron_H said:

But the guys touting it as some sort of topwater fish magnet are full of it IMO

That's what River2Sea did when they first came out.  And I fell for it.

 

The big 190 original version has actually been out for many, many years.  The design of the lure itself was originally only targeted for the muskie crowd, promoted by Larry Dahlberg.  Eventually River2Sea saw they were missing a big demographic of bass anglers, and so they simply downsized it to the 130.  Then the 110, then the 90, etc.

 

I actually think its a well-made, durable lure.  The problem is that it fish just don't attack it lol.

[J Francho]

I remember the episodes where Larry was testing the homemade version.  I was VERY MUCH looking forward to it coming out.  It was not the huge improvement to tailprops that I though it would be.  Top Raider still works fine for toothies.