“Gimmick” lures in tournaments

[txchaser]

I started out in agreement then I thought about:

A-rig

vision 110

drop shot

senko

chatterbait

swimjig with no trailer

 

If some new bait is working I'm going to guess they are doing everything they can to hide it unless they are sponsored. "I was catchin' 'em on soft plastics"

 

But I get your point. I'm always hunting for the next lure that really is a knockout. Occasionally I do find one, but I'd bet it's 25:1 "I don't understand why did I buy this" to "wow this saved the say and these fish are huge".  Heavy silent lipless was one of them. All five of my largest fish have come from baits that weren't standards a few years ago. I have this pull to really cut down on the number of options and presentations though. Maybe a good example here is tokyo rig. I carry some around but I can't really see a spot where I'd fish it; I don't fish a straight tx rig much though either. More likely to be on a bubba shot or a jig or a c-rig.

 

I'm staring at you, too, topwater box. SO much stuff in there's it's two boxes, and I probably only need six frogs (white/natural/black, in regular and popping) and three buzzbaits (small/large, white, large black), a couple of spooks(small/large, black/white), and four poppers (small/large, black/white). The rest of the stuff is cool, but the big fish are coming on those baits anyway. I'll miss you, weird jdm topwaters. 

 

 

[Cbump]

8 minutes ago, txchaser said:

I'm staring at you, too, topwater box. SO much stuff in there's it's two boxes, and I probably only need six frogs (white/natural/black, in regular and popping) and three buzzbaits (small/large, white, large black), a couple of spooks(small/large, black/white), and four poppers (small/large, black/white). The rest of the stuff is cool, but the big fish are coming on those baits anyway. I'll miss you, weird jdm topwaters. 

 

lmao same here! I only have one topwater box but it’s got like 4 vixens, a spook, 2 sexy dawgs, 3 buzz baits, 3 whopper ploppers, 5 poppers, and 4 frogs. Zero of which will I ever throw. That doesn’t include the 5 packs of toads I’ll never throw. 
I often look at my topwater box, and my topwater rod/reel and think man I should just sell all this. 
 

Only reason I don’t though is because my son likes to throw topwaters. 

[king fisher]

On 3/16/2023 at 10:07 PM, Cbump said:

 

lmao same here! I only have one topwater box but it’s got like 4 vixens, a spook, 2 sexy dawgs, 3 buzz baits, 3 whopper ploppers, 5 poppers, and 4 frogs. Zero of which will I ever throw. That doesn’t include the 5 packs of toads I’ll never throw. 
I often look at my topwater box, and my topwater rod/reel and think man I should just sell all this. 
 

Only reason I don’t though is because my son likes to throw topwaters. 

My top water box will always have a Jitterbug, and a Hula Popper in it.  I don't use them any more, but I can't imagine ever going fishing without them.  

[roadwarrior]

3 minutes ago, king fisher said:

My top water box will always have a Jitterbug, and a Hula Popper in it.  I don't use them any more, but I can't imagine ever going fishing without them.  

Now that's funny!

[MN Fisher]

1 hour ago, king fisher said:

My top water box will always have a Jitterbug, and a Hula Popper in it.  I don't use them any more, but I can't imagine ever going fishing without them.  

I tossed my Jitterbugs and Hula Poppers away years ago...

[king fisher]

1 minute ago, MN Fisher said:

I tossed my Jitterbugs and Hula Poppers away years ago...

Be careful what you say on the internet. You may have just admitted to a serious bass fishing offense. You might want to change your post to I store my Jitterbugs in a special place in my house now instead of my tackle box, or I gave my Hula popper to a kid.  I don’t  think you want the bass police to come knock on you door in the middle of the night.

[Deleted account]

On 3/16/2023 at 11:46 PM, txchaser said:

I started out in agreement then I thought about:

A-rig

vision 110

drop shot

senko

chatterbait

swimjig with no trailer

 

Except most of those things have been catching fresh and salt water fish consistently for a very long time, long before LMB guys gave them a "technique" name.

[newriverfisherman1953]

6 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

I tossed my Jitterbugs and Hula Poppers away years ago...

Oh man. I’ll throw a Jitterbug at daylight just for the music it makes??. 

[Troy85]

Yesterday I was reading the latest issue of BASS.  One article had all the stats about all the previous day out on the lake fish caught, one stat was what lures caught the biggest fish overall.  Jig came in number one with something like 37%, followed up by TX rig worm in the mid 20s% if I remember correctly.  Probably two of the oldest techniques in bass fishing. 

[flyfisher]

On 3/13/2023 at 7:43 PM, Cbump said:

I watch a lot of tournament fishing and I’ve noticed that the hammers that get the coverage are always throwing mainstays- bladed jig, spinnerbait, t-rig, senko, shakey,frogs, some buzzbait, crankbaits, jerkbait, drop shot depending on the guy…. Might have missed some but that’s about It. 
 

What I don’t see are dark sleepers, sleeper gills, weird topwaters like hellraizers and whopper ploppers or rats, crazy colors of all shades, geecracks, cover scat, no 15+” magnum worms, etc….

 

Kind of makes you wonder why we buy so much gear when the biggest tournaments in the world with the best anglers are won with senkos and chatterbaits and some roboworms. Lol

 

 

PS- I’m currently watching Redcrest so if you’re planning to say well “so-and-so just won Redcrest with a savage gear anaconda” please no spoilers. 

They fish with the weird stuff too but if it isn't a sponsor they sure aren't going to bite the hand that feeds them.  A lot of baits are custom too

[Cbump]

10 minutes ago, flyfisher said:

They fish with the weird stuff too but if it isn't a sponsor they sure aren't going to bite the hand that feeds them.  A lot of baits are custom too

There’s always outliers, but I can see what they’re throwing. Take brands out of It, lots of cranks, jerkbaits, variety of plastic worms, etc.