Productive Baits 2023 ~

[Bankbeater]

In 2023 I fished with a lot of baits that caught one or two bass, but only a few baits that worked consistently all year.

All of my largest bass were caught in the spring, and most of them were on either a spinnerbait or a swim jig.  The bass were back in the dead lily pads and the dead eelgrass.

A 4" Yum Dinger and a Zoom Finesse worm were my top baits for numbers this year during the summer.  I fished them weightless or on a split shot rig around vegetation after the sun started hitting the water. 

The topwater bite was non-existent all spring around here.  Finally, in July, the bite picked up with a buzzbait by casting out past floating weed mats and then running the bait over the top of the mat.

When the temps started cooling down in the fall the spinnerbait and swim jig bite picked back up again only this time the bass were around rip rap and rock.

Shallow running crankbaits and wake baits worked all year, but they just didn't produce the numbers that they had in past years. I fished these mostly around vegetation out in the shallow flats.

 

[Mbirdsley]

here is my list of productive baits 2023.

 

 first photo is from early in the year untill about the spawn.  2nd photo is basically from the spawn untill october.  

 

not pictured in the first photo would be a silver and blue back kvd deep 300. i had 2 to start the year.   I don’t remember loosing 2nd one.  it has/was historicly been a pretty big producer for me.  seems like if i had lost the 2nd one to fish or snag i would have bought a replacement ( it’s actually giving me anxiety not knowing where it’s at) .  so i will be buying 2 again. 

 

i seemed to have misplaced my ned rig box ( also giving me anxiety) but, copertreuse ned should be in the 2nd picture along, with berkley maxx scent green pumpkin party general.  I kid you not i caught probably 30 fish on that pack including 2 3.5 lbers in one day.  all wacky rigged 

 

photo apparently got switched around 

 

 

2nd photo 6th sense lipless, lucky craft Lvo 500 3/4 oz lipless, lucky craft 100 sp, kvd deep 300 clear ayu, and 300 deep ayu 

 

1st photo little john md silver olive back.  this has been a very. productive little crank particularly when the water is 55-65 degrees. a 6 inch yum dinger in watermelon pearl laminate which, is a very good late may-june t-rigged bait. black and blue spine craw, green pink moon blue flake.  spine craw GB hayes which, killed smallies in really clear water.  watermelon red craw fatty and a zoom GP tube.

 

interesting notes. usually, i do very well on chatter baits early in the year but, not so much this last year.  i usually catch multiple big fish on cranks all year long but, i didn’t do much of anything on cranks.  most of the summer i threw those spine craws t-rigged.  I didn’t really throw any jigs either.  if the spine craws produce again this year i’ll be able to throw out a lot of use less craws and other creature baits. 

 

i also rediscovered the ned rig after not touching it for 3-4 years. 

[softwateronly]

Swim jigs and jigs are still my staple, but this year I learned some new baits;

 

- the chad shad, being able to chop a bigger bait brought on some furious action April thru June

- Hags *** tornado t-rigged and on a fin-tech jig was a great big bass worm for me this year

- 5-7" flutter spoons, opened up a new world of pelagic bass in July/August.  Then leaving it tied on and floating it down weedy breaks gave me some great bites as well.

- jigging spoons/small flutter spoons ripped and killed mid column gave me a new angle on presenting to bass keyed in on shad in fall/early winter and combined with blade baits and tail spinners proved to be a great 1-2-3 approach.

 

scott

 

[RRocket]

2 hours ago, softwateronly said:

Swim jigs and jigs are still my staple, but this year I learned some new baits;

 

- the chad shad, being able to chop a bigger bait brought on some furious action April thru June

- Hags *** tornado t-rigged and on a fin-tech jig was a great big bass worm for me this year

- 5-7" flutter spoons, opened up a new world of pelagic bass in July/August.  Then leaving it tied on and floating it down weedy breaks gave me some great bites as well.

- jigging spoons/small flutter spoons ripped and killed mid column gave me a new angle on presenting to bass keyed in on shad in fall/early winter and combined with blade baits and tail spinners proved to be a great 1-2-3 approach.

 

scott

 

 

Real nice work learning those new techniques! 

[WVU-SCPA]

Over Producers

T-rig maxscent creature bait- 3 years running of producing the best quality and quantity of fish.  A few variations of c-rigging and shakey heads. Rock, grass, and wood it just produced.

Neko rigged flick shake worm- when the bite was tough, keeping this in hand all day led to 2 winning bags.

Squarebills- the adage of throwing them on windblown rip rap was almost too true this spring.  I'm itching for the time to repeat this in a few months.

Dark Sleeper-Really produced popping it in snaggy structure, need to move to a cheaper version.

 

On par production

Ned rig with the lightest weight possible based on conditions in Canadian craw.

Spinnerbait, drop shot (hit worm out produced the flat worm), jig, underspin, and paddletails all had their time and place.

 

Below average producers

Bladed Jig-never got on a consistent bite.

Jerkbait-I'd blame it mostly on lack of time on the water at appropriate times, but the total fish caught on jerkbaits was the lowest in 5 years.  There's still 17 days left in the year so this may change some.

All other worms- power worms and senko style worms just never were the ticket or lasted long tied on.

A-rig-lost more rigs then the total of bass caught on it.

 

[A-Jay]

Just realized never added the review.

So this is what some of 2023 looked like.

https://youtu.be/wfSXXO7wgfw?feature=shared

A-Jay

[Columbia Craw]

A-Jay, your selection is not all that much of a surprise with one exception. Two crankbaits. That’s it?   This was a stellar post. UDaMan!