What was you're best lure and set up last year?

[Bartableman7]

Using a 10 1/2 foot medium action spinning rod for crankbaits and rattle traps.  A game changer.  Crushed the fish.

[PaulVE64]

6 ft MLF spinning with a 4" GP senko 

 

Edit - gear is a stC Triumph with a Daiwa BG3000 and 10# hi vis 832 to 6' of 12# mono leader on an FG knot

[TnRiver46]

My fly rods ain’t even 10 ft……

this is the one I usually grab first and toss a worm 

[padlin]

Rage Baby Craw on whatever. Catches the most, most anything too, but not the biggest.

[Swamp Girl]

7' 2" MH fast action spinning rod with a 2500 Shimano reel tossing a popper, Senko, Plopper, or underspin with 30 lb. braid. 

[Pat Brown]

Toss up between a Jerkbait and buzzbait with honorable mention for flashy swimmer with largo shad trailer, jigs and t rigged plastics.

 

I used a 7'6 MHF with 15 lb big game and an 8 speed reel more than anything else but had specialized gear for buzzbait and Jerkbait.

[Jar11591]

Popper was number one. Throw it on a 6’6” MF casting rod with a 7:1 reel spooled with 10lb nylon.

 

Second was a spinnerbait on a 7’ MHF casting rod, 5:1 reel spooled with 30lb braid tied to a 20lb fluorocarbon leader. 

[A-Jay]

A buggy whip, 

nine feet of baling wire,

and Marge's husband.

It was like magic happened.

A-Jay

 

[Fishin Dad]

6’10” Irod ML with Tatula 3000 CXH with 10 lb. Suffix 832 and 8 lb. Trilene 100% fluoro with FG knot.   Drop shot with 3/8 tungsten cylinder and various hooks and baits depending on cover. 

[gim]

I would say a perch jerk bait on mono, medium action rod and BC reel for smallmouth.

 

For largies probably a wacky rigged stick bait on a MH action spinning rod with a 2500 sized reel, suffix braid with a fluoro leader.

[Koz]

7' 2" MH Expride, Curado DC or MGL, and Berkley Fusion underspin with a Keitech Fat Swing Impact.

[GreenPig]

No idea for numbers. But for big LM & Spots it was a Bull Shad Wake Bull and a old Lew's 8.1:1 Wide Speed Spool full of 20 lb CXX mounted on a old 7'6" heavy Abu Garcia rod rated 1 - 4 ounce. I'd been swapping that bait from rig to rig after loosing fish on the jump. Haven't lost a fish since finding that combo.

[Columbia Craw]

You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.

[OmegaDPW]

6.6 Ugly Stik, 6lb mono, Pfleuger reel of some sort. Did a lot of Wacky Rigging with Trick Worms, Finesse Worms and stickbaits. Caught a lot of fish on a Creme stickbait in Green Pumpkin set up weightless and weedless with a 3/0 hook. Those Creme stickbaits are always on sale at my local Wal Mart for $1.24 a pack of 5. Every time I had a few bucks to blow, I'd grab another couple of packs. Probably got 100 baits now of various colors but will only get the GP ones from here on out. My fish like them the best. 

[scaleface]

Texas rigged Yum Dinger 5/16th oz weight.  7 ft hvy Okuma inshore rod , "PISCIFUN" Phantom reel, 17 lb XL clear blue fluorescent.

9 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

My fly rods ain’t even 10 ft……

An older friend I took fishing a few times,  always fished with Johnson Century reels , with the spool  reversed and attached upside down to a fly rod . 

[crypt]

7'3" MHX casting rod  Abu reel, Culprit Fat Max worm. 75% of my fish last year on this rig.

[BayouSlide]

Same as nearly every year: a Tatula MH (Vanford 2500) or Dobyns Sierra M (Lews Speed Spin) spinning rod with a blue emerald or blue sapphire Trick Worm on a shaky head, usually an Owner.

[king fisher]

My biggest bass was caught on a T rigged Junebug Zoom Magnum Trick worm.  My rod was a 7' medium heavy Diawa Ardito, and the reel was a Diawa Zillion SV with 15 pound Seaguar InvisX line.

      Best bag of five were caught on a home made spinnerbait, 7.5' medium heavy Diawa Ardito rod, Diawa Tatula 150 reel spooled with 30# JBraid, and a 15# Maxima Ultra green leader.

      Most bass over 7 pounds were caught on a Storm Arashi Cover Pop, 7' medium Diawa Ardito rod, Tatula Ct reel, and 30 pound braid to 15 pound leader.

      In past years soft plastics have not been a big player, and I have shunned  braid to leader.  I guess this was the year of hypocrisy for me.

[33oldtimer]

Used a variety of rods and reels, none of them particularly stood out. Lures, surprisingly three of my nicest fish were caught on Roadrunners, my go to when nothing else is working. But the spinnerbait caught more bass for me by far than any other lure, though I finished the season pretty good using bitsy bug jigs.

[the reel ess]

Various T rigs. Rage Bug and Lizard mostly.

[softwateronly]

Jigs and worms produced the biggest fish as usual, MH/H BC.  But this year I played around a lot more with a free rig and spoons and 2 new to me 2 piece major craft rods.  MC Days 6'9M/F and MC TripleCross 7'9MH/RF.  Caught a load of fish and had a great time all the way till ice in and was able to throw them in my car easily.

 

scott

 

[Catt]

Johnson Beetle Spin 1/4 oz, white with the tails dipped in Spike-It Dip-N-Glo Chartreuse Garlic.

 

Powell Inferno 703C 7' Medium Heavy X-Fast.

 

Lew's Tournament Lite TLT1SH 7.5:1, spooled with Berkley Big Game 15#.

[OmegaDPW]

1 hour ago, Catt said:

Johnson Beetle Spin 1/4 oz, 

 

My all time favorite. I prefer the black body with a little bit of yellow and red. 

 

The pond that I'm fishing the most right now is a Beetle Spin killer. Every other cast gets hung up on something so I had to change course. Need to find a better pond to get back to what I'm used to. 😉

[bulldog1935]

My Abu salt finesse rod w/ Silver Wolf caught everything on the redfish rodeo last fall.  

   v - not my trip fish, but the best photo - v

Also MinnowZ on 1/8-oz TexasEye jighead caught everything - these 3 colors, reflected light on left, transmitted light on the right.  

The first morning on the heavily hit flat, I could tell from the fish sign I was on 200 redfish, and they were moving toward the tide pass and the guide boat that was staked out waiting for them.  

Normally, the middle color, Mood Ring, is the morning choice because of the mullet sheen and transmitted pink.  But it was too visible on the heavily hit flat.  When I switched to the bottom, opaque color, The Deal, it was just the right subtle blend color with mullet sheen, and I caught 7 fish on 12 casts.  One redfish will make your day.  

 

Already told my river bass story from last year too many times, but S-glass ML finesse rod, Smith FO-56 w/ Smith Plugger, and my cheating inline keel spinner for bottom-bouncing on the shallow flagstone.  You get to watch big bass slamming their heads into the mudballs wanting to eat it.  

 

[Boomstick]

Because of a single shore spot I had some pretty good success with, my most successful bait for the season has to be a Texas rigged baby brush hog followed by a ned rig.

 

On my kayak I had success with senkos and jigs about equally.

 

Next might be a popper.

 

My T-Rigs were largely thrown on my Tatula Elite 7’ M-MH/XF rod with a Tatula SV reel.