Thread For Newbies (ME)

[maxke01]

As a fairly new bass fishermen i thought id make a thread where the experienced people on here can list some MUST have for the tacklebox regardless the conditions. I for one will be using these suggestions when stocking my box for the new season.

[Tin]

Jigs, jigs, jigs, more jigs, and trailers, Watermelon and Green Pumpkin Zoom Fat Albert grubs, Strike King Red Eye Shads, and last but not least finesse worms.

[Raul]

According to the pros and famous TV hosts must have: Crankbaits, spinnerbaits, soft plastics & jigs ....... pretty much a worthless list cuz they ain 't telling you nuthin cuz all of them catch fish. Now from a mere instrument of the baitmonkey who has spent the last 38 years of his life purchasing tackle ( and still do   ) if I knew back then what I know now instead of having several boxes & binders stuffed full of tackle I would have narrowed the selection to the point whereI can go with a couple of 3700 T-boxes stuffed with what has produced for me everywhere I 've fished.

Want the list of what I suggest ?

[maxke01]

Want the list of what I suggest ?

uh huh

[Raul]

PM or open reply ?

[maxke01]

Open reply is fine, im sure there are other people here that want to better themselves as bad if not more than i do

[maxke01]

finance options are cool too!

[HookedinNY]

Great idea for a post. After a 35 year break I took to fishing again this summer. Little did I know how powerful the bait monkey can be. I am quite sure I don't need all of the items I have bought to this point but it sure is fun! Yesterday I bought my first Lucky Craft lures...lord help me and my bank account now! ;D

[maxke01]

Funny thing there with the bank account.. i have a bank account specifically for buying things online.not really fishing stuff but i dont trust too much online so i set it up like that

[Catt]

I'm ready

[paul.]

jigs in varying weights and colors.

soft plastics - jig trailers, worms, lizards, flukes, creature baits, tubes

texas and carolina rig sized bullet weights for the plastics

hooks for the plastics

spinnerbaits in varying sizes, colors, and blade types

crankbaits in varying running depths

lipless cranks

suspending jerkbaits

various topwaters - popper, walker, buzzer

this covers all the basics that i know of.  there are lots of good articles on this site about when and where to use what.  hope this helps.  good luck!

[Cory20]

Maxke-

Shore or boat?

[rondef]

Rat-L-Traps

Swim Senkos

Jitterbugs

Zara Spook and Zara Puppy

Buzbaits (Cavitron)

Manns Baby -1 crankbaits

Rapala Shad Raps

[maxke01]

Mostly Shore  :'(

[moby bass]

C'mon Raul, where's the list?  I probably already have the stuff, it's just buried along with all the other stuff I don't need.  (But it sure looked purty in the store)

[Raul]

Sorry for keeping ya 'll waiting, had to attend a patient when I was about to reply ( a dog that fell from the bed of a truck in motion, injuries looked a lot worse than they actually were ).

For the shore guy ( I used to be one for many years and still many times I fish from the bank ) that has to carry all that weight around I know that with a couple of 3700 boxes ( one for soft plastics and one for cranks ) plus a small box for hooks & sinkers and a binder for some spinnerbaits & buzzbaits can hold in practical terms 99% of most fishing situations you could find and they store neatly in a backpack so you can carry them around on your back. Another option is the same 3700 for the cranks plus one of these binders:

And the same small t box for hooks & sinkers. A 3700 box can hold up to 20 bags of soft plastic baits in their original package, that binder can hold 24-28 bags of baits plus spinnerbaits and jigs, I know very well that binder because I have one.

Ok so where were we........ how about starting with soft plastics ?

Watermelon in it 's multiple variations of metallic flake seems to be as close as an universal color for most people along with green pumpkin, man I don 't see what 's so special about them cuz I catch fish with practically any color I rig ( hey, I like to have a big bunch of colors from where to choose   ..... and end up using the same ones over and over again  : ) So let 's use watermelon and green pumpkin as a base color for soft plastics.

So we have 20-24 bags of soft plastics for the 3700 box:

2 bags of 6 -7" straight tail worms, don 't ask me why but straight tail worms have a "ye ne se quois" that attract bass to them and can be rigged in many ways ( versatility ). Choose your poison, my favorites now that I 'm out of jelly worms are Trickworms & Kut tails.

2 bags of Fat Ikas, there 's no substitute for them except the Kinami Palm, if you have never fished with an Ika trust me and RW, we know what we are talking about.  

2 bags of 5 inch single tail grubs, personally I like the Zoom Salty Fat Albert, it 's cheap, it 's heavily salted but not so soft that will tear to pieces if you cough hard on it can be rigged many ways and can be used as trailer for jigs and spinnerbaits ( versatility )

2 bags of 4" ( aprox ) craws, I use Zoom Cross Craws, as with the grubs versatility is the key, one bait can do a lot of things, if you can 't find Cross Craws you can purchase Gene Larews craws or GYCB 's craws or Flappin Hogs.

2 bags of 5" double tail skirted grubs, it 's not a new one but double tail skirted grubs catch fish, ever heard of the Spider jig ? we old farts know it very well, can also be rigged in many forms ( versatility ), choose the brand you like.

2 bags of 5-7" lizards, personally I fish with Zoom, they are cheap, well made, catch fish, salted and the appendages are lively.

2 bags of 3.5" tubes, never fished with tubes ? you don 't know what you are missing. I like BPS tubes beacuse they have the combination of color and metal flake colors I use the most.

2 bags of Baby Brush Hogs, the size catches big and medium fish, can be rigged in many ways and it 's a proven fish catcher.

2 bags of 4-5" Flukes, it doesn 't have to be a Zoom fluke per se but a fluke type kind of bait, Shad Assasin, Shad Shape worm, Shaddick or so will do the trick. Most people think of flukes as a d-shot or jerkbait alone bait, such thing is not true, the bait is very versatile and can do something no other bait can which is t swim paralel to the shore.

2 packs of stickbaits, choose whichever you want, Senkos, Tiki Sticks, Stik O 's, whatever brand tickles your fancy. I don 't have a favorite, all brands I 've tried work well for me.

So there you have 20 bags of soft baits, depending upon how you arrange your box you can add more bags of something else you want like Beavers, more senkos, ribbontail or french fry worms but with any of those I mentioned you will catch fish ( that binder will allow you to carry a wider selection ), in most cases it 's not the bait but the rigging technique what transoforms the bait and the presentation you give to it.

Ok let 's move on to the spinnerbaits.

Me ? oh well I carry more than 100 spinnerbaits with me wehn I 'm on the boat but when from shore with 10 I have more than enough. To me the most universal skirt color is white/chartreuse and the two blades I fish the most are single colorado and single willow leaf, you want to add more it 's just a matter of adding a greater combination of blades. Why I use single blades more ? because spinnerbaits with single baldes do what the others don 't, the blade "helicopters" when it 's on the fall.  

Jigs

With 10 jigs you have plenty, weedless jigs are a must if you fish most of the time from the shore, preferably with rattle, 3/8-1/2 oz jigs in black is what I suggest, any color is fine ...... as long as it is black, why I say black, the idea is simplicity and the most basic and simple color is black, it can be seen in clear water, it can be seen in murky water and if you are in the "match the hatch" school of thought (  : ) black is "natural" cuz a lot of critters that bass can eat have or are black. I pay more attention to the trailer and what I want to show to the fish than the color of the jig. I can 't suggest a particular brand cuz when it comes to jigs I 'm as cheap as I can get for a reason, I loose jigs a lot ( if you ain 't casting where they 're going to hang up you ain 't casting where the fish are ).

[roadwarrior]

Here are some ideas members shared on another thread:

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1143177139

[BASS fisherman]

My suggestion would have to be Bass Pro Shop tender tubes in 2 colors- #13 which is a dark green watermelon, and #3 which is a lightish brown color. I also like the YUM VK finesse tubes that put off a bit more vibration because of the ribbed sides. In the YUM tubes I prefer watermelon with gold flake, green pumpkin, and black neon. Those 3 colors will cover the full spectrum of water clarities you'll likely come across.

For Texas riggin':

Get yourself either some Lazer sharp HP hooks that have a little clip that holds the plastic, or the Gamakatsu skip gap hooks in the green pack.

Your'll also need some bullet weights in as light a weight you can get away with and still maintain good contact with the bottom. As a guideline, the shallower your fishing, the lighter the weight. I have an assortment from 1/8 oz up to 1/2 ounce that I used for tubes.

For areas that aren't snaggy you'll need to get your self some internal leadhead jigs. I prefer a 1/8 oz skinny head jig known as a gitzit head. As the jig falls it has a spiral spin to it that at times will drive the fish nuts. I also have 1/4 oz and 3/8 oz internal jig heads for deeper water, which I rarely use.

I caught more fish on tube jigs in 2007 than any other lure so I can officially claim they are my "go-to" lure.

[farmpond1]

IMHO, The "Must have's" are are a collection of baits which cover a wide cross section of Lakes/Rivers/Ponds and conditions.  If you want to be versatile, you should have some diving crankbaits which run at different depths, some spinnerbaits with gold and silver blades, some jigs, a few spooons, some softplastic worms/crawdads/lizards/swimbaits, some tube baits, some topwater baits-all in a wide range of colors and sizes.  But this is really if you plan to fish at many different locations or times of the year.  If you only fish one or two spots, it might do to find a local expert and ask them what seems to work regularly.

One of the reasons the bait monkey is so powerful is there are times when only a very select number of baits or colors will work.  I can't count the number of times I've been fishing with a friend and he'll be catching fish on, for example, a silver Rapala.  I'll switch because I see that it works but instead of silver, I might have only a white or natural minnow color.  Or maybe I'll have a silver Rapala but only in one size larger or smaller.  And I'll be darned if the fish still totally ignore what I'm using and continue to tear his bait to pieces.  So, immediately after the trip, I'll go out and buy exactly that bait.  Only to find that on the next trip, it's something else they want.  Or, to stay one jump ahead of the fish, I might just load up on everything I can afford.

Have I confused you enough?  Listen to paragraph 1 and ignore the second one.