Great lure.........for some.

[Jake P]

The first bass bait i ever tied on a line was a rattletrap. I caught a bass on each of my first 3 casts back to back to back. I have never caught one using a rattletrap since. I think my "worst" bait is a spinnerbait. I have NEVER caught a bass on a spinnerbait. I still use it everyday i fish though.

[.dsaavedra.]

I have NEVER caught a bass on a spinnerbait. I still use it everyday i fish though.

its the same way with jigs for me. i fish it for a good while every time i go, you figure a fish has to bite sometime....nope. and its not like i fished it for 20 min once and didnt like it so i put it at the bottom of my list, i fish it soooooooo much but never get a bump out of it. hopefully things will change in '08. :-/

[Guest muddy]

Great Thread!  Jigs went from this list, to my frequently used list last season, and will grow in favoritism this year!

As for this list  SPINNERBAITS, I have caught fish on em, I hate them . It feels like I am throwing a hardware store around all day! I know they work i just have little use for them

[FishTank]

For me it's the Rapala X-raps.  I have only caught a couple of fish with these things.  I have tried several techniques and different lakes and honey holes but no luck.  I even tried at a pond where the fish will bite anything exept the X-rap.  I don't get it.

[skillet]

 I don't fish them often enough I guess but I couldn't catch a cold with a crank bait. I take that back, a whole bunch of years ago before I all but gave up on'em, I foul hooked a 10"er in a small farm pond :-[...

                                            As Ever,

                                             skillet

[Hooked_On_Bass]

For me it's crankbaits. Jigs & plastics are my go to baits. I have even caught quite a few fish on floating treble hook lures. I do well with floating Rapalas, Jitterbugs, Hula Poppers, Spooks & Sammys, but if it sinks, so do I. I have only caught 1 bass on a crankbait with a bill that runs below the surface. I have a box filled with Rapala DTs, Manns -, and LC Pointers, but I'm darned if I can catch a fish with one.

That's hilarious Alpster, I'm the exact same way! ;D My top three baits are jigs, plastics and spinnerbaits. I have done fairly well with top-waters, but I just cant say the same about crankbaits. I too have a box full of crankbaits. I've got to start throwing them this year, I'm starting to feel guilty :-[ ;D.

[crankybaits]

I'm guessing everyone will think this is crazy... but mine is the senko.  i think the problem is i fish to fast and would rather work through an  area with cranks, traps and jerkbaits.

[fishingfourfun]

I have never had any luck with a spinnerbait. I will keep trying however long it might take.

[garry77]

Thanks all you guys that said a spinnerbait was your worst.Now I don't feel so bad about never catching one on a rattle trap.(especially since there are a bunch of us out there.

  Maybe we should start an online support group."Hello....my name is Garry and I never caught a fish on a rattle trap." :'(

[BassFishingMachine]

I have a few unfortunately :-/. First has to be a fat shallow/medium/deep diving crankbait, I haven't put much time into them, but the waters I fish are fairly shallow with 4-5 feet being the deepest areas (and I don't fish that deep too often at all) So I rarely ever use the medium/deep diving cranks. But I have thrown the shallow cranks here and there, just can't get a hit with them, I been fishing them in open water or around the sides of cover with a steady retreive or jerk jerk pause nothing bites em for me. But I recently heard your suppose to toss them right into the cover instead of around it, so I plan to give them another shot with this approach.

Lizards are another thing I can't seem to get bit with. The bass don't seem to like them for me, I don't have many salamanders around here (if any) so maybe thats the reason. The pickerel seem to like them though, especially the big ones (but what "don't" the pickerel like is the question). I tryed throwing them on the nests during spawn, but the bass just seem to ignore them. I only caught 1 bass on a lizard, I seen him sitting along side a lillypad, casted it to him and he hit it IMMEDIATELY as it hit the water, which leads me to believe he would have hit anything I had on there (I don't think he even had a chance to look at it he bit it so fast).

Another lure I don't do to well with is a chatterbait/or chatterbait knockoff, they just don't catch many fish for me, I do get bit with them, but nothing spectacular at all. I don't see why I should fish these when a spinnerbait seems to be the same kind of thing and I get alot more hits with them, so I don't think I'll be buying another chatterbait as I've snagged my original one.

The last 2 baits I don't do good with are long curlytail worms (anything 7inches or above) and Zoom Trickworms. I hear so many good things about these baits, Culprits etc. I don't have a problem with the shorter curlytail worms (under 7inches), they catch me fish, its the longer ones that give me issues. I try rigging the curlytails with small bullet weights and bouncing/crawling them along the bottom, almost like you would a jig but I just don't get many hits. I do catch a few fish with the 7inch curlytails, but its just like the chatterbait, not enough to keep me using the bait. As for the Trickworm I tryed this many times, weightless/weighted and I just can't get anything to take it what so ever, so I've pretty much gave up on them.

Seems funny to me, alot of baits I don't do well with alot of people seem to do great with, and the baits majority of you listed I do fairly well with. I can catch a good amount of fish with spinnerbaits, jigs, topwaters of any kind including buzzbaits, lipless cranks, Fat Ikas, any stickbait, pretty much any creaturebait, hard jerkbaits, softjerkbaits etc. But the long curlytail worms, the zoom trickworm, lizards, and chatterbaits I just don't do well with, go figure .

[Guest muddy]

Hey I can give you a big heads up on the crank bait issue, I learned this from the fellas here, I believe 5 bass was the first to give me the heads up with this. You are fishing them like I used to when i was having little sucess and scared of loosing baits. GO RIOGHT FOR THE COVER, hit every rock and piece of timber you can with them! HOLD ON TO YOUR ROD WHEN THEY BOUNCE OFF, a bass could rip it right out of your hands, they smack it so hard!

  You will be surprised when you learn how to keep reeling and keep your rod held high, you really do not loose so many baits and the results are well worth a few donations. I like Rapala DT's ,Norman D22's and Bomber 8A's mostly in crawfish patterns. I hope this helps you as much as it has helped me. 8-)

[ejtaylor822]

I made the mistake of buying a couple of those dancing eels when they came out a couple of years ago.  Fished them a lot and have never caught a single thing on them.  Lost one last summer and hoping to lose the others this year.   ;D

[Guest muddy]

I made the mistake of buying a couple of those dancing eels when they came out a couple of years ago. Fished them a lot and have never caught a single thing on them. Lost one last summer and hoping to lose the others this year. ;D

Did you buy the Foxtrot or the Cha Cha baits

[Jeff H]

I made the mistake of buying a couple of those dancing eels when they came out a couple of years ago. Fished them a lot and have never caught a single thing on them. Lost one last summer and hoping to lose the others this year. ;D

Those actually came out first in the 80's.  I bought one, never caught one single fish on it.  They don't even deserve mention in this thread.  Completely worthless.  Why they brought them back I'll never understand.

For me....I've never done well with buzzbaits.  

Muddy, your "hardware store" comment was hilarious. ;D

[Hooked_On_Bass]

Hey I can give you a big heads up on the crank bait issue, I learned this from the fellas here, I believe 5 bass was the first to give me the heads up with this. You are fishing them like I used to when i was having little sucess and scared of loosing baits. GO RIOGHT FOR THE COVER, hit every rock and piece of timber you can with them! HOLD ON TO YOUR ROD WHEN THEY BOUNCE OFF, a bass could rip it right out of your hands, they smack it so hard!

You will be surprised when you learn how to keep reeling and keep your rod held high, you really do not loose so many baits and the results are well worth a few donations. I like Rapala DT's ,Norman D22's and Bomber 8A's mostly in crawfish patterns. I hope this helps you as much as it has helped me. 8-)

Hey muddy man, you hit the nail right on the head! The river I fish the most is an old logging river, there is a lot of wood to get hung up on in there >. For that reason I have always neglected using crankbaits and opted for jigs, Texas rigged worms/tubes etc and spinnerbaits in fear of loosing my crankbaits to the river :-[. I am going to take your advice and give crankbaits a fair shot this year.

Thanks,

[7magJake]

Well I am completly oposite from ya'll. I have caught all my bass on hard crank baits and rat-l-traps. I just fish the trap under the water and reel in fast and they kill it! I really like the blue/silver one. I just wish people sold the bill lewis crank baits. Ive never caught a bass on a soft plastic.

[Willzx225]

I guess I would have to say the Horny Toad.  yeah I know that is pretty strange but I really haven't thrown it a whole bunch since I don't fish a bunch of grass lakes where it seems to produce better.  

[MN Basser]

Soft Plastics! I put in a lot of time with soft plastics, nothing!! This year, I'm starting out the season with them. Not going to stop until I catch a bass on them.

[Davis]

Fat Ika..... the only plastic that I have never caught with. :-[

Funny reading all these posts.

The Fat Ika was my big fish producer this year. First time using it caught a nice 4 lber.

Seems different lures just work better in different waters.

[dman]

Fat Ika..... the only plastic that I have never caught with. :-[

Funny reading all these posts.

The Fat Ika was my big fish producer this year. First time using it caught a nice 4 lber.

Seems different lures just work better in different waters.

I think its a difference in technique.  It might feel like your doing the samething as others but your not really.   Example:  Another lure i catch very little with is a jig,  but a buddy right next to me can clean up on them,  so its not the waters - its my technique.

I dont understand the whole spinnerbait thing though.  To me you just throw it in the water and bass eat it.  All the time!  

[BassFishingMachine]

Hey Muddy, I searched for pictures of the crankbaits you were talking about, and they all had fairly big lips on them. The crankbait I have is a Luckycraft shallow fat cb, and the lip is very small, are you sure I can fish it in the heavy stick piles without getting caught up with a lip that small? Heres a picture of it, you'll see what I mean. http://www.angelrausch.de/angelrausch/images/cebbra/L-5204.jpg

By the way, those lures you listed, are they sinking? floating? or suspending?

[Puds]

Hey guys just signed up after reading this thread.  Prior to this I'm sure everyone was asking themselves the same question.  How is it possible that the entire fishing community can hook up with this lure and I am so unsuccessful.  Guess this proves I'm not alone.  

  The Rat-L Trap is the scourge of my fishing.  Times used=Hundreds.

Bites=Goose Egg.

[AKFerzy7]

if your havin probs catchin em on lipless cranks go get a few red craw and gold super spots and a blue chrome rat l trap. the spots are louder and run shallower so I mainly use them in dirty water. the blue chrome kills em in clear water.

[dale]

My biggest down fall is a Jigging spoon only ever caught cat fish on it.

[Avalonjohn44]

I have never caught a fish on a jig.  I haven't even tried one for years...

I have only caught 1 fish on a Chatterbait.  I have given them a ton of time and money - no more.  I will sell them on Ebay closer to spring.

Before last summer I would have but the IKA on this list...I had only caught a few fish on the Fat Ika until I started using it rigged skirt down and walking the dog with it just under the surface.  I can't catch a fish on it any other way.

Believe it or not, I have not caught a fish on the Helicoptor lure.