lure priority

[Tucson]

My fishing habits dictate that I generally stay in one area and work it over pretty well before moving on.  I try different lures beginning with the least intrusive one first.  For example:  I'll start with maybe an unweighted senko, then a Hula Grub on a light ballhead jig, then switch to spinner baits and gradually work my way down in depth with various cranks.  

My idea is to spook the fish as little as possible in the beginning so I can sneak up on them.....sort of.

Anyone else to this or am I just off base?

[roadwarrior]

I like a big splash and loud country music to get their attention.

"Quiet" is not my style.

Seriously, I don't think it makes a difference, it's a matter of where the fish are and their level of activity. That's the main difference between baitfish imitators and a finesse approach (soft plastic and jigs).

8-)

[Avalonjohn44]

For me it depends on the situation.  If it is calm and quiet I'll start off with a long cast with weightless plastics, and then work the area just with that.  If there is already activity (boils, surface splashing, etc) I will rip thru the area with a spinnerbait or loud crankbait.  

A lot of times though, my impatience gets the best of me, and I end up throwing a crank first and scrubbing an area with it, and only resort to plastics after I've scoured the target.  

[Gatorbassman]

I always throw a search bait first. I look for fish following or swinging at the lure. All I want to know is if there are fish in the area. Then I will search around more for 20 to 30 minutes and come back to that area and work it over with something slower.

[CRFisher]

Fishing from shore, I typically will throw a topwater (spook, buzz frog) or something that rattles first (husky jerk, RatLtrap), in attempts to get what is there to bite or tempt fish that aren't there to come investigate.  I don't use scent (at the moment) but will use pre-scented plastics early as well, figuring that will help draw them in if they aren't there.    After that it's determining if fish are there, if I think they're there but not biting I'll go to a trick worm or senko, if I don't think any are there I'll move on, making sure to stop back at the spot on the bank on my way back.  

Spring is a different story since you usually know where they are and can easily reach them from shore.  In that case I'll go with a Fluke or a Senko or an inline spinner to start off and only go to something different if they aren't biting.

[loomis spookwalker]

Bass love intrusive and noisy especially to home in on where the're at it is nessasary.  I have found that using a good  search pattern  with  spinnerbaits and rattle trap type lipless crankbaits  work to find fish quick while covering allot of water in a short period of time.  Just cast and reel in repeatedly till you're on em'. You can't finesse fish if you can't locate them.  And almost anything thats remotley intrested will hit a spinnerbait or lipless crankbait.  Swimbaits are also good search lures too.

[Raul]

My fishing habits dictate that I generally stay in one area and work it over pretty well before moving on. I try different lures beginning with the least intrusive one first. For example: I'll start with maybe an unweighted senko, then a Hula Grub on a light ballhead jig, then switch to spinner baits and gradually work my way down in depth with various cranks.

My idea is to spook the fish as little as possible in the beginning so I can sneak up on them.....sort of.

Anyone else to this or am I just off base?

Try to land quietly a 3+ oz swimbait.  :

Bass are inquisitive creatures, at first when the bait lands some run like a bat out of hell looking for cover, but then someting happens:

"what the heck was that ? "  

And they come back to see what was all the fuzz about.

"oh boy ..... it moves ! "  :-?

[J Francho]

And then there guys that use "agitation" baits to turn on inactive fish.

[tyrius.]

I try different lures beginning with the least intrusive one first.

I'm completely the opposite.  I start with spinnerbait/crankbait or "motion" lures looking for active bass in the area.  If there is a group of them you can get them all turned on and have a blast.  Then if that isn't working I'll slow down with soft plastics.

[Brian_Reeves]

It depends on what I'm fishing...which is a cliche' thing to say on this forum, but it is the truth.

If I'm fishing deeper structure, I typically ignore "search baits" because I want to maintain and control depth/bottem contact in most cases.  To do this, I prefer heavy jigs and carolina rigs with texas/florida rigs coming in a close second.

If I'm running a flat or bankline or covering water inbetween key areas on the structure, I'll break out a crankin' shad rig (on the ragetail site) or a spinnerbait.  I'm not a big crankbait fan, but I'll use them for this purpose too...especially in shallow water.

I rarely target large expanses of water with a jig and I'll rarely target structure with a crankbait.  I use them both for more traditional purposes.