the year, in review. Let's hear what worked, and what didn't

[.ghoti.]

Bass fishing has pretty much come to end for me this year. I may get in a couple more short outings, maybe not. Got a lot on my plate right now. But, here's what worked for me this year, and some that didn't.

GYCB 5" Hula Grub on a Shake2 jighead

Strike King 3X worm on an Ike's Spike jighead.

These two were my best producing baits this year, by far. I'm not sure which was the best.

Not far behind these was the Fat Ika; reverse rigged, of course.

T-rigged 7" Power worm and T-rigged GYCB Big Kahuna Cuttail Worm. Year in and year out, solid producers. One or the other could be counted on to get the job done.

Rage Tail Toads and Shads. My favorite local spot was again infested with duckweed this year. I caught a lot of fish this year working these two baits over the weed. Nice fish, too. No dinks on these baits.

Evolution skirted jigs. I may never buy another brand of jig. Tried a lot of different trailers, but a Berkley Power Craw is the one I turn to most.

Megastrike. Buy it. Use it. Enough said.

Rapala Twitchin Rap. Caught three of my four biggest fish this year with this bait. Looks like a fat X-Rap, with no bill. Sinks at a very slow rate. Easy to work slowly, just under the surface. Excellent dawn and dusk bait when they won't hit a topwater.

Stanley Compact spinnerbaits, double willow. Bought a dozen when Cabela's put them on sale at half price. I haven't had another spinnerbait tied on since some time in July. This one worked that well. Gotta buy more before next year.

Cavitron Buzzbaits. Got my first one at Guntersville, at the Roadtrip Dinner Party. Tried it out as soon as I got home, caught some nice fish, and bought a dozen more. I may not buy any other buzzbait from now on.

Yum Houdini Shad. It has a tail designed to be modified. Don't do it. Leave it as is. Fished on a 4/0 EWG hook, on 10lb test line, it has an amazing wiggle on the fall. I discovered this bait in June. I have one rod that has had one on it ever since. A top notch bait for quantity and quality. Cheap too.

Cabela's June Frog. A little, 1/8oz bait that acts like a Jitterbug, running just barely below the surface. I like a Jitterbug, but it seems that half the fish miss it, and of the half that get hooked up, half of those throw the bait before I can land them. That's about a 25% land ratio. It's better than 90% for the June Frog. Almost every hit resulted in a hookup, and I landed every fish I hooked. An excellent bait for calm water, low light conditions. Gotta get some more of these before next year. These are cheap, too.

GYCB Swim Senko, on a Shake2 jighead. My secret weapon. I fish it like a jig, not swimming. You have to see this to believe what it does when hopped on the bottom. If there are any active fish in the area, this will catch them.

A double Fluke rig. Got to fish with CJ and RW on Kentucky Lake earlier this year. CJ was using this rig. I'd never seen one in use. Went home and tried it out, and it works just fine. I tried it with both Super Flukes and Houdini Shads, Tried it one of each. Every combination I tried worked. Give it a shot. You might like it.

Gambler Bacon Rind, both T-rigged and on a Shake2 jighead. A big bait with a lot of action on the fall. It worked all year long.

Did I mention the Shake2 jighead? Well, get some and try "em. I got my first ones at Guntersville. I've bought a lot more since. Put a soft plastic bait on one, I don't care what, and go catch some fish. They work.

Also, the Tru-Tungsten Ike's Spike jighead. Great for smaller plastics and lighter line. It has a very light wire hook, so don't try it with heavy line.

I have a 3600 box full of jigheads. Before next year, I'll have it cleaned out, and re-stocked with nothing but Shake2 and Ike's Spike jigheads. Ike's for smaller baits and 10lb test and under. Shake2's for 12lb test and up, with larger plastics. I've been on a quest to simplify and reduce my load. These two jigheads are all I need.

Now, what didn't work out so well.

Rattletraps. I hadn't used one of these for years. I got to fish two days in January with George Welcome, on Stick Marsh. If you read George's posts, you know a Rattletrap is one of his go to baits. I caught some fish with George, so when I got home I dug into the bait archives, ( that unorganized pile of junk in the garage ), cleaned up and installed new split rings and hooks on enough rattletraps to fill a 3700 box and added that to my tackle bag. I used these off and on all year, and caught two or three dinks. These are going back into the archives. Sorry George. They worked just fine on Stick Marsh. Around these parts they just don't

Money Minnows, Shadalicious, and Berkley Hollow Belly baits. Call "em paddle-tails, call "em small swimbaits, call "em whatever you want. I call them an over-priced, over-hyped waste of time and money. Enough said.

Shimano Cumara. I bought the 6'8" MXF version. Very light and sensitive, neat minimalist reel seat, split EVA grips, SiC guides, cool looking finish, nifty hook-keeper, I like everything about it. Except the fact that it fishes like a broom stick. I'll unload it at the first opportunity.

Sweet Beavers. A lot of guys around here swear by them, and catch a lot fish on them. I can't catch a cold with them. Gave 'em all away, and won't be buying any more.

Senkos. I don't know what happened, but I can count on one hand the number of fish I caught on a Senko this year. And I threw one all year long. For the last 8 or 10 years, the Senko has been either my number one or two bait. It has me totally baffled. I don't even have a theory.

Tubes. Another year in, year out, go to bait that did not produce for me this year. I had two trips where the tube was the ticket. I blanked with them the remainder of the year. No theory for this either.

That's about it for the equipment log. There are some other things I should mention in the unfavorable list, but I won't go there. Have no desire to start a whizzing contest.

Highlights of the year:

January: family vacation with wife, son, daughter-in-law and grandson. Orlando. While all the others were doing various Disney things during the day, I was fishing. Two days with George Welcome on Stick Marsh, one day with Fishindaddy on Harris Chain ( thanks again Lee ), and two days on my own. great trip

March: Bass Resource Road Trip at Guntersville. Got meet a bunch of great people, and fish with a few. Made some new friends. Need I say more? We left there a day early and drove to Table Rock Lake. Stayed at Chateau on the Lake and did one of their Vintner's Dinners. They only do this during the off season; January, February and March. This is a very special something to do for that very special someone. It ain't cheap, but I highly recommend it.

April: a trip to Trophy Country with the guys. Long Mike joined us for this trip. I hope this was the first of many trips with Mike.

May: a week on the Riviera Maya with the wife. Too much sun, too much food, too many drinks, etc. A great get-away for me and my sweetie. Also another trip to Trophy Country.

June and July: trips to Trophy Country with the guys. Good food, good whiskey, great fishing.

August: fishing trip to Crane Lake in far northern Minnesota, right on the border. Me and the wife, cool cabin, lots of pike and smallmouth. Two days in Minneapolis on the way.

September: Labor Day weekend at Carl's house on Lake Barkley, with Carl (Riskkid), Alpster, Roadwarrior and CJ. Fished two days with CJ and RW on CJ's way cool boat on Kentucky Lake.

October: tried on two weekends to get a trip organized to do Trophy Country one more time, but neither came together. Can't wait for spring. No October get-away for me and the wife this year either. We normally do one, but our schedules got in the way this year.

The only thing left is a son coming home from Iraq, sometime very soon. I'll take a couple of days off, and we'll do a get-away in St Louis. Looking forward to his safe return.

And that's it for this year. Nothing left but work and winter.

Not to leave on that note; this has been a great year for us. Or, it will be as soon as Justin gets home from He!!.

Cheers,

GK

[flatbass]

Well it's not a very long list.

Bandit 200- I caught fish on this thing even in Jan. and feb., best colors were yellow spring craw and khaki-brown back

Berkley worms, the powwer worm, flip tail worm andGULP turtleback worm. Colors were blue fleck, motor oil and tequila sunrise.

Charrerbaits and the Karew vibrashock. Mostly at night or early morning. Color, black and blue.

Baby 1- , caught a few in the spring in 1-2 ft of water.

[Brian_Reeves]

My year was pretty weird.  Granted I haven't fished very much since July or August, but before that, I was on a roll.  No big fish this year at all.  Biggest was probably 7 or 8lbs or so.

My big producers are all in the Rage Tail line.  Since I started using them early this spring I have been impressed.  I am proud to be a part of Big-O's team, even though I haven't been on the water nearly as much as I would have liked.  I have a bunch of nasty stuff to deal with right now in the real world keeping me from the lakes.  That will all be settled by next year though.

Anyway, here is my list of top producers:

-Rage Tail Craw on a weighted swimbait hook

-Rage Tail Lobster on a Football jig

-Zoom Trick worm on a shakey head

-the good ole never fail Hula Grub/* on a regular jighead (still my favorite search bait btw.)

-Carolina Rigged trick stick

-Texas rigged brush hog or Anaconda

-Strike King 1xs shallow crankbait-sexy shad

-Strike King bitsy bug jig with a rage tail chunk

Things that didn't work well at all for me:

-Tubes

-Spinnerbaits

-Topwaters

-Senkos/trick sticks weightless

-berkley power worms (not one fish on them all year)

The baits that didn't work for me at all shocked me.  Topwater bites were scarce and I have a pretty awesome supply of tried and proven topwaters.  Berkley power worms were a go-to.  Not anymore.  Weightless senko baits caught maybe...maybe 15 fish.  THat's being generous.  Tubes were a complete strike out for me.  Even on a carolina rig.

I'm still not on the swimbait bandwagon.  I have yet to land a good fish on a swimbait.  I know the locations are right, because I'll follow them up with a hula grub/* on a regular ball jighead, hook exposed or a jig and rage tail.  Almost always works for me.  Swimbaits are something that is completely eluding me.  That would be this year's biggest disappointment.  I lost my mattlures to a flathead catfish that weighed in at about 60lbs or so though.  Not exactly what I had in mind....

[ww2farmer]

What worked= same ole stuff I always used: Paca Craws, Beavers, Tubes,flukes,frogs, Senkos, Trick Worms, Robo Worms, Rat-L-Traps, X-raps,Manns baby 1-, Bandit cranks, 1/4 and 3/8 oz Spinner baits, spooks, poppers, Jigs.

What didn't work= same ole stuff I always used when I fished it where there were no fish.

Color this year ment very little to me, as long is it was some shade of green pumpkin and/or watermelon in clear water, junebug and/or black-n- blue in stained water.

[indy basser]

Worked:

Timber Tiger Crankbait Shallow

Fat Ika

Football Head Jig

Buzzbait

Didn't Work:

Spinnerbaits

Senkos

Jerkbait

[Tin]

Everything but 2 things. One was a lipless crank, not nearly as good as years past. It seems like everyone if throwing them up here these days. The other thing was lakes that I would crush fish on spinnerbaits with gold blades, I couldn't buy a fish with. But as soon as I went over to siver blades, BAM!

One thing that I did better on this year than years past was a jerkbait. In the cold temps where everyone would throw the lipless and do so-so, I would throw a jerk and do great.

[Stringjam]

Spring:

Zoom WEC Hicky & Z-Flat Coffin

Pointer 100

Eakins-style jig

Post-spawn:

Big M "M-Flat" and Tapp-style crank

JawJacker straight-lipped mid diver

John Mills 1/2" stock flatsided crank

Zoom Mag II

Eakins-style Jig

Summer:

Zoom Mag II

Same cranks as above - also:

Richard Manley Shakeyman

Fall:

Homemade buzzbait

Above crankbaits + Flat-Shad Model B and Sonny B

Eakins-style jig

What didn't work this year? Thanks to some pretty severe flooding occurring very early this year, and high water remaining even until now - - the deep crank bite never seemed to materialize.

[Dorkus]

Ghoti, just a quality threat+post! gonna steal your format

So, what worked for me this year:

Jigs, Jigs and more Jigs. Best for the year were Booyah early and when the BICO finally hit the shelves it was just on. I threw both jigs in watermelon/red or PBJ. I used heavier for wood/rocks and lighter for pads like you would work a frog. Hookup Ratio was great/much better than using a frog. + this is my second year really throwing jigs and I caught about 100 more fish on them.

Gamber Otters and Yum Crawpapy. My go to jig trailers. Just great action and production.

Using a Heavy Spinning combo w/ braid for jig fishing. Flipping and Pitching + casting gear is great but skipping is where it's at. I boated fish I never would have gotten to pitching and skipping w/ casting gear is a nono for me so wrenching fish with H spinning + 50lb braid was just plain fun.

Reaction Innovations Skinny dipper - Weightless 5/0 gammie straightshank offset light wire. Just my go to cold water bait. also great for smallies + replacing the fluke. casts a mile.

Double Buzzbaits - 6 out of my 8 best fish ... enough said

Reuniting with my spinnerbait. got some great fish in a milder season

Zoom brushhog - learning how to punch mats for pigs has been great. still learning though.

Swimbaits, in particular the MS slammer and 316 baits. these baits are just the balls for heartstopper hits. SO much fun

Dropshot- still learning but it works

gama lines and powerpro braids... hands down

Bang in a can... best scent out there

Now what sucked -

Single blade buzzers - Ran the double buzz after throwing the single and boated fish. Sold off my singles.

Spinning gear for anything but pure finesse + jigs

Paddle tubes - biggest joke of a gimmick, reminded me of banjo minnow... sold them too

Soft swimbaits IE megabait charlie, La sliders, reaction strike ... just worthless IMO... Sold

Lipless cranks - how do people catch on these?

King shad - waste of 20... caught more crappie and perch

Jerkbaits... just didnt produce for me?

Worms/lizards/ senko... except for few trips nothing doing.

> >

Monthly moments:

Feb- Fishing open water during a blizzard and actually catching fish on jerkbaits... ironically my only fish on jerks that year

March- Ice breaking in waders and catching fish dragging grubs

April - caught 15 fish from shore in 1 hour with the skinny dipper including 5 in 5 casts and two in my first two casts with my new baits

May - First few 316 baits and fish on them! Getting threats of being shot at for fishing a private pond that i didnt think/know was private after catching 30 fish in 2 hours on swimbaits +jig

June - catching a 25lb bag in the rain on fathers day on buzzers icluding my first 3 being 5-7, 5-5, and 4-0 in less than 1/2 hour

July - camping trip with my girl and having her catch her first few bass on her own and having her let me fish full days without complaining boated 65 fish in 2.5 trips

August - having a bunch of people come thru to take me out fishing when my motor died - thanks guys

Sept + Oct - just getting out, too much going on with trying to finish school

Good year but slower than last. Gonna keep fishing til ice and will start when ice melts again

[SimonDM17]

What worked:

Spro Frogs:

I went through all kinds of hell figuring out a color I had confidence in, and I finally settled on all white.  I can see it, the fish can see it, it's a good look for a frog...it worked.

3X Z Too (on a 3/0 3/32 oz. gammie, made by Falcon Lures)

Use braid, feel the line get heavier, sweep up, reel in, unhook fish, repeat.  Had my only "can i get one of those?" experience with this lure...outfished the guy I was with 5-0 before he started tossing one of mine.

Super Spook

Dropshot

Jig

Buzzbait

What didn't:

Tubes

Worms

C-rigs

Crankbaits

[Raul]

Well, what has worked:

The same baits that been working for me for the past two and a half decades: cranks, spinnerbaits, worms, jigs & topwaters.

What hasn 't worked:

I dunno if it 's me but I once again tried buzzbaits religiously and as usual I caught little to nothing with them  >, go figure  :-/.

I keep hearing buzzbaits are great topwater baits but why they don 't work for me is a riddle.  :-?

[Castamasta]

JIGS JIGS JIGS............................some more JIGS. football head preferably. cranks produced some in the past couple of weeks. and wacky rigged plastics during the summer. did i mention JIGS 8-)

[CWB]

Switched from pitching and skipping tubes to senkos around and under docks and boats and doubled my catch.

Go to bait was Z-Too in Baby Bass. Caught several hawgs in spring on t-rigged Strike King lizard, Pumpkin/Chart. tail.

Started fishing frogs everywhere (not just heavy slop) and they produced.

Unlike some other posts, I did great with 4.5" Shadalicious swimbait.

Some hits nearly pulled the rod out of my hands

Buzz baits, spinnerbaits not so hot this year.

Lizard outfished baby brushhog which surprized me.