Swamp Girl

Springing off the question/thread about the lures that catch 80% of your bass, what lures do you intend to use more in 2025 and why? At the end of 2024, I started scoring with big walking baits and big Deps Sakamata Shad flukes. I'd had little success with walking baits and flukes prior to the fall of 2024, so I want to continue using them to see if they work as well in the spring as they did in the fall. I also want to use jerkbaits more because they're hard flukes and also because so many of you have reported catching big bass with them, especially in the spring. So, as I've grown comfy and confident twitching a fluke and walking baits, I hope to continue twitching with a jerkbait.

I wrote the above back on page one and the average of four lures per angler is holding steady. I have yet to acclimate to how different these four or so lures can be. Some of you are catching the majority of your bass on lures I rarely/never use. For example, I've never used a speed worm, buzzbait, dropshot, or hair jig for bass and have caught one bass in my life on a chatterbait. The good news: I'm not about to place an order for speed worms, hair jigs, and chatterbaits, so maybe Lure Anon is helping, which doesn't make the Bait Monkey happy. Take that, Bait Monkey!

Yes.

@AlabamaSpothunter: I love those big bags! And a 7-11 is a heckuva, BIG bass.

No doubt. If you've read my trip reports, you know that the wind forecast determines when I fish and the wind chases me off the water some days too. Some day, I'd like to dock a boat that's not a canoe at my pond. A boat with a motor and an anchor so that I could fish when I wanted, not just when the wind lets me.

Huh. I love braid. It casts a long ways, is limp, and wrassles bass out of weeds. Why do you hate it?

@Motoboss: I've owned two Grumman Sportscanoes and really loved them. They were heavy, but sturdy and stable.

I drove to my pond today to make sure everything is okay. The driveway and path are littered with fallen branches, but the branches are all frozen to the ground. The boardwalk looks fine. So does my canoe. The pond looks like the Arctic, with snow blowing (15-40 mph wind) over thick ice. At least my dog was happy, bounding through the woods.

I like Mepps too. They're in my 20%. I have never owned a Black Fury, but I know them. I cast the brass Mepps with a plain treble hook.

Thanks, @Functional. You might remember that I bought a NEXT canoe: It's made by Old Town and they market it as a canoe/kayak hybrid. It has the lower profile of a kayak, foot braces like a kayak, and a comfy kayak seat. I bought two Yak mounts with rod holders so that I can troll easily. If I come to love those, I might mount something else on it. So, we'll see if I come to prefer it to a traditional canoe hull. However, for the one pond I fish wherever I have to cross a field and then make my way down through a rocky woods, I can't imagine ever preferring any boat over my 32 lb. solo canoe. If I were still 48 or 58, then maybe, but at 68 and anemic, I just don't have the energy and strength to lug a heavier boat.

You're in southern California and I'm in northern New England and yet, our lists are quite similar. We're not just far apart, but fishing very different water. I listed the popper and plopper as my two main surface lures, but a walking bait was third. I also listed an underspin and T-Rigged soft plastics. So, we're pretty synced thousands of miles apart.

@TnRiver46 once wrote that I could catch bass with my car keys. Well, I use a key fob, so I cast that. I had a couple hits, but couldn't hook them without hooks. So, key fobs are total gimmicks, plus you have to walk home.

I added and divided all that I could and the average is four lures per BR angler catch 80% of our respective bass. A few of the posters wiggled like an oiled newt on crack, making their individual totals elusive and so I didn't add their "numbers" to the total because I couldn't seize them. "Four lures per angler" isn't sweet music for the Bait Monkey's ears.

In another thread, @Craig P wrote, "Find a technique or two you like and roll with it, the fish will come." I agree with Craig, but I use more than one or two lures. I catch 80% of my bass with these lures: Popper Plopper Spinnerbait Underspin T-rigged soft plastic So, I thrive or die with five lures. How about you? How many mainstays do you have?

No truer words.

LB, you and so many others at Bass Resource are able to rattle off the names and specifics of your fishing gear, which always impresses me and humbles me too, since I can't name a single rod I own. Do you carry "XP 735CB" in your head or did you have to read it off your rod first? Either way, congrats on the bigger bass!

Well, then, I have real fighting words for the guy who doesn't think the Rapala DT series is a gimmick. Seriously, I don't even know what the Rapala DT series is, but I'd like to fight @king fisher because then we might have a couple beers and go fishing in...MEXICO!

I did catch more sixes and upper sixes in 2023, so I think it's partly luck, but it's due to (I'm just guessing here.) my living so far north where sixes, sevens, and eights are really rare, plus when I bought my waterfront land, I spent a LOT of time fishing my pond that doesn't seemingly grow bass bigger than four pounds.* Also, I didn't fish one of my big fish bogs in 2024 because some guy that I don't know fell in love with it and pretty much set up shop on it. *I don't regret focusing on my pond. It's beautiful and I learned a lot about it. If you ever fished it with me, I could say, "There's a rock there. There are bass over there. There aren't bass thatta way." and so on. My weight ratios are different than yours, for sure. Lastly and again, you're quality fishing and I'm quantity fishing. #Itrytocatch'emallandhopeforabigone

We Mainers belong in canoes! They're our heritage.

Amen, brother.

I'm excited too, Bob! Keep us posted.

I use them too, Andy. I just wish the red didn't wear off so quickly. If I've swapped trebles for new red trebles, I have so much confidence, so I think they really do work, thus my confidence. I'm remembering all the bass red hooks have caught. Yep. Use what works for your local bass and your fishing style. A few times in my life, I've fished with anglers who want you to use what they're using. They were annoying. Now, catch twice what I'm catching and I'll beg to use what you're using.

Yeah, I"ve caught a few bass with 'em.

My grouping would look much different than yours. I didn't keep count of the weight classes like you did, but here's my estimate: Bass 3-3.99 lbs: hundreds Bass 4-4.99 lbs: three or four score, more or less Bass 5-5.99 lbs: half a dozenish Bass 6-6.99 lbs: maybe one or two, but if so, just barely six pounds Bass 7-7.99 lbs: one So, what this tells me is that your focusing on quantity worked. Contrast our ratios. I'm bottom heavy. You're top heavy, like an Olympic swimmer. You: Me: Considering that I caught hundreds of three-to-four-pounders, I should have caught many more six-to-eight-pounders than you, but I didn't. You're quality. I'm quantity.

@pdxfisher caught a four-pound smallie and @AlabamaSpothunter caught a near DD. The BR crew is off to a hot start! Meanwhile, here's an update from Maine: