Cgolf

While I mostly agree that it really is tough to choose one because I use many different brands, here are my 2 favorites and why. Z man - just started using them last year, but am really stocking up on them this year. The fish really bite the Zinkerz fished ned rig style and with the built in buoyancy of the plastic they snag up less when fishing shallow rocky river streches, which I do over a hundred days a year. So for this type of fishing if I can catch fish and lose less baits, it is a win for my pocketbook and the river system. Netbait - Love the paca craws, finesse worms and slim shakes. These are cheap, great colors, and they catch fish.

The following videos may be of interest to you Unfortunately my budget did not allow me to test more than I did, but some more common minus the Keitech are in there.

I did a tub test a while back and was stunned how much action that the swim senko has. I had always thought of that thing as a finesse bait, but man that thing has some violent action. Almost had forgotten about that one, but will be a must try in dirty water to call in the fish or clear water when they want a bait that pushes a lot of water.

So far the only one I have had success with is a Northland mimic minnow. But like others a grub is my go to, Kalins is my brand. I did pick up some smash tech baits smash tail paddle tail baits that I am excited to give a toss this year, but May is a long way away

The Bass Pro Shops tender tubes are exactly that, very thin and pliable, also don't last long because of it. They do catch fish though and I carry some in my box. I personally like rigging them on a slider spider head.

What is flipping;) The lakes I fish with flippable cover are too clear. I really wouldn't want to get in that close with the boat. A good roll cast works most the time. The lake I hit the most has many flats and little to no flippable cover even though the water is nice and stained. It is probably something I should learn, but sadly probably never will have a chance to use it.

This year I really got into the swim jig thing. Took me a bit to learn the teqhniques, but towards the end of the year when the 3-6 ft range was too weed choked for cranks they were all I threw. I am partial to Santone jigs, the swim jig has a flat bottom allowing it to stand up. I fished them as a swim jig presentation and a more standard bottom hopping retrieve too. For me I just picked up colors that mimicked bluegills and carp and that served me well this year.

I was late to the party on this one too, but only have really fished it a lot by casting and retrieving it in shallow reeds. It does excell there keeping the bait off the bottom out of the gunk. Other then that in deeper water, cranks are just more efficient and I have zeroed on DS, maybe I should try it some more next year on some deeper structure and build some confidence in it by not getting zeroed lol. Stick with them, they are great baits, have caught many bass on a 5" kalins and some other brands too. They have accounted for fish of all sizes, not just dinks. Great swim jig trailers too. I always carry a Plano guide series 3700 sized double decker box filled with just grubs and tubes wherever I go, the old baits still rule.

I have gone the Netbait route for many baits, good action, colors, and very cheap:) Saying that the rage menace is on my next TW list, looks like a great bait to rig sideways for a baitfish profile and was highly recommended to me on here. Will see if I expand out from there with the rage line.

Quickswirl makes an awesome snap, kind of a snap, the lure spirals on it. The attached picture shows the snap I used for a week pulling off of snags on reeds. Instead of bending straight and losing the bait, it deformed to a more closed state ensuring I didn't lose the bait. Only problem is they run about a buck a piece.

Bass jigs, won some on Twitter and once I started using them I really liked them and of course now have a box full. There are a lot of things out there I won't be getting to anytime soon. Tried wacky rig once, and have never gone back to it. To be honest I really think that not having every technique in the boat with me really helps out my fishing, I know the stuff I have well and don't end up tying on something new every 5 minutes hoping it will work Next year my new I am late to the party baits will be chatter baits and Senkos and Senko like baits.

Here is the tube I had rigged up. The hook is in it the normal way, so that the tube falls butt first instead of head first. If I remember hookup percentage was pretty good too.

I actually used it around reed beds where there really weren't any other weeds to hang up on. I may have to break it out again and give it a shot. If I find it I will post a picture of the tube rig I had. I agree the retrieval felt strange, almost like that flying lure thing that went backwards.

I used a rig from uncle josh a while back, I think it was the Okeechobee rig, same thing, and did ok with it. I also rigged up a tube with a bell sinker as the weight and that worked too. I have to say though that since it didn't seem to work that much better than anything else, I haven't gone back to it. I think I still have that tube in one of my prerigged bait boxes at home. If you want to try it out, suggest trying it with a bell sinker first, the weights aren't cheap. I happened to look them up today after seeing a post on twitter fly by.

My go to soft plastics last year were Kalins 5" grub Rons Craw in clear and dingy water Tubes, Swing oil my favorite right now Rainbow of colors ZinkerZ Ned rig style NetBait Paca Craws Yum Crawbugs Have others I like and will work with more and may break out some older baits next year, so this list will likely be different with the exception of the grub and tube, those old reliables still get me lots of fish.

I will have to go check them out. Don't think I will beat the deals I got last year when they had Berk plastics and Sebile cranks 2 for 5$ with a 5$ rebate on the purchase of 2 Sebile or Berk baits. Only paid for the tax on those. It is weird though how they seem to add and remove the extra off at random, it's not like they even take the clearance stock down to zip. I don't complain and stock up on what I can. The score card coupons can be winners too with these deals.

I personally also use a snap for my soft plastic fishing, on a slider head, and Crankbait fishing. To me retying to change lures is a waste of time. I have only had one or two snap failures in 10 years of fishing. I also have found that a leader hasn't been necessary, I generally just use fireline or braid with the snap. The only thing I don't use a snap for is skirted bass jigs.

Didn't they start out as a pouring house for others and then start selling their own line too? I have a couple of their baits, but have really taken a liking to YUMs new price point.

That would really suck if they were gone, I only have 5 of them and they are awesome when the fish are chasing. If this is true I may want to try and find some more.

Having only really getting into Bass fishing in the last ten years, the Norman Deep Little N has always been in my box and is probably the first one I toss still today. I can't say though that I know how long it has been around.

Finally got a 20" Smallie on the river on a coppertruese Zinkerz Ned rig style.

The Bandit 100 has been good to me for years on both lakes and rivers. It has a more subtle action. For a bait that pushes a ton of water, the now out of production xcalibur SB is a great bait, the 200 size worked well for me and I think they may eventually rerelease these under the Booyah brand. If I have those two baits I should be able to catch some bass. Others that I tried for the first time last year and did well on are the shallow Bandit Flatt Maxx and Bill Lewis echo. For deep divers pretty much all I own are Norman deep little Ns and DD22s along with the Rapala DT series.

I too agree that custom painted and super detailed cranks are overrated and overpriced. I do think color matters and have lived through it a lot fishing clear water. With Crankbaits I just make sure the bait has the colors of the prey I want to match in it to give the bass the illusion it is say eating a bluegill.

On TWs site I think I saw just the swinging jig head sold separately allowing you to use any hook you want. I am guessing the ones you have don't allow you to change out the hook?

I like what you guys did with your boats, really slick. I did something similar with my 16 foot alumacraft Kit boat. I ended up putting depth finders front an back, but both transducers are on the back due to the 80lb terrovas terrible design for transducers and all the interference it gives off, thankfully with the short boat I don't lose much because of this. The trolling motor was a much needed upgrade from the 55lb motor that came with it I did add a removable front deck next to the front so that I can lay down 7 and 8 foot rods on deck. As you can see from the picture it is a bit tight, but for 60k less I can make it work. I also added a new storage bit on the front with leftover plywood from the deck and treated 2x4s I had lying around. The only thing I need to add to that is putting a piece of tarp or cloth on top that hangs over to give better sun protection to bottles of scent or bags of Zman baits I don't want to roast in the sun.