What do you think is the best bait for catching monster bass?

 

 

Depends when and where you are fishing,. Florida where you live and fish a live golden shiner would be the ticket. More trophy size bass are caught in Florida with shiners then anything else.

In SoCal where I fish the top giant bass are caught on live crawdads during pre spawn. They use live water dogs in Texas.

I catch my giant bass on jigs, during pre spawn, jigs are a lure not a bait.

Tom

For me I also would go jigs,and then big worms 12 in. to 15 in. worms.

For me in this area it's a jig. 

Short of live bait... a swimbait hands down.

Crankbait, jig and 13inch uptons worm c-rigged

Live bait. 

Jig for sure for me.

It all depends on what the bass are in the mood for.  Around here it has been cranks the last couple of years.

Sorry everybody, I meant lures or bait

My biggest came on a 7" red shad power worm. It was a 7.2. My other have hit a bunch of different baits. I have yet to gain confidence in a jig. I just haven't fished it much. My next tournament sets up for that kind of bite and I'll promise you that I will catch fish on a jig and gain confidence or I won't weigh anything!

When I hear this question asked or read about this topic only one bait has stood out. It is hands down a jig.

Jig or swimbait, depends on the situation/location for me.

Jig!!!! When I'm catching a lot of 1.5lb to 2lb fish I'll often start fishing a jig on isolated cover near the areas I was catching the smaller fish, normally what happens is the numbers go way down but the average size jumps up significantly!!

Jig is my go to, but this year I am throwing some big swimbaits.  So far it has worked out nicely!!!

 

Jeff

8" huddlestons hands down. I'm getting some in a couple of weeks. But recently I have been catching numbers and size on a yum dinger wacky rigged. But that's for my lake. I don't know about yours. Anything big I would say. Just find out what they are eating and get a bait that is the same color and get it in a big size. So that way it looks like the forage and its bigger. Just my opinion.

Jigs followed by big worms

I think the watermelon red senkos work really well weightless on a wacky rig

I'll add a buzzbait to the list...I don't know why, but the big ones really seem to like them, at least for me.

Huddleston swim baits the weedless minnows or shad both work wonders here in FL for them donkey bass

Where I am, it's a trout imitation swimbait of any kind

Musky baits. On the flipside, bass baits work well for musky.

If I had to catch a big one I would use a large plastic lizard. 

swimbait

For me in this area it has been a seven inch Berkley Power worm. Black or black and blue is always dependable. It is really more about location and presentation than any particular bait.

Black fluke or buzzbait