this should be a fun topic...

I don't know what it is or how it happens, but share your stories of baits that used to SLAY'em but not so much anymore...

about 2-3 years ago, I couldn't stop catching fish on a rainbow trout colored Bass Assassin that my dad turned me on to, it was a year round bait for me.  Now-a-days I'll get hits on everything but... I just don't understand it, I gave up on the bait last year and primarily used tiki sticks and senkos, but I will attempt bringing it back this year as it is IMO the best soft plastic ever and very versatile... what's yours? were you ever a fan of the Bass Assassin?  If I remeber correctly they always swam better with the 5/O sharp straight offset shank hooks as opposed to the XPS or the Gamakatsu hook offset hooks with wide gaps...

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10151&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&partNumber=30191&hvarTarget=search&cmCat=SearchResults

I also used to religously use the Berkley Powerbait Original powerworm 7"  'Blue Fleck' but the one with the Bullet shape soft plastic head on it under a Texas-rig, rember those? I can't find them anymore, I can only find the ones like this in the picture without the bullet shaped soft plastic head.

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_38256_100007001_100000000_100007000_100-7-1

Then that stopped working and that's when I swore on the Bass Assassin as a go-to.

bass can get conditioned to the same lures. meaning that if they are seeing the same bait all the time they will learn that it isnt really food. that is why the new lure craze happens. a new lure comes out every few years and it catches fish everywhere because its something the fish havent ever seen before. think back and you should recall and already have baits that worked yesterday and dont today........ if you fish in a pond you can prevent this by fishing something different every time you go. if you fish in a big lake with lots of pressure then you just have to go with what works today because when tomorrow is today then you have what is called yesterdays news :-/

i used to use the 3 inch all black worms that i poured myself, that were fat and i used them on a small jig. these were the only baits i used for about 2.5 years, i made so many that i literally had my mom yelling at me because i had at least 25 molds and buckets full of them. well then to my suprise they stoped working :'( all together. so i was stuck witha bunch of molds and even more worms, i gave then to my friends, relitives, random people at the pond and i still had a bunch, so i decided just to melt them doen to make different worms. yea thats my story and uhh yea.

Dave

i used to use the 3 inch all black worms that i poured myself, that were fat and i used them on a small jig. these were the only baits i used for about 2.5 years, i made so many that i literally had my mom yelling at me because i had at least 25 molds and buckets full of them. well then to my suprise they stoped working :'( all together. so i was stuck witha bunch of molds and even more worms, i gave then to my friends, relitives, random people at the pond and i still had a bunch, so i decided just to melt them doen to make different worms. yea thats my story and uhh yea.

Dave

thanks for sharing, i lol'ed at you sorry, that sucks, we fishermen will do and try just about anything to better our catch, it's funny

Rattletraps.

I used to just kill "em on a trap, now I can't catch a cold with one. My newly re-organized tackle bag doesn't even include any of them. I remain convinced that the fish have become conditioned to that sound. I catch a lot more fish on cranks without rattles, as hard as they are to find these days.

Cheers,

GK

For me it's the Bomber Long A. For years I caught tons of bass on that lure, then one day they stopped. It's been about three years since I tried them, maybe this year I'll give them another shot.

Falcon