I thought this would be a fun poll.

I know there's another thread going on this topic, but the poll will show the results in percentage form.

I look forward to seeing the results!

 

Thx for participating!

Rob

 

Also, if you used something that isn't on the list, I apologize.  I tried to think of a lot of options but I know there will be some who fall outside of the choices given. 

 

 

One other thing:

Bassmaster Magazine published an article about the Lunker Club a few years back, they didn't really  do a thorough job of reporting everything, but the numbers below show the results from their poll - this is largemouth over 10 lbs and I think there were around 1800 entries at the time the article was written:

 

Plastic Worm -------- 25%

Live Bait -------------- 15%

Jig ---------------------- 10%

Spinnerbait ---------- 8%

Plastic Lizard -------- 7%

Swimbait ------------- 3%

Tube ------------------- 2%

Plastic Craw --------- 1%

_____________________

Total ------------------- 71%

 

**As you can see, only 71% of the entries were accounted for in the article, but plastic worms dominated.

Other baits that would be included in the missing 29% would be Cranks, Topwater, Spoons, and anything else not listed above. 

Still, it will be interesting to compare these percentages to the ones we wind up with in this poll if enough people participate. 

 

 

Another interesting point from the Bassmaster article:

- The 10 AM Hour accounted for the most entries!!

- The Spawn-Prespawn months were the most productive too, Feb-April

 

Takeaway Message:

Chunk a Plastic worm at around 10 am near spawning time, that's the  basic formula for success :)

Sorry, this was supposed to be a voting poll.  I filled out the poll info but it's not showing up at the top, not sure what happened. 

 

Never mind, I got it fixed

 

Voting is set up at the top.
Thx,

Rob

Jig, casting structure, see Oldschool Horizontal Jigging threadfor details.

Tom

Would a Senko be under "Other Soft Plastic", I suppose?  It's almost a plastic worm but I usually call it a soft stick bait, or sometimes "stick-worm"

Jig, casting structure, see Oldschool Horizontal Jigging threadfor details.

Tom

 

That was an awesome read Tom, thanks!

 

 

Takeaway Message:

Chunk a Plastic worm at around 10 am near spawning time, that's the  basic formula for success :)

 

IMO, the takeaway message is that there aren't enough swimbaits being thrown.

 

Suits me fine.

Would a Senko be under "Other Soft Plastic", I suppose?  It's almost a plastic worm but I usually call it a soft stick bait, or sometimes "stick-worm"

 

I know (or read) that it was originally designed as a jerkbait/stickbait, but I still think of it as a plastic worm. 

For "Other", I was thinking creature baits, Grubs, Flukes, everything else. 

 

It's impossible to list every bait individually but this should still show us some pretty neat trends. 

Thx for voting! 

Rob

 

In hindsight, I think I'll try to add another category for jerkbait/Soft Stickbait to the poll.  

IMO, the takeaway message is that there aren't enough swimbaits being thrown.

 

Suits me fine.

 

Deep,

You are correct, and that was mentioned in the article.   It was published in the March 2010 issue of Bassmaster, and they noted that swimbaits were on the rise, but had not yet become even as mainstream as they are now, particularly outside of Cali. 

However, in the other current "what bait" thread, there are a lot of big bait guys listing other baits as their PB baits, so there's that  

Let's see how swimbaits fare in this poll, I'm hoping we get a good turnout here so the results will have some meaning.   

 

Another stat from the article:

Florida and Cali led the Largemouth Lunker Club entries, in that order.  No big surprise, I think Texas was 3rd. 

 

Thx,

Rob

It's cool that they acknowledged that. I hope they weren't talking about hollow bellies.

 

If you want to see a real pattern emerge, a better question might be: Did you catch 75% or more of your top 10 bass on one particular lure/ class of lures? Or something along that vein.

 

Anyone can luck into one really big fish or two, especially folks who have been fishing for decades.

 

Now, if you consider a true big bass fisherman like Tom (WRB), I bet most of his really big bass have come from outside structure on his hair jigs with pork trailers. Now that IS a pattern.

 

Just my 0.02.

 

-Deep.

It's cool that they acknowledged that. I hope they weren't talking about hollow bellies.

 

If you want to see a real pattern emerge, a better question might be: Did you catch 75% or more of your top 10 bass on one particular lure/ class of lures? Or something along that vein.

 

Anyone can luck into one really big fish or two, especially folks who have been fishing for decades.

 

Now, if you consider a true big bass fisherman like Tom (WRB), I bet most of his really big bass have come from outside structure on his hair jigs with pork trailers. Now that IS a pattern.

 

Just my 0.02.

 

-Deep.

 

 

I was thinking the same thing. My PB was 8-9lb on a 4" curly tail worm t-rigged...but if I was trying to set a new PB I def wouldn't be throwing the same rig. I've caught a lot more big bass on large c-rigged worms or swimbaits...

That sounds like a great idea for another poll!!  Maybe we can get a few of these going in the future. 

 

I agree with you about an average as opposed to one bait, but  even then you couldn't possibly list all of the bait options in a poll like this.  I think I could have put in 20 options for this poll, which wouldn't even cover every color of Senkos people use

 

This isn't the end-all here, just hopefully a fun topic of conversation for us and maybe we'll see some unexpected patterns emerge in the percentages. 

 

I'd like to do a time-of-day poll for when people caught their PB's next. 

 

One cool thing about these polls is that people are pretty much voting anonymously.  You don't have to post what you used verbally and give away any secrets, I think maybe some people don't participate in the other threads for that reason. 

All you have to do is be a member, and logged in.

Also, you only get to vote once, so the results should be reasonably accurate. 

Obviously, the downside of the poll is that we don't get the details of the rigs used, but nothing is perfect. 

This is just another way of looking at the dataset I guess. 

For me its the Rebel BIGCLAW CRAWFISH crankbaits. Dives 10ft.

She followed it as I casted it 2' parallel to the shoreline at a man-made road bed that has a drop off. As I ripped it out of the weeds into the channel she took it. My PB 10lbs.

Looks like every other poll, the plastic worm is King.

 

Roger

Wow, 30 votes so far and no love for spinnerbaits, that is a shocker. 

Live bait and Spinnerbaits were both high on the Bassmaster list and both have 0 votes here so far.   

Ya aint got Rat-L-Trap!

Ya aint got Rat-L-Trap!

 

Shallow Crank   I've heard of guys catching 12 lbrs on those, ha ha!!

Looks like every other poll, the plastic worm is King.

 

Roger

Not only that but I would throw lizards and craws in the same category. They are just to similar and fished the same way to be put in a separate category . 

I got mine on a fire tiger spinnerbait

IMO, the takeaway message is that there aren't enough swimbaits being thrown.

 

Suits me fine.

I'd have to agree, PB came on a swimbait in the middle of the day.  But around here they are thrown quite a bit fall through spring, just not very often in July.

I caught mine on a rage rigged SK craw. I have caught alot of real nice bass on that rig.

I know (or read) that it was originally designed as a jerkbait/stickbait, but I still think of it as a plastic worm. 

For "Other", I was thinking creature baits, Grubs, Flukes, everything else. 

 

It's impossible to list every bait individually but this should still show us some pretty neat trends. 

Thx for voting! 

Rob

 

In hindsight, I think I'll try to add another category for jerkbait/Soft Stickbait to the poll.  

 

Cool I went ahead and selected Plastic Worm.  My PB Largemouth was caught on a 3" Senko.  Which after all is said and done, is really just a stout and fat plastic worm   I keep my Senkos in the same box as my worms and generally fish them with the same rigs anyway. 

 

Interesting about the spinnerbaits.  I use them frequently, and if told to catch as many bass as possible in one hour with one bait, I'd select a spinnerbait (or depending on cover, an Inline spinner).

But if I was told to catch a large bass with one bait in one hour, I'd go with a Senko or regular Plastic Worm.  Just seems to work out for me that way with those lures.

I caught mine on a rage rigged SK craw. I have caught alot of real nice bass on that rig.

MI\ine was on  T rigged Zoom Speed Craw. I've caught some good ones on that too.

Shallow Crank I've heard of guys catching 12 lbrs on those, ha ha!!

I would not have listed them under shallow cranks but ok.

Could have saved ya some time, I've a data base of top 5 finishes in pro & amateur tournaments across the nation for the last 15 yrs including big bass.

#1: plastic worm 4 to 1 over everything else

#2: jig-n-craw

Wow, 30 votes so far and no love for spinnerbaits, that is a shocker. 

Live bait and Spinnerbaits were both high on the Bassmaster list and both have 0 votes here so far.   

 

I have never caught anything interesting with a spinnerbait, 9 1/2 lbs has been my biggest fish caught on a spinnerbait. My PB was caught with a crank bait, Rapala Shad Rap, and even then, crank baits are not the bait I would fish to catch me a big mommy, I leave that job to the jig.

I have never caught anything interesting with a spinnerbait, 9 1/2 lbs has been my biggest fish caught on a spinnerbait. My PB was caught with a crank bait, Rapala Shad Rap, and even then, crank baits are not the bait I would fish to catch me a big mommy, I leave that job to the jig.

 

I think you'd be interested in that 9.5 a little more if you lived in Memphis, just sayin