1 hour ago, Todd2 said:

Yeah, the worm is my #1. I catch most of mine along the bottom or on the fall in wood cover. Do you catch a lot of largemouth swimming it mid depth? I try it some but don't have a lot of luck. I hear it works better for Smallies and/or swimming above grass..which I have little of both where I normally fish.

I always had trouble with suspended bass. Still do. I used to throw traps, spinnerbaits, and crankbaits with little luck. I tried a 4" worm and have caught some over the years with this. In open water, we use a ball head jig. Most times we're around weeds, so we rig up with a 1/0 light wire hook, split shot, or light bullet sinker. I've caught more suspended fish this way than with baits that were actually designed to run mid depth. It's slow going, but it works well for us.This is why I'll still call the plastic worm the most versatile bait- all around

Saying plastic worm is such a vague , umbrella term lol. So many different types . 

Senko:

 

Weightless Texas rig

Weighted Texas rig

Drop shot straight

Drop shot wacky

Wackey rig weighted

Wackey rig weightless

Shakey head

Flick shake

Neko rig

Cut in half for a Ned rig

Bubba shot

Pitched, Flipped, Cast or Skipped.

4 hours ago, Yeajray231 said:

Saying plastic worm is such a vague , umbrella term lol. So many different types . 

Clue search BR articles "the lowly worm" by Bill Huctheson, worth reading.

Tom

 

Berkley Chigger Craw - Rigged weedless on bottom, top, or in between.  In open water or heavy veg. It's an awesome jig trailer, too.

On 8/31/2019 at 10:22 AM, Mobasser said:

Most of us carry way more lures than we end up using in a typical bass fishing trip. Many of the baits we use can be fished several different ways through different depths, speeds etc. My own most versatile lure through the season is the simple plastic worm. It can be fished at any depth, mid water, or on top. It can be rigged Texas style, shakey head, ball head jig, split shot, slider head, wacky, or weightless. All can work at different times. It can also be trimmed down or modified easily in the field to for any situation, and comes through cover better than any bait I carry. What is your most versatile bass lure? One that comes close to a do it all bait?

 

Yup. Plastic worm.

all great effective baits - for myself I'd say a jig - a hand full of hair jigs and a handful of jig spinners - at one time that's all I carried in my shirt pocket - then Chuck showed up with the beetle.

In my experience a 3.5-4” tube is about as versatile/all season as it gets