As far as pre-rigged rods go, What is always on your deck, or in your locker during the summer. Although I normally have more than five rods laid out on my deck ready to go, these five (actually six) are constants throughout the summer;

#1.......C-Rig, I'm a deep water, summer fishing junkie and this is my favorite presentation. I can work my way down or up a drop, or parallel a deep weed

                    line and be confident that if there are fish holding close to bottom, I'll get bit.

#2.......Spinnerbait, Specifically a 1/2oz short arm single willow blade.  I can fish it throughout the water column presenting it to suspended fish if needed

#3........Flipping Jig, Again, I go heavier than many anglers and adjust my trailer to regulate fall rate. Using an arkie style, it can also be stroked off the             bottom, or dragged slowly with occasional hops.   

#4........Lipless Crank, I prefer a heavy one knocker as I can work it in a yo-yo fashion, which is my #1 presentation in deep water, or rip it off the tops of

            submerged weeds.

#5&6...Square bills, for targeting docks I have two identical ones tuned to run right and left on 15# fluoro. one for each side of a dock or slip and I direct   tie and constantlly check the last few feet for line/knot wear.

4 rigs I always have at the ready:

1) jig-structure or swim

2) jika rig-worm or creature

3) swimbait-plastic boot tails

4) swimbait-wakes or glides

1.  War Eagle Finesse Jig

2. Jerkbait

3. Ned Rig

4. Texas Rigged Lizard

5.  Swim jig

A couple of different spybaits ~ 

Duo Realis Spinbait Spybait 80 G-Fix & a 90

And a couple of different weight drop shot rigs (1/4 & a 1/2)

Both sport Flat Worms.

Fish Hard

A-Jay

 

It totally depends on what body of water I am going to fish.  River/lake and current conditions…..but as a general rule…..

1.  Senko weightless T rigged.

2.  Dropshot

3.  Ned

4.  Crankbait rod that will handle the depths I plan on fishing.

5.  Yamamoto DShad.

In the heat of summer there's A few things I almost always have on:

 

Popper

T rig curly or ribbon tail worm

Small jig (for flipping and swimming)

Shallow crankbait

Wow I guess I’ll be the first shaky head fan on the list!

 

If I had a deck they would be listed as follows:

 

1) Shaky head

2) T-Rigged craw

3) 3/8-1/2 oz chatterbait with bio spawn swim bait trailer

4) Jig for bouncing off the bottom

5) Spinner bait

Yesterday:

Buzzbait/spinnerbait. I like to start with the former early then switch to the latter.

Spook

Whopper Plopper

Pop R

Frog

Jig

 

I caught 3 on the jig. Fish were on wood near deeper water. I was stubborn with the topwaters, as usual. I did miss a couple on the frog and one on the WP. But I'm pretty much a shallow water specialist. 

 

Always there will be a spinnerbait, at least a shaky and a Ned with several more of each in the rod locker.  Sometimes multiples of each are on the deck.

Down here most lakes are all the same, so primarily as a co angler I always have the same 6 pre rigged no matter where I’m at. 

Punch/heavy cover.. (pre rigged with a 3/4 and go up from there)

Swim worms 

Top water 

Frog/swim bait

Spinner/chatterbait

Weightless/light cover

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

 

 

Texas Rig & Jig-n-Craw 24/7/236

 

After that

Punch Rig 

Frog

Buzzbait/spinnerbait

Texas rigged worm.....weightless worm....flippin stick........Spook........all I need to get started.

I'll always have either  a texas rig or jig . I use them on the same rod . Dont carry separate  rods for both . 

Typical 5-rod starting lineup for kayak trips to lakes/ponds/bayous/gravel pits:

1) weightless plastic (senko or fluke)

2) weighted texas rig (worm or creature...start with 1/4oz)

3) jig (for swimming, pitching or both...start with 3/8oz)

4) Topwater (buzzbait or popper)

5) small plastic body on a jighead (usually a jigworm/shakyhead, but sometimes a slider, ned, or grub)

 

May sub in a frog, swimbait, or occasionally a crankbait or drop-shot, depending on time and place.

 

For river floats I bring 3 and these have been getting the starting nod:

1) Senko- or fluke-style weightless plastic

2) plastic grub or swimbait on a 1/8oz jighead

3) topwater (usually a whopper plopper 75 or 90)

 

 

I'm kind of surprised that there are a number of responses so far that don't include some type of topwater?  I'm sure they are an option for those guys, they likely have one ready to tie on. 

I also noticed a lot of soft plastics included, some exclusively.   That strikes me as a little counter productive when first starting out, unless you know where the bass are. I don't consider tossing a drop-shot, shakey head, or Ned until I've found fish, either on my graph or by using one of the search baits I listed.

4 minutes ago, papajoe222 said:

I also noticed a lot of soft plastics included, some exclusively.   That strikes me as a little counter productive when first starting out, unless you know where the bass are. I don't consider tossing a drop-shot, shakey head, or Ned until I've found fish, either on my graph or by using one of the search baits I listed.

I guess I did not understand the topic . I use crankbaits , spinnerbaits, buzzbaits as much as worms but they are not always tied on where as a worm or jig is .

If i had a deck... ?

 

Co-angler Gear

If I could only bring 5 rods... = ***

 

Baitcasters:

Dedicated finesse jig setup***

Dedicated swim jig setup***

Weightless/weightless or weighted fluke setup***

Chatterbait/spinnerbait/crankbait setup***

Frog/maybe heavy texas rig setup

Spinning:

Neko/wacky/nose-hooked fluke setup

Dropshot setup***

42 minutes ago, papajoe222 said:

I'm kind of surprised that there are a number of responses so far that don't include some type of topwater?  I'm sure they are an option for those guys, they likely have one ready to tie on. 

I also noticed a lot of soft plastics included, some exclusively.   That strikes me as a little counter productive when first starting out, unless you know where the bass are. I don't consider tossing a drop-shot, shakey head, or Ned until I've found fish, either on my graph or by using one of the search baits I listed.

I am not surprised.

Search baits can differ depending on where the search is being conducted and they can certainly include Topwater presentation of all kinds.

Once contact of some sort is established, soft plastic can be a warm weather staple. 

Fish Hard 

A-Jay 

 

1 hour ago, papajoe222 said:

I also noticed a lot of soft plastics included, some exclusively.   That strikes me as a little counter productive when first starting out, unless you know where the bass are.

 

A Texas Rig or Jig-n-Craw can be very effective search baits. Ain't no law saying they have to be fished slow!

If it is windy ( 15 mph or more) which it is every afternoon, at my favorite lake.

Spinnerbait

Crankbait

swim bait, or swim jig

A rig.

 

Not much wind.

 

Crankbait

flipping stick ( jig or soft plastic)

Weightless 7 inch Senko

Buzz Bait

 

 

Bully Wa Frog - Black/Yellow

1/2oz swim jig w/ 120mm D walker - crappie/silverside 

5/16oz T rigged 7" gambler burner worm - gold rush 

6.5" Beast Coast creep alewife on owner flashy swimmer 

3/4oz flippin jig w/ rage bug - hematoma/blue craw 

3/4oz scrounger head w/ a 7" Jerky J - green shad 

 

scott

 

I usually have 8 or 10 rods on deck depending on where I'm going.

My main baits for summer bass in a lake are;

 

5" wacky with 1/8 oz bullet split-shot

 

Spinner bait or chatter bait.

 

10 or 12" Texas rigged worm with 1/4 oz pegged weight

 

Some sort of frog (conditions vary)

 

Black whopper plopper 130 (sometimes big rats, snakes, or stick baits)

 

jerk baits deep and shallow

 

Six inch Bull Shad ~floating

 

Five inch slow sink Bull shad (or other swimming/glide baits)

 

Four inch "Boil Trigger" broke-back, top water.

 

Ned rig with skirt or small jig.

 

I don't know what to do with the other 2000 baits I have.

 

I try to only have four setups on deck at a time.

1 Crankbaits. 2 spinnerbait. 3 A couple rods for Texas rigged soft plastics or a jig.

When these don't work I put some of them away and get out the spinning rods for shaky heads, trick worms, or other finesse bait.

1) Jig-and-craw rod

2) Crankbait rod

3) T-rig rod

4) Ned rig rod

5) Frog rod

1. Weightless Senko Wacky rig
2. TR culprit curly tail
3. crankbait
4. jerkbail
5. Frog.