6 hours ago, Finessegenics said:

Mr Twister Ringworm is my underrated bait. I've fished it on an open jig head, a split shot rig and on a dropshot. I know some guys on here really like Zoom's version.

 

Luck-E-Strike has a really great version, too.

1 hour ago, Fishin Dad said:

I like the looks of that skirt.  Where is that from?

Nichols bluegill color. Now sure if they sell it outside of Nichols website. Maybe on tackle warehouse. Worked really good in ponds around here. I've since moved on to trying out living rubber skirts, but there is no doubt I caught a lot of bass on that color.

 

Nichols makes a really good spinnerbait

This season, I actually did better using blade baits vs. lipless cranks. I started fishing them just after ice-out and never really put them away. I'd never fished them very deep until this year and they didn't let me down.

I want to add another underrated bait; swing heads. There was a lot of chatter about them on different threads here this year, but it seems like not many people are actually throwing them. They are extremely versatile, can be fit with any plastic you want and allow you to cover water in a way the fish haven’t seen that much. 
 

Who’s throwing them? 

21 minutes ago, Finessegenics said:

I want to add another underrated bait; swing heads. There was a lot of chatter about them on different threads here this year, but it seems like not many people are actually throwing them. They are extremely versatile, can be fit with any plastic you want and allow you to cover water in a way the fish haven’t seen that much. 
 

Who’s throwing them? 

I have some but  have not tied one on yet . I dont know why  other than I dont recognize the time and place to throw them . I throw a lot of jigs and Texas rigs and it just doesnt occur to me to try a swing-head .

16 hours ago, Bankbeater said:

<- Cordell Big-O.  I don't see a lot of anglers using these anymore, but they still work good.

I have given up on Big Os . I know they are great baits but I have never caught much with them . 

12 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

This season, I actually did better using blade baits vs. lipless cranks. I started fishing them just after ice-out and never really put them away. I'd never fished them very deep until this year and they didn't let me down.

 

Did you fish those blade baits all year?

21 minutes ago, scaleface said:

I have some but  have not tied one on yet . I dont know why  other than I dont recognize the time and place to throw them . I throw a lot of jigs and Texas rigs and it just doesnt occur to me to try a swing-head .

I guess they can be used in the same locations but swing heads are strictly a hard bottom bait for me. I fish them on bottom, constantly grinding along the bottom. That is the key for me, or else it just becomes a jig and plastic.  So it can be used in the same place as a jig, but just to show something different. With the right plastic, it is a pretty unique look watching it bump along bottom.
 

Sometimes I throw a jig, other a swing head but I don’t think there’s an active justification in my head. I just try it. 

Edited December 5, 20214 yr by Finessegenics

On 12/4/2021 at 3:45 PM, LrgmouthShad said:

Single bladed spinnerbaits in general when not used for night-time use. So good on the drop, so good along the bottom. Smaller ones can be really sneaky. This one and several very similar ones took a serious beating this season for me.

 

Watermelon barbed wire with either purple or blue flake, pumpkinseed chartreuse tips, and orange black/orange flakes. 

 

Allen 

On 12/4/2021 at 5:36 AM, Mike L said:

Ditto

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

@Egomaniac247 & @Mike L  I 3rd that motion. Whenever my basshead friends from back home talk to my twin brother and I, they like to make fun of our slug go phase in the 90s. They still ask us every year "What did you catch em on today? A watermelon or white slug-go? Still carrying all your tackle in that fanny pack?" 

 

This may not come off as underrated to some. Over the past 10 years, I've underrated the husky jerk even though it was the first jerkbait that increased my confidence in cold water jerk baiting. I plan on throwing a husky jerk 10 vs a 110 jr & a husky jerk 12 vs a 110 silent during ice-out/early pre-spawn next year........... Not really for the sake of putting them against each other. Just to obviously give different looks and help me decide to keep throwing or go to another technique. 

On 12/4/2021 at 2:57 PM, A-Jay said:

And don't forget the Megastrike !

A-Jay

 

I think the 3 eyed  sqarebill crankbait works better. 

 

Allen 

Or the Reservoir Dawgs Mr. White.  I have the whole set of 4.

 

Allen 

 

 

11 hours ago, Junk Fisherman said:

 

Did you fish those blade baits all year?

Sure did. In fact, the only fish I caught on Friday was on a 1/4oz. one. The water temp was 38

Berkley Flicker Shad Shallow. It's an excellent finesse/coldwater crank for bass, but it doesn't seem like I ever hear about it. Lots of people here fish the regular and jointed Flicker Shads for walleye and white bass, but not often for bass. 

They get mentioned every now and then. Yamamoto Fat Ika, rigged upside down. Caught a ton of bass with these.

Rinky Dink ?

 

 

Sluggos.....wacky rigged can be deadly, and they are cheap. I can also catch 6-10 fish using one sluggo.

When fishing points or other structure without many snags a 6 inch Jelly Worm on a jig head with exposed hook is a numbers monster .

Yeah, we fished that Mr. Twister Phenom way back in the 80's I believe. We caught a lot on the 6" black/firetail color. It was all my dad wanted to use for bass. We also bought a ton of those small crappie grubs by them. One day my dad handed me an 1/8 oz. white Mr Twister grub and I proceeded to catch all the crappie that day. Sweet memory. I caught everything on them for years. Then we just moved on the the knockoffs made by BPS and others. Then I moved on to fishing craws on T rigs, then on to jigs. I just moved away from worms. Even in springtime when they're on the beds, I'll pitch a lizard instead of a worm. I'm more of a power fisherman so the worm is excruciatingly slow for me unless they're really bunched up and munching it. I rarely use the Senko for that same reason.

 

Oh, back to the original topic. I've caught more bass on the lipless crank over the past 10 years than any other bait. First the Trap, then the Super Spot. Always gold. Lately, they've liked my H2O Express gold lipless crank. They liked it so much I changed the hooks out on it. Then I rediscovered the Heddon Sonar blade bait. It has been doing the work for me since the water got colder.

Inline spinners, and floating Rapala.  Everybody sings their praises, but how many people use them on a regular basis.  # 3 inline spinner saved me from a skunk last year with a 7 pounder.

4 hours ago, Catt said:

Rinky Dink ?

 

 

+1 except ours was called the Wing Ding.

11 minutes ago, tander said:

+1 except ours was called the Wing Ding.

I still have a very old Mann's L'il George. I'll dust it off and give it a try one of these days. I'll probably lose it and it's my late father's lures, which will make me sad. But he would say "Nothing ventured, nothing gained". I caught a bass one one of his crankbaits recently and was all stoked about it, only to lose it next cast. I should really invest in a lure retriever.

I have two rattlin Storm Thin Fins . One of them is a heck of a bait and the other I may as well leave at the lake for someone else . The extra girth and rattle make them castable with casting gear .

 

I own lots of Little Georges . 

1 hour ago, tander said:

+1 except ours was called the Wing Ding.

 

Rinky Dink is no longer being made, the Wing Ding is the replacement.

43 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

Rinky Dink is no longer being made, the Wing Ding is the replacement.

@Catt

Bob Ponds from Mississippi invented the Wing Ding in 1969.

4 minutes ago, tander said:

@Catt

Bob Ponds from Mississippi invented the Wing Ding in 1969.

 

The Rinky Dink was developed in the early 1990s by local angler Hugh Rinkle molded off another local bait called a Wing Ding that had been discontinued. Once the bait was put on the market, anglers began learning just how effective it could be but the only problem now with the lure is it's not longer in production. However, there's still an option: the Norman Knock Off; as the name implies, it's a copy of the Rinky Dink.

 

Wing Ding's can still be found 

6 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

The Rinky Dink was developed in the early 1990s by local angler Hugh Rinkle molded off another local bait called a Wing Ding that had been discontinued. Once the bait was put on the market, anglers began learning just how effective it could be but the only problem now with the lure is it's not longer in production. However, there's still an option: the Norman Knock Off; as the name implies, it's a copy of the Rinky Dink.

 

Wing Ding's can still be found 

I still have some Wing Dings from the 80's I think. They were pretty popular around that time on Ross Barnett. I