What are some forgotten or underrated lures and techniques to catch spotted and largemouth bass?

Rapala Floating Minnow, Devil's Horse, Slug-Go, Chug Bug and Zara Puppy. 

Swingheads for sure, and bucktail jigs. Jigging a bucktail around grass for largemouth is a great technique. 

28 minutes ago, bass4life.... said:

What are some forgotten or underrated lures and techniques to catch spotted and largemouth bass?

I think it is very geographical.  Since you are a fellow Texan, a lot of the lure choices used by our northern posters are probably underrated in our area.  For many Texans, you would think hair jigs are some kind of new breakthrough invention and using a hair jig up north is called a Tuesday.

34 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

Devil's Horse

My focus topwater for this season. It seems so unique in that you can work it in the strike zone for so long. I experimented with removing the front propellor and it barely moves forward when you do this and makes a nice “ploop”. 
 

I am going to get a hawg on that lure when it warms up around here and the big girls move shallow. It’s gonna happen

5 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

My focus topwater for this season. It seems so unique in that you can work it in the strike zone for so long. I experimented with removing the front propellor and it barely moves forward when you do this and makes a nice “ploop”. 
 

I am going to get a hawg on that lure when it warms up around here and the big girls move shallow. It’s gonna happen

If you’re into trying different ways, reverse the front blade. 
Especially effective in calling up deeper fish and in a little heavier seas than where you’d normally throw it. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

Everyone thinks of Devils Horse when Smithwick top water lures are discussed. Devils a Horse does have a cult like following but not my best producing Smithwick top water lure.

The wooden Buck N Brawl is long forgotten and out produces the double prop  Devils Horse for me. Buck N Brawl unique shape and single rear prop allows this lure to jump, dive a few inches under water and can be walked. When you snap the rod tip down like a jerk bait the Buck N Brawl nose dives trailing a bubble stream then jumps as it hits the surface creating strikes. The hooks are poor and need to be changed.

The Buck N Brawl bigger cousins are the wooden Ma Scooter and Pa Scooter, both single rear prop baits with similar action.

Tom

1 hour ago, roadwarrior said:

Rapala Floating Minnow, Devil's Horse, Slug-Go, Chug Bug and Zara Puppy. 

+1 for sluggo

I think the mojo/split-shot/petey style rigs are super underrated and overlooked because they’re not “sexy”. The rigging options combined with the literal thousands of plastics available makes it so versatile it’s silly.

Spoons. I don't know a soul that uses them. 

Texas Rigged Craw Worm!

 

1 minute ago, FishTank said:

Spoons. I don't know a soul that uses them. 

Is ripping a spoon out of grass productive like doing so with a lipless is? 

 

I got a Nichols flutter to try this season

 

And another question. I hear a lot about flutter spoons in the summer. Is this to say they do not produce well at other times of the year?

2 minutes ago, Catt said:

Texas Rigged Craw Worm!

 

These are precious to me. 

 

In-line spinners, tube jigs and blade baits, think are all underrated, fish producers. 

 As for techniques, I rarely hear of anyone actually flipping anymore.  If water clarity allows, I much prefer it when fishing dense cover. It's easier and faster to pick apart that cover than pitching, IMO.

The tail weighted Boy Howdy is one that I used long way back years ago that I found a couple in a mom and pop's last year. Caught a few with them just a blast from the past.

7 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

Is ripping a spoon out of grass productive like doing so with a lipless is? 

 

I got a Nichols flutter to try this season

 

And another question. I hear a lot about flutter spoons in the summer. Is this to say they do not produce well at other times of the year?

These are precious to me. 

 

 

 

3 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

 

What is that? Doesn't look like those zoom critter craws

Half the lures I use fall into this category . The Bomber Long A minnow has worked so well for me that I  cant comprehend why everybody isnt throwing it .

10 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

What is that? Doesn't look like those zoom critter craws

 

MadMan ?

1 hour ago, roadwarrior said:

Rapala Floating Minnow, Devil's Horse, Slug-Go, Chug Bug and Zara Puppy. 

I use all of those and they work well. Not many anglers my age have ever heard of those baits, and often times younger anglers like me look at these baits and laugh. Definitely underrated and forgotten.

45 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

Is ripping a spoon out of grass productive like doing so with a lipless is? 

Not an expert at fishing spoons but I fish them when they are deep.  I pop it off the bottom really hard, let it drop and repeat. It usually gets hit on the pop up rather than the fall. 

1 hour ago, EWREX said:

+1 for sluggo

Forgotten?  It's a senko...

Spoons are the oldest lure and wrote a long thread on this topic.

My 1st bass lure was a weedless spoon Hawaiian Wiggler #3, basically a Johnson Silver Minnow with a hula skirt.

As mentioned before my bass fishing mentor was Jason Lucas and Jay liked to Daredevil IMP 2/5 oz spoons with a white pork strip. The IMP spoon came in Nickel finish and a good light weight jigging spoon. I use “structure” spoons for deeper water shad schools year around. Change the hooks to Owner nickel treble with white/chartreuse chicken feathers.

Very effective for both Spots and LMB.

Tom

Top water prop baits have been catching bass for over 100 years.   James Heddon produced the Dowagiac Floating Minnow #150 in 1905.  The Devil's Horse and Heddon Tiny Torpedo are still made and are among the best of them all.  The Boy Howdy and the NIP-I-DIDDEE were larger versions of the same lure.  The Rapala minnow was a game changer.   No other bass lure with the possible exception of the plastic worm had a great impact on the sport.  The number of Rapala imitators is endless.  It is nearly impossible to throw one of these lures on light line without catching a bass of some kind. The reason spoons have fallen out of favor is they have been replaced with buzz baits and plastic frogs.  When I was a kid, anglers built their own buzz baits out of teaspoons with a spinner on the front.  Al Foss was selling them as early as 1917.  Flipping is not new either.  Subsistence anglers have been doing that since the invention of the fish hook. Very few bass lures are truly new. 

2 hours ago, FishTank said:

Spoons. I don't know a soul that uses them. 

For bass, i guess not my one of my first choices. But as a general multi species bait spoons are pretty high up there for me. I’ve seen a lot of good smallmouth caught on daredevles meant for pike. I’ve also experiment with the moss boss from Northland for bass but have not gotten a fish on them yet.

The majority of the topwater baits I see being used are frogs, and buzzbaits.  I never see anyone fishing with a jitterbug or spook any more.