If someone were taking me to a random lake, and I could only have one lure, I would take whatever lure that person recommends for that lake and hope that person knows what works on that lake.  If not, I just left a small fortune in tackle at the house for no good reason.

12 hours ago, islandbass said:

I can relate but I was stuck on the drop shot. Same as you, I stopped it dead cold and got off that crutch and as a result, I learned in spinnerbait

2018 spinner bait

2019 4-5” senko (non drop shot)

2020 T-rig plastics (brush hogs, creatures, craws)
 

My whole bass world got shaken up and my bass skills increased. 

still trying to get the jig and trailer bass but haven’t had the opppurtunities. 
 

To the topic, I use jigs. I need to crack that accursed code, lol. 

It's hard to put it down after you watch tacticalbassins underwater jig footage.

I have a difficult time trying to reduce my lures to 1 tackle bag when back seating. 1 lure I’ll stay home.

Tom

 

1 Lure?

 

1 Bag maybe as Tom said...at least a small bag like a Plano 3600 Weekender, but a BPS Advanced Anger in 3600 would be better.

Some kind of plastic worm.

How do I react to a reaction? @gimruis you giving me the confused face after I didn’t say spinnerbait has me laughing ?. I just know that there exists a pond that I cannot catch any bass with a spinnerbait so I’m playing it safe. I do think that on most lakes  I could achieve OK year round success on a spinnerbait. 
 

 

Dark Sleeper

1 hour ago, LrgmouthShad said:

How do I react to a reaction? @gimruis you giving me the confused face after I didn’t say spinnerbait has me laughing

Haha.  I figured 100% you'd say spinnerbait.

As long as the rule-maker allows me to use use several different hook types and a few different sized weights; 5" Strike King Caffeine Shad in watermelon seed.

3 hours ago, WRB said:

I have a difficult time trying to reduce my lures to 1 tackle bag when back seating. 1 lure I’ll stay home.

Tom

 

But if you really had to choose?

1 hour ago, Tony Christian said:

But if you really had to choose?

I dunno about Tom - but I'd find a different boat to be back-seater in...being restricted to one lure only is like saying 'All your bass fishing has to be on 1000-size spinning reels, ML rods and 6# test monofilament.'...it's ridiculous.

Could maybe get away with cramming a ziplock snack bag with a few. Hards and softs. A Shad Rap, DT and a Rat-L-Trap would be in there. 

6 hours ago, WRB said:

I have a difficult time trying to reduce my lures to 1 tackle bag when back seating. 1 lure I’ll stay home.

Tom

 

Agreed,  why would you go fishing with just one lure? My luck I would break it off on the first cast.

 

Allen 

Tube or a super fluke 

18 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

I dunno about Tom - but I'd find a different boat to be back-seater in...being restricted to one lure only is like saying 'All your bass fishing has to be on 1000-size spinning reels, ML rods and 6# test monofilament.'...it's ridiculous.

I was just wondering

5 minutes ago, Tony Christian said:

I was just wondering

There's so many variables that go into lure selection that it's impossible to pick 'one lure to rule them all.'

 

Water Temp

Water Clarity

Wind

Cloud Cover

Time of Day

Rain (none, drizzle, light, hard, pounding)

Structure

Cover

 

If you can pin all those down, and guarantee that they don't change during the trip - then yes, I could pick one lure...but conditions change all the time, so it's impossible.

The OP isn't asking you literally fish with 1 bait, just what you would use IF you only had 1 option.  Obviously, no bait will cover every situation, but that's the challenge.  Asking for the top 5 or 10 would be too easy and frankly redundant as that topic is beat to death. 

 

I would have to say an Airtail Wiggler because it's extremely versatile and works as long as the water is soft.  Once they are worn out the lower half of the worm makes one of the best ned rig or jig worm baits you could use.  A tube is a close second only because I cant really cut a tube down to fit on a tiny jighead or micro jig.    

Not knowing the conditions I'd be faced with, my answer is a Texas rigged ribbon tail worm. Different weights, but grape with a red tail.

For my pond fishing, I’m going Jackhammer in some shade of white (maybe Spot Remover or Golden Shiner) that can work in clearer or stained water. I can fish that almost year around in Texas albeit it’s not preferred when we get deep into winter. 

Jig