I sit here at my keyboard, staring out the window at “The Wintery Mix” of snow, sleet and rain. 

Not exactly the most motivating deal.  Either way, I’m going to use this thread as a way to help take my mind to a better place. 

And here we go . . . . . .

 

While many of the previous editions of this annual thread have include quite a bit of supplemental bait information,

this one is going to be short & sweet. 

Meaning simply limited to reflect the title of this thread.

 

Many of the same baits from last/past seasons are once again showing up here.

Here’s the link to 2023’s entry if you feel the need.

https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/258333-productive-baits-2023-~/

 

 I will have to say that most all of the listed selections may be a direct result of where & more specifically when (time of year)

I was on the water hunting plus size smallmouth bass.  

So without further ado . . . .

Baits are listed after the picture.

 

 

Megabass ITO Vision 110 – the Standard Bait, the Silent Bait, “LBO” model, the 110 +1 and the 110 +1 Jr. were all good.

 

Letting the cat out of the bag right off the bat ~

The ITO Vision 110 in “shrimp” was easily my MVP for 2024.

Just crazy good. #likeaperch

 

SK KVD 300 and 300D

LC 127 “Real Skin” – a perennial producer for me.

 

Z-Man Jackhammer 3/8 & ½ with Yamamoto Zako Trailer

 

SK Hybrid Hunter Jr. and Shallow Jr.

 

Evergreen Grass Ripper Swim Jig – This one is like the Jackhammer of swim jigs – very High Quality.

¼ and 3/8 oz  with a Keitech Swing Impact Fat trailer.

 

SK Sexy Dawg Hard Knock Walking Bait

 

Rapala X-Rap Sub Walk 5/8 oz.  After my GoPro’s died during the post spawn, I had a day with this one.

 

Megabass Pop Max – So Good.

 

A-Jay’s Swinghead deal.

Read last years installment for full details.

I love fishing this deal.

 

Jackall Drift Fry 4.0 & 5.2

On a Keitech 1/8 oz 3/0 jighead

 

Megabass Giant Dog X Walking bait (this ones pretty small and NEEDS calm water to be effective).

 

 

Freedom Tackle Freak LM/SM Willow Kilter Spinnerbait 

½ & ¾ oz.  I use a SK Blade Minnow Trailer.

 

Had some ‘problems’ with A-Rigs failing past few season.

Needed choose a new one and stick with it to see what it could do.  Decided on the Hog Farmer Baits Tactical Bassin Mini Flex Rig.  Changed pout terminal tackle to Sampo Ball bearing swivels and Owner Hyper wire split rings – so no clips.

Head are Dirty Jigs Tactical Bassin Finesse Swimbait jigheads all 1/8 oz.

Bait are either 3.8 or 4.3 Keitech Swing Impact Fat swimbaits.

Managed a few plus sized fish – one just under six pounds.

I use 17 lb mono on a MH Mod stick and I landed every fish that struck.  So no gear failure. 

I like that.

So there it is – now let’s hear and see what carried the load for you

and maybe even a bait or two that actually saved your bacon.

Stay Warm

A-Jay

https://youtu.be/V3OYj82bUXQ?feature=shared

 

Here's a few that are currently tied on:

 

• Top one is the hog farmer mini 3 wire 3 blade rig w/ some 3.2" 6th sense divines on it.
• Under that a 6th sense cloud 9 c10 in lavander citrus (my kayak park is about 9-10' deep and the water is usually dirty and this thing did well).
• Below that a lucky craft pointer minnow 100 in chartreuse shad.
• Under that we have a strike king double willow with a spunk shad on it.

Additional ones that aren't in the picture:

• Drop Shot (tried a ton of lures this past year and made a post about several of them...main ones I've been using lately have been the roboworm straight tail or a yamamoto sensei).
• Underspin (skinny dipper with a 5/0 flashy swimmer).
• Mag 2 (or sometimes an ultravibe) on a texas rig.
• Bladed jigs (been going with the EVO lately but still like the thunder cricket and have also been throwing the mini max more lately).
• Shakey Head (3/16 owner ultrahead w/ an xzone deception worm or zman smh worm)

56 minutes ago, MediumMouthBass said:

I thought i was the only one that bought these.

Everyone i talk to dismisses them as jerkbaits and reaches for Rapalas/Megabass/Lucky Craft instead, how do you like them?

 

Fishing was very poor this year, for myself and most of the people that fish the same waters.

Trout, panfish, pickerel, and bass included. Most places nuked the waters with chemicals to "clean it up" so its more presentable for the people who walk trails and boat. But in my opinion it ruined the fishing to historical levels.

 

Before I had a single Megabass 110 - I fished the heck out of that KVD bait - still do.

Not sure what it is about it, whether it's the profile, the sounds, the movement or the little roll it does right before the pause, but some of my BIGGEST SMB have De-Molished both the 300 & the 300D.

Three most fished /productive patterns for me are Clown, Ayu and Yellow perch. 

all seen in a fishes face below.

https://youtu.be/s5YAlFDZ_C4?feature=shared&t=991

https://youtu.be/8p_YjczqvhE?feature=shared&t=454

https://youtu.be/zHxHdDmKudQ?feature=shared&t=740

 

Although not pictured here (yet) but if you have some "Deep" jerkbait spots,

the new Strike King KVD 300 Sinking Deep Jerkbait is making a run at 'best deep bait' in my boat. 

A-Jay

Red Eye Shad

Jig (too many to even list - mostly choice Seibert offerings in cool colors!)

Drop Shot 

Buzzbait 

Spinnerbait

Frog (strike king/scum frog/snag proof/spro)

Mag Speed Worm

Mag Speed Craw

Fluke

Glide bait (BPS Swerve)

 

 

My personal 2024 MVP

 

2nd place wasn't even close.

Mine came straight from the motherland. 

A-Jay

6 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

My personal 2024 MVP

 

2nd place wasn't even close.

Mine came straight from the motherland. 

A-Jay

 

 

That color is sweeeeeet.

 

We got looooots of yellow perch on my big fish lakes.  😉😉😉🥷🏼🥷🏼🥷🏼

2 hours ago, A-Jay said:

My personal 2024 MVP

 

2nd place wasn't even close.

Mine came straight from the motherland. 

A-Jay

 

That thing would get blown up by pike here....

Deps Cover Scat continues to be one of my favorites to throw and I have one always tied on. Was really pleased with the availability of the new 3" size since I wanted bigger than 2.5" but the 3.5" was too heavy for my Light gear. 

 

I fish the Free Rig lots, so I experiment here often. The Raid Hira Tailor is probably the best of the bunch I tested. The Raid Egu Chunk was most surprising. On the lift, the rod tip vibrates nearly like a chatterbait. It's really something. Since the Keitech Fat Impact is uninspiring on the weightless drop, I wanted a better performing swimbait for the Free Rig. OSP Dolive Shad fits the bill and glides beautifully due to the keeled belly. Not sure it's as spectacular as the Dolive Stick though.

 

Fished the Flick Shake lots using the actual Flick Shake worms/tackle. Caught plenty! However, the real winner was the Flick Shake worm wacky rigged on a Dropshot using a Nishine DS hook. This thing gets bit!! Surely my biggest, most pleasant surprise.

 

Continue to have great success with the Chatterbait Mininax in 1/4oz 

 

I think those are the highlights.

7 hours ago, RRocket said:

 

That thing would get blown up by pike here....

Yea, that happens here too.

 

A-Jay 

This thread is going to cost me a couple hundred dollars!  

My MVP for the year was definitely a 3/8oz fogy with a spunk shad trailer.  Any bluegill type color.

 

Ned rigs and frogs were also in the mix, but the award goes to the fogy.

Minimal fishing this year but I'll play. Seems every year my tactics from the previous year dont work and I find something new.

 

1) Vision 110+1 JR.: Elegy Bone and GP Pro Blue, Matt Shad takes honorable mention in this bait.

 

2) Dirty Jigs Compat Swim Jig 3/8oz: Pearl Ghost Shiner

 

3) Seibert Supreme Arky 3/8oz: Henderson Craw 

 

4) Zoom or Culprit 10" purple worm w/ 3/8 or 3/16oz weight.

 

I listed 4 but 1, 2 and 3 were in my hands the most and #1 by a long shot. It just flat out worked everywhere. Obviously others like a frog, chatter/spinner but they were harder to make work for some reason this year. 

Beast Coast OW Sniper jig

Zoom Speedcraw 

Raid Osakana Slide

 

Killed it this year for me 

As usual, my lure collection grew, but the baits that caught bass shrunk.  My biggest bass a 10.2 pounder caught in June was on a June Bug Zoom Ole Monster.  I might as well have lived on the Tennessee River measured by the success of my favorite spinnerbait this year.  The list is small, but the Bait Monkey hasn't abandoned me yet.

 

Zoom Ole Monster

6th. Sense Crush 50 X square bill

Zoom Magnum Trick Worm

Magnum Rage Bug

Rapala DT 10

 

 

 

 

 

I don't use a huge variety of lures when I bass fish anymore, so my list is much more limited than some others.  I cannot name a single day in 2024 when the fishing was "poor."  Every single outing (35 total) was at least somewhat productive.

 

- Perch jerkbait did OK (smallmouth)

- Neko rig (green pumpkin)

- Wacky rig (chartreuse w/ black specks)

- Terminator spinnerbait 3/8 oz

- Zman Elite Evo Tungesten 1/2 oz

 

I'd say that those 5 presentations accounted for about 75% of my total catch in the largemouth and smallmouth realm this past season.  Plus a few walleyes and way too many pike to count on accident.  Two particular time periods were excellent: July 3-5 and the month of October.

 

 

 

 

Outkast Cage Feider jig

Beast Coast Max Feel football jig

Reaction Innovations ManBearPig and Pocket Rocket 

 

 

Most of my fishing this year was either with a jig or TR

 

Rage Bug.    Everything else added together is a distant second.

Riot baits little creeper 1/2 oz in black/blue with a reaction innovations little fuzzy beaver in money for a trailer and a Dobyn's Beast 1/2 oz double willow in shimmer shad caught the majority of my fish in 2024.

Mostly the usual baits for me. Some buzzbaits, spinnerbaits,couple jerkbaits,a frog,some soft plastics and I threw the jig in there even though it didn't catch alot of fish it boated the biggest of the year. Had other baits that worked but these were the ones that caught quality fish.

Ned

Tube

Bomber Prop A

Spinnerbait

Chatterbait 

#1  Texas rigged worm.

My most productive are:                                plastic worms.                                             Rapala original floating.                           Mepps Aglia size 3 and 4.                        Rage Menace grub.                                     Jig/ various trailers.                                   Black and white Buzzbait.                          Heddon Zara spook- bone and clear shore minnow colors.                           3" plastic curly tail grub- white.                 To a lesser extent white 3/8 oz spinnerbaits.

My fishing this past year encompassed Minnesota, South Dakota, Florida and South Carolina. Very different bodies of water and seasonal changes. I used many lures - but the one that worked equally well in all 3 states was the jerk bait. 

 

This model, this color was universally crushed... Sometimes the 112+1 too ~

 

 

1. 4 inch megabass spark shad on a jighead 

2. zoom super fluke

3. 4.8 Kietech on a flashy swimmer

 

Topwater tied:  clear super spook jr. / berkley choppo MF shad

I spent the year with a jig head minnow tied on a rod at all times.  Top contenders were 4" and 6.5" raid fish roller, but my top fish and big fish producer, was a 4.25" rapala freeloader.  I never would've thought the hype was justified this time last year, but I'm sure glad I put the time into it.  Even without electronics, it proved to be an all time fish catcher from post spawn till ice and from the top to the bottom of the water column.

 

scott

 

On 12/16/2024 at 5:38 PM, A-Jay said:

Megabass Giant Dog X Walking bait (this ones pretty small and NEEDS calm water to be effective).

What’s your methodology for the Giant Dog X? I’m trying to focus on bigger smallmouth this year, and I’m pretty comfortable with walking baits. I figured I should try stick what I know and refine it to catch larger fish.