50 minutes ago, Bird said:

Never thought I'd see spinnerbaits make the " ineffective " list. 😳

A top 5 all-time bait of mine.

You new here ? 😆 

Buzzbaits. I have a few I've thrown over the years when conditions seem appropriate, however the success rate has been abysmal. Any other topwater bait (walkers, poppers, frogs, etc.) I have had great success with.

1 hour ago, Pat Brown said:

Hardly any baits in here that don't catch a ton of bass.  We just all have our areas of expertise etc

 

1 hour ago, Bird said:

That's it in a nutshell.

Exactly right, we all are experts in our own minds 😂😂😂

 

Seriously though, we have our confidence baits and we got there for a reason. Mine is a Texas rigged plastic worm. When they are on a horizontal bite it’s a square bill or a Trap..

Deep cranks, drop shot, lipless cranks.

Lipless cranks, Whopper Ploppers, Deep Cranks

Anything not in my boat.

A-Jay

Lipless and any crankbait that runs deeper that a foot. right behind  would be soft jerkbaits. They were once 1a with spinnerbaits in spring but somewhere along the way I stopped using them.

Never got on the Whooper Plopper band wagon and don’t own any.

Tom

On 4/12/2025 at 8:39 PM, Craig P said:

Chatterbaits, even the pricey ones. I have been on a great bite, whether spinbaits or T-Rig and switch to a bladed jig, deadsville. Switch back, game on. They just don’t work for me. 

That’s how they have always been for me. But I still throw them. Trying the mini Max now 

On 4/12/2025 at 9:12 PM, Pat Brown said:

I really hope this trend of people not using or believing in my favorite lures continues.  😂😂😂🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙂🙂🙂 

 

For me it was the bladed jig a long time ago and will probably continue to be the bladed jig for the foreseeable future.  I like em fine - they catch fish - I'll throw just about anything else first though.

Yepppppp I love them they are fun to throw. I’ve tried all kinda retrieves. I just don’t catch fish tho lol

On 4/14/2025 at 6:08 AM, Pat Brown said:

Oh yeah - ned rigs.  I have lost 100% of the Ned rigs I have thrown and caught exactly one bullhead catfish that stuck me with his spike and then on the next cast I lost the Ned rig.

 

I don't throw Ned rigs 🤣

I used to throw them with a hula stik. I caught fish. Some decent ones too. But I lost more of them hung on stuff than it was ever worth. Ornery up pounds and pound of algae. I’ve thought of revisiting the weedless wide gap styles. But Mehh lol 

12 hours ago, WRB said:

Never got on the Whooper Plopper band wagon and don’t own any.

Tom

I couldn’t get on those or the spook or sexy dawg. Any of the walking top water plugs. I can fish a frog and buzz bait and catch fish. I’m not that good at it lol. But I can’t catch crap on the others lol

On 4/12/2025 at 5:28 PM, Jar11591 said:

toads. Got no use for em. 

You're kidding!! Toads are my #1 favorite bait to fish when conditions are right (lower light conditions in shallow water). It's like fishing a more subtle weedless buzzbait.

As a fellow NYer, I implore you to give toads a chance! 

@JackstrawIII they got phased out in favor of weedless frogs. Never developed confidence in them. I still have a ton of them so I’ll give them another chance in those conditions. Do you just rig them weightless with an EWG?

On 4/18/2025 at 4:58 PM, Bird said:

Never thought I'd see spinnerbaits make the " ineffective " list. 😳

A top 5 all-time bait of mine.

I was just on a 10 day vacation and I fished a spinnerbait ever day. 4 of those days were on big bodies of water and the other 6 were pond hopping.  I used a spinnerbait every day and it was the only bait over the course of my vacation that didn't catch a fish. Also, I went out with a buddy on his boat two of those days and he too was blanked on a spinnerbait.  

 

Crankbaits and pretty much everything else was working. 

 

 

Spinnerbaits catch probably 80% of my bass.  One of the best producing baits ever created imho.

A weightless t rigged Zoom lizard in a 4" or 6"

Anymore it's shadow raps and the ripstops.  I used to crush fish on those things , but lately they've been dead.  I pause, I rip, I straight retrieve, nada.........  Maybe I stink, IDK what the heck is going on

For me, it's gotta be stupid tubes, Rooster tails, and big swimbaits - the 3-8oz kind.

 

I'm surprised to see so many people struggle with spinnerbaits.  That's my year round, go-to bait.  I've caught thousands of fish on them, including several over 7lbs.

 

Finesse is also a staple in my arsenal, although I struggle to get anything over 4lbs with it. But boy howdy can I load the boat with dinks! LOL

On 4/22/2025 at 12:34 PM, Jar11591 said:

they got phased out in favor of weedless frogs. Never developed confidence in them. I still have a ton of them so I’ll give them another chance in those conditions. Do you just rig them weightless with an EWG?

Pretty much. I rig them weightless on a heavy duty Owner twistlock hook and fish them with straight braid on a heavy rod, like you would with a frog. I'll target cast around docks, weed pockets, and such, but I also use it to fan cast around flats and weedy areas. 

I used to fish frogs a lot, but I have a bad wrist and walking a frog really exacerbated the problem. I discovered I could straight chuck and wind a toad and get really great results. For me, it's a better solution not just because it doesn't hurt my wrist, but also because it covers water faster and generates a ton of bites. 

I haven't caught a 8" magdraft or glidebait fish since fall of 23.  I missed all the spring cold water time in 24, but have been chucking since last fall.  Two hits but no hookup on the magdraft, likely small fish, and no hits and no visible follows on the glide.  Chop style glides still get bit at least.

 

scott