Over 25 years of serious bass fishing below are the list of what I believe are must have lures. These are the lures that have caught 1000's of fish for me over the years not just something I had one good day with. 

 

Topwater= LC Sammy, LC Gunfish, and a Pop-R. These 3 baits account for 90% of the bass I have caught on a topwater.

Crankbait= RC 1.5 and Manns Baby 1- minus. If I could only ever use 2 crankbaits for the rest of my life it would be these. I have caught bass on the RC 1.5 in 40 degree water in February.

Jerkbait= LC Pointer 78sp has probably caught more fish than all other jerkbaits combined.

Spinnerbait= SK Midnight Special. This is the only spinnerbait that I buy because I normally make my own. For night fishing it is the best bait I have found period. 

 

Allen

If you’re gonna fish one box- that’s be a great line-up - you could fish forever with just those.

8 hours ago, Munkin said:

Spinnerbait= SK Midnight Special. This is the only spinnerbait that I buy because I normally make my own. For night fishing it is the best bait I have found period. 

 

Thats what I use at night also. 

Don't know if you were looking for others to answer. If so:

 

Storm Chug Bug - Frog Pattern

White Zoom Trick Worm

Zoom Ol Monster 10" - Green Pumpkin Magic

3/4-1 oz grass jig and craw or swimbait shad colors

7/16 oz pegged T rig beaver green pumpkin I like missile baits d bomb.

Worm weightless (I like trick worms/senko/mag speed worm/fluke etc)

Spro Frog any of them will but it should probably be white or black or yellow or clear.

Buzzbait - black 1/2 oz with skirt rage menace and trailer hook.

Spinnerbait 3/4 oz white chartreuse gold tandem willow with no trailer.

Lipless 1/4-3/4 oz rat l trap or red eye shad in a clear shad color

Jerkbait Berkeley stunna, lucky craft pointer, Rapala, whatever is your favorite.  Best bait for suspending fish that are actively chasing.

Allen you surprise me, no plastics.  I could survive with nothing but plastics... green pumpkin tubes various lengths and widths.  3 1/2" paddle tail grubs something light colored something dark colored.  4 1/2" caffeine shad, light color. 3" and 4" curly tail grubs green pumpkin.

 

Black hair jig < 1/8 oz.

 

Lipless crankbaits 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 oz.  

 

Of course, Pointer 78, 78dd and 95 silent, ghost minnow and perch patterns.

 

Gunfish 95 would round out my "must have" selection for smallmouth fishing in natural mid-west lakes.

 

oe

 

 

 

For the past few years anyway, 

I post up a few of my favorites from that past season.

They change a bit here & there, but there's always some staples.

Fishing exclusively for Brown Bass in the North Woods. 

https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/263885-productive-baits-2024-edition/

A-Jay

My all time favorite bait to fish is a ned rig. I can catch fish swimming it, dragging it, hopping it, cover, no cover. I feel like if I can find them I can catch them on a ned. Of all the ned baits out there for me there are two that I prefer over eveything else. The Bassreaper tap that and the Crush city Ned BLT. 

Hard to put favorites together for all time.

60’s 7” Jelly worms T-rigged, football jig w/ UJ 9” eel, Bomber 300 blk/orange.

70’s-80’s 3 color hair jig/ L4 & tadpole Supper Pork trailer, Smithwick Buck n Brawl top water/shad color, Smitties hand poured worms crawdad colors.

90’s-2020 (had a boat) 3 color hair jig/ super pork trailers, Scrounger/6” Sluggo-trout,  Huddleston soft plastic swimbaits- trout colors, Block Dog wooden swimbaits & lunker punker trout colors, Roboworms, Upton custom & Iovino hand poured worms, Senko’s and wooden Sammy, LC pointers Shad colors.

2020-2025, (no boat/ backseater) 3 color hair jig w/ pork trailers, Senko’s, Roboworms and hand poured worms, LC 98SP & Megabass X-Nanathan jerk baits, wooden Sammy Shad colors. Top 4 over time 3 color hair jig w/ pork trailers, hand poured worms, Senko’s and wooden LC Sammy.

Tom

Trick worm ,Brush Hog , Spinnerbait and Chug  bug and a Z Craw and a jig . Wacky Worm and I’m set 

This is the most subversive bait monkey post ever and I hate it.  I have tangential overlap with most everyone, but few direct correlates.

 

scott  

Are you still giving all your tackle away? 😂😆

In all the years I’ve followed A-Jay’s lists, I can’t figure out the absence of a tube and Hula Grub.  The brown fish in the PNW eat them like Pringles.

5 hours ago, Columbia Craw said:

In all the years I’ve followed A-Jay’s lists, I can’t figure out the absence of a tube and Hula Grub.  The brown fish in the PNW eat them like Pringles.

Might come down to bottom composition.

A-Jay

3 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Might come down to bottom composition.

A-Jay

If you wouldn’t mind, A-Jay, expand on that for us 

1 hour ago, LrgmouthShad said:

If you wouldn’t mind, A-Jay, expand on that for us 

For me, tube's are fished most effectively on a hard bottom with almost and kind of cover with the exception of perhaps dense weed.  Additionally,  my tube fishing is done when I have the fishes position mostly narrowed done.  I'm not poking around looking for bites with a tube.

A-Jay 

2.8" Fat Swing Impact on a 1/8 ball jig.

Ned rigs, one of my favorites were the 3" reaper but alas they are no longer available 

Max scent flat worm on a drop shot.

5" dinger

#3 Mepps

I probably catch 75% of the largemouth each season here on these 5 lures (various colors).

 

spinnerbait

jerk bait

plastic wacky rigged stick bait

bladed jig

Ned rig

On 4/26/2025 at 7:30 AM, scaleface said:

Thats what I use at night also. 

Also good in winter around here. Water is usually very stained.

Senko (PB on a black/blue Ocho worm)

Lizard

craw

Whopper Plopper

Chug Bug

War Eagle gold shiner spinnerbait (see my profile pic, I also have an 8+lb on one)

 

Around here it depends on the time of year, but I have a few that work year round.

 

Jig and craw

Finesse worm

Wakebait

 

I would be lost to not have some Hollow body frogs for topwater action in heavy weeds or shorelines. 

 

I have a ton of frogs but I tend to use the Live Target, Booyah & Spro frogs the most....I also have a ton of confidence in the Bobby's Perfect Frog & Jackal frogs. 

For me, 'must have' goes hand in hand with 'supreme confidence'.

• 5" Senko weightless/wacky, #11 o-ring 1/16" from the egg sack on a #4 wide gap finesse hook
• Megabass X-Nanahan +2
• Lucky Craft Sammy: 70 or 105
• 4" Keitech Swing Impact C-Rigged on a 2/0 Rebarb hook, 3' to 4' leader, 1/2 to 3/4 oz egg sinker
• Tiny Brush Hog, Texas rigged on the BFS setup
• Night Fishing: 7" black ring tail power worm, 3 or 4 rings removed, Texas rigged with glass bead

All plastics treated with Edge Products Hot Sauce Gel

 

Everything else is. . . . . everything else.

I can't imagine a must have bass fishing lure list without some kind of soft plastic worm, preferrably for me a 6-7in straight tail finesse worm. Quite possibly the most versatile lure in existence. It can be fished so many ways - weightless, wacky rig, flickshake, neko rig, texas rig, carolina rig, mojo rig, splitshot rig, dropshot, jigworm, shakyhead, and probably a few more.

On 4/25/2025 at 10:37 PM, Munkin said:

Spinnerbait= SK Midnight Special. This is the only spinnerbait that I buy because I normally make my own. For night fishing it is the best bait I have found period. 

Caught My PB with this bait.