What bass fishing lures would ya'll say are most essential for a bass angler to master. I'm thinking jigs, cranks, jerkbaits, soft plastics (like worms, craws, flukes, paddle tail swimbaits), spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, topwaters (plugs, frogs, poppers, whopper ploppers). But I'm not the most avid angler, so I would like yall's opinion.

 

I'd say your list is pretty close. I would say, add to that:

Spooks

Buzzbaits

Curly tail grubs

Senko

Fluke

 

Texas rigs, carolina rigs, shaky head, and drop shot are great to make soft plastics extremely versatile. Once you master a basic texas rig, you just tweak it whenever you change whatever plastic you're using.

 

I would suggest that if you narrow it down, you could really do well with just Texas Rigs (including weightless flukes and senkos), Spooks, frogs, crankbaits, and spinnerbaits.

11 hours ago, Cael B said:

What bass fishing lures would ya'll say are most essential for a bass angler to master. I'm thinking jigs, cranks, jerkbaits, soft plastics (like worms, craws, flukes, paddle tail swimbaits), spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, topwaters (plugs, frogs, poppers, whopper ploppers). But I'm not the most avid angler, so I would like yall's opinion.

 

Lures that you can be effectively fished where you are located.

Soft plastics are effective everywhere and an be rigged several ways and catch bass. However soft plastics like worms and stick baits ( Senko s) are excellent to learn to use and difficult to detect strikes. 
Lures that see the bass strike work good but are limited where you can use them.

To eliminate guessing let us know where you plan to fish and what type of tackle you plan to use.

Tom 

Jigs

Worms

 

The chuck and wind/twitch stuff yes has little nuances but jig fishing and worm fishing are staples in bass fishing.

 

You get good at those, the other stuff seems easy.

6 hours ago, HawkeyeSmallie said:

Jigs

Worms

 

The chuck and wind/twitch stuff yes has little nuances but jig fishing and worm fishing are staples in bass fishing.

 

You get good at those, the other stuff seems easy.

My feelings exactly. When I caught my first bass on a Texas rig around1976 and I remember it well, I was immediately was boosted  to the next level of bass fishing hiearchy. 

At least get good with the things that cover the whole water column: bottom, middle, and topwater. 
 
I recommend a jig, spinnerbait, and popper. 

Jig and craw..  Both bottom contact and swim jig.  

I wouldn't know, I always thought all I had to do was buy them.

No need to start with all of that. I echo the majority opinion. Master the texas rigged worm in all of it's presentations before moving to anything else. You can pitch/flip with it, skip with it, fish it shallow, fish it deep, you can fish it slow, fish it fast, fish it weighted, fish it weightless, and change colors and sizes if you think that might matter. 

 

If I were to have access to my fishing data, I can promise you the vast majority of my fish were caught on some sort of texas rigged soft plastic -- probably a Senko. They are pretty unbeatable. 

Literally whatever works in your area. Everywhere is different. Depends on the cover you have, water clarity, shade and sun. Soft plastics and jigs for sure. Throw a top water in there. Or go throw a stick bait and have fun! I’ve got all kind of baits. And I’m pretty dang proficient with any one I feel like using. But I throw a jig or soft plastic a ton! Because I can change how the bait is worked, its bulk, its rate of fall. Ya can do a lot with it. That’s what I prefer instead of dragging a million things with you. 

I seem to remember Glenn making a video about the best lures of all time and that being the thing that led me to this site...I'd probably start w/ those lures to be honest as I seem to remember all of them being staples that pretty much work wherever you are. That said if you are only going to fish one spot then figuring out what works there and getting good at that makes sense, but if you are going to go try out different places then it seems like learning the stuff that has a good chance of working across the board might be the way to go. To answer your question directly I suppose I'd start with soft plastics and a drop shot worm, wacky rig, and fluke specifically as all three of those consistently work for me in multiple locations.

 

 

Hands down, soft plastics. Within that category I would say the TX rig is going to be your most valuable/volume/go-to setup for the widest variety of waters. Regarding plastics to use for that rig I suggest a worm (senko/trick worm), fluke, and craw/creature. Flukes are great weightless, craws are great weighted, worms are great either way. 

 

I have to throw in a paddletail minnow too, rigged on a jighead, for the simplicity and versatility. 

 

Can't leave out a hard topwater either. Spooks moreso for rivers, poppers/ploppers moreso for ponds/lakes - in my experience (fishing mainly on TVA lakes areas). 

 

 

9 hours ago, Joedodge said:

Literally whatever works in your area. Everywhere is different.

 

Yep. Last year, it was underspins for the first half of the year, followed by poppers. This year, it's underspins so far. I keep trying poppers, but they're not producing...yet. Of course, I keep trying a dozen other lures too and most of them catch a few fish, but for me, in my ponds and bogs, underspins rule. YMMV.

2 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

Yep. Last year, it was underspins for the first half of the year, followed by poppers. This year, it's underspins so far. I keep trying poppers, but they're not producing...yet. Of course, I keep trying a dozen other lures too and most of them catch a few fish, but for me, in my ponds and bogs, underspins rule. YMMV.

Very nice! I’m pretty bad about once I find what works I rarely change till it truly just doesn’t anymore. 15 years ago I was that guy who constantly changed colors or lures. I spent more time doing that than catching now I have a select few that I generally use. And that’s about it. Not that the others can’t and want catch fish. It’s just what I use. 

Here ya go!

 

 

Honestly, very few anglers truly master more than 1 or 2 baits.  It might not seem like it, but a simple bait like a jig has so many variables that it can literally take a lifetime to even come close to mastering.  Jerkbaits are really hard as well, you have color, size, shape, depth, buoyancy and action.   

For now, just try to concentrate on getting confidence with a few different key baits that produce fish at different times of year.

It would really help if we knew what part of the country you were from. 

Ned rig/shakey head-all year with the shakey head being the most effective pre spawn to spawn IMO

small swimbait (3") on a light (1/16 or 3/32 head)- All year

Texas unweighted and weighted/free rig- pre spawn to fall

swim jig- pre spawn to fall with the best time being spawn to mid summer

bladed jig/spinnerbait- prespawn to spawn and fall with prespawn being the most productive for size and numbers/prespawn to late fall, particularly when it rains

buzzbait- can be productive in prespawn, but generally most effective for me late prespawn through fall with smaller buzzbaits being better mid to late fall

Jerkbait- prespawn and winter

squarebill- prespawn and fall

lipless cranks- very effective prespawn and small lipless cranks in the fall, slow falling lipless in the winter.