8 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I throw my own almost exclusively. I wasn't a big fan of them until I started making my own and could customize them how I wanted them.

By "customize," you mean they had to match your Crocs?

A-Jay

Original bladed jig, slobberknocker, evo, bladed jig, homemade, jigsaw, thunder cricket, cheap Amazon ones, and whatever others there are. Bladed jigs consistently catch numbers and big bass year-round. Z-Man Chatterbaits have caught every bass over 4lbs for me using a bladed jig.

If you constantly see other anglers throwing them on your lake, you could switch to a more subtle option like the bladed jig stealth blade. It has less thump and a clear blade for realism and more pressured bass. Probably 80 percent of the bass I catch every year over 4 are on bladed jigs. Especially late February to the middle of prespawn. To weed out most smaller bites during those times, I put a whole white trick worm on the back, and it works phenomenally every time. I am also trying some 6 inch Panoramas as a trailer after marinating them in Pit Bosses. The acetone smell is completely gone.

I kind of went all over the place there, but all that to say, you should give them a shot. If you end up not liking them, maybe wait till prespawn, or just forget about em.

12 hours ago, A-Jay said:

By "customize," you mean they had to match your Crocs?

A-Jay

I do have some pretty colorful baits.

I have noticed a drop in success using them too. I started using them about 5 years ago and the first season they ate it. Constantly.

Each year since, the number of bites has dropped. The fish have clearly become used to seeing them on more pressured waters. And I think a lot of anglers also use them instead of a spinnerbait too, which might explain why I've had more recent success with those.

My better days come when there is a good chop on the surface of the water. Calm, bluebird sun days rarely produce.

The pike love them too. They rip through the plastic trailers and the skirts constantly.

The bladed jig set the bar for bladed jigs. High quality hooks, locks, silicon and keepers make it special.

Now the Evo, will do ALMOST everything a Hammer can do. The JH may hit slightly harder or have a faster blade speed.

IMO the Tungsten EVO is worth the money. IMO the 3/8 tungsten EVO hits harder than 3/8 Hammer or regular EVO.

There are other bladed jig too. Picasso has some outstanding HD bladed jig.

I went Thursday and caught between thirt to forty on a bladed jig, most of them over 14 inches. I used a Z-Man Goat as a trailer and cut off the flappers on the end of the bait. I was skipping it a lot under trees and did not want those flappers grabbing water as I'm not real good at skipping. Lost my third giant bass of the year. Skipped it under a willow , beautiful skip and she nailed it. Jumped and threw my lure. I'm batting .000 on big bass this year. Thats got to stop.