Well, I'm not going to forget effective. I want to catch as many large bass as possible, as often as possible. But if I could have my way and have my most effective lure also be the one I most enjoy fishing, it would be a jerk bait. It's not because they are the most effective for me. They are not. But, I like how they cast, how they look, how they move and how they feel. I don't fish them all of the time because I want effective more than just my fun with a particular lure. But if I had my way it would be jerk baits that worked the best, all the time.

What is your most fun lure to fish?

Is it also the most effective for you?

Is i

I love fishing jigs, bottom, brush, weeds, swim jigs..........jigs, jigs, jigs.

Beaver on a flippin rig. Effective from ice out till ice over, and jerkin 'em out of the jungle is also my favorite way to catch 'em.

Zara Spook. I'll walk that all day if they are hitting it. One of my favorite fishing memories is when I was walking a Jr. along a rocky bank and looked down for just a moment my fishfinder. I HEARD a 5 1/2 pound bass suck that lure in. I didn't feel anything and I started to sweep the rod before I even looked up just instinctively based on the sound. I heard that big bass slurp it under. I never, ever get tired of the topwater bite. Unfortunately, it's not an effective everyday technique.

Topwater of any kind!

Most fun is crankbaits. Most effective is flukes.

For sheer fun, I like throwing a spinnerbait around the bank. For effectiveness, it’s got to be a dropshot.

Buzzbait and frog

I pretty much enjoy most lures that I can throw. Top water is my favorite and just adds to the fun visually. But it’s also gonna depend on what the fish want, then that becomes the most effective bait….and still fun.

Magnum UV Speed Worm

Sight fishing beds with Rage Bug

Original Scum Frog

In that order

Mike

Topwater,Spinnerbait and Wacky Worm

In the past my answer to this would have been topwater. However, over the years the jig has become the most fun lure for me. I like setting the hook and the excitement of when I realize that whatever is on the end of my line is heavier and bigger than usual. Yet, I haven't seen the fish yet, so the thrill of anticipation comes into play waiting until that fish surfaces to see its size. I guess any bottom dragging bait has this effect for me though.

I want to add regarding my love of jigs. That cat and mouse game of feeling everything as you move along the bottom trying to determine what's causing that little bump, the slight pick up of the jig, was it a rock? Weeds?

My most expensive rod is my jig rod, the increase in sensitivity was a game changer. This year I switched from braid with a mono leader to straight flouro, another game changer.

The lure I enjoy throwing the most is and always will be the frog. The frog has also been my least effective lure the past few years as well which has been a huge disappointment.

My most effective lure the past few years has been a crankbait which had been my least favorite lure until a few years ago. 😁

Another topwater vote here

Unfortunately it's really just not effective anymore but I can recall many days in the past when it was. Exciting way to fish.

Buzz bait/spinnerbait target practice fishing brush/laydowns. It’s like rabbit hunting without dogs. Just trying to kick a bass out of their hidey-hole.

Buzzbait is the funnest. Most effective is a Texas rig. But anything that is catching fish is my favorite at the time. Bladed jig had been my most effective this year.

I've always loved throwing / skipping a fluke but personally have to be standing to be effective, partially because I like to see it.

The bait that has put the most fish in the boat for the last couple of years has been a Ned rig.

Anything that relates to chunkin' and windin', as long as I can keep the trolling motor on; sitting still bores me, but is sometimes necessary.

12 hours ago, SJS said:

Well, I'm not going to forget effective. I want to catch as many large bass as possible, as often as possible. But if I could have my way and have my most effective lure also be the one I most enjoy fishing, it would be a jerk bait. It's not because they are the most effective for me. They are not. But, I like how they cast, how they look, how they move and how they feel. I don't fish them all of the time because I want effective more than just my fun with a particular lure. But if I had my way it would be jerk baits that worked the best, all the time.

What is your most fun lure to fish?

Is it also the most effective for you?

This one's interesting; it has changed a bit over the years and currently comes in from at least a couple of different directions. Categorizing a bait, technique, or saying it's the most enjoyable to fish can be a taunting task IMO. My version of 'enjoyable to fish' starts with the cast, the retrieve, decent fish-catching potential, which sort of has to be in there somewhere for me, and then, strangely enough, the hook-removal efforts required. Deals that possess virtually none of the fun factor marks for me and ones I will rarely even consider employing include, but may not be limited to, drop shot, Ned rig, until recently, dead sticking a Senko, a free rig, whatever that ultra-shirted poop bait thing is, and a banjo minnow.

Right off the bat, it's been fairly well documented here that I am fairly addicted to catching fish on a jerkbait.

The past several years, it's been an early & late season hammer for me.

Oddly enough, despite checking almost all the boxes mentioned above, the hook removal efforts (from the fish & the Frabil) can be enough to knock it down like half a peg.

So what could possibly replace such a potent mutant slayer?

The answer is a few, I guess. Topwater waking baits, Poppers, A-Rigs,

and the list of soft plastics & rigs is endless.

When we're talking about 'the fun factor,' however, of the many deals mentioned above,

some I fish, some I do not; either way, I can easily see the attraction in them all.

An aspect of the "I Love It' presentation for me involves the 'chunk & wind.'

Huge fan of just leaning back, using a pretty high level of human torque to smoothly launch my bait off the front deck and cranking it back. Many baits fit the bill here, but decent-sized single-hook deals have it over the triple-treble-hook aspects of a stick bait while still retaining plenty of plus-sized bass potential. Vibrating jigs and spinner baits come to mind right away. Because these deals are often fished best with casting gear, I get to put the boots to the bigger bass, which is mucho fun and not advisable with small treble hooks.

And since timing is everything, if the world doesn't deal us another dose of insanity,

starting somewhere around the 2nd week of August, Prime Chunk & Wind season starts again.

Since I missed 95% of the spring jerkbait bite, I'll be primed for this one.

A-Jay

Microjigs (1/64 to 1/32 oz) on ultralight tackle. You'll catch a lot of things that aren't bass along the way, which I find a lot of fun, and when you DO catch a bass it's like you've wrangled Moby Dick. I use them as little swimjigs I work back with a bunch of little shakes. Drives bass crazy and you get monster strikes.

Plus you feel like a master angler when you take that tiny little jig out of a big ol' bass' mouth.

I’m with @A-Jay on his thoughts about treble hook baits.

I’ve had enough hooks in me over my 72 years that really don’t like to throw baits with 3 sets of trebles. 2 sets is a little better but still 6 hooks that try and reach out and get you at a moments notice. Because of this, I tend to throw single hook baits more often. And the topwater bite isn’t what it used to be, at least for me. My favorite now is a swim jig, for covering water, followed by a senko or speed worm and last but not least, flipping. Theses also seem to get bigger bites for me, so that helps.

Rat, buzzbait, frog, all good. I also like strolling. Shake shake shake. Meditative.

Hard to beat a drop shot, but a Bellows Gill Ned is creeping up there.

I love to fish a spybait for smallmouth. I fish the St-Lawrence river and mostly sight fish with the spybait. A lot of times, during the summer, you will see the fish on shallow flats or you'll know they are there because you've caught some before. They will follow that spybait for quite a distance. Nothing is more nerve-racking... and fun as seeing a 4 or 5 pounder cruise up to the tiny lure and take a swipe at it.

3 minutes ago, Reel said:

I love to fish a spybait for smallmouth. I fish the St-Lawrence river and mostly sight fish with the spybait. A lot of times, during the summer, you will see the fish on shallow flats or you'll know they are there because you've caught some before. They will follow that spybait for quite a distance. Nothing is more nerve-racking... and fun as seeing a 4 or 5 pounder cruise up to the tiny lure and take a swipe at it.

That does sound exciting.

I'm going to commit heresy and say that live bait is a blast...in the wilderness. There's nothing more thrilling this side of a musky hitting a surface lure inches from the canoe than tossing a leech under a slip bobber into the roiling current below a waterfall. The bobber looks like a young Mohammed Ali, bobbing to the left, bobbing to the right, and then slowly submerging thanks to a 24" walleye or 18" slab of bronzeback. It isn't just watching the bobber dance. It's the roar of the waterfall and the waterfall's mist too.