What baits do you guys use, and when do you use them.  When do you not use them?

T

Thats a very broad question, care to be more specific?

It depends on the time of the year and the lake.

If I was to answer this I would have to list every time of the year/weather conditions/lake or river im fishing/water level/water clarity/structure im dealing with and the list goes on. So it is simply too hard of a question to answer in a form of a post. My post would go on for pages after pages. Sorry too hard for me  . I can tell ya this though, during this time of the year with the falling temperatures I'd use small jigs, small rapalas or yozuri's, lipless crankbaits and maybe some small spinnerbaits or chatter/boogie baits. I'd also fish them as slowly as I could make myself without losing patience (which is fairly slow at the moment heh). My best producer lately has been small jigs flipped in and around cover in the back of rivers or rivers that a lake flows into, and in lakes a TINY bit larger jig flipped into cover such as sticks/pads. Good Luck and sorry I couldn't answer the entire question.

Go to the top of this webpage.

Click on fishing articles.

Before you will unscroll a number of options that will help you understand the hows and whys any lure works best under certain conditions or times of the year.  Click on Bass lure techniques and read.  That's what it's there for.

Trying to answer your question in a single post is impossible.  

Go to the top of this webpage.

Click on fishing articles.

Before you will unscroll a number of options that will help you understand the hows and whys any lure works best under certain conditions or times of the year. Click on Bass lure techniques and read. That's what it's there for.

Trying to answer your question in a single post is impossible.

+1.  I would spend a few days reading all of the articles, and then come back and ask more specific questions you may have.

Yea I probably could have chosen better wording for my post.  Sorry about that guys.  

But ya know what?  After Googling a million things, I found an absolutely amazing article that answers EXACTLY what I was talking about.  I thought it was super informative.  

Picking a Lure by Ranger Rob

"When do you fish what bait"? This is something that sets the tone for an entire day of fishing. It's also an area where most anglers are unclear about starting their day. There are no definites at any time as to what you should or should not be using. I have a fairly simple approach to dealing with this question on a daily basis. The ultimate answer to this is given to you by the bass. You cannot make them bite a certain type of bait just because it is your favorite. This alone, having a favorite bait and wanting to start the day using it, is probably the largest reason that many of us are unsucessful on certain days. I have been able to avoid this situation by developing my own style of fishing and a system to finding the proper bait at any time. A huge help to me has been that I have stayed away from getting into the rut of having a "favorite" bait. Getting stuck on any particular bait will hold you back in your effort to become a better angler and in many cases result in fewer bass being caught on many days. You simply must be willing to allow the bass to tell you what they want from day to day and even minute to minute during the day. On most days, I end up catching bass on 4-5 different baits and many days a lot more than that. When I start a days fishing, I throw what happened yesterday out the window and begin with an open mind. In my opinion, when starting the day, the worst thing you can do is begin fishing with vertical type baits. This would be fishing Texas rigged plastics, or other slow moving baits, fished on the bottom and directed at targets. This is true even if you tore them up the day before by pitching plastic worms at stumps, for example. The reason is that bass change so much and so quickly, sometimes for no apparent reason. The first thing I want to do when I begin the day is establish how active the bass are at that time. I want to do this as quickly and efficiently as possible. For me, the best way to do this is to begin by having several horizontal, faster moving baits rigged and ready. This selection will vary a bit depending on the season. For example I wouldn't have topwater plugs rigged if the water temp. was 49 degrees. I may be able to catch a bass on one but, common bass fishing sense tells me this would not be an efficient method of attracting bass at that time. Baits I have ready, and throw at the begining of most days, say if the water is 68 degrees just as an example, would be a spinnerbait, crankbait of some type, buzzbait, topwater plug, Flappin' Shad, Speed Worm, etc. You can see that with a selection such as this, I can cover water as quickly as needed at different levels of the water column. Learning as much as you possibly can about bass and their seasonal tendencies, as well as their habits under different water conditions, is the number one thing to get you started on the right foot. For example, I would not rely heavily on a spinnerbait when first starting if the water surface was dead calm. Even though I feel this is my best bait for determining the activity level of the bass, I know that it will probably not get much attention without some ripple or chop on the water. I would be better of waiting for a little wind and in the meantime lean more toward topwaters, especially something discrete like a Speed Worm. I know from experience that a bait like this is much more effective than a spinnerbait in calm conditions. When the wind picked up I would rely heavily on a spinnerbait and crankbait. What I am trying to do is see how fast I can fish a bait and get a reaction from the bass. There are a few days when bass will absolutly go nuts over a topwater plug fshed so fast that it is literally skipping out of the water. I don't want to miss out on those rare days, so I will always make a few casts doing just that at the very beginning. Those rare days that this works are the ones where you may catch 100 bass. You will never know, and never catch those fish if you don't try it right off the bat. I know from experience that if this bite is on, it will only take a couple of casts to get a strike. There's no need to waste time fishing that method for 15 minutes. If they are that active, you will know it within a couple of casts. This is of course if your on fish, which you should be or else why are you in that area to begin with. On those days, bass will hardly react at all to the conventional slow methods. If you start slow, chances are you will miss the whole deal. Always start fast and then slow down. Keep in mind that super active fish will let you know it immediately. At the same time, I would begin fishing a spinerbait by buzzing it quickly just under the surface and if nothing happens within a few casts, I begin slowing down and fishing slightly lower in the water column. Again, common bass sense tells me that if the water is very stained, you will need to start off a bit slower than you would in clearer conditions. Always use good bass judgement for this type of thing. Other than the few days when I'm fishing alone and looking for new fish, I'm only fishing areas where I'm on bass. That only makes sense. People don't hire me to go around looking for bass. They want to catch them. Therefore, it is my job to establish the best baits and methods for catching them. This makes determining their activity level the most important thing when starting the day. If you use my method of starting fast, in the upper level of the water column or on the surface, and then slowing down as needed, you are allowing the bass to tell you their mood at that time. You should make casts with all of these baits so you don't miss out on something. If you don't make casts with a topwater right off the bat, you have made a huge blunder by perhaps missing out on the best bite of the day. Mix it up as you go along. Don't get stuck fishing a bait for 15 minutes without a strike. What does that prove? Nothing! While beginning with baits of this type, I always have a Texas rigged worm and a weightless soft plastic of some type rigged. I live in south Florida which determines that my choice is a worm. In your area it may be a different bait. The fact is, you want something you can throw to a bass that misses a fast moving bait or topwater, and one that can be pitched to targets and into very heavy cover. Even though I'm still trying to determine what the bass are doing, when I see a target or thick weed clump that is just screaming for a worm, I'm going to pick up my worm rod and give it a few shots. I never pass up this opportunity because this will ultimately lead me to finding out if the bass are tight to cover and what they want at that time. Several quick strikes on a worm in heavy cover tells me instantly to lay down the fast stuff and further explore the heavy cover with that bait. Making a few pitches here and there to the best looking stuff may have just put me onto what I need to be focusing on. If the worm proves to be successful, I'm set, but only for now. I am constanly looking and listening for any sign that the bass have becom more active and can be caught more efficiently on a faster bait. A huge mistake is to not throw a spinnerbait or one of the others a little later just because they didn't want it earlier. At any moment bass can turn on to faster moving baits. Therefore you have to always test these baits again throughout the day. Sometimes there are no clues as to why they turned on this way. A good clue that they may have would be a change in the wind, either blowing harder or changing directions. The instant this happens, you will see me picking up a spinnerbait, topwater, etc. As my technique implies, a good selection of rods is essential in my fishing. I don't want to waste too much time retying. Still, you want to keep it within reason. You don't want 15 rods cluttering the deck of your boat. This is just a sample of my fishing style. There are many things I do during the course of a day. Basically, by changing things up and starting fast then slowing down, I can stay on the best methods throughout the day. You always need to realize that there are several things that are working at the same time.

To fully take advantage of the bass, you need to be doing several things at the same time. Never throw the same bait for long periods without a strike. It simply wastes time.  If you take what you can from my methods and use them on your waters, I have no doubt it will lead to you being more efficient and catching a lot more bass. Good luck, Rob.

How old you say you are?  

Back before depth finders which give you a picture of the bottom we used flashers and a Rat-L-Trap. Many say why not a crank baits? Because one Rat-L-Trap can cover the entire water column.

i like it.

Its a shame that Ranger Bob doesnt know what a paragraph is. Its probably an informative article but I cant read anything so jumbled together like that.

Hit enter once in a while people!