Tightlines UV Rago swimbait. NASTY!

I would have to say a jig. Also a buzzbait. This year I'm going to put more time with swimbaits.

I would have to say a jig. Also a buzzbait. This year I'm going to put more time with swimbaits.

I don't think youll regret this.

NGaHB

I can only say that my two biggest bass (6 lb 3 oz, and 7 lbs) were caught on a crankbait.

I use a jig and big trailer if I'm going for those pigs.

my biggest came on a 5" bass pro craw pitching to reeds

This thread is worth revisiting....

Ok got it Glenn. 

 

I am committed to slow rolling a spinnerbait deeper when conditions are right when I want a big bass. Fooled my 9lber and a man who has helped me along learning how to fish spinnerbaits caught the two biggest bass of his life, a 10 and an 11, slow rolling a spinnerbait along grass edges.

 

Enjoying reading past responses to this thread! Thank you!

I've caught 90% of my biggest LM bass on spinnerbaits but my only citation bass on a culprit worm. 

AND believe it or not , probably 90 % of my largest Smallmouth have come via the spinnerbait, few on a creature and Zoom lizard. 

 

 

Traditionally obviously a jig or a big swimbait is a good answer. 

 

However right now I have been having really really good luck with the new Z-man Big Blade chatterbait for targeting big fish. If I need a kicker in the boat, I'll tie that thing on and there's just something about that bigger profile that just seems to draw the bigger bite for me. First time I took it to a pond I was fishing with a normal sized chatterbait and couldn't get a bite then I switched and caught a 3, 4, and a 5 in that order in 10-12 casts. That thing rocks. 

When I first started fishing a lake rumored to have big bass in it, all I could catch were baby bass.  I asked members on this forum, if I should try big swimbaits, and wake baits to help catch the big ones.  Most members said location was the key not the lure.

        They were right.  The next time out, I quit fishing the shoreline, and fished some standing trees if deep water with the same lures I had been fishing.  First cast I caught a 26 inch monster on a Rebel Jumpin minnow.  An hour later I caught the bass in my avatar on a spinnerbait. I lost two more the same size on square bills.  All the same lures I had fished the previous trips catching only baby bass.  I have since landed double digit bass in this lake on buzz baits, crankbaits, and Senko's.  The most big bass have come on spinnerbaits, but that is because they are the easiest bait to fish for the suspended bass in the large branches of the standing trees.

        Buzz baits and Senko's have worked well, when the bass on in the shallows, buzz baits because I can cover water, and Senko's when I think a bass is in one particular spot.

         The one exception to my rule of the best lure is the one that is the most practical in a certain location, is when casting crankbaits in standing timber.  A crankbait is not a good lure to fish in timber because they will snag, but big bass do love to smash them when they deflect off of the branches, and for whatever reason don't want a spinnerbait deflected off of those same branches.  I guess I would say they are the right tool for the job, if you don't mind loosing tools.  Before I give up on a tree, I always throw a crankbait and see what happens.  If I snag it doesn't matter because I was going to leave anyway.

        On my lake location is the number one factor, wind is the number two factor for picking a bait for big bass. Strong wind it's spinnerbaits ,light wind means top water and crankbaits, and no wind means soft plastics.  Wind many times would be considered the number one factor, because the typical strong afternoon wind dictates the location, which in turn determines my preferred lure.

When I fished tourneys, I'd target kicker fish with a buzzbait. There were times when I'd end up culling the majority of fish in the live well.  Now, when I target big fish, big worms worked painstakingly slow and slow rolling a spinnerbait around transition areas are my most consistent producers.

My favorite is my 9" SS Bull Shad but it's a certain conditions type bait and I fish it like a 5.5 oz spinnerbait. But it has also caught an amazing amount of 1.5 lbers. A spinnerbait(#1) and buzzbait(#2) have produced the bulk of my largest bass. A larger T - rigged worm and jig/trailer should always be included in big fish talk.

drop shot and a ned rig ?

Frog

I've found that a bladed jig consistently catches bigger bass for me. Close second is a wake bait such as a 1-Minus or Azuma Wake-Z.

Seems the stouter members of the local brown bass population do have an affinity 

for jerkbaits & vibrating jigs as these baits have accounted for a few brutes for me.

However my PB choked a big spinnerbait and my second biggest smallie slurped a ned rig.

So I'm all over the place ! 

Help me . . . . . . 

A-Jay

 

I’m shocked nobody else said a suspending jerkbait, for me they are THE bigger fish bait October through March. When I have a jerkbait tied on I know in my head that if it passes over a large feeding bass there is a great chance that she eats it.

Good news is I already have most of the lures mentioned in this thread, so I don't feel compelled to buy more!

 

I've got a slew of spinnerbaits, but they've never produced. I've had some luck with chatterbaits, but no monsters.

 

Are spinners effective from the shore?

When its working , a Bomber Long A Minnow is magic on big bass . Immediate Post spawn is when I like to throw it . Start at a spawning cove then work your way out to the mouth then to a main lake point. Hit everything .

It’s hard for me to name one lure for bigger bass. I’ve caught bass over 5 lbs on a squarebill,frog,t-rig,jig,flatside crankbait and a buzzbait. The biggest percentage of them where caught on a lipless crankbait.

My pb lm came on a Rapala super shad rap in perch. After fishing for 5 or so hours with only one dink, tied that dude on and went to flinging. I should throw that sometimes this year...

1/2 oz. jig with the largest Berkley Pit Boss trailer.

I can't narrow it down to one bait...over the years I've caught random giants on all kinds of stuff...frog, lipless, chatterbaits,buzzbaits, Texas rigs. Heck I caught my PB on a 2" crappie grub! Hands down my top 2 are a jig and a spinnerbait. Last year was a down year for me size wise..in. 2020 I caught 3 6s and a 7....last year I only got one over 5. Got her November 6th on a Ned rig TRD.

Senko, Fat Ika and Rage Bug.

 

https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/lake-guntersville-2012.html