Top 5 Must-Have Baits for May Bass Fishing!

Hey guys, Bryan Schmitt here with BassResource.com. I'm gonna talk to you today about my five core May baits for the month of May. These are my five core baits. This is gonna cut down on a lot of guesswork for you guys. These are five baits that you can pick up and no matter what you come across in the month of May, you're gonna catch some fish. So let's just start off really, really quickly with just a flipping, a light flipping setup here guys. This is a 3/8 ounce weight. This is a Missile Baits D bomb. Not a heavy weight. I usually run this with 17 to 20 pound fluorocarbon. This is a medium-heavy 7'3" rod. Okay, what I'm doing with this bait is if I come across some lily pads, if I come across some shallow vegetation, some logs laying there, any kind of targets that I really want to slow down, pick apart, this D bomb is just a bite getter for me. It's something that I feel like those isolated targets, visual targets, I can flip this in here and generate a lot of strikes. It's a weedless approach and, you know, instead of a flipping jig, I opt for this because of the weedless approach. I believe it gets you a lot of same bites that a flipping jig would get you, but it's more weedless. So 100%, a light flipping setup, a 3/8, you know, I'm going to say a quarter to a half ounce tungsten weight depending on what you want to do, will get you covered with this approach.

Next on the line up, guys, this is a wacky worm. This is a Missile Baits 48, okay? Anytime you're in May, I don't care where you're at from California to Texas to New York to Florida, a wacky worm is going to catch a lot of fish for you. This is something you throw at everything, guys. You skip it around shallow vegetation, you skip it up underneath boat docks, you come across a bed fish, this bait catches them everywhere you go. And a little cool thing I do with this particular bait, I have it on a Hayabusa special wacky hook, but I actually put a Reins Nail Sinker in the middle of this bait. I insert it in the middle because the 48, both ends of the 48 are the same. It actually gets thin in the middle. So what the weight does in the middle of this bait, it lets both ends of the worm flutter as it sinks. Instead of like a traditional wacky worm where one end is a little different size than the other, it falls kind of sideways down. These both ends are fluttering on the way down. I really, really like it, guys. But, yeah, so, the approach with this is very simple. Once again, visual targets. In May, I'm very visual. I want to come across isolated logs, some lily pads again, you know, a grass clump, a shallow edge of grass, you know, any kind of scenario like that. Even throw it up on a little rocky bank. And, listen, you know, if you've got some shallow or brushpiles too, you know, with the weedless hook, this is just a deadly weapon, guys. So, that's something you need to check out.

Next on the lineup is a swim jig. Okay? This is a Hayabusa swim jig. It's a Signature Series bait that I designed. It's my swim jig. And this is something now we've talked about too slow presentations. This is a faster presentation. This is a presentation that I could cover a lot of water with, but it is still not very obtrusive. It's a finesse approach, but you're still covering water. This is a very light wire hook, light weed guard. I'm going to fish this around very sparse, sparse shallow cover. You know, shallow grass, just burning down certain banks. I got many colors for different scenarios, but this color here is called Nasty. This is a bluegill, very natural color. You know? To really match bluegills, brim, etc. This is the color I'll probably go to more often than not in the month of May with the Missile Baits Shockwave trailer in shrapnel color. Very realistic, but once again, this is going to cover more water. So this could be a search bait too, you know? I'm going over these baits, but I'm not going in order. To be honest with you, you know, am I going to cover some water first, maybe find some fish, then slow down? That could be an option, but this is a definite tool for the month of May. You'll catch a lot of fish, cover a lot of water.

Next up, we're going to talk about vibrating jig. So, there are times in the month of May, depending on where you're at, the vibrating jig can be a little too much. They can be more related to the spawn, they want a little more subtle action, and the vibrating jig might take a back seat to the swim jig. But depending on where you're at, it could still be pre-spawn or well into the post-spawn, and they're back on the vibrating jig. There's no other better tool than a vibrating jig to cover water, shallow water, you know, shallow vegetation, you know, that kind of scenario, and get a lot of bites. And there's been a lot of big fish caught on a vibrating jig. This is a green pumpkin one, and I have a Missile Baits D bomb and green pumpkin on the back of it. I have it in a horizontal position. What this does, it actually keeps this bait a little shallower than if I rigged it vertical. I got it on a little bit heavier fluorocarbon. This is just something to keep a little bit shallower, draw a lot of bites in May, cover a lot of water if they're not really liking the swim jig as much.

Next, next on the list, this is something that you need to really keep in your boat in the month of May is a frog. I don't care what frog you want, a frog has to be in your boat in the month of May. You'll find that you will come across scenarios that early post-spawn fish, they're still hanging around shallow, will absolutely go crazy for a frog, as well as places that provide spawners that you can't see. Okay? What I mean by that is, you know, some shallow water habitat that the water is just not clear enough, but they're spawning, this is a tool that they will also show themselves to you. You know, you're working this over the shallow cover and you're getting explosive blowups and so forth and a few are going to really eat it really good, but it's going to show you where they're at. But once they get into the post-spawn guys, they really eat this. I keep this in my boat almost year round now as I travel, but in the month of May it really, really shines for me, you know, as a frog. So that's my five key baits for the month of May. Check them out.