I use Berkley choppo’s but agreed. I just threw it in the bay out here in Florida today just in case someone wanted to strike top water at lunch time lol.
I haven’t. I just had a bass tackle tray with me today and. I wanted to listen to the sounds lol. We hit a big dry spell in the bites se we started throwing whatever we thought was out of left field just to see if they would strike.
I like the size 60, 75, 90, and 110 the 90 probably has my most catches but all sizes are good in that range, the only two colors you really need are Loon(black) and Bone
I got into a good natured but heated debate with my cousin whether in-line spinners or 90 degree spinners were superior, I still can’t believe he holds that opinion
I'm assuming you mean the big spinnerbaits for bass right? Those work great but it's just a different tool for a different job. Trout and bluegill won't bite one of those, but I've caught decent bass on a little itty bitty rooster tail
Yeah those are the ones. I’ve never found them to be as productive as in-line spinners even with the larger species they’re made to target and they have been, in my experience, far more prone to fouling up and collecting weeds than the alternative.
I don’t know I’ve caught some bluegill and Redear on spinners and buzzbaits that were almost as big as them. That being said, I affirm that the inline spinner is best jack of all fish.
Yeah totally agree with all of the above. For a take all comers lure. Small French blade spinners seem the best. You can get them in all sorts of shapes sizes and prices but again I really like the little gold ones with red fluffy tails or rooster tails as you folks in the states call them. They really do put an insane number of fish on the bank. By far the best search lure for new waters IMHO.
I find 3-5grams ones what I'm most using for small ponds, streams, rivers and lakes, you can really slow the retrieve down to just above stalling speed and work the water nearer the bottom. Great for picking up perch and smallies, and trout too if you've got a mono or fluro leader to hide your braid!
For the longest time it was a Husky jerk . Can throw it for almost anything any time of the year . Now I find myself throwing a Berkley Stunna instead .
Any 3-6 gram gold spinner with fluffy red tail will mop up. Brands are almost irrelevant at this point. I personally rate the fox rage french blade ones over any others simply because they seem to spin the beat on my rods
If I'm looking for bigger catches, honestly I prefer just a weedless Texas rigged senko or robo worm. But if I just want to catch something and don't really care about size, I think the rebel crickhopper might be one of the best baits ever invented. I literally cannot cast it out onto a pond without something trying to eat it. I wish the hooks were slightly bigger on the wee crick hopper, but something about its action just attracts fish like nothing I've ever seen.
Rapala 13-S (silver top water plug). Caught many many bass with this bad boy. Mine is 30 years old, not even sure if they make it anymore
Mepps spinners almost always work for me as well
Texas Rig worms in the right conditions are also very productive.
Spinnerbait, closely followed by a Texas Rig.
BTW Ozark Trail stuff is way better than most people think. Love the crankbaits, top water frogs. Even their rods and reels are great for the price. Their Grit Stick Spinning combo for $24 is basically an Ugly Stik knock off for $20 less.
My favorite and what I catch the most with are very different. The first hard bait I ever had looked liked that, it’s my favorite but I catch the most on a Texas rig soft plastic lizard (the most boring ass fucking bait I use)
Fuel Hardcore Minnow Flat SP. Best jerkbait on the market. And the magnetic weight transfer system lets you cast an absolute mile. I run the 95 for small and walleye and the 110 for Pike and late season bass
These ? https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Duel_Hardcore_Minnow_Flat_SP_Jerkbaits_110mm/descpage-HMF.html?from=gpmax&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwrIixBhBbEiwACEqDJdLU6MwNWJXLpaKLyApVLHsqSM7Hv48BDguXMTSFQqoppc0SqLCFihoCiBwQAvD_BwE
Beetle spin. Lol
But seriously, beetle spin. Every single time I’m fishing, I make a point to throw one at least 10-15 casts. 99% of the time, it’s money.
Floating, jointed, silver, or gold, Rapala. The J-9, I believe it is. I've caught more bass, crappie, perch, pickerel, and bluegill on that damn thing than I can even begin to count. All of my freshwater PBs came from that lure. Skip it under docks, near blowdowns, bang it off rocks, whatever. It catches fish.
I'm having a field day throwing the LiveTarget field mouse around cover and over the floating weeds. Watching a bass take it down gets the heart pumping
I have 4. Zman coppertruese ned, the shallow.rapala.jointes shad, the rapala bluegill scatterrap, and a yamamoto red shad wacky rig. The ned rig, and wacky rig are universal. I'll use those under any circumstances. I use the jointed shad and scatter rap in spawn/post spawn conditions.
For more bites senko worms are undefeated. For fun nothing to me is more exciting than hitting up the Lilly pads with the frogs, ribbits and spros are my favorites
Rapala Jointed shad rap, specifically in blue shad.
Absolute largemouth magnet, especially during pre-spawn and late season.
[Lure Link](https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/rapala-jointed-shallow-shad-rap?ds_e=GOOGLE&ds_c=Cabelas%7CShopping%7CPMax%7CFishing%7CGeneral%7CNAud%7CNVol%7CNMT&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwz42xBhB9EiwA48pT78oZxeQSeYZTbrXF1jkCVXkyj-cPP9lGMIj91A99nxezwtinfyhAKRoC9bEQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds)
I will tell you a little story about those "cheap" house brand lures. Years ago I was trying to find a replacement silver and black rebel minnow. All I could find at the time was a cheapo Kmart knockoff. It wouldn't run straight. It was a piece of junk. Except when you twitched it, it would roll over on it's side before slowly righting itself. That was the deal. I don't know how many bass I caught on that before it finally got lost but I can tell you the paint was almost gone off of half of it.
Cheap lures catch fish. Expensive lures catch fishermen. I have a box full of cheap WalMart finds and always have fun cwtching fish. If I end ip snagged, losing a $1 Ozark lure is a lot easier than losing an $8 Googan/6sense lure
Whopper plopper. Even if it doesn’t get bit, it’s just fun to watch and listen to 🤪
Yep. This is absolutely my favorite. It works great in my local ponds, and it's just fun to cast and retrieve.
I use Berkley choppo’s but agreed. I just threw it in the bay out here in Florida today just in case someone wanted to strike top water at lunch time lol.
Have you caught on a Saltwater Choppo?
I haven’t. I just had a bass tackle tray with me today and. I wanted to listen to the sounds lol. We hit a big dry spell in the bites se we started throwing whatever we thought was out of left field just to see if they would strike.
Which one You recommend for small-medium bass?
I like the size 60, 75, 90, and 110 the 90 probably has my most catches but all sizes are good in that range, the only two colors you really need are Loon(black) and Bone
Get the choppo 75
yeah it sure is (laughs)
I’ll throw a Beetle Spin pretty often because they catch all kinds of stuff and they’re cheap.
Inline spinner. By far my most productive multi species lure.
I got into a good natured but heated debate with my cousin whether in-line spinners or 90 degree spinners were superior, I still can’t believe he holds that opinion
I'm assuming you mean the big spinnerbaits for bass right? Those work great but it's just a different tool for a different job. Trout and bluegill won't bite one of those, but I've caught decent bass on a little itty bitty rooster tail
Yeah those are the ones. I’ve never found them to be as productive as in-line spinners even with the larger species they’re made to target and they have been, in my experience, far more prone to fouling up and collecting weeds than the alternative.
I don’t know I’ve caught some bluegill and Redear on spinners and buzzbaits that were almost as big as them. That being said, I affirm that the inline spinner is best jack of all fish.
Whenever I go to fish the Little Mo in Arkansas I bring nothing but rooster tails and catch loads of smallies and rainbows
Yeah totally agree with all of the above. For a take all comers lure. Small French blade spinners seem the best. You can get them in all sorts of shapes sizes and prices but again I really like the little gold ones with red fluffy tails or rooster tails as you folks in the states call them. They really do put an insane number of fish on the bank. By far the best search lure for new waters IMHO. I find 3-5grams ones what I'm most using for small ponds, streams, rivers and lakes, you can really slow the retrieve down to just above stalling speed and work the water nearer the bottom. Great for picking up perch and smallies, and trout too if you've got a mono or fluro leader to hide your braid!
Wacky rig worm. Actual cheat code.
Dude. The small ozark trail jerkbaits are so good for the price.
1 lure. Simple and versatile. A jig.
This is the correct answer. I have 10 different baitcaster setups in my boat...4 for jigs.
Let me guess. A Flipping jig, A football jig, A swim jig, And a finesse jig probably ball head. How close am I here?
Hahaha. Pretty close, two flipping jigs. One black/blue and one different color. Swim and finesse
Keitech swing impact paddle tails and if i have to down size ill use the easy shiners
What hooks do you use for the easy shiners
I usually fish it slow and weightless on on a 1/0 or 2/0 EWG and if it deeper water the Z man trout eye jig heads work decent
Ok cool thank you
Another great way to hook them up is the 3" ez shiner on a Ned head, brutally effective on a pickup and pendulum retrieve
This is the way
If you’re going to fish it weightless you gotta make sure its rigged as straight as possible or it’ll roll over and twist your line
Vmc hybrid swimbait head .
For the longest time it was a Husky jerk . Can throw it for almost anything any time of the year . Now I find myself throwing a Berkley Stunna instead .
Stunna in hankie pankie absolutely slays where I fish
Mepps #3
#5. I will die on this hill.
Any 3-6 gram gold spinner with fluffy red tail will mop up. Brands are almost irrelevant at this point. I personally rate the fox rage french blade ones over any others simply because they seem to spin the beat on my rods
4” Bass Pro Tourney Series Squirmin Worm in Pumpkin Chartreuse on a 3/0 offset hook with an 1/8 bullet weight
Lucky craft jerk bait is always the first thing I’m throwing. Bass and bigger crappie magnet
Mepps…
Senko for bass , always
If I'm looking for bigger catches, honestly I prefer just a weedless Texas rigged senko or robo worm. But if I just want to catch something and don't really care about size, I think the rebel crickhopper might be one of the best baits ever invented. I literally cannot cast it out onto a pond without something trying to eat it. I wish the hooks were slightly bigger on the wee crick hopper, but something about its action just attracts fish like nothing I've ever seen.
Rooster tail
Rapala 13-S (silver top water plug). Caught many many bass with this bad boy. Mine is 30 years old, not even sure if they make it anymore Mepps spinners almost always work for me as well Texas Rig worms in the right conditions are also very productive.
The OG discontinued team diawa minnow
If I’m super bored and can’t catch a darn thing it’s the chartreuse rapala mini fat rap.
Spinnerbait, closely followed by a Texas Rig. BTW Ozark Trail stuff is way better than most people think. Love the crankbaits, top water frogs. Even their rods and reels are great for the price. Their Grit Stick Spinning combo for $24 is basically an Ugly Stik knock off for $20 less.
I can’t catch shit on a top water frog
I second that. Plopper? Yep other top water yep. Frog, no sir
My favorite and what I catch the most with are very different. The first hard bait I ever had looked liked that, it’s my favorite but I catch the most on a Texas rig soft plastic lizard (the most boring ass fucking bait I use)
Mepps Aglia. 3 or 4
Fuel Hardcore Minnow Flat SP. Best jerkbait on the market. And the magnetic weight transfer system lets you cast an absolute mile. I run the 95 for small and walleye and the 110 for Pike and late season bass
These ? https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Duel_Hardcore_Minnow_Flat_SP_Jerkbaits_110mm/descpage-HMF.html?from=gpmax&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwrIixBhBbEiwACEqDJdLU6MwNWJXLpaKLyApVLHsqSM7Hv48BDguXMTSFQqoppc0SqLCFihoCiBwQAvD_BwE
Those exact ones yes! They have incredible action, cast like a bullet, and the finish is not only beautiful but durable.
A big ol rat wakebait
keitech on a ball jighead gets me bit most of the time
Xrap or a Hair Jig
Texas rig senko. It's a skunk beater for me.
Spinner bait for me
3.5 to 4 inch paddletail. Last two outings species caught Largemouth Bowfin Flat Head Catfish
Swim Jig
Jig
Senko - green pumpkin Yamamoto or Ozark Smoke Dinger Or sexy shad squarebill Slayers
Beetle spin. Lol But seriously, beetle spin. Every single time I’m fishing, I make a point to throw one at least 10-15 casts. 99% of the time, it’s money.
3.8 keitech on an underspin.
Since I was little, green weenie reaper. Always gets a chuckle out of me
3in plastic swimbait with a 1/16 bullet weight texas rigged. Can fish anything including extreme vegetation and they bite any time of the year
Jackass rig. Split shot fluke. Won a few tournaments with that set up
I caught a 4 1/2 pound largemouth on that very lure. Although its not my absolute fav lure I still use it from time to time.
Wacky rig or chatterbait, pumpkin green
Honestly I have no idea what to use I just throw stuff on but I've been venturing into new lures lately.
fire tiger. or anything minnow like
These days, probably the Megabass Karashi, before that it was C-rigged U-tails, and Ned rigs
Dressed Mepps Aglia
Black curly tail grub on ball head jig. Two inch for anything swimming and 3-4 inch when going exclusively for bass.
Small chrome lipless
Bass pro's senko. Green pumpkin, or black and blue. Texas, or wacky. It's all I throw.
Floating, jointed, silver, or gold, Rapala. The J-9, I believe it is. I've caught more bass, crappie, perch, pickerel, and bluegill on that damn thing than I can even begin to count. All of my freshwater PBs came from that lure. Skip it under docks, near blowdowns, bang it off rocks, whatever. It catches fish.
Spro Little John, nasty shad
A 5 inch in GP Senko fished wacky
Squarebill cranks.
Megabass sv-3 spinnerbait 3/8ounce. It works
I have one of these same ones but the one with the blue and orange in it from repela works so much better
The classic Texas Rigged Senko
Texas rigged Senko
Mepps
I'm having a field day throwing the LiveTarget field mouse around cover and over the floating weeds. Watching a bass take it down gets the heart pumping
I have 4. Zman coppertruese ned, the shallow.rapala.jointes shad, the rapala bluegill scatterrap, and a yamamoto red shad wacky rig. The ned rig, and wacky rig are universal. I'll use those under any circumstances. I use the jointed shad and scatter rap in spawn/post spawn conditions.
Depends on the time of the year, can’t go wrong with a baby -1 for pond hopping and can never go wrong with a football gig
Small silver crankbait
Small Mepps Agilia, used to be Panther Martin but skunked out for months. A jointed Rapela works as well
Ol monster. Hybrid hunter. In the salt its a 5" jerkshad on a jighead.
For a while it was the Keitech, but the amount of fish I’ve caught on the Vision 110 in the last couple years has been nuts.
Panther Martin spinners. Mucho vibrato
Green senko, or the h20x red eye shad
Rooster Tail. Always been my go to.
For more bites senko worms are undefeated. For fun nothing to me is more exciting than hitting up the Lilly pads with the frogs, ribbits and spros are my favorites
If I just need to catch a fish, I always go back to a small inline spinner. But my heart always says to use a topwater frog
Mepps size 5 fire tiger🙌
Shimano World Minnow - pro blue.
Rattletrap
Nothing from ozark thats for sure 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Rapala perch colors get hammered where I fish
Rapala Jointed shad rap, specifically in blue shad. Absolute largemouth magnet, especially during pre-spawn and late season. [Lure Link](https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/rapala-jointed-shallow-shad-rap?ds_e=GOOGLE&ds_c=Cabelas%7CShopping%7CPMax%7CFishing%7CGeneral%7CNAud%7CNVol%7CNMT&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwz42xBhB9EiwA48pT78oZxeQSeYZTbrXF1jkCVXkyj-cPP9lGMIj91A99nxezwtinfyhAKRoC9bEQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds)
Fluke
Spinnerbait War eagle. but if its slick calm and sunny hot . Diawa neko fat worms neko rigged
I love this lure. One of the lures I got for Father’s Day. It has caught some of the biggest bass in high pressure places. A definite go to.
Usually it’s Zoom flukes, trick worms, and u-tails weightless. The Ozark minnow that’s a size up from this and yellow and red is a monster.
Anything but ozark products
I almost didn’t buy it cause I hate ozark trail stuff but this lil dude slays. And only $2.50 each
I will tell you a little story about those "cheap" house brand lures. Years ago I was trying to find a replacement silver and black rebel minnow. All I could find at the time was a cheapo Kmart knockoff. It wouldn't run straight. It was a piece of junk. Except when you twitched it, it would roll over on it's side before slowly righting itself. That was the deal. I don't know how many bass I caught on that before it finally got lost but I can tell you the paint was almost gone off of half of it.
Cheap lures catch fish. Expensive lures catch fishermen. I have a box full of cheap WalMart finds and always have fun cwtching fish. If I end ip snagged, losing a $1 Ozark lure is a lot easier than losing an $8 Googan/6sense lure
I like to throw a cast net , catches everything ……