Mark O'Donnell Posted December 8, 2006 Report Share Posted December 8, 2006 Hi ISA Guys, Let's say you could only have 12 lures and use 3 per season. What are your "go to" baits for each? How are you working them? Rivers only! Mark O'Donnell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonn Graham Posted December 8, 2006 Report Share Posted December 8, 2006 winter: float n fly suspending jerkbait tube spring: tube four inch grub Popper summer: tube Gunfish 95 slider worm fluke fall: hula grub Gunfish 95 jerkbait ooops thats 13 baits. Of course, I listed tube more than once. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Clifford Posted December 9, 2006 Report Share Posted December 9, 2006 Let's see....... Spring: 3.5"- 5"- 8" (Natural Brown) Summer: Same as above- but ..... Albino White Topwater version. Fall: 3.5"- 5"- 8" (Natural Brown) Winter: Very small plastics, waxies, and jigging Rapalas. (The Rodent is taking a nap) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Don R Posted December 9, 2006 Report Share Posted December 9, 2006 I had a good feeling Mr. Rodent was going to pay us a visit there Spring (2" green helggie, crawbug, 3" grub) Summer (crawbug, 4" senko, top water popper) Fall (3" grub, top water popper, spinner bait) Winter (fathead minnow, tube, 3" grub) Tough to narrow it down to three per season. Things I want to try in 2007 : ....on second thought, I think that will be another thread Don R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Clifford Posted December 9, 2006 Report Share Posted December 9, 2006 My newest toys are 3 of Bettencourt Baits' finest..... The 3.5" Living Shad ($29.95 EACH) The "Real Fish" line ($39.95 EACH) 5" Bluegill- 7" Trout.... The new Crawdad series is in the mail I'm told. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Clifford Posted December 9, 2006 Report Share Posted December 9, 2006 Got me there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim J Posted December 9, 2006 Report Share Posted December 9, 2006 Come on you guys, this is supposed to be serious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Clifford Posted December 9, 2006 Report Share Posted December 9, 2006 OK- "in all seriousness" (for Jim). Mine look much better. I have a special comb for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Clifford Posted December 9, 2006 Report Share Posted December 9, 2006 I gotta tell ya.... I've always got a few bags of different sized tubes with me, but after reading some of the stuff in this forum over the past year, I might be using them later in the season. Same goes for the catch rates I was witnessing at an outing on a cold and blustery day- on white spinnerbaits. I'll need to go back and look at what I was doing when I was actually fishing an entire year to see what was working. The tactics posted above are interesting, to say the least. Jonn uses some stuff I've never even heard of...LOL Gunfish 115? Eric- one of mine IS named Ben. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve S. Posted December 9, 2006 Report Share Posted December 9, 2006 I fished these (3) lures pretty much all season: Rapala Skitterprop topwater Booyah white tandem spinnerbait 3/8 oz YUM green pumpkin crawbug I would guess I used the topwater over 50% of the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark K Posted December 10, 2006 Report Share Posted December 10, 2006 Come on you guys, this is supposed to be serious. I think I just peed my pants laughing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Ferguson Posted December 10, 2006 Report Share Posted December 10, 2006 12 lures? 11 of mine are some version of a 4" Senko or sinking plastic, and the other is a walk-the-dog type of topwater (could also be a popper). Color or brand of bait is whatever I grab when I stick my hand in my tackle bag. I never saw anyone as fixated on rodents as Mike C. Get some help man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Clifford Posted December 10, 2006 Report Share Posted December 10, 2006 I was waiting for Scott to chime in with his Senko. Talk about fixated! HAHA Actually, I had a pretty slow year on the Rodent. Garlic Chomper spider grubs and creature baits are about all I used, with Rebel Craws running a close second. I might make a goal to get confidence back with topwaters- but it will probably go as the last few years have gone. Nothing on the first outing of the year, and back in the bottom of the bag they get crammed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark K Posted December 11, 2006 Report Share Posted December 11, 2006 I might make a goal to get confidence back with topwaters- but it will probably go as the last few years have gone. Nothing on the first outing of the year, and back in the bottom of the bag they get crammed. Mike- Pick a day on the Kank. Summer, with good clarity of at least 2 feet. Bring a buzzbait or almost any topwater...and that is it. I have fished entire days with nothing but a buzzer or a popper. Why would you want to fish anything else when they are hitting on top? I found a topwater, particullarly a buzzbait to be as good of a searchbait as anything. Regarding the original question. I don't think I can answer it. Lure choice would be dependent on conditions. I fish mainly in summer and mainly in the Kank. In summer with good clarity 2 or 3 feet or more and good wading conditions, I would fish a topwater, probably a buzzbait maybe a popper. The buzzbait will pull fish out their little haunts. So I would try to cover a lot of water and fan cast. The great part of a buzzbait is it will free you from peeling dinks off a bunch of ultra sharp trebbles. The sub 12 inch fish seem to get weeded out. The best buzzbait for this is an 1/8 th ouncer. A beefy 7 foot rod with some kind of super line will give you distance on a cast and have the cajones to set the hook a mile away and turn a hawg in current. Long casts are critical and if you can't make them I would say you are seriously handicapped. If you hook a biggun' with too light of tackle it will take too long to land in high water temps. I might also give a Fluke a whirl too- unweighted, texposed. In dirty water < 2 feet of clarity and wadeable. I would use a spinnerbait with white blades. Quarter cast in current and let it "hang" in the current as Eric has often described. It's a killer technique. In '03 I had very little free time. So I would run out to the kank for 2 or 3 hours. Almost every outing I got one over 16" using nothing but a spinnerbait. Eric fishes smaller water and typically target casts (masterfully, I might add. I don't think he realizes how good he is at it), while I used it more as a search bait idiot fishing. It was usually in water that has a lot of underwater structure and was below some heavily oxygenated water. Rattle baits work too and so did something called a "Zip lure" , but they are no longer made. The spinnnerbait would be choice #1 without a doubt. I used to fish a lot of plastic, but kind of lost interest. Dink magnets in the Kank and overall too slow for me, except in winter. In which time I would most likely fish a tube or an ika. Black and blue if I had it. Okay so there is 3 or 4. In '06 I left the conventional stuff at home in an effort to learn to fly cast. Succesfull baits were Clousers and Rabbit strip flies. I don't consider myself knowledgable enough to offer furthur advice though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Smith Posted December 11, 2006 Report Share Posted December 11, 2006 After this year's dink-fest, I don't know if I should post this, but here's what I would have used in the past compared to what I'll be using next year... This year... 3" silver shallow-diving rapala #2 and #3 mepps, matched to water conditions Texas rigged crayfish plastics Jerk baits Next year... White spinnerbait White spinnerbait White spinnerbait Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rich mc Posted December 11, 2006 Report Share Posted December 11, 2006 mark, the zip lures made a big come back. they have lots of them at kolar tackle on army trail rd in carol stream. these are the metal blade baits right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skjordan Posted December 11, 2006 Report Share Posted December 11, 2006 Next year... White spinnerbait White spinnerbait White spinnerbait Hummmm...........might want to throw in a tube with those white spinnerbaits, maybe a black neon... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve S. Posted December 11, 2006 Report Share Posted December 11, 2006 I might make a goal to get confidence back with topwaters- but it will probably go as the last few years have gone. Nothing on the first outing of the year, and back in the bottom of the bag they get crammed. Mike If you are locating bass, then you should be able to catch them on topwaters. The reason I like the prop bait over the popper (and I like the popper) is for the same reason Mark K. likes the buzzbait - its a great search lure. You can cover a lot more water with a prop bait. I try to look for active bass as a first choice, and this usually means covering a lot of water. Topwaters will get them in all the classic spots that your other lures will. When I fish the first push downstream of a dam I fish on the WI River, there are times when my first dozen casts may not get touched, and then they kill it. If you know the bass are there, keep casting. Don't give up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick D. Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 Lets see if I can narrow this down? WINTER Float-n-fly/hair jig Suspending Pin Minnow Bitsy Tube SPRING Tube/Senkos Rattling Crankbait Safety-pin Spinner with Jig-n-Grub SUMMER Hula Grub on Venom Super-Do Jig #7 Skitterpop Diving Crankbait FALL Buzzbaits Hula Grubs with Super-Do Jigs Stickbaits Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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