Your Most Effective Lures For Bass?

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dennishoddy

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@dennishoddy I totally agree with you. I will say though there are some things that have better action that others. For instance I think a Yamamotto senko will out-fish any brand of senko knock off. You may only get one fish per bait but they have that salt/plastic ratio perfect.

I think back to when Major League fishing started. They were fishing Falcon I believe. They were killing fish on jerk baits. They cut to KVD and he had a Megabass vision tied on. You could clearly tell was what it was. Even though around that time he had introduced the Strike King Jerk bait. I always wondered why certain baits are better than other brands. For instance I have tried lots of rattle trap knock offs from off brand to Japanese ones that cost 4-5x the cost. I still caught more fish on the rattle trap.

I have seen pros and the stuff on their deck is usually all beat to heck with no paint because they know that one of 20 of the exact same bait has that just a bit erratic movement to it. Anyway I am getting into the weeds.

One thing I thought of when reading the opps posts is talk about fishing the bank. One of the best things you can do is learn to leave the bank and find the channel, structure and other in water things that hold fish. Its hard to do but once you learn to fish open water everything changes.
Absolutely structure fishing is key. The bank can be king at times but structure is where numbers of fish will be caught consistently summer or winter keeping the thermocline and baitfish in mind.
I've done a little scuba diving in some of the clear lakes around Arkansas. It's amazing how the fish hold just above the thermocline where there is oxygen. Below that, they will suffer if they stay too long. That being said, banks can be killer in the mornings when they have cooled off overnight.
Edit: I talked to some of the ODW biologist once while they were electro shocking to get fish numbers. Asked them about where on the lake was the best place to fish. They said there was no real hotspot, but to always fish the windy side of the lake as the wave action moves the bait fish into the shallow water and puts more O2 into the water.
 

Glock 40

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Absolutely structure fishing is key. The bank can be king at times but structure is where numbers of fish will be caught consistently summer or winter keeping the thermocline and baitfish in mind.
I've done a little scuba diving in some of the clear lakes around Arkansas. It's amazing how the fish hold just above the thermocline where there is oxygen. Below that, they will suffer if they stay too long. That being said, banks can be killer in the mornings when they have cooled off overnight.
Edit: I talked to some of the ODW biologist once while they were electro shocking to get fish numbers. Asked them about where on the lake was the best place to fish. They said there was no real hotspot, but to always fish the windy side of the lake as the wave action moves the bait fish into the shallow water and puts more O2 into the water.
Yup my old fishing buddy passed last year at 80 he was a retired school teacher and had fished 300 days a year for probably 40 years. He taught me to fish in some terrible conditions. I learned to love some nasty wind. 2 things one most fair weather fishermen wanted no part of it. 2 the wind blown banks could be lights out when the bait was blown in on it. Its amazing how the wind blowing hard into a bank can change the lake level by inches on the windblown side.
 

dennishoddy

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Yup my old fishing buddy passed last year at 80 he was a retired school teacher and had fished 300 days a year for probably 40 years. He taught me to fish in some terrible conditions. I learned to love some nasty wind. 2 things one most fair weather fishermen wanted no part of it. 2 the wind blown banks could be lights out when the bait was blown in on it. Its amazing how the wind blowing hard into a bank can change the lake level by inches on the windblown side.
When Fishing the coves south of the highway 18 on Sooner Lake South winds would blow the water to the north for about 30 minutes, then the weight of the water would force it to come back through the culverts under the road back into the coves. When that happened, the bite was on! Baitfish and plankton came through those culverts in the current.
 

Shadowrider

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Walking the dog with a zara spook at the Sooner Power Plant discharge when the big stripers and hybrids made a run up the discharge was some of the most exciting action I've ever had on freshwater. They typically flare their gills and strike the bait thinking it's a shad to stun it, then turn around and take the wounded fish. They would knock the bait out of the water, then we could just jiggle the spook to make it look wounded with the striper/hybrids. Fished my lunch hour almost every day in the discharge of the PP on the employee side.
I've had bass knock them 3' in the air. It'll get your heart rate up when the action is on, that's for sure, especially if it's pretty calm.

Edit: I talked to some of the ODW biologist once while they were electro shocking to get fish numbers. Asked them about where on the lake was the best place to fish. They said there was no real hotspot, but to always fish the windy side of the lake as the wave action moves the bait fish into the shallow water and puts more O2 into the water.

I learned to love some nasty wind. 2 things one most fair weather fishermen wanted no part of it. 2 the wind blown banks could be lights out when the bait was blown in on it. Its amazing how the wind blowing hard into a bank can change the lake level by inches on the windblown side.

The best haul I ever had was while in my 2 man boat on Lake Liberty in Guthrie. The wind and waves was blasting the south bank where a little point stuck out, it had some reeds growing along it. It was difficult to stay in the water much less positioned right and the trolling motor batteries got hammered that day. I would have sworn the fish had their tails in the mud bank, mouth pointed into the waves and were just letting the baitfish be washed into their open mouths. It sure seemed like it anyway! Once we found them we were hauling them in about every other cast or so. It was almost like a surfacing school of sandies on Texoma.
 

audiophile

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This year for me has been the year of the topwater. I have landed roughly 60 bass this year from various waters and prob half of those on topwater. Mostly Whopper Ploppers and a couple on frogs.
Next in line would be a Ned rig. Various colors. Of my 5 biggest fish this year, two were on a Ned reg and light Tackle.
Finally, the good old jig. Both black/blue and craw colors with matching trailers. The other three, including the two biggest, have come on jigs.

My son landed a 6.4# on a PBJ jig early this year at Draper.

If you haven't already, get the Fishbrain app. Lots of locals on there. Good info and some really nice catches.

Tight lines!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 

TwoForFlinching

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Z-man jackhammer

My pops has the best luck with those jackhammers. I've been tossing one from time to time for the last two years, not a single bite.

Baits really depend on the lake and time of year for me. I love tossing a frog and wacky worms in spring and early summer. When the heat comes on, the biguns move deep offshore around structure. Always believed the thermocline myth, but I catch em below that line all summer. My amassed collection of 20 year old blue/chrome original storm wiggle warts slay em consistently at depth. I'm not looking forward to the day I have to admit they're too waterlogged to use again. I pitch a coffee tube year round into heavy cover, it's hit or miss some days, but it's relaxing. This time of year, they've been choking down green pumkin texas rigged craws as fast I can rebait em. Craws should be good through December. Green pumpkin in stained waters, black in the murkiest of murky.
 

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