5 Best Bass Fishing Lures and Baits
Posted by Andrew Law (1/22/2023)
There are countless ways to catch a bass but these 5 lures and baits listed here are the most common ways to catch them. They are not ranked in any specific order as they all have a good chance of catching a bass! Bass Fishing is about using the right lure to match your fishing conditions.
Crankbait
Crankbaits are great for covering new water and will hook a variety of curious other species of fish including trout, walleye, pike, panfish, and even catfish due to the nature of treble hooks. Treble hooks can be both a blessing and a curse. Crankbaits can be both lipless or not. "Billed" or "lipped" crankbaits can be designed to fish shallow or deep. For example, square bill crankbaits are great for shallow water and bounce off cover surprisingly well. Deep diving crankbaits have a huge bill and use that to dive down to depths that would otherwise be inaccessible. Lipless crankbaits are sinking and allow the fisherman to use them at various depths by adjusting the amount of time to sink and the retrieve associated with it. The most important thing to note when it comes crankbaits is knowing its manufactured designed diving depth. Ideally, you want your crankbait to swim right above the weed line or lake floor depending on the composition of your fishing spot. If you find yourself catching too many weeds, then you might want to switch over to something more weedless like our next bait, the spinnerbait.
Spinnerbait
These lures are a minnow imitation again with a bigger flasher profile. They are fairly weedless and are easy to fish. These lures are typically fished by reeling in the bait on a straight and steady retrieve.
Spinnerbaits consist of 1 to 2 spinning blades on a bent wire located above the minnow head with a skirt and hook. The spinning blades add both vibration and flash to the baits presentation to help draw in and entice fish from a long ways away. Remember that bass sense movement in the water with their lateral lines which is why vibration is so key at times. Spinnerbaits can most commonly come with a Willow blade, a Colorado blade, or an Indiana blade. Each blade type gives the lure a slightly different profile shape and vibration output while also affecting the speed at which the bait travels.
A Colorado blade for example displaces more water when it rotates resulting in more vibration. They are great for dirty water where bass are more dependent off vibrations to lock into their prey. They are also more preferred when fishing in colder water since they should be retrieved slower to achieve that slow thumping the blade provides.
A Willow blade are better for producing flash via the sun hitting the blade in the water as it spins. These blade with their more narrow and less cupped blade spin quicker and closely mimic the shape of a minnow. Since bass are primarily visual feeders, willow blades are perfect for clear water with good visibility. They are more preferred in the warmer water since they can be retrieved quicker while still achieving the desired blade spinning.
Jig
Jigs are the epitome of a crawfish imitation bait that works well year round. They can catch fish in the dead of winter in 40F degree water and also in 80F degree water. They can be fished in something as shallow as 1 foot to 50 feet. Jigs are a higher preferred option of fishing around steep rocky banks as crawfish naturally are found in those kinds of areas. They can also
Craw Jigs can also be swam across grass lines quickly like a fleeing crawfish with a twitching retrieve.
A jig if heavy enough it can even be used a punching or flipping techniques.
Jigs are usually always paired with some kind of plastic trailer. Most of the time this trailer is a craw trailer but it can also take a creature bait trailer or paddle tail swimbait trailer.
All in all, the jig is a versatile bait and because of that is a great means to catching bass as it can be molded to fit the fishing conditions.
Chatterbait / Swimbait
The Chatterbait is well known branded version of a vibrating bladed swim jig. These are great for covering water while putting off a large amount of vibration with its bladed head. They swim with great lifelike baitfish behavior and are a good choice when the fish are honing in on moving baitfish.
The Chatterbait is pretty decent at avoiding snags on hard structure like timber and rocks due to the blade protecting the hook.
Plastic Worms
Plastic worms have to be on the list for most versatile as they are so commonly used around the word to catch bass and many other types of fish. Lets also not forget that plastic worms are probably the most economically as well since you can get an entire pack of plastic worms for about $5 and that will last a long time. Plastic worms excel at catching bass year round because they can be used in tough winter conditions or in active summer ones as well. They are natural looking & feeling and are a natural food.
Plastic worms can also be rigged in a variety of ways, but the they definitely excel at being weed less which makes it a great bait to fish around various vegetation. Some common rigging methods are the Texas Rig, Drop Shot Rig, Ned Rig, Wacky Rig, Carolina, weightless Texas rig. I would becoming very familiar with the Texas rig and the Drop Shot Rig as these will be come constant staples in your bag of tricks when catching bass. It is common that when the fishing get tough pros and amateurs alike switch to something finesse like a plastic worm.
Conclusion:
There are a multitude of ways to catch bass throughout the year. It all comes down to what are the fishing conditions telling you which bait to use. If 1 of the 5 listed here are not working, switch over to another bait or lure. Learn and master them all to catch bass year round. I have no doubt as you continue to fish you will catch fish on all of these baits and lures. Let me know you favorite lure!
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