Jerkbaits/ swimbaits/stickbait for bass- the winner is?

[markkstanley]

Ok it is well known I do not target largemouth. But that doesn't mean I don't know how to catch the green carp. With all the new baits that have come out I decided to put some to the test. Senko swimbaits, YUM swimbaits, Exude Comidas, YUM dingers and and an old standby Zoom super flukes as well as some buzzbaits and spinnerbaits. Joel Nelson and I headed to lake X which is known for an overabundance of largemouth and proceeded to to cast away. Buzzbaits and spinnerbaits did not catch a single bass but the others did. Winner by far was the stickbaits (Dingers and Comidas) followed by the two swimbaits. We caught bass shallow and deep with the stickbaits. Joel even tried Carolina rigging with a stickbait and found it to be effective for deep bass. Color of the stickbaits didn't matter. Big bluegills also took a liking to the 4" YUM dingers. They would grab the back end and hold on almost to the boat. We set up some panfish rods and used the stickbait to locate the deep holding gills an then would cast the panfish sized jigs into the school. I came away very impressed with the effectiveness a of stickbaits. I wonder if those Pool 4 eyes would hit a Senko ? I might even try rigging a YUM dinger instead of a crawler for Mille Lacs eyes. For those few times a year I do go bass fishing you can bet I'll have some stickbaits ready to go.

[bassphish2005]

Lake X,sounds like my kind of place?

[PerchJerker]

I'm gonna start calling you Mr. Bass

[jholland]

I'm just going to hop in here and agree with Mark. We've done a good deal of bass fishing on Minnetonka this year, and a lot of people have been following my suit. Started the year trying new things, hit a Comida and never looked back. Been using them pretty strictly almost all season.

The friends that I go out with are more of a "This looks shiny! I'll use it!" type of crowd, and the bass turnout was VERY one sided earlier this season. Once they started to switch to some plastics that I bought to try out (Comidas, Senkos, Dingers, and actually twister tails) they also started to hammer the bass.

I'm officially a believer, but so far only for bass. Bucketmouths seem to LOVE some of these plastics, especially over a silly old lure.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Wish I could have been there to watch you cast for bass my brother!!! Congrats on the fun day on Lake X...

[magic_minnow]

All great baits. But i swear by spinnerbaits. Terminator to be exact. Not the new ones they produce now, but the classic ones. Chartreuse is killer!

[Ray Esboldt]

Every bait has it's place and time, for sure.

Jholland, I too use more Comidas a year than any other plastic. Maybe more than all other plastics combined. It's close at least. I really like that stickbait.

[Loos15]

All great baits. But i swear by spinnerbaits. Terminator to be exact. Not the new ones they produce now, but the classic ones. Chartreuse is killer!

I second that. I've only caught more bass on black powerworm Texas rigged

[federline]

Mark,

Congrats on showing it is OK to be multi-species. Walleyes and Bass are my top two.

And I agree with your results. I've been fishing stickbaits as my go-to bait for LM for 4 or 5 years now. My faves: Comidas and Senkos. The magic is all in the floppy but springy action, and these two are floppy without losing springiness. I also like to use Powerbait and Gulp shakey worms here, too, but not their other ones, the shakey worms just have the right action. I rig them wacky, weedless wacky, and t-rig.

For tougher conditions, I'll go to a carolina rig with a Gulp Floating Worm, or start drop shotting with Gulp or Powerbait shakey worms.

I stick with dark colors almost exclusively - black with blue flake, black with yellow swirl, dark purple with green flake, dark blue with silver flake, dark green with red flake... anything with subdued flake in a translucent or transparent dark color.

One of the coolest tips I found for someone trying to be multi-species walleye/bass on a budget: the live bait rigging rod with lindy or roach weights that you use for walleyes can make an excellent carolina rig, too, just set it up so you can quick change the leader and terminal tackle out.

BUT - My two Rapala DT-FLAT 03 sure-set shad crankbaits in chart/purple and green/bleeder are my best search lure for LM, hands down. These things are deadly.