Bass fishing is an exciting way to spend time on the water, no matter if you are fishing for bass in a boat or from shore; fishing for bass provides a fisherman with a rewarding experience of figuring out what the bass are doing and how to catch them. This is followed by the excitement and rush of battling that bass as they try to get away from you as you reel them in. It doesn’t matter if you are a recreational fisherman or a diehard tournament bass angler, here are ten bass fishing lures that you should have in your tackle box for this fishing season.
Over my years of fishing for bass, and competing in bass tournaments, I have gone through and identified these ten best bass fishing lures that will work across the country and can work on any lake or river you are going bass fishing on.
Best Topwater Frog: Northland Fishing Tackle Reed-Runner Frog
Best Crankbait: Northland Fishing Tackle Elite Sunny B
Best Jig: Buckeye Lures G-Man Ballin’ Out Jig
Best ChatterBait: Tungsten ChatterBait Elite EVO
Best Lipless Crankbait: Bill Lewis Hammer Trap
Best Senko: Senko Worm from FishUSA
Best Spinnerbait: War Eagle Tandem Willow
Best Spook: Heddon Super Spook
Best Swim Jig: All-Terrain Tackle Finesse Swim Jig
Best Texas-Rig: Yamamoto Flappin’ Hog
Best Topwater Frog: Northland Fishing Tackle Reed-Runner Frog
The ChatterBait is a vibrating jig that, since the early 2000s has become a staple for bass fishermen across the country, as they can rig one-up and fish it all season long. Anglers will primarily fish a ChatterBait in shallow water around all forms of cover, including vegetation, wood, rock and boat docks. This is what this lure was designed to do, a 3/8 oz JackHammer or the new Tungsten ChatterBait Elite EVO are great choices and feature high quality components.
The options you can choose from for a soft plastic trailer as your trailer on the ChatterBait are almost endless, but the important thing to remember is that you do not want action from your plastic trailer to overpower, or counter act the already powerful action of the blade on a vibrating jig. Regardless of the time of the year, or what the bass are feeding on the Yamamoto Zako is great ChatterBait trailer as it has subtle action, but provides just enough extra fish catching action to the bait.
Best Crankbait: Northland Fishing Tackle Elite Sunny B
The crankbait allows the bass fisherman to target bass in shallow and deep water. Crankbaits also allow the angler to mimic various forms of what bass are eating, from a bluegill, crawdad, or shad. Anytime you are fishing with a crankbait, you want to use a crankbait that will dive down in the water enough to come in contact with the cover, but NOT get hung up in it. Some prime-time situations to fish a crankbait include in shallow water around laydowns, along or overtop weedlines, and then offshore over points or rock piles. Each style of crankbait has its own unique action in the water and may or may not have rattles in it. The general rule of thumb is that in colder water, you’ll want to use a crankbait that has a more subtle, tight side-to-side action, with no rattle in it. Once the water warms up, you can use a crankbait with more aggressive action to it, along with rattles in the bait. To hit all sections of the water column, here is a selection of crankbaits that could be used and what section of the water column they will be hitting:
Northland Fishing Tackle Elite Shallow Sunny B (shallow water), Elite Sunny B (mid-depth, finesse balsa crankbait, good when the bite gets tough), and the Elite Pro Sunny B Deep (deep water, summertime fishing).
Best Jig: Buckeye Lures G-Man Ballin’ Out Jig
There is likely not another lure that a bass eats, that is more versatile than a jig. Any time of the year, any lake or river, around any form of fish-holding cover, a rubber-skirted jig can be fished in a variety of ways to catch a bass. You can flip or pitch a jig around stumps, laydowns, boat docks, or vegetation, as a jig allows the angler to put the bait tight to the cover that the bass have positioned themselves to. By changing the size of your jig and varying what trailer you use, you can change the size profile of the water and its rate of fall based on what the bass wants. You can also cast a jig and drag it around offshore structure such as rock piles, brush piles, or offshore flats that a bass may be roaming on. If you had to pick one size jig to have, I would suggest a ½ ounce as you can fish it in shallow water or deep water, and it is heavy enough to slide through heavy cover. Two styles of jigs that I like include the Untamed Tackle Ace Jig or the Buckeye Lures G-Man Ballin’ Out Jig. Both are versatile jig choices for a bass angler to use on any body of water.
Best Lipless Crankbait: Bill Lewis Hammer Trap
A lipless crankbait is an ideal lure for any bass fisherman to use, as they can be cast very far, so if you are fishing from shore, you can reach offshore fish holding locations, or if you are fishing from a boat, you can make long casts across a flat that the bass may be roaming on. Many times, when fishing a lipless crankbait, you’ll be fishing it over grass that is starting to emerge; it is important to remember that you want to make sure the bait meets that grass and then rip it out if it gets hung; this will usually trigger a reactionary strike out of a lethargic bass. When you are talking about lipless crankbaits, it’s hard not to mention the Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap, which still is a proven bass fishing lure across the country. What I will say, though, is that bass get accustomed to lures and the sounds and profile they present in the water, which is why you can switch up your lipless crankbait to one that is louder or has a different action in the water like the Hammer Trap. This bait has three distinct noise frequencies in the water, and when the bait is stopped, it will fall into a fluttering motion.
Best Senko: Senko Worm from FishUSA
The soft plastic stickbait, AKA Senko, is an extremely effective piece of soft plastic to put in front of bass and just have it sit there. You can rig a Senko in several ways: wacky, Neko, or Texas style. The last Texas rig works well when fishing around vegetation or when you want to keep your bait from getting hung up on the cover you are fishing. The other two rigging methods, wacky or Neko, are very similar, where I will use a number 2 Lazer TroKar Pro V Finesse hook and put that hook through the center of the bait. This will allow the Senko to sink to the bottom, with each end of the bait pulsating ever so slightly with the twitch of your rod tip. The difference with a Neko rig, is that I’ll insert a small tungsten nail weight into one of the ends of the bait, now this effective bait can get down to the depths where offshore bass live. These baits can be fished around any form of cover and the slower you fish em, the more bites you’ll get!
The big thing for me with this technique, and being able to fish it shallow, deep, and around heavy cover is by using a braided line as my main line (20 lb Seaguar Smackdown High Viz Green), tied to a Fluorocarbon leader (Seaguar Gold Label 10 lb). With this set up, I can make extremely long casts, feel a light bite, and if my bait is in the weeds, or up shallow under a dock, I can battle a big bass out and get it to the boat.
Best Spinnerbait: War Eagle Tandem Willow
Long ago, the spinnerbait was a lure that was a staple for any bass fisherman, you know what it still works today! The ability for any fisherman to cast out, and reel in a spinnerbait makes it a great choice for beginning anglers. What makes spinnerbaits still so effective is the ability to alter your retrieve based on the depth of water you are fishing and the activity level of the bass. For instance, in the spring, you can real the bait in very slow (called slow rolling) a single Colorado blade spinnerbait, and that will put off a lot of vibration and get a bass’ attention, even when the water is cold. When the water gets warmer and the bass feed on baitfish during the summer or fall, it is more common to use a spinnerbait that has a double willowleaf blade set up, or a tandem willowleaf, Colorado blade arrangement, as these spinnerbait blade configurations emit more flash. A gold all-around spinnerbait regardless of the time of the year is a 3/8 ounce, white, tandem willow bait, like this one from War Eagle.
Best Spook: Heddon Super Spook
As the fishing season progresses along, and the water temperatures begin to creep close to and then get above that 60-degree mark, bass are actively feeding, and I’ll always have a topwater rigged up and ready to go, and the Heddon Super Spook is a great choice. The soft side-to-side cadence of the Spook is attractive to a bass, both when they are chasing bait and want something splashing over their head, while also still being able to get their attention when they do not want to chase a fishing lure very far. Topwater baits work well up around and adjacent to shallow water covers like emergent vegetation and laydowns, along with working the lure over offshore structures like weddings and underwear points.
Best Swim Jig: All-Terrain Tackle Finesse Swim Jig
Swimming a jig, is both a technique and a specific jig. Yes, you can swim any rubber skirted jig, but by using a jig that has been developed as a swim jig, you’ll see better success as the jig will come through vegetation easier than the previously mentioned. Retrieving a swim jig can be altered based on what the bass are feeding on, and how active they are. There are three basic retrieves that I employ when throwing a swim jig, including a steady retrieve, a reel and twitch and finally a slow roll. What also makes the swim jig so adaptable to the conditions at hand is you can put a plethora of soft plastics on as the trailer, such as paddletail swimbaits, a craw, or a very simple curly tail grub. I really enjoy the All-Terrain Tackle Finesse Swim Jig, since it has a softer weed guard, and head design that comes through gunky weeds with ease.
Best Texas-Rig: Yamamoto Flappin’ Hog
From flipping or pitching shallow water cover to casting and dragging a bait along an offshore weed line, a Texas-rigged soft plastic bait is a very versatile and effective way to fish for bass that is in and adjacent to vegetation and brush. Fishing a Texas-rig allows an angler to slow down and catch sluggish bass and it is a staple technique any time of the year. My go to Texas-rig set up is a 7/16 oz Tungsten Weight above a 5/0 Lazer TroKar TK133 Pro V Flipping hook, tied to 17 lb Seaguar Inviz X Fluorocarbon line; with this rig I can fish it in both shallow and deep water, and it allows me to rig a variety of soft plastic bait styles. Some of the more popular soft plastic baits to rig on a Texas-rig include, creature baits like the Yamamoto Flappin’ Hog, or Big Bite Baits Craw Tube, or a worm, like the Straight 6 Mag Worm.
Best Topwater Frog: Northland Fishing Tackle Reed-Runner Frog
Anytime there is vegetation in the water, it is likely that at some point during the fishing season it will become dense enough where you won’t be able to get a fishing lure through it. This is when the topwater frog is a great lure choice as you can work the bait on the surface that now has a canopy of vegetation that the bass will hide under. Some areas that I’ll use this technique are over and around lily pads or matted hydrilla, eel grass, or milfoil. It is important to look for key vegetation features to find key vegetation stretches to fish a topwater frog. My favorite topwater frog of choice is the Northland Fishing Tackle Reed-Runner Frog, and it is important to note, that when you are fishing a topwater frog, that you’ll want to use of a braided line that has no stretch and will cut through the vegetation, such as 65 lb Seaguar Smackdown.
FAQ’s
What is a good technique for early season bass fishing?
Utilizing a rattle-style lure, such as the original Bill Lewis Hammer-Trap, is highly effective in early spring. These lures can be cast far, cover large areas, and are versatile across various water columns. They are particularly useful for fishing through grass, over rocks, and other covers where pre-spawn female bass may be located.
What lure is suitable for fishing through heavy cover?
A square-billed crankbait is perfect for navigating heavy cover like grass, brush, stumps, rocks, and dock poles. Its design helps it deflect off objects, minimizing snagging and attracting reaction strikes from bass hiding in these areas.
Which bait closely mimics crawfish?
A football-style jig, often called an “old-school jig,” beautifully mimics a crawfish. When you pair it with a soft plastic trailer, it elevates both realism and movement, making it an outstanding choice for catching bass that are feeding on crawfish.
How can I cover large areas of water efficiently when searching for active bass?
Using a ChatterBait is an effective way to cover large areas of water. Depending on the color scheme, it can imitate shad, bluegill, or crawfish, which are primary food sources for bass during this season. Its design enables it to navigate through grass and other types of cover easily, triggering reaction strikes from bass. Anglers will primarily fish a ChatterBait in shallow water around all forms of cover, including vegetation, wood, rock and boat docks. This is what this lure was designed to do, a 3/8 oz JackHammer or the new Tungsten ChatterBait Elite EVO are great choices and feature high quality components.
These tactics have been proven effective for bass fishing. Adjusting your approach based on water temperature, cover, and available forage can enhance your success during this season.
Now is a great time to start looking at your tackle box to see if you have these ten bass fishing lures in it. If not, head to your local tackle shop or favorite online fishing tackle retailer to fill that tackle box for this upcoming fishing season.
