I have spent the last 10 years or so flyfishing for trout and bass. I am interested in getting back into spinning and baitcasting and find the modern selection of crankbaits, jerkbaits and plastics pretty overwhelming.
I know from past experience that Rapala makes a great product but I see great looking lures offered by Cabela's and Bass Pro for significantly less coin. I also know that generally you get what you pay for but are these less expensive baits a viable alternative.
From the other side of that coin there is the very expensive line of baits that cost about 15 dollars from Lucky Craft (and others). Why would a regular bait demand the premium price of a big muskie bait. (I suppose muskie baits are about $30 now!)
Could some of you fellows bring me up to speed on the current state of affairs in the warmwater world of spinning and baitcasting?
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The price of lures are generated by their quality of the paint job as well as the action. I have them from $1 to $25 a piece. Ya I do get more fish sometimes on the higher end ones like Lucky Craft. I tend to go middle of the road at about $5 to $9 so when I lose them, it doesn't break the bank. Just make sure what ever you buy is a proven bait for your area.
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[black][size 3]I'm not a major bass fisherman, but just thought that I'd throw my .02 in.[/size][/black]
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[size 3]Bass fishing is a lot like your fly fishing, baits should either be offered as a replicate of the "hatch" or as an "attractor".[/size]
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[size 3]Many bass fishermen fish mostly plastic baits, and find them very productive. They are relatively cheap, and can be offered in many ways and can be fished anywhere in the water column.[/size]
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[size 3]The other choice is just start investing in hard baits, and find some that you have confidence in, and find to be productive. It's like fly fishing, the flies that you have the most confidence in, seem to be the most productive.[/size]
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[size 3]Bass fishing and fly fishing are more similar than most would think. But, there are waters, where some baits are proven producers, and in such a case, it's wise to learn about the water and seek out the experience of others. [/size]
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Hey Sabre,
That's a nice smallmouth in your avatar, Pretty nice for a fellow who doesn't major in bass fishing.
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[black][size 3]I do enjoy fishing for small mouths, that picture was taken one morning, when I had just landed a 6 lb, 23" SMB, and had left my camera in the truck. I went back, picked up the camera, and that 2-3 lb fish was caught right after I got back to where I had caught the larger one. (Biggest SMB for me, ever)[/size][/black]
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[size 3]I really like the fight the SMB give, but my favorite fishing is with a fly rod from a pontoon boat. I'm anxious to combine the two methods, should be a real treat.[/size]
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That's what I've been doing. Floating down one of the South Western Ontario smallmouth rivers in My Outcast Fish Cat 10 IR pontoon. I discovered that the pontoon boat was idealy suited for drift fishing in rivers. I can manouevre mine nicely effecting a nice controlled drift with my fins. I only use the oars when going through swifts and rapids. Last trip I took along an ultra light spinning outfit and seriously outfished my flyrod partner. When I finally forced myself to put the outfit down and pick up the flyrod I hooked the biggest bass of the day on one of my streamers. As you can probably tell by my handle smallmouth bass are probably my favourite fish. Love to catch them on top with my deerhair creations. a few years ago on my first river float with my kayaking buddy. I seriously outfished him taking a number of nice bass on top with rhe deerhair stuff. My friend actually got blanked using rapalas and other spinning rod lures.
Even though I am starting to take a long a spinning or light baitcasting setup I don't plan on leaving my flyrods behind. (One floater and one rigged with a full sink line.)
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There is an unlimited amount of hardbaits and soft plastics for bass fishing. Where to even start is beyond me. How I started my ridiculous collection was to buy stuff on sale and see if it worked. I learned alot about what to look for and what will make that bass chase it instead of get scared by it. I have a few LC lures but only use them in select waters in fear of losing more of them. Rapala, Bomber, Storm, etc. all make great crankbaits. I have learned to make small adjustments with marking pens to tweak the color and sticky lead to create the right boyancy. Probably a good way to start would be to some cranks that have different diving depths and see what catches fish in your area, try to find colors that match the baitfish. Pick up some Rattletraps, they work everywhere.
Soft plastics, hmmmm, depends on the water. Stickbaits usually have pretty good success in standard colors like pumpkin, green pumpkin, junebug....rig them Texas or wacky.
What size bass are catching up there and what is the forage base like?
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Rattletraps have a decent line of crank baits. Floating, suspending, diving. Most with rattles (of course) and lots of colors.
Owner has a new line of hardbaits too. A little pricey on the open market but very effective. The still only have a limited color selection.
Strike King has some good spinners at a fair price too. You can get them a Wallys World if they have one in your area.
Just remember to use the spinners, buzz baits and crank baits in the very early morning as well as the late afternoon. Everything inbetween is soft plastics on the Carolina, Texas and Whacky rigs.
Some of the Bass are a little slower right now in the cooler months so you will need to sloooooooooooooooow down your presentation.
Fly lining a 4 inch Culprit works really good too. It causes a very slow fall.[cool]
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[black]I'm doing (or trying) to do just the opposite. I'd like to do more fly fishing and less spin casting (If you have any fly tying materials or tools your not needing anymore I'd be more than interested).
Your right about spin casting baits going up in price. I love the small jointed rapalas for bass and trout during the summer. They run around $5.00 and will catch you a ton of fish. I've also caught a lot of fish using simple jigs with [/black][url "http://www.berkley-fishing.com/cat.php?k=50292&sk=44157"][black]Berkley GULP and Power baits[/black][/url][black][size 3][black][size 2]. They work extremely well and won't go bad in your tackle box like a tub of worms.[/size][/black]
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The original chatter bait. Its only like 5 bucks and Ive caught a huge amount of bass and pike! And It aslo acts as a weedless!
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The cheapest/most versatile lure I have ever fished with is a white 1/8-3/8 oz. wordens roostertail. I have caught largemouth, smallmouth, peacock, and white bass, rainbow, brook, lake and brown trout, altantic salmon, gar, ciclids, yellow perch, bluegill, crappie, pickerel, pike and even bluefish with one. $2.79
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