Advice for the new guys: tackle and lure brands

[mallard]

First of all, welcome to the hobby of bass fishing!

Surely, by now you've realized that there are a lot of brands out there for each product! And you've wondered, which ones should I buy?

Well, you have two options:

1. Empty your wallet to buy every kind of brand out there and experiment

2. Keep reading my post and get some tips

I base my recommendations on the following:

1. Effectiveness (after it all, it has to work!)
2. Hardiness (it should last a long time)
3. Value (it shouldn't be overpriced)
4. Simplicity (no worthless accessories)

So the next time you go to your favorite sporting goods store, and you're looking for a certain type of lure, pay special attention to these lures which I find good for beginning bass fisherman!

Plastic Worms:

1. Zoom- This is a very well-known brand, and it confirms to all 4 of my principles. For bass specifically, I recommend the "u-tale" worms. Cast these near some cover and let them fall, then slowly bring them up.

2. Riverside- This is also a very decent brand for plastic worms. These also hold up great in thick lilypads and such.

Plastic Lizards:

1. Zoom- Once again! Very similar to the Zoom worms, these things are durable and catch fish at a reasonable price!

Soft-plastic jerkbaits:

1. Slug-go - Lunker City made the soft-jerkbait first, and they made it best. These are very simple to use, just rig them weedless like a worm, and then twitch them in the water to imitate a wounded baitfish.
They can be fished at a quicker pace (let them sink a little, then twitch often) or slower (let them sink a longer time, then twitch once). I like how they sink quicker than a Senko (which is also less durable and more expensive!)

Let me also say, I regularly catch 5+ bass per slug-go. Durability!

Spoons:

1. Dardevle- Simple, simple, simple! It works like a spoon is supposed to work: you cast it out, reel it in, and fish strike at it. If the bite is a little slower, you can let it sink more and then reel it in.

2. Cabela's Lunker Spoon- Cabela's isn't known for being cheap, but this spoon is a good value. For $3, you get a quality spoon that lasts a long time, has a sharp hook, is rather weedless, and gets strikes from big bass!

Spinnerbaits:

1. Strike King- From here on down, focus on American-MADE products. Not foreign made and manufactured here... but actually MADE in America!

Strike King offers several types of spinnerbaits for different kinds of waters. To find out which works where, read some of the articles about spinnerbaits in the articles section of this site.

Also, while some fancy brands like Terminator tend to snap, I've never had a Strike King snap on me.

Buzzbaits:

1. Strike-King- Hey, buzzbaits are just about the same thing.

Crankbaits:

1. Cotton Cordell- These things apply to all 4 of my principles. They hold up, have nice hooks, and trigger strikes! I especially like their rattle lure (it has no lip on the front, but just sinks on its own and makes a rattle when moving.)

2. Rebel- Rebel may not be American, but they actually make good stuff. I especially prefer their topwater crankbaits.

3. Rapala- If you're willing to pay some extra money, these things trigger a lot of strikes for me. Even after the cheap paint job fades off, they keep getting strikes from their action.


TACKLE TIME:

Hooks:

1. Eagle Claw- Sharp, durable, hold soft plastics in place well, and a good price. Also, they are pretty rust resistant.

Line:

1. Trilene- Monofilament that works to catch fish. Casts well, tangle resistant, very snap resistant, and has great feel! Also comes in many varieties depending on the water you fish. For example, I usually fish heavy cover, so I buy the XT (extra tough) one.

Tip: If you're new, don't bother with any of the braid line. Monofilament will catch you fish just fine if you ask me.

Rods:

1. Shakespeare- Very simple and durable rods at a great price. Why pay an extra hundred dollars for some fancy shiny rod made of some pricier substance, when this will do just fine?

Ugly-Stik is very popular made by Shakespeare, especially for bass.

Reels: (TIP: If you're new, get spinning reels only. They are easy to operate.)

1. Shakespeare- Good value.

2. The older Shimanos- I don't like the new Shimanos at all. They remind me of an over-priced Subaru. However, if anyone offers you some old, used reels, take some Shimanos if you can. They are incredibly durable.



I know that I didn't cover everything, but hopefully I covered enough, and hopefully someone found it useful. Good fishing!

[FishinMommy]

Okay Let me go through my list.

Rods and reels

Bass pro or Pluger are good plus if you break any rods from Bass pro or reels they will usually replace them cause they have a great warrenty.

Plastics.

I like Zoom but everyone uses them so I like to use different brands. I like strike kings right now.

Cranks

Strike kings

Spinner baits

Cheap walmarts or Stanleys from BPS

Buzzbaits

I use to use the ones from walmart that were a buck and they work really good.

Hooks

Gamakatsus or Mustads
I usually buy Mustads in the 100 packs.

Line

I tend to like Big Game by trilene but I am going to try Power Pro and see what its like because everyone says its good.

[jeffman]

Â* Â* Well folks, you heard it from the expert, coming to you direct from the winners stage of the FLW tour. He would have talked longer, but he had to get to the bank to cash that mega-bucks check and order his new Triton boat, then catch a plane for personal appearances.

[OKie]

Plastic worms:

Waveworm Tiki Sticks: Great bait for a great value

Senkos and Kinami flask: Awsome baits but not to durable. They will catch you about 2 fish each. They are the same thing and they come from the same molds.

Reels:

Mitchell Avocet S200: $19.99 at walmart! Great reel!

[randerson52]

okay my turn,

Rods/Reels- you want one that lasts a long time, so buy quality, I would suggest any top nmaes like Fenwick, All Star, GLoomis, St. Croix, all are good, but i prefer the fenwick brand. Also if your budget is less than 50 dollars, I would reccomend Berkley Lightning Rods, or the Rapala Rods. 1 or 2 piece, it is your preference. I would also say to get a medium or medium heavy in a 6ft to 7ft length.
Â* Â* Reels- For less than 30 bucks, you can get the Mitchell Avocet s200 or Â*a Mitchell 300 x or so from walmart. very dependable and glassy like reels. This is a spinning set-up, easier for a newbie to use.

LINE- The big subject here. I reccomend mono, just because of the cheap costs. I like Spiderline XXX or Spiderline EZ mono. I have no complaints about Trilene XL, Stren Magnaflex, Stren Original, or Cajun Red.
------Note------ If you know that you are fishing heavy heavy heavy cover, I would suggest buying power pro.

Lures- Hardbaits(cranks and topwater)

Strike King makes some decent cranks. But nothing great

Rapala is my choice, As Lone said, they trigger the most strikes. Also like thier poppers

Arbogast, is a time tested lure. Make the best topwaters available.

For Spinnerbaits, I would go strike king or booyah.

Inline spinners- I would reccomend mepps or rooster tails, time tested fish catching lures.

Plastics- Strike King 3x, ribbontails and zeros. in the darker colors(watermelon red/flake, red shad, pumpkinseed, all these.)

Kinami flash in the 4 inch style are my go to baits. I like the junebug or red balck, just got a pack of baby bass today though.

Tiki stiks, by waveworms, I like the black blue flake and baby bass pearl swirl. BF02 swears by the dipsticks!

Hooks- I like mustads and eagle claw. I love the red color, i definitley belive i get more strikes, i was fishing alongside this guy who was using a steel color, didnt catch anything, i was using a red offset with my kinami and caught 3(right NJBassdevil) ;D.

Tackle Storage- I would reccomend buying a back pack, and utility boxes to store everything.

Hope this helps a little

[OKie]

Yea Yea PB showed me up that day! ;D :-[

[hershey]

PB basically nailed it, but good soft plasics to use are zoom for most of your basic plastics(worms,lizards,etc) . Someone should sticky this.

[jglassguy]

Ya know the brands to get
it takes time to learn how to use them and produce

[zman]

Jackl - haha you nailed em good that time!

This is a good idea in principle, I didn't go through all the posts but I will say that Lone - for soft jerkbaits you are in the minority - slug-os are popular, but zoom flukes are the standard bearer at least. They should be mentioned for the newbies out there. Also any of the senko imitations make fine soft jerkbaits in their own right.

[randerson52]

[quote author=JB link=board=MessBoards;num=1119715554;start=0#7 date=06/25/05 at 18:11:46]Ya know the brands to get
it takes time to learn how to use them and produce[/quote]

yeah, I would list some basic techniques, but on others I would need help, any one in for it?

[mike0062466]

Lots of good posts in this thread. However, let's not forget that brands and colors are personal preferences, not necessarily the most effective. In every category of fishing equipment, be it rods, reels, line, lures, hooks, etc., there are numerous brands that do the job very well.

[mallard]

Agreed, I'm just trying to post the ones I find to be beginner friendly.

Or,

You can just buy all the cute looking lures

Sandra