My Favorite 5

[TRUMAN BASSER]

When I’m out fun fishing I like to throw a lot of different baits and have fun experimenting and trying to get better at all the techniques but when it comes to tournament time I seem to count on just a handful of baits. You should choose your baits based on conditions but depending on the season I seem to have all or a couple of my favorite 5 baits on deck.

One of my favorite baits to throw in a tournament is the sweet beaver. It seems to catch them everywhere I go. There are a lot of different ones out on the market right now and they all seem to produce. I usually fish the Reaction Innovations or the Yum brand. I typically use the 4 and a half inch size and I texas rig it with a 1/4 oz weight with a 4/0 hook. It also works good on a carolina rig although I don’t fish it as much as I should that way. It’s a great bait for flipping and pitching. It comes through wood really good and it also comes through grass really well. The bait is compact enough that you can really be proficient when your trying to flip to small wholes in a grass bed. I think the key to the bait is all in how it falls and that pinching action you get with the claws. The bait has a totally different fall than what you can get with a worm, tube, or a crawl. Some of my favorite colors to throw are white, black and blue and green pumpkin. If I decide to use green pumpkin I usually dip the tails in Spike-It. Usually I’ll flip it with a 7 foot medium heavy AiRRUS Rod.


The Sweet Beaver

Another great tournament bait for me has been a Pig Sticker Bait Company 3/8 oz double willow spinnerbait. Unless the water is really cold I will usually always have a spinnerbait tied on because of its versatility. The key with a Pig Sticker spinnerbait is that it has a much thinner wire than most spinnerbaits on the market. A lot of baits out there are made to catch the fisherman. You’ll see plenty of jazzed up spinnerbaits out there with all the bells and whistles but I catch way more fish on these spinnerbaits because they look natural in the water and produce a tremendous amount of vibration. Even when using double willows it will put out a lot of vibration and you can really feel it thump. With the double willows the bait really flashes. I usually keep it simple and throw white or white and chart. I caught a ton of fish throughout the year by burning it up to some cover and just killing it and watching the blades flash. An AiRRUS 7 foot Medium Heavy Ultra XL rod throws this bait really well.

Pig Sticker Bait Company Spinnerbait

When the water starts to warm I really like to throw a 10 inch worm. Most of the fish I get to eat it are usually nice. I’ve got a lot of confidence in Powerbait but when I get down to Kentucky Lake I really like to throw a Lucky Strike paddle tail worm. One of the newer 10 inch worms out there that I like is the Netbait C-mac. Usually I’ll fish a 10 inch worm on a 1/4 oz weight , a 5/0 hook with 12lb test. I like to use 12lb test because it gives it more of natural swimming motion. I’ve got a couple of friends that throw it on 20lb test line but they do a lot of fishing down at the Lake of the Ozarks where around the docks it can be a necessity. I will throw it on the same rod that I throw a sweet beaver on.

I really like to throw a crankbait and one of my favorite ones is the series 5 crankbait from Strike King. I’ll usually throw it on 12lb test line and sometimes 10lb test if it needs to get a little deeper. As far as colors go I like the sexy shad, chart with blue back, and bone white for most of my fishing. The crank really comes through rock, rip rap, and brushpiles. I hardly ever get one of these cranks hung up even though I’m usually throwing it in and around cover. I like to use a 7 foot AiRRUS Copperhead Cranking Stick for my cranking.

Finally I almost always have some type of a jig tied on and it is usually a Thunderstruck Football Jig in a 3/8 oz to the 1/2 oz size. The jig has all the components you look for in a quality jig. It has got a very sharp hook that is really strong and really comes through the cover well.Also the skirt patterns really catch a lot of fish. I like to throw this football jig in a PBnJ or a Missouri Crawl. For trailers I will usually use a Zoom baby brush hog or a Net Bait paca crawl and try to match it to the skirt. Usually I’ll use an AiRRUS 7 foot medium heavy rod with 14lb test line for my jig fishing.
Thunderstruck Football jig in Missouri Crawl.

What are your favorite baits?

[abu4600]

1) 1/4 oz. homemade or war eagle spinnerbait
2) 3/16 to 5/16 booyah jig
3) T-rig brushhog
4) Zoom fluke
5) buzzbait or horny toad
6) shakey head worm

[WTL]

1. Pink Heliocopter Lure
2. Senko
3. Custom Spinnerbait
4. AC Shiner 375
5. Zoom Superfluke

It changes every year though. I had never done much on cranks then last year I did well with Strike King Series 3s and Bandits. One year I consistently had success with jigs. Another I through texas rigged producto worms. One year I fished dry flies all summer and landed several nice smallies. The only constant through the years has been the genius of Roland Martin's lure design, which blows even live bait away by a 3 to 1 margin. Thankyou Roland Martin!

[CMorg]

Truman I have never had good luck pulling a football head jig threw cover ... Maybe thats why they are not made for application ? ( No offence C-Rig ). Do you sell AiRRUS rods by any chance ?

But heres mine.
Flippin Jig ( Conquistador Tackle , for now...hurry up C-Rig )
Bandit 100 Series Crank ( Black )
Spinnerbait ( cant wait to try my S.O.B. spinnerbaits )
Ima Roumba
Split shot rig with a finesse worm

[TRUMAN BASSER]

I am sponsored by AiRRUS and love their rods.
I can pull a football jig through some pretty nasty stuff....usually I'm working it more vertically than horizontally. That might be your problem. If you position your boat out on deeper points or ledges and make short flips where your working key areas of the drop you don't get hung up that much. Its all in the presentation.

[Jigger]

Truman,
You pretty much named my top 5. Different brands but the same baits. The 3/8 oz. jig is my #1 choice though.

[CMorg]

Nice , I like AiRRUS rods alot myself. I thought your article sounded a bit commercialized , now I know why , with sponcers and all....

[Joel]

My favorite baits vary by season. Since summer is by far the longest single season, here's my top 5.

1-3/8 oz Spinnerbait. Color varies to water clarity
2-4 1/2 inch Zoom Finesse worm on a Drop Shot rig
3-Deep diving crankbaits that I work along the bottom of Weed lines
4-Tex-Rigged Creature baits for pitching just about every where
5-Super Flukes over the tops of weeds. Being replaced this year with Rag Tail Shad.

[The Doc]

1) Lucky Craft RC Crankbait
2) 5" Senko in pumpkin w/ red and black flake
3) 1/2 oz spinnerbait in shad or firetiger pattern
4) Strike King shadalicious swimbait in green gizzard
5) Reaction Innovations double wide sweet beaver in Big Texan or Californian #420

[bamabassman]

ok, i have been thinking on dis one. probably gonna change this coming year, but i will state LAST years fav 5.
rooster tail
zoom lizards
rattle traps
spinner baits
buzzbaits/ topwater plugs
like i said, this is gonna change due to the bait monkey making meget some NEW things to use this coming year. so this list wil for sure change.

[BassBandit]

Not in random order.

1. 1/2 WarEagle spinnerbait
2. Yamamoto Creature
3. Lucky Craft Sammy
4. Norman DD22 & Fat Free Shad
5. Zoom finesse w/ shaky head

[wv basser]

1. spot remover 3/16 with a yamamoto kut tail
2. drop shot 3/16 with a berkley gulp minnow 3"
3. 14 oz jig with zoom swimming chunk
4. silver buddy

[MIbasser]

1. Strike King 3/8 oz tandem spinnerbait (white, chartreuse, chart & white)
2. Yamamoto Senko, wacky (watermellon red)
3. BPS Z-Pop (Phantom)
4. Rat-L-Trap (chrome/blue bleeding)
5. DT-6 brown craw

[flfireman]

spinner bait
ratl trap
10" worm
spinner bait
creature bait

[cassidyta]

1) Hollow body frog (mostly Spro)
2) 12" plastic worm
3) Sara Spook
4) T-rigged creatures (mostly brush hogs)
5) Any swim bait