the one that surprised me was the Johnson Beetle spin 1/32
I was way back in a backwater and found a area with a spring that was holding a bunch of blue gills and some smaller bass.

I had run out of worms catching gills and I was digging through my box for something I could use to keep going on gills

I saw this tiny little Johnsons beetle spin it was red and yellow like candy corn and about that size

I caught several more gills and 2 small bass on it.

I also tried Berkley Choppo , it has a tail that smacks the surface of the water as it is retrieved it was a lure my son had left in the boat so I tied that on and started fanning casts over some shallow flats full of weeds about a foot below the surface.
pulled some northern and large mouth out with that.


what did you find or re-find last year

Berkley Nessie swim bait.

Orange and black wooly bugger on a fly rod. Kills the bluegill, and I had a 3-pound bass hit it. Of course, then it snapped my tippet.

Dollie Lama for trout and dollies in streams and lakes. For saltwater salmon it’s whatever works on that day, be it a certain color hoochie, flasher, plug, or herring.

My hand made jigs. In custom color I designed that NO ONE has but me.

Nothing worked well for me last year

Floating Rapala G11

If I had to use only one lure for the rest of my life, it would be the Johnson Beetle Spin.

Little Nippet, double rig 18” apart. If there are fish there, this rig will catch them

normally I am all about live bait on a chartreuse Jig , so last spring when I stepped on a charter and 8 rods all had chartreuse jig heads and we were putting mud minnows on them I had to laugh

for years my tackle box was a little Plano box of different size jig heads.

my son gave me a hard time about that so when I stepped on that charter I texted him , look and pic with 8 rods all rigged with chartreuse jig heads

the last 2 years I have branched out and done more artificial

with wacky rigs , small Rapalas , Jitter bugs , some of the frogs to through over Lilly pads and surface vegetation

I've been wanting to try one of those Zman chatter spinners but I'm too cheap. Just read the other day that the new texas record crappie was caught on one so maybe worth the money I guess. With my luck I'd lose it on the first cast.

Same as every year: jig and minnow early, jig and leech later

Kietech is the latest over here.

like these?

https://www.farmandfleet.com/products/546311-z-man-white-chatter-bait-fish-lure.html

when you start tying 5-15 dollars on the end of the line you start making very sure of those knots

12" fresh dead eel rigged on a 3/4 oz. 7/0 bucktail head for nighttime jetty stripers.

Tried this lure for stream trout last year and clobbered them, even caught some nice small mouth with them.

It suspends, I wish they made a countdown version

6th Sense rigged Panaroma 2.0, absolute beast on big bream, warmouth, crappie, black bass, rock bass, white bass and anything else that can see it and has scales and gills. gar, grennel.

I love the J11 Papala.

Caught 90% of my fish last year on a jig and minnow. With and without rubber.

For lake trout, tube jig tipped with suck at meat was hot all summer.

^^ Those were in Canada. Here river fishing rod and reel, chicken liver was great on Cats. Cut silver carp or minnows on set lines. Crawlers after a rain and late season cats loved grasshoppers, especially after a big wind blew a bunch in the river.

Too many to list.

What colors ya like?

I always coming back to a Mepps

WS

cop out answer

5 most used or the 5 you basically never put back in the box just keep tied on a line and switch rods

yotetrapper, I dont know what the colors are, one is a shad with a copper colored tail and the other is a crappie pattern. it wont matter, slow retrieve after letting it sink about 3 seconds. I have smoked the big bream and crappie on those rascals the past three weeks. they are 10.00 for a four pack but good grief, you can catch 40-50 fish on each one. You do need to bend the hook up about 5 degrees.

GCP, Berkely makes a guillie bait that is in three sizes and they look just like the fish species they are marked as on the package. I would get a package of each size in the predominant forage fish in your area or the areas you will be fishing. I wouldnt use braid unless you will be using a leader of mono or fouro. you want it to sink and it will, head first. I cant tell you how many bass over 7 pounds I have caught on those jokers. yall have muskie and pike up there as well as large mouth and small mouth. you can also nose hook them with a drop shot hook and that is an awesome way to fish them. I would shy away from the solid colors they make. if you cant find any let me know.

red #6 mustad or white #5 white Swedish pimple

Thanks Dave. Gonna try em out.

thanks I just watched a video on the Berkley gilly I am going to have to give that a try

DuPont fly

https://www.bigbitebaits.com/product/2-fat-grub/ - this in Tennessee Shad Color with a 1/32oz. jig head will fill your freezers with crappies and bluegills.


https://www.catfishconnection.com/Store/Details/DCSWOR/CATDIPWORM/DIPWORM/DOCS-SUPER-CATFISH/ - this with a split shot and jug of SSS blood bait will fill them with channel cats.

https://www.anglersheadquarters.com...cPF7ij0atO-0z97EE0pK1gnVussme4IklXrOHL24 - this in black/red glitter with 5/0 worm hook and a 3/8oz. worm weight will fill them with large mouth bass too. lol

1 oz. 5 of diamonds daredevil is my go to for Northerns... ETC....

That old DareDevi in five of diamonds was a lake trout killer on Great Slave Lake back in the 70s Jayme. Not sure what size spoon they were ounce wise but they were big as the palm of your hand.

I never made it to Great Slave but the ol boy who took me to Canada my first time ran a camp there and had a bunch of huge lures, pics and stories to widen the eyes of this young Nebraska kid.

5 of diamonds dare devil.
Mepps #4. With red and white painted spinner.
Jitter bug
Beatle spin
Orange jig with white twister tail. Add a leech

Bright orange is the ticket in tea stained lakes in NW Ont. From tiny jigs for perch to big musky baits. If it’s stained water orange is the color in my experience.

I thought all you guys fished for prize fish with corn?

Black bully spider

Johnson snare spoon ice.
Pink tiger color with homemade pink corn concoction.

Soon as ice out on the lakes...this Golden Pheasant

Salmon killah is getting trolled around the lake.

I’m betting you chucked some corn back in your Nebraska days!

I actually have good luck soaking corn in smashed mulberry’s for a few days then fishing it under overhanging mulberry trees on the river. The corn turns purple and stays on hook better than mulberrys. Catfish are chucked full of mulberry’s when the wind blows ripe ones off trees and they drop in river. Cleaning table actually gets stained purple.

Ate a lot of bull head from the ditches. Probably should be dead….

Grandmas, flatfish and Lil'Celo especially the thin ones, and always lookin for more.......jk

Just a few things. I love slip bobber fishing too.

I barely got to fish last year. But the winner was a dead leopard frog on a 4/0 circle hook.

90% of the time nightcrawler on bottom or under a bobber. If I use an artificial I like a jointed rapala minnow.

I find a lot of lures and have a good idea of what fish are hitting and what they aren't. Several walleye guys I know have standing orders for all of the Bandits I find. These are lures I found yesterday:

Probably the most underrated and under fished lure out there.

If there's anything better than a soft plastic jerk bait...I dont know what it would be.

Marty, share some white bass pictures

I'm happiest when I have a number 5 white swedish pimple tied on

Walleye 5/16 sparkle blue jig with a frozen shinner spring summer fall,ice fishing red Lindy flyer or Macho minnow tipped with a shinner head.Smallmouth bass 3/8 tube 2 to 2 1/2' green brown flake or white with sparkles,Musky #7,8 bucktail black orange,Baby depth radier natural perch or walleye,Crappie ice fishing Tung bug tipped with a shinner tail or head or a coffin spoon gold,fire tiger or white yellow orange perch 1/4oz

This thread got me thinking, where the heck is Hutchy?

Good question! Says he's not been on since January 3rd!

Strike king cutr worm in okeechobee craw and a rapala jointed minnow stay on a bass rod. Creme spoiler shad or go old school with white curly tail for crappies. Then of course crickets or crawlers under a slip rig.