I'm kind of new to fishing...I've bought some ridiculously bad lures, both cheap in quality and ineffective. I want to minimize purchasing stupid lures if possible, so just curious if you guys wanted to offer up your advice on the lures everyone should have in their arsenal to catch bass. At the moment the successful lures I carry are:

Senko/Worm
Lizard
Crawfish
3/8 Spinner
Topwater Frog

I do have a crankbait or two, but I never can use it bank fishing. They always get caught up and I lose them Thanks for any insight.

Get rid of the lizard a baby brush hog is all you will need. I would also throw a Pop-R style topwater in the mix as well.

Jigs, Jigs, and more Jigs, Go big or go home, lol

What is a jig exactly? Lol, dumb question I'm sure, but I don't know.

being somewhat new and bank fishing, I would master the tx rig, top water, weightless and lipless crank/bladed jig types then expand on that.

The stuff for T-rigs, both worms and creature baits.
Stuff for wacky rig senkos. (Get actual hooks for it with a weed guard)
A 3/8oz white and chart spinnerbait with a bronze willow and silver colorado.
Top water hollowbody frog.
Buzzbait.
And a couple of lipless cranks in different colors.

It is hard to make the right selections when dealing with such a variety of lures on the market.
I never purchase one without doing lots of modifications to it out of the package. When someone says a spinner bait or a jig for example you still don't know all the specifics of those baits that will make them successful. They have to have all the right parts on them to make them catch more and bigger bass.

Spinner baits must have:
- The right size for your body of water, time of year, weather conditions, and water conditions.
- Blades for each of the above applications.
- Scented living rubber skirt
- The right trailer.

Jigs are much the same:
- Right size.
- The large eye is very important to me and in the right color.
- Scented living rubber skirts
- The right scented trailer

Give me a shout if you would like for me to build these baits for you which will include your topwater choices.

I have always been used to just using a Texas Rig with a very light weight and baby brush hog bait which works just about anywhere in 0 to 10,15 foot of water. I like the foot ball Jigs with a rage craw on it. I use the Jigs in any depth and especially on brush piles in deep water. Less bites but usually bigger fish. Just play with it. I started by buying a really nice texas rig baitcaster and rod and then started buying the same for each style I wanted.

I included quite a bit of advice here, but the theme is keep it simple.

You have all the lures you need. Of the lures you have, the lizard is the least versatile and typically the most seasonally specific (can be great in the mid spring); agree on getting some baby brush hogs and using those instead. Sometimes they will want something smaller than the 3/8oz spinner bait, so buy some 1/4 oz white and white/chartreuse H&H spinnerbaits. Crankbaits are easily snagged and difficult to retrieve from the bank, but a 1/4oz lipless crankbait can be great on many days. Another really good crankbait from the bank is the Mann's One minus--it dives about 1 foot under the water.
So that's only four more lures I'd recommend: Baby brush hogs, 1/4oz spinnerbaits, 1/4oz lipless crankbaits, and Mann's One Minus

Instead of buying a bunch of new lures, if you don't already have them, I'd get bullet weights ranging from 1/8oz to 1/2oz. I'd also get some of the crimp on split shot style bullet weights (some light and some heavy); some 3/0 straight shank worm hooks, some 3/0 flipping hooks to flip lily pads and heavy cover, wacky rig hooks with a weed guard, and some bobber stoppers. If you place a bobber stopper above the weight you can peg it above the hook (for flipping) If you place a bobber stop above and below the weight, you can rig it Crig or split shot style. Basically, by using the worms, craws, and brush hogs with different weights and different hooks you can present the same lure in a vast variety of different ways.
All these lures/weights/etc are available at Academy Sports. The bobber stops you are looking for are the Eagle Claw Lazer Sharp Pro Rigging Stops--these can be difficult to find at times in the store, but are on clearance online.


Read what you can on seasonal patterns and how bass tend to behave under different weather conditions. Some days they will be more aggressive than others. In general: spring, fall, mornings, evenings, cloudy days, and days before a storm can be best from the bank. Some days, the bass will want something at the top of the water column, sometimes in the middle, and sometimes on the bottom.

Because you don't know how the bass are behaving before you get there, I'd take three rods--one for the top of the water column, one for the middle, and one for the bottom.

Top of the water column: Medium Heavy rod--15lb Big Game mono line for the frogs and the Mann's one minus
Middle of the water column: Medium rod--12lb Big Game mono line for the spinner baits, 1/4oz rattle traps, split shot worm/craw/ and wacky rigged senko
Bottom of the water column: Medium Heavy rod--15lb Big Game mono line for Texas rigged worms, brush hogs, and craws.
Use this rod also to flip the lily pads/brush/etc with a Texas rigged pegged 1/2oz weight
Read about drop shot and carolina rig.


When fishing from the bank look for the following:
the steepest bank--this area probably has a nice drop off into deeper water

Look for edges and things that are different--changes in vegetation/ground cover; bait fish and bass like edges; where rock meets grass, where concrete meets grass, edges of lily pads or other aquatic plants, edges where grass grows out into the water. Edges of shade. Edges of cat tails. Edges of current changes, points of land or vegetation that jut out into the water. Where clearer water meets murkier water. Dams, culverts, fountains, anything different.

Trees--insects and other critters fall off the leaves for the bass to eat, the roots provide some cover for the fish to hide, the trees provide some shade.

If I had to pick one bait, it would be an Ike's Mini Flip jig paired with a Netbait Paca Chunk. Love that little jig.

6"Finesse worm fished Texas rig with 3/16 weight and 1/4 oz finesse jig.

Jigs and Swim Baits of all sizes, and BIG WORMS! 10 (plus inches) then a little Wacky worm

Thanks for all of the very helpful suggestions. I will get the bush hogs and also a jig with a skirt and the "pig" crawfish. I have heard of the jig and pig and never actually knew what it was as silly as that sounds. Also I need to get some wacky rig weedless hooks and the bands that go around the worms. I was getting sick of Senko worms dying after 1-2 bass being T-rigged.

It also sounds like most everything else recommended I already have.

Don't buy baits just cause they look good. Stick with tried and true colors. Until you get the hang of it stick with spinnerbaits, wacky worms( trick worm hooked in the middle), and a topwater or 2.

Baby brush hog, Fluke, Senko, Yellow magic.