My PB is 8lbs and caught it on a crappie rod fishing off a dock with a minnow. I fish for crappie maybe once or twice a year. Go figure.

Hard to argue with this. I think Jigs/soft plastics are more likely to fool a larger bass

12.5lbs , 4.5" straight tail worm , C-Rigged on 10lb flouro
11.4lbs , spinnerbait --1/2oz , in 5 foot of weedy water
11.2lbs , 5" wacky senko ( green pumpkin ) , no weight , less than 5 foot of dirty water in middle of a hot summer

big baits work , but I think they limit your success a little . I believe in finding big fish ---- depth ,location and main forage are more important.

Jig and big plug

dropshot

Vibrating jig for me

I have caught 10+ # on a 1/4 oz spinner, tossed in shallow water this time of yr.

caught my pb on a 4" bluegill H2/0 from academy, 14.8




like others have said, bait in front of a feeding fish is how it happens, as long as the bait is what they consider food.

4 inch lizard at the present.

The four best sticks I know and fish with have a total of five double digit fish between them. When we compete in a standard five-fish bag paradigm they are all arguably more proficient than I am. But I have 31 bass over ten pounds. Without question the difference is I spend the majority of time throwing medium to large swimbaits and although they all have them they rarely throw them. Just saying.