What "Artificial" did you use to catch your 1st Bass?

I caught my 1st bass on this goofy rig when I was around 10 years old. Grandpa and I allways used minnows... I came up with this I ran out one day... Either way it caught a 2 1/2lb bass and I was hooked for life!

Caught my first bass on a black & yellow H&H spinnerbait at Ray Hubbard. Bout tore up my Zebco 404!!

My first bass was caught on PK with a Heddon Sonic

I think it was an orange and black roadrunner crappie jig.

Kansas gravel pit with a purple Manns Jelly Worm, T-rig.

Lake weatherford black and chartruse slug-o was around 4 pounds

Ol' Purple Worm on Lake Dangerfield

Chartreuse Crappie Jig - Vernon Lake, LA - Snoopy Rod/Reel

Mr. Twister purple worm on a custom made rod with a Diawa 210 reel......

fishin for gills with a corn kernel.

Rooster tail spinner, chrome blade with a yellow/black poka dot body if I recall correctly.

I wanna say either a red shad "slug-go" or a blue fleck power worm in some farm ponds.

To the best of my memory, my first 50+ bass came from a little creek 1/4 mile from my house on a purple wallyworld worm, a split shot, and a zebco 33 and a pistol grip rod. That was 30 years ago and I think my old man still fishes with the same gear.

An Al's Goldfish, a fish shaped spoon I got in a kit that I ordered from Gadabout Gaddis,and a Zebco 202.

Rooster tail.

I used one of the old H&H spinner baits, maybe 1/8 oz., with a yellow rubber skirt and a small hammered nickel blade. The old ones had a single hook.

I was amazed as I stood there that day and caught bass after bass on this hunk of lead and rubber.

I'm still amazed.

A chug bug in Spring Creek.

White and maybe chartreuse spinnerbait. Still great bait!

Texas rigged black and blue 6" berkeley power worm

Spinner bait

Little clear crankbait

Cotton Cordell Spot Chrome/Black

7 1/2 inch Tequila Sunrise Culprit worm! Good memories!

Caught one on a yellow & white Hulla Popper, from a farm pond near Winters ,Tx., was the only lure i had, so i fished it all day and it still catches fish . wish i still had the original one as it would be 50 yrs old now

Black & yellow H&H double spinner on Lake Somerville in the mid 1980's. I proceeded to catch many, many more using H&H spinners in the creek where I lived. Loved that little double spinner, I need to go wade that little creek again with my sons and relive some of my childhood days

little black with yellow eye's Jitter-Bug in a pond...the bass wasn't very big, but the impression sure was !!!

#1 Mepps Aglia. Silver blade w/squirrel tail. Awesome lure and awesome line twist!

A old stock tank at 5 with my dad on a purple fire tail worm.

TxDispatcher beat me to it. H&H spinner bait but it was in the 70's.

45 years ago and I remember! Zebco 202 and the lure was a yellow black dot Shyster inline spinner. Only lure I used for the first 5 years I went fishing in the creek.

First one I remember was on a Black Hula Popper.
Topwater explosion and I was hooked for life!

Is a piece of corn considered artificial?

buzzbait

It was 10 years ago, I was only 8, and I caught a 3 pounder on a Buzz bait!

Hula Popper.

Black and yellow H&H in Mississippi river levy pond

Lake Lavon on a Black Spinnerbait on my first cast....a couple of minutes later I caught 2 more with my bare hands that beached themselves chasing shad up into the grass. There was a slight rain that morning and the lake was above normal pool.

Sliver and yellow foxtail inline spin fishing off our dock on cedar creek in summer. Got it out of my grandads tackle crappie box and have never looked back

My first bass I remember catching was on something like this.



In a color/pattern similar to this.



If Creme was making this rig 36-38 years ago, it was probably this exact set-up I caught it on.

as a kid all i fished with was a rooster tail. maybe i should go back.cought a lot of fish with it.

Caught my first on a Smithwick Devil's Horse on Toledo Bend. I was using a Zebco 33. My uncle made me throw it because i would get hung up with anything that didn't float on the water. I think I was around 7 years old.

H&h spinner

Black/chrome Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap.

7 years old, 1974, the cut area behind Flat Creek Marina Lake Palestine.

Zebco 202, black and yellow Beetle Spin.

Standing on the back of the pontoon boat that was beached, and of course was wearing one of those bright orange life preservers, it was the only way grandparents would let me fish.

You'd have thought I caught Orca.

And so began the addiction.

Black Mann's Jelly Worm.

Clear Pico Pop, age 5. Little pond on the ranch when we lived in San Marcos.

...(Daiwa, I think, 5'6" Med)

6" Black/Chart tail worm, bought in bulk (100 for $10 from The Sportster, here in Waco)...first bass I remember "trying" to actually catch on a t-rig on Tradinghouse...the bass was barely over 1 lb probably, but was I ever givin' it to my brother....hollerin' like a fool...

Caught a few on Lake Mead way back in the day on little H and H spinners, but the memory is faded some...

Awww the SLUG-O! I still throw those in "Senko" situations... sweet bait... sorta paved the way for the fluke and senko hua?

H&H spinner in chart.

Creme purple & white worm.

I used a cork cut into a plug slid onto a hook and then I put an all whtie crappie tube over the hook and I twitched it next to the brush along the creek at mission san juan. Had to work hard for my first bass. Took me weeks to create that rig.

First one was 6" and I never looked back!!!

I used an old French Fry t-rigged, but i had my weight upside down. (This was when i was trying to learn on my own)LOL

bomber long A

I'm pretty sure my first bass was on a black and yellow beetle spin. Ultra lite spinning gear.

Caught my first bass in 1958 on a pre-rigged worm (the one with a spinner and red beads up front). Using a spinning reel with 6 lb. mono, casting and steadily reeling in. On a private lake with "Posted No Trespassing" signs. Probably 3/4 lb., but I remember it as a giant!

Pic in my sig. Lake Fork 1984 6 inch motor oil chartreuse tail lizard on a zebco 202 that I got for my 3rd b-day.

they were, I remember them.

Probably a Red-Fin but that was many, many years ago and I can not be sure.

BigDozer66

H&H White spinnerbait.

Bagleys Small Fry

Rooster tail spinner, chrome blade with a white/black poka dot body and it was in the early 70s

Electric Blue plastic worm in Lake Conroe 30 years ago (12yrs old) out of neighbor's Dyna-Trak bass boat with 150 Black Max. Still remember running on plane at 65 mph, hooked for life.

purple and white, double blade H & H spinner bait, Lake Livingston. Been hooked ever since

When i was six years old on a spinnerbait 10'' fish but i was hooked after that.

Those H&H spinners were great, I bet I stuck myself a thousand times trying to thread that double hook through the paint soaked ilet under the skirt. 6 year old hands just wernt developed enough to penetrate that much paint without getting poked.

Yellow rooster tail That reminds me...that bait always catches fish...why did I stop throwing it!?

Caught my first using a Pflugger knucklebuster reel, a 4' fiberglass rod and a Hawaiian Wiggler in a "borrow pit" on the Atchafalaya River in 1953.

Black and blue Mr twister worm.

Mepps spinner.

white spinnerbait

Can't believe, I have not seen a Lucky 13,Hula Popper or Jitterbug mentioned here.

Roostertail

Black hula popper

Champ 198...you being serious ?...if so better start at the top again...LOL

Bettle spin white body red dot

Lazy Ike on Hickory Creek in Denton County. Just goofing off while my Dad and Brother were Crappie fishing. Surprised me as I had no idea what I was doing.

Wow lazy Ike i forgot about those. Still have one i fished as a kid laying around somewhere.

Sexy shad spinnerbait

GREAT thread, great memories!!!

As best I remember it was with my Dad in an aluminum V-hull 14' fishing boat with his 20hp old Merc at Possum Kingdom about 50+ years ago. I caught it on a yellow/white spinner bait and I'm guessing it was on a Zebco spincast reel on a whippy metal rod! I remember throwing out in the middle of no where and my Dad saying you're not gonna catch anything out there and boom there she was! And as best I remember, my Dad was good at following what my sig says!

Why would your first bass come on anything other than an artificial bait?

I've been bass fishing for about 30 years and never used live bait.

Pretty sure you missed the point of the thread Moose K!

Beetle Spin

Clear tiny torpedo. Got her close to the bank and started backing up. Drug her up to dry land!

t-rigged zoom lizard and a zebco 202 and a 5ft rod with a pistol grip

Honestly don't remember, but the fish was not the only thing hooked.....

Looks like alot of good fish have been caught on strange contraptions we came up as kids and as adults improviseing or "think outside the box"... Sure make me think I'm crazy for spending 20+ on swimbaits and such...

On a rooster tail when I was 5 years old.

Spinnerbait

My first bass on a lure was on a Heddon tiny torpedo on lake Waco in about 1970. Me and a couple of buddies used to sneak into a private lake in Waco when we kids and tear them up on a Peco Perch

I remeber those they upgraded to a double hook that slid onto a little ring and a yellow and black skirt. You could buy them at the same convenience store that sold live worms and beer.

A 3# bass on a River Runt, the original model that was still made from balsa. My Granddad gave it to me along with an old tackle box full of lures. If I knew then what I know now, I would have held on to it. Instead, I kept using and eventually lost it .

Just guessing but it was either a Creme purple worm with a white tail or a LIL George. I remember buying lil Georges by the card. About 20 stapled to a piece of cardboard. Creme worms were packaged 4 or 6 on cardboard wrapped in plastic.

white H&H

I had caught a few bass by accident on small jigs, roadrunners and Rapala minnows fishing for bream and crappie. The first time I intentionally caught a bass was on a gravel bank in a cove next to a boat ramp waiting for my uncle and father to get the rig into the water. We were going out fishing for crappie with minnows. They said I wouldn't catch a bass there cause the bank was to clean and there was no cover for the bass or prey. That bass came on a T-rigged purple Berkley worm. 'Bout a 15"er. We went on a few more bass trips after that.

A friend and I would slowly reel strips of bacon in a pond in east Dallas and catch bass I told my dad and he gave us some 3" grubs...that was 30 years ago.

25 cent silver spoon(Not a Johnson Weedless) that I bought from Sears when they still sold fishing tackle.

It was a 3 or 4 lbs LMB caught with a Johnson Silver Sprite spoon w/ a treble hook using a Zebco 202 combo on a private tank. That was 45 or 50 years ago! My, where do the time go?

Black and orange rattle trap on lavon

Mepps spinner minnow

Cotton Cordell Spot Chrome/Blue

Original Creme worm pre-rigged Night Crawler in natural color.

Original Creme worm as well.Dark green and six inches long,no flutter on the tail,just the pain old fashioned worm.

Electric blue worm

They didn't have artificial lures back then

beetle spin!

Black/red glitter T rig back in 83...i was 5 at the time.

I think mine was at ray bob throwin a twin tail grub
under a bobber throwin it toward some bridge corner.

I had no idea what I was doing..

Wow thats along time ago 1967 maybe 1968 inline spiner if memory serves me right. But soon after that seems like I threw a spoon for yrs.Red devil spoon. Caught lots of smallies In PA and NJ back then on them spoons.

Heddon tiny torpedo...redhead, white body.

Texas rigged 6 inch purple worm.

6" purple creme worm with white dots on it

A white "beetle spin"

White Beetlespin in Kansas

Heddon chugger

10' Motor Oil Paddle Tail Worm

Black and blue jig