Starting 5 Lures on Bass Opener

[TonkaBass]

funny you mention a chatterbait, as I have never caught a fish in one.. I'm beginning to wonder if it's a gimmick bait like the banjo minnow was .. lol

Keep an open mind to lures and techniques with bass fishing. Google Chatterbaits and see how many big events have been won on them.

[basssmasher*]

Why is it so hard to break away from a fav bait? I mostly fish worms and top water poppers,frogs,buzz baits but kep coming back to a 4 inch finesse worm! I've had my best luck on them and I have to learn soooooo much about bass fishing (especially thick slop). Any teachers wanna show me the ropes???

[delmuts]

"but...my god are they pike magnets. Don't use them as much as I maybe could for just that reason."

That's been my results too. I bought the larger version for muskies. My son had to stop using it cause the vibations made his hands feel funny!

[RK]

Why is it so hard to break away from a fav bait? I mostly fish worms and top water poppers,frogs,buzz baits but kep coming back to a 4 inch finesse worm! I've had my best luck on them and I have to learn soooooo much about bass fishing (especially thick slop). Any teachers wanna show me the ropes???

It's hard to put down something you have confidence in. We tend to make it harder yet by only trying new stuff when the things we have confidence in isn't working.

I rarely plug my own writing, but I wrote a column for this week's Outdoor News about exactly this - and how to take a systematic approach to learning a new technique. If you're an ODN reader, it might help you out.

Cheers,

RK

[Aaron Carrell]

Have caught fish on chatterbaits and had some ok days on them, but...my god are they pike magnets. Don't use them as much as I maybe could for just that reason.

Hah, they are pike magnets typically but we honestly don't mind because a fish is a fight either way. We had 1 of our pike come on a chatterbait on Saturday. We were indeed on Pool 2 fishing some pretty shallow, and VERY warm backwater (61-64º). There is definitely a time and a place for chatterbaits in my boat though. It was pretty weird actually cause I had several hits on a tube and/or black/blue jig Saturday, but they weren't getting ahold of it enough to put the hook in em. However, my buddy through back at both of these misses with a chatterbait and the fish absolutely hammered it! The largemouth still weren't really fiesty though, with most fish just kinda pulling on the lure a bit and not really hitting the thing very hard. Either way, I can't complain being able to legitimately target some LM this early in the year and have some success.

Did you get out RK? Hit up my gmail.

[goblueM]

Ok guys just for you I'm gonna throw a chatterbait today out on the reservoir

[basssmasher*]

let me know how the chatterbait did on the res! lol

[goblueM]

nothing did well today... my only day to fish this week and we got an inch of rain last night, they dropped the water a foot, and we had strong NW winds. Ugh. We caught one 10 inch spot in 6 hours of fishing

[Hoffer]

Surprised nobody mentioned the "swimmin image" or the good old Zara Spook. Have caught some big largemouths early in to the bass season twitching a good sized Zara Spook in a leopard color

[East Rush Rules]

My first 5 lures..

1.swimbait

2.swimbait

3.swimbait

4.swimbait

5.swimbait

All rigged on an A-Rig!

[Dylan33]

My first 5 lures..

1.swimbait

2.swimbait

3.swimbait

4.swimbait

5.swimbait

All rigged on an A-Rig!

wait for it.....

[TonkaBass]

wait for it....

[skeeterpro1]

Cant go wrong with those five

[Cecil]

Hey guys, not sure, but I think the A-Rig is illegal in MN. Might want to check into that before you go out on opener!

waiting....

[Craigums]

You guys DO KNOW that bass season is closed right now, don't you!?

...satisfied?

[TonkaBass]

Close Craigums, but I was waiting for the "The Alabama Rig is illegal in MN! Ill call TIP on my cell phone right now!" lol

[Cecil]

That would be the one...

[East Rush Rules]

lol, still waiting....

[RumRiverRat]

We had 7 largemouth hit the boat today, 5 of which came on chatterbaits... Just sayin. :-p

A couple Sundays ago Chatterbaits ruled on Pool 4.

My go to lure in the spring on the river is a white chatterbait with a 5" Kalins Grub.

Largemouth absolutely whack a chatterbait when nothing else will work.

The beauty of a chatterbait is you can work it slow and it still produces a lot of flash and vibration that the fish can track and find in dirty shallow water.

[bklimek]

What kind of chatterbaits do you guys prefer (D&M, Bobby D's, Pure Poison,....)?

[Deitz Dittrich]

best chatter baits I have used are made by Victory baits..

[Comit 2]

Everything I've been throwing this spring have been catching LgM Bass. I can't throw a 1/16oz-1/8oz Little Cleo without catching a Bass. I can't use it in most places because people will think I'm trying to catch them. Almost as much a challenge as sunfish right now.

[fishcast]

lots of replies to this thread and still a month and a half to go! haha

hard to say until closer to the big day... but these are likely

opener for smallies

1. lightweighed tube jig

2. drop shot rig with 4" zoom finesse worm

3. moderately weighted rabbit strip fly

4. super fluke

5. maybe a floating rap

for largies

1. zoom horny toad

2. super fluke

3. swig jig

4. scum frog

5. maybe a 3/16 oz t rigged lizard for shaking around some deeper weed growth or a drop shot rig used in the same areas

[Cecil]

My opening day will be on Sturgeon Bay in a little over a month.

Soooo

1. Jerkbait

2. Tube

3. Drop Shot

4. Jerkbait

5. Shakey Worm

[RumRiverRat]

With the recent weather has your starting 5 changed?