1st Cast Fishing Lures

In the world of fishing, there are so many baits/lures to choose from.  The question is, which one to choose and when do you use it?  If you have put any time at all on the water chasing your favorite prey, you know what I am talking about.  I have said before that I have at least 3 favorite techniques that I use, Cranking, Jigs, Texas rigged soft plastics.

I have my opinion about what the perfect bait is, but I would be really interested in hearing what you think.  I like a bait that can be used in more than one technique or situation.  I am not necessarily talking about color here.  I am talking about taking a soft plastic like a Beaver Craw and using it as a Jig trailer or Texas rigging it.  Of using a Trick Stick weightless Texas rigged and then Wacky rigging it with a jig head, either fishing shallow or deep.  Take a Brush Bug and Texas rig it with a 3/8 oz weight then turn around and through it on a Carolina rig.

Just click on the pictures above for a better view.

Until next time, Keep Fishing!

These days there are so many lures to choose from that it can be very confusing and definitely very expensive!  Bass Fisherman can be very particular about their baits.  If they have a certain lure in a certain color that they have caught more than a couple of fish with then they will stick with it.  Makes sense.  The problem these days is that most of the lures that are on the market have gone through the roof when it comes to price. 

If you will take the time and search the Internet you can still find some great values on Bass Fishing lures.  You can find soft plastics at a discount price that will out perform some of the big name high dollar soft plastics.  As I said earlier, bass fisherman (including yours truly) are a particular group when it comes the our equipment which includes lures.  We find it hard to change sometimes if there isn’t a big name endorsing the product.  I can tell you that if you want a bigger bang for your hard earned buck, then shop around and you will find it.

To make any fishing experience more productive you need to make adjustments throughout the day.   For example, you may start the day with a top water lure such as a buzz bait or you might use a crank bait.  Both are great lures for searching for fish.  If neither one of these lures are not producing then you need to make the adjustment to something slower.  This will typically happen throughout the day as the sun gets higher and brighter.  Of course on days where there is plenty of cloud cover, this may not be the case.  When I mention making the adjustment to a slower lure it could be a soft plastic such as the 5 inch Trick Stick or a Beaver Craw on the back of a Halo Jig.

There are many reasons to make adjustments during your fishing trips.  It could be due to a weather front moving through.  As I mentioned during the heat of the day you need to make adjustments and find out where the fish are hiding in the shade.  You may also have to make adjustments going into the evening with your lure selection.  Fishing pressure is also another reason to make adjustments in your presentation.

I have mentioned this lure in the past but it deserves another mention.  The Trick Stick is known by a few names but they all lead back to the same type product.  Probably one of the most recognizable names is the Senko.  You can find trick sticks in a few different sizes.  You can also use several different techniques with this soft plastic fishing lure which makes it one of the most versatile lures on the market today.  They are a great value for your money too.

As I mentioned, you can use these baits several different ways.  You can Texas Rig them with out a weight which helps give them a great deal of action.  Make sure that you have the Trick Stick as straight as possible on the hook.  One of the other more popular ways to fish the Trick Stick is to Wacky Rig it.  Again you will get a lot of action out of the Trick Stick when Wacky rigged.  The size of the hook to use seems to be as personal of a choice as the line you use.  I will say that a 2/0 hook seems to be the norm.  You don’t want an over-sized, exposed hook that will lead to snag after snag if you are near brush.  The third way that I have used these lures is the Shaky Head method.  Basically getting a stand up jig head and Texas Rigging the Trick Stick.  When the bite gets tough, this is one of the hottest things going.  It is a slow technique but if you can locate the fish, it will produce.

As I said, you can find the Trick Sticks in a few sizes, the other size that I use is in the 3 inch size.  These are great for skipping under docks with a Shaky Head jig or a Hooker Head Jig.  The Hooker Head jig is a fantastic jig that has a bait keeper hook on it.  The reason I mention this is that it can save you a lot of plastic lures.  The bait keeper hook locks into your Trick Stick and will help keep it from coming off during the battle.

In the end the Trick Stick is a great lure that just about anyone can use from the novice to the seasoned fisherman.  You can cast, flip, pitch or skip them just about anywhere if you Texas Rig them because they are weedless at that point.

 Give the Trick Stick a try the next time you go out.  I think you will be glad you did!

Most people who fish have a certain bait that they call their confidence or go to bait.  I know that I actually have two.  I wonder sometimes though if one of them is just because I like catching fish this way or is it really one of my go to baits.  I think there is a difference.  For example, when fishing gets tough, I will usually turn to my #1 go to bait which is a jig of some sort.  Lately I have been using a new jig called the Halo Jig.  Believe me it is worth checking out at www.1stcastfishinglures.com.   I have a lot of confidence in the jig, always have.  They make you slow down and pay more attention.  My other go to bait is a crank bait.  I absolutely love throwing them and have a lot of faith in the fact that I can catch fish on them.  Most mornings during a tournament this is what I will turn to.  You can cover a large amount of water and find active fish.  Once you have found them you can slow down and cover the water thoroughly with the crank bait or a soft plastic bait to make sure you are covering the entire water column.

What do you turn to for your Confidence Bait?

Just what do you consider a good day on the water?  Is it measured in the amount of fish you bring in?  Or can it be a day when you don’t get a bite but you finally get the opportunity to get on the water and enjoy the company of your fishing partner while the weather is nice?  I bring this up since that is exactly what happened to me this past weekend.  It has been quite a while since we have been able get out on the water due to weather conditions.  Saturday is what I would consider a good day on the water.  Temperatures were in the 60’s, partly cloudy with just a little wind (in the morning).  Water temp was around 39.

We set out to set what kind of a pattern we could put together for an upcoming tournament.  Of course we tried jerk baits in many different sizes and colors with no success.  Then we worked on Jigs and Trick Stick methods. 

There are those days when you can go through all of the bass fishing tackle you have and still not get a bite.  This happened to be one of those days.  We were probably rushing a little and the water may have been a little too cold but the bottom line is that we didn’t produce a pattern and that happens to all of us at one time or another for any number of reasons.

After putting the boat back on the trailer and storing it, the one thing that coming back up in our discussion was that even though we weren’t able to produce any fish or a pattern, we really did have a Good day on the Water because we were doing something we love to do and the weather was great!

As bass fisherman we need every advantage we can get to have a successful day on the lake.  During cold water periods one of those advantages would be the 5 Inch Trick Sticks.  One of my favorites for this time of year would be the Shimmer Shad color.  This is a great imitation of a dying shad.  There is a new technique that is being talked about which is wacky rigging a shaky head jig.  These Trick Sticks work great for that technique.  As many of you know, just Texas rigging this bait gives it great action.  But when you wacky rig it on a shaky head, you better watch your line and hang on.