Old And New Lures For Bass

Like the long Memorial Day weekend on which it falls every year, bass opener always brings with it a mix of old and new. When loading up for the holiday grill, you can always count on T-bone steaks and classic quarter pound burgers to satisfy but those spicy jalapeno brats you’ve never tried sure look good too. It’s the same for fishing tackle as I stock up on favorite baits and add a few new ones I hope will be the next go-to lure. This year, I’m geared up in anticipation for what is looking to be a warm weekend, and the bass should be active after a long stretch of sunny weather leading up to it. Here’s what has worked in the past for me on opener and some new baits I’m hoping to catch fish on this weekend and throughout the summer.
Old Reliables

In the crankbait department, the first lure I’ll be offering up is Rapala’s (www.rapala.com) X-Rap. This bait’s darting and slashing movements when ripped through the shallows draw crazy reaction strikes from bass staging nearby. The suspending nature of the bait makes it effective when worked with couple of jerks followed by a long pause to set off smallmouth and largemouth alike. Sometimes, all it takes is a couple twitches after the cast to draw a vicious hit, and that makes it number one in my crankbait box.

If the water warms like I think it will, the early hours might call for my favorite all-time topwater – the Zara Spook by Heddon Lure Company (www.lurenet.com). In a never-fail frog pattern, I’ll bomb this bait out over a shallow staging flat and walk-the-dog back to the boat hoping for an adrenaline-inducing strike. If the fish are active, sometimes all it takes is a splashdown of this surface bait to elicit a topwater explosion and get the day started with a dose of excitement.

For soft plastics, two of my all time favorites on opener are the Yamamoto (www.baits.com) Senko and the Zoom (www.zoombait.com) Trick Worm. Despite its price tag (roughly $.70 a stick), the Senko is worth every penny, even if each one is good for only a couple of fish, tops. Fished Texas rigged or wacky style, the Senko delivers an enticing wiggle on the fall, which sets big bass off. I switch to cheaper generic versions as summer wears on, but I always christen the season with a bag or two of Senkos in bubblegum and green pumpkin shades for bass on my favorite lake.

The Zoom Trick Worm came to be a staple in my tackle box after a buddy bought some for opening day several years ago. My brother and I hazed him relentlessly on the drive to the cabin about the big bag of seven-inch pink plastics he put in his binder. But we changed our tunes after my friend cranked in fish after fish, while we struggled to fill out on opening morning. After letting us fume in tooth-grinding envy, my buddy offered up some of the worms and the three of us fished the baits until the bag was emptied and we were scrounging for the bass-destroyed cast offs on the floor of the boat. When Texas rigged without weight, the baits float and look amazing when worked through shallow emergent lily pads where staging bass hold. With a 1/16 ounce bullet weight, the worm falls slowly, triggering wary fish when the weather shifts or the sun is high, making it all-around reliable.

Something New
In combining the actions of two of my favorite baits, Rapala created the X-Rap Subwalk last season. I picked up a couple for this year’s opener in hopes that the bait is a winner. The bait runs just below the surface, jerking from side-to-side like the Spook, but has a wicked hold and pause like the standard X-Rap. With extended Sure-Set trebles, the lure looks to eliminate short striking fish from the opening day equation.

While swimbaits have been all the rage the past few seasons, I’ve been reluctant to jump on board, due to an already mounting array of soft plastics in my bait binder. However, I’m taking the plunge this year by offering up some 5-inch Bass Magic hollow-bodied plastics with oversized paddle tails and big-profiled bodies by Luck “E” Strike baits (www.luckestrike.com). On a few test casts, these baits had a wobble that would drive any fish wild, and I’m hoping they do just that in a few days.

In between the staples of charcoal-seared steaks, burgers and brats that bring in the summer season, burn up your favorite water this bass season opener with some of your favorite baits and a few new ones too…in our outdoors.

Photos:
Lead Image:  Josh Holm of Valley City, ND with a nice early season largemouth on a pink Zoom Trick Worm.
Second Photo:  Tory Schreurs of Tyler, MN with a largemouth coming on a Senko on opening day 2007.
Third Photo:  Adam Sersha of Eveleth, MN landed this largemouth with a Rapala X-Rap crankbait on Opening Day 2009.