What's Your Favorite Lure?

That's a question I asked all the fellas who have been fishing the Dewey Mullins Tribute Bass Tourney series out of West Neck Marina the past couple or so years. As I expected, the responses were varied. In my case, the No. 1 choice has changed over the years.

Remember back in the '70s, when Charlie Brewer came out with Slider worms? I was hooked on 'em the moment I attended a presentation Charlie put on locally a lot of years ago. It just so happened that in the same audience that night was a local rod builder, who let all the anglers in attendance know that he was going to start building custom Slider rods for everyone who wanted them. Don't you know I was one of the first to put my name on the waiting list.

While I was waiting on that rod to be built, I started buying up every color of Slider worm that Charlie Brewer produced. My stash grew so quickly I had to buy a huge, double-sided Plano box just to carry all of them. The box was so big that I kept stumbling over it every time I went fishing--and don't even ask me about the time I unceremoniously dumped the contents of one whole side in the floor of my boat. But for two or three years, Slider worms were my favorite bait. I fished them on 6-lb. mono, which means I lost a lot of big fish, but I also boated some beauties. I still have a wall-hanger (a 6-pounder-plus) that I caught down in Milldam Creek with my custom Slider rod and one of Charlie's worms. To this day, I have many of the Slider worms I originally bought, but they're no longer in that Plano box--I got rid of that nuisance a long time ago.
 
After that "love affair" with Sliders, I got enthralled with spinnerbaits--including some of those so-called indestructible Terminators. As I learned, though, they're no better than any other spinnerbait on the market. Eventually, they all break, and as was my experience with Terminators, the "break" often came when I was hauling a nice sized bass to the boat. My collection of spinnerbaits stopped way short of the number of Slider worms I bought, but I did once own quite a few. Today, I usually carry some 1/4- and 3/8-oz. models, mostly in chartreuse, white or a mixture of those two colors, but they take up very little rooom, and none of 'em are anywhere close to being my favorite lure.

About five or six years ago, I had a good run of luck with the Bang-O-Lure and many days wouldn't put it down all day long. I fished it every trip that one whole season and scored unbelievably well with it--from early morning through the heat of the day in summer. But my success only lasted that one season. In fact, it wasn't until this year that I've started fishing it again and have been catching a fair number of early-morning bass with it. I'm having to fish it the traditionally recommended way, though, whereas I used an overly aggressive retrieve that one year I caught fish with it non-stop. I occasionally repeat that aggressive tactic now but have yet to get a fish to hit it.
 
A more recent "go to" lure for me was chatterbaits. I fished them hard both last year and the year before that and caught a lot of bass with them. My preference was gold-bladed models, mostly in the 3/8-oz. size, and, although you'll probably not believe this, with pink or pink/white skirts and trailers. Thus far in 2012, however, I've had absolutely no luck at all with chatterbaits and sometimes don't even take one out of my box during a whole day on the water. When I do take one out, my first choice still is one with the pink or pink/white skirt and trailer, but I also occasionally throw one with a chartreuse/white skirt and either a chartreuse or white trailer.

(Left) Square A. (Right) Pro Model 1XS.

My lure of choice today is the crankbait--in both 1/4- and 3/8-oz. sizes. My best producers are the Bomber Square A in firetiger and the Strike King Pro Model 1XS in both firetiger and chartreuse sexy shad. I go to these lures every fishing trip as soon as the morning topwater bite turns off. In August 2010, I won a tourney and the seasonal lunker award with a 6-pounder-plus I caught on a Square A. Last year, I won another tourney and the seasonal lunker award with a 5-pounder-plus, again on a Square A. This latter fish was one of three in the 5-pound class that I boated last year on this lure. I originally started throwing the Pro Model 1XS last season in areas where the grass was thickest--I found it would come through the mats a lot better than the Square A. Since then, I've used it with some success in all conditions.

That's the story about how my favorite lures have changed over the years. Now we'll look at the responses I got from other West Neck tourney anglers when I asked for their choices.

A Rapala Skitter Pop is the favorite of Steve Bailey.

Steve Albertson likes a hollow-body frog for the strikes it draws, coupled with an ability to throw it into the thickest cover and still work it back.

A buzzbait (left) is the favorite lure of Bob Glass, but he rarely uses it in tournaments because too many fish miss it by striking at the blade. In its place, he uses a Horny Toad (middle), which, if set up correctly, rarely misses. His favorite active lure is the Senko worm (right). "My mindset is that big fish like an easy meal--something slow most of the time," he says.

 

Skip Schaible prefers the Rebel
Pop R. "Nothing beats the sheer exhilaration of a fish busting a topwater bait," he says. "Pop,
pop, pop, nothing.
Then, pop, pop, pop, boom! Fish on!"

When it comes to soft plastic, Jim Bauer says his favorite, "hands down, is the Slider worm" (left). However, he admits he also has gotten attached to Bomber square-billed crankbaits (center). And, up until a couple years ago, he didn't throw any kind of topwater but a Pop R (right).

Gary Coderre likes a finesse worm (left) and a square-billed crankbait (right).

These baits are the preferences of Len Hall: (top left) KVD 1.5 square-billed crankbaits (he uses a bream-colored one the most), (top right) Zell Pop (second topwater choice is Bang-O-Lures), (bottom right) pink (and white) floating worms, and (bottom left) Zoom finesse worms.










Al Lemieux is partial to 6-inch zipper worms in junebug color with a chartreuse tail. He rigs them Texas style for flipping.

The favorite lures of Randy Conkle are Senko worms (left), Culprit worms (in black shad or purple) (middle), and a Devil's Horse (right). He also likes a silver spoon with a white skirt.

Rob Peppers likes lizards (left) in the spring. Later, his favorite is a popper (middle)--shown here is the Rebel Pop R. In the fall, his choice is a crankbait--perhaps something similar to the Rapala Shad Rap (right), which I know a lot of locals fish that time of the year.

In Bobby Moore's own words, "A popper works for me all times of the day."

Kris Hammond describes his all-time favorite lure as being a 2-inch grub fished on a small jighead in the color he calls "Virginia Beach pink." Whether this shade of pink even comes close I'm not sure. Suffice it to say, though, that Kris swears he has used the jighead/grub combo very successfully in small rivers in the mountains of Virginia, where largemouth bass never before have seen a lure. "This combo works especially well in heavily pressured waters," he says, "and as a bonus, it'll catch just about any kind of fish that swims. That's why it's my favorite."


This mini-sampling indicates that, if you're among those anglers who fish poppers, finesse worms, and/or crankbaits, especially those of the square-billed variety, you're in the majority. In no way, however, do those results diminish the value of other lures named herein that some of you said were your favorites. I've always believed there's more fact than fiction to the idea that fishing often is more a matter of luck and how much confidence you have in whatever lure you're fishing than any skills you may possess. So my advice to all of you is just to "keep chunkin' and windin'." It's all about what works for you. Tight lines!

Epilog: To those anglers who participated in this little venture at my request, I offer a heartfelt "thank you."