Any New Hot Lures For You this Year

I’ve got two of them. The 1/2oz Megabass Dark Sleeper or a cheap Chinese knockoff when not in tournaments, and a Z-Man TurboFattyZ Swimming Worm. The Dark Sleeper is my #1 producer this year, and the TF is a lure I gained confidence in at lightning speed; swimming worms never worked for me until this one; it has earned rod always rigged and ready-to-go status. I don’t throw it every trip because of my frogging addiction, but it’s always there at the ready now.

Pitching walleye jigs and plastics at deeper weed edge points. Never tried it before but I was picking up multiple noce bass on a handful of spots doing that this year.

Youbetcha wrote:

Pitching walleye jigs and plastics at deeper weed edge points. Never tried it before but I was picking up multiple noce bass on a handful of spots doing that this year.

Are you running into a lot pike bite-offs doing that?

Bass Pundit wrote:

I’ve got two of them. The 1/2oz Megabass Dark Sleeper or a cheap Chinese knockoff when not in tournaments, and a Z-Man TurboFattyZ Swimming Worm. The Dark Sleeper is my #1 producer this year, and the TF is a lure I gained confidence in at lightning speed; swimming worms never worked for me until this one; it has earned rod always rigged and ready-to-go status. I don’t throw it every trip because of my frogging addiction, but it’s always there at the ready now.

The Megabass Dark sleeper has been a dark sleeper for a few years now. How are you fishing that Zman Swimming worm? I really want to be a fan of those Zman plastics but I just cant seem to like them. God knows I’ve tried as I have plenty of them in a bin at home. There is just something about that technology that seems to cause me various problems. I love the concept and really like some of their designs and colors. Just to many rigging problems with them. I’ve tried various ones dropshotting, Wacky riggings, Neko rigs. Just not much luck on them for some reason. Maybe I keep giving up on them to quickly.

The Savage Gear 3D Swimmer glide bait has been getting my attention for some reason. I’m not a big swimbait guy, but I’ve been watching a lot of videos on it and it looks great in the water and have seen some guys catch some giants on it but also good numbers.

That cube with strings coming out of it that Taku throws has me wondering about it too. Thought it was nuts when I first saw it but then saw a video of it in the water and it looked really good.

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/OSP_Saikoro_Dice_Rubber_Non-Salt_Soft_Bait/descpage-SDRS.html?from=gpmax&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjLCHquKWgAMV-tDjBx0cDQjnEAQYASABEgL1x_D_BwE

Bass Pundit wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Carter Johnson wrote:</div>
Pitching walleye jigs and plastics at deeper weed edge points. Never tried it before but I was picking up multiple noce bass on a handful of spots doing that this year.

Are you running into a lot pike bite-offs doing that?

Honestly no. I use a floro leader so that does help. 15lb braid to 10 lb floro. Bit off a couple times but nothing crazy.

Just ordered a few of the Savage Gear 3d Glides and some big worms from NetBait for shaky heads and trigs. Looking forward to giving them a shot.

I haven’t tried anything to new but wacky worms helped us take 1st last night on n s center. We tried deep with no success the only we found was wacky worming the docks and Lilly pads

Bearcat89 wrote:

was wacky worming the docks and Lilly pads

That was a really good strategy for me about 10 days ago too.

Docks have definitely been hot lately.

mahtofire14 wrote:

Docks have definitely been hot lately.

I have got to go back to skipping a ringfry under docks again. Have not fished a dock in a few years now. I know if I was still fishing tourneys, it would still be tactic for sure. When fun fishing just not as much driver or desire to do it.

Always love a good dock bite. Watch out for the pontoons

Skipping docks and laydowns is my favorite way to fish. But on many days it’s not the bite, so then offshore comes into play. But if I could fish any way it’d be that.

Id imagine with how hot and sunny its going to be docks and pads should hold fish

I’m sure most here have heard of them but if you want deep dives into specific techniques or lures make sure you follow Tactical Bassin on youtube. They are crazy knowledgeable. Anyway, they just put out a video on a few different ways to target fish on really hot, sunny days. Going to come in handy over the next week.

mahtofire14 wrote:

Anyway, they just put out a video on a few different ways to target fish on really hot, sunny days. Going to come in handy over the next week.

Ha, I just watched that a couple days ago. One of the first things he said was to fish at night time. Not a bad idea actually. The last year I did a fair amount of bass fishing at night was in 2020 and I did quite well.

There is no way, no chance you’ll get me out there during the middle of the day during a heatwave like the one coming next week. Tons of recreational boats out there too only compound the problem. Our heatwaves don’t generally last for weeks or months like they do down south, so I can just wait until its over to go fishing again.

Punching and frogging pads and slop and docks. Like they said, it’s miserable if they aren’t biting but when they are, they are big ones. I’m gonna give it a shot tomorrow. Got the frog, Magdraft, and dock rod ready to go!

Actually bought the WhopperPopper last year for my canoe trip that got canceled. Fished it around the ponds and lakes I fish here in Iowa and when the conditions are right it is amazing. It cast forever and you can fish it fairly fast so you cover LOTS of water. Took several for the guys on this years trip and for sure it was a top water BLAST. The SM really loved it and even got a big LM on it too. It is just fun to fish in the right spot.

Rick Janssen wrote:

Actually bought the WhopperPopper last year for my canoe trip that got canceled. Fished it around the ponds and lakes I fish here in Iowa and when the conditions are right it is amazing. It cast forever and you can fish it fairly fast so you cover LOTS of water. Took several for the guys on this years trip and for sure it was a top water BLAST. The SM really loved it and even got a big LM on it too. It is just fun to fish in the right spot.

Couldn’t agree more. WHEN CONDITIONS ARE RIGHT you won’t get bigger blowups on any other topwater.

fishthumper wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Bass Pundit wrote:</div>
I’ve got two of them. The 1/2oz Megabass Dark Sleeper or a cheap Chinese knockoff when not in tournaments, and a Z-Man TurboFattyZ Swimming Worm. The Dark Sleeper is my #1 producer this year, and the TF is a lure I gained confidence in at lightning speed; swimming worms never worked for me until this one; it has earned rod always rigged and ready-to-go status. I don’t throw it every trip because of my frogging addiction, but it’s always there at the ready now.

The Megabass Dark sleeper has been a dark sleeper for a few years now. How are you fishing that Zman Swimming worm? I really want to be a fan of those Zman plastics but I just cant seem to like them. God knows I’ve tried as I have plenty of them in a bin at home. There is just something about that technology that seems to cause me various problems. I love the concept and really like some of their designs and colors. Just to many rigging problems with them. I’ve tried various ones dropshotting, Wacky riggings, Neko rigs. Just not much luck on them for some reason. Maybe I keep giving up on them to quickly.

50lb Braid with a light(3/16,1/4) Texas Rig pegged if I am in the junk on a 5/0 XH Trapper Tackle Offset Wide Gap. If I am fishing in a lake with clear water, I use a 17lb FC leader.

Well gentlemen, I may have falling in love with big swimbaits this morning. I went to one of my local lakes and sat on two points all morning and threw a Magdraft and absolutely smoked em. I haven’t had that much fun in awhile. You basically just slowly crank this things and they absolutely get trucked. The amount of times my rod almost got taken out of my hands was crazy. Didn’t get any giants but I was surprised at the numbers I was still able to catch. Everything I caught was 2.5-3 lbs.

I also made a new fishing buddy. A loon followed me all over the lake. Every spot I was at, he’d show up. And he wasn’t shy. Stayed around 10-20 ft from my boat and when I’d set the hook, he’d dive and check out the commotion. It was really cool.

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mahtofire14 wrote:

Well gentlemen, I may have falling in love with big swimbaits this morning. I went to one of my local lakes and sat on two points all morning and threw a Magdraft and absolutely smoked em. I haven’t had that much fun in awhile. You basically just slowly crank this things and they absolutely get trucked. The amount of times my rod almost got taken out of my hands was crazy. Didn’t get any giants but I was surprised at the numbers I was still able to catch. Everything I caught was 2.5-3 lbs.

I also made a new fishing buddy. A loon followed me all over the lake. Every spot I was at, he’d show up. And he wasn’t shy. Stayed around 10-20 ft from my boat and when I’d set the hook, he’d dive and check out the commotion. It was really cool.

That is awesome! I will have to get into this method. Seems like a good time. Jesus those things are $15 each?? Any ideas on something similar but cheaper?

Youbetcha wrote:

Jesus those things are $15 each?? Any ideas on something similar but cheaper?

Being that they’re also made of a soft material I could see it getting mauled by a pike too. And then it’s ruined.

gim wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Carter Johnson wrote:</div>
Jesus those things are $15 each?? Any ideas on something similar but cheaper?

Being that they’re also made of a soft material I could see it getting mauled by a <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>pike too. And then it’s ruined.

I could see it as a fun way to target bigger bass and have a shot at a musky too.

I use the Magdraft Freestyle. It’s just the swimbait and not prerigged like the regular Magdraft. You also get two per pack. They hold up well actually. And they are more weedless using the swimbait hook. Hook up ratio suffers though. I was using the Albino Pearl Shad today.

I use the Ohner “The Beast” swimbait hooks with a 3/8th oz belly weight. Worked really well this morning.

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/search-tackle.html?start=0&count=30&searchtext=magdraft+freestyle

The Keitech FAT Swing impact might be a cheaper option to get into this. $9.50 for a pack of 4 in the 5.8″ size.

Where’s Frydog on these bass related threads? He hasn’t posted in 8 mo’s. Normally, he’d be all over these.

BrianF wrote:

Where’s Frydog on these bass related threads? He hasn’t posted in 8 mo’s. Normally, he’d be all over these.

I was very curious on that as well. Has he moved on from ido

BrianF wrote:

Where’s Frydog on these bass related threads? He hasn’t posted in 8 mo’s. Normally, he’d be all over these.

He’s around MN in the summer time but he goes to Florida in the winter. He posted some photos on another website recently so he’s still bass fishing.

I talk to him on facebook now and then. He’s in FL enjoying fishing down there.

As for the Keitech being a replacement, I think you’d catch fish on it but it’s not going to have the calling power that the Magdraft has. The reason the Magdraft is so good (according to people I’ve read or watched) is because the boot tail has a slow side to side pounding, whereas the keitechs have a very fast tail. I was catching fish in 15 fow with the lure only going down about 5 ft. Also pulled a few off of docks without throwing under the dock. It pulls fish to it.