Just wondering what was the hardest lure you ever learned to use?
For me it was the plastic worm. I just couldn't get enough strikes to keep my interest.

But I knew to be competitive I would have to master the worm.

I went fishing one day and took nothing but a six pack bag of purple Creme Scoudrel worms, hooks and sinkers. No other baits.

Final tally? Four nice bass, two small ones and lost all six worms before quitting. Now, like those bass, I was hooked!!

Johnnie,
I like reading your great advice and comments but I think you left out a comma from your statement above.

Should have read???

I went fishing one day and took nothing but a six pack, bag of purple Creme Scoudrel worms, hooks and sinkers.

Ha Ha!

for me its any thing that has to do with the bottom except drop shot and caroline rig

And for me... I have never caught anything off of a lure.... I have only ever got strikes with worms...

mine is a jig, i can fish any worm setup on the market,but still strugle 2 master the jig and i know i have 2,if i ever commit 2 go pro i need 2

Got me on the six pack. I really meant a package of six worms. Six pack of anything else and I wouldn't have caught anything!

Bassboy, the jig is tough to learn as well, but I have found that bass hit the jig harder than the worm.

the stingray grub was my enigma. All of the hits were on the loose line drop. Took a long time to get the hang of that. But it applies to so many lures that it was a worthy educational experience!

Yeah, those Stingray grubs are tough to use. Not enough weight and zero action so it's hard to figure out the bite, unless the bass swim away with it. I like the Avocado color.

Smoke and Avocado, Still carry them most of the time that I'm fishing a lake deeper than 8 feet. If I swim a grub, I go with the Kalins Grubs with the curly tail. Do you fish a little george much?

I always have a Little George on hand. I use them for off-shore humps for walleye and bass. In Oct. on Bull Shoals they can be deadly and I may be 200 yards from any shoreline, fishing pods of shad down to sixty feet deep. I use a pearl color mostly and fish strictly vertical. Sometimes I'll slow troll a Little George, but it tends to spin around if I go too fast. It's a great Kentucky spotted bass bait and good for smallmouth as well. Here In Iowa-not so much-the fish don't school on humps too often.

Zara Spook...getting the timing down to make it walk the dog back in the day.

Now getting dialed in with a swimbait..time of year...best swimbait to use when and where.

But with any lure it's always a learning curve, what gets the attention of the bass, the correct angle of retrieve, taking into consideration the sun, the shadow the bait presents to the bass, the silhoutte and size the bait presents to the bass at it's ambush point.

I had used the Little George for yo-yoing bass and caught some deep with it but I never had confidence in it. I was in Florida fishing a canal system on a coastal island and wasn't doing well. I look in the box and figure what the heck. I tie one on and cast all the way across the canal. I burn it back and see a swirl on it. I throw it again and I'm burning it back as fast as a 5500c can go when the lure disappears in a swirl. I set the hook and I get a bass about 2 pounds. Next cast another, now I'm going strong. After about five fish I cast it past one of the culverts and as I'm ripping it back, a bigger swirl and I'm doing everything I can to hold on to my rod. Line is peeling off of the reel when all of a sudden there's a silver missile coming up out of the water at the end of my line!! I'm attached to a tarpon thats around 5 feet long and boy is he pissed!!! Well he jumps higher than anything I had seen in my life at that point and sends little georgie about 60 feet down the canal. What an experience!! I have used that pattern since but never with the consistency it had for those few weeks in Fla.

I've never even seen a tarpon-not sure I want to on my tackle. LOL-Little George is a tough lure for tough times, I think.

As far the Zara Spook, yep, timing is everything, got to jerk the rod, flick the wrist and turn the crank all in precision.A lot to figure out, but a true killer when perfected. Good luck with it. JC

Took me a while on the Worm fishing, just getting the feel for it took some time. Drop shotting has also been a struggle for me guess I just have not been on the right fish, but have only caught two fish on drop shot.

Jerk bait (suspending) fishing has also been one of them things that I just never took the time to learn. Now up here in MO. the spring is jerkbait season so I guess I better learn it!!!!

Swim baits would be problem lure, attempted just about everything and I had a hit just once. These baits were the craze for a while and I had to have them.

Sure they may have a place in fishing: just not in the lakes I fish.


Butch

A jig was the hardest for me until after a couple of years of struggling and having no confidence an old timer told me if I could fish a plastic worm I could fish a jig. It was like a light went off. Now I have one tied on always.

mine was the spook never could get the cadence down. Jigs, worms, spinner baits, crankbaits,buzzbaits,spoons. never had a problem. Walkin the dog can't do it.

One little tip may help. When you cast the spook, don't stop it, stopping the lures forward motion on the cast causes the bait to plop down facing us. We want to bait to stop sideways, this way it's already set to go. Now, pop the rod tip fairly hard- keep the rod tip at a low angle-always- to get the bait to turn across itself, pause only slightly, while taking up the slack. Pop the rod again, don't over-do it, just enough to move the lure from side to side. Use your wrists as iof you are fanning somethinfg with a small hand held fan. Pop-pause-reel-repeat-keep the bait moving. You'll get it! JC

Thanks Johnnie It's just one of those things I have to work on. I can work a jerk bait that way just have a problem with the spook. But I'll get it down this summer. But my new favorite is the shakey head worm. It put alot of fish in the livewell especially rigged wacky. It put me in the money several times.

No problem buddy, one last tip, always keep your line slack and don't set the hook until the lure goes under. Good luck. Johnnie

I hear ya I've done it a hundred times like everyone else. That three second pause is a lifetime wait LOL.. We've got two feet of snow on the ground right now and my first club tournament is at the end of March on Barren river Kentucky. So not alot of time on the water before then. But I can't wait to get started!!