A Ton Of Tackle Or A Few Good Lures?

[eric1978]

Every year my box gets smaller, and every trip starts with my four canoe rods rigged with the same baits: Two baitcasters, one with a spinnerbait, one with a topwater, usually a Sammy or buzzbait, rarely a popper. And two spinning rods, one with a 4" fluke, one with a slider. If they're not eating the spinnerbait, I'll try a Wart. If they're not eating any of those baits I'll just drink more beer and enjoy the scenery.

Spring and fall adds a few more lures, but not much. Jigs, tubes and Pointers mostly. In fact I think it's time to commit a few more of the never or seldom used baits to the black hole box of lost souls and downsize the tackle box once again. If I didn't carry so many flukes I could probably fit all the baits I require in my fly fishing hip pack.

[Mitch f]

It's just not pretty enough. We used some of them last weekend during a guided trip with good success. One of my clients was an advertising executive with a large firm, and he told me I'd never be able to sell them at WalMart, because it is just too darn ugly. He suggested I call it a Fugley. Good name, I think.

Where's the picture of the Fugley?

[Al Agnew]

I've pretty well gotten it down to two basic types of crankbaits, two basic types of spinnerbaits, an assortment of buzzbaits, a few topwaters, some jigs, and some tubes...buuuut...I carry a few other things that I think I'd like to try and seldom do, and I carry a LOT of the lures I usually use because I don't ever want to have just one of anything and I want an assortment of colors and sometimes sizes.

A lot depends upon the type of stream I'm fishing. On a big, heavily pressured river, I'll use different stuff than I will on a lightly pressured smaller stream, and on a murky river I'll use some different things than I will on a clear stream. And since I don't want to be switching things out all the time, I carry all of 'em with me all the time. But I have downsized my tackle system. It used to be contained in 5 3701 Plano boxes and 4 3600 Planos. Now I've got it down to just the five 3701s. I guess that's progress.

On the streams I fish most of the time in the summer, I carry five rods, each with a different lure, and basically the same lures:

My homemade twin spin

My homemade crankbait

A walk the dog topwater

A soft jerkbait

A tube

If none of them are working, I might switch out a couple of rods to:

A buzzbait

A jig and plastic trailer

My homemade Subwalk

Tandem willow leaf spinnerbaits

Pop-R type poppers

In addition, "just in case", I carry:

Senkos

Finesse worms

Jerkbaits like a Pointer

Hair jigs

Deep diving crankbaits

Prop baits (topwater)

With most of these lures, I carry a couple colors, usually one dark color and one light color, or one opaque color and one translucent color, or in the case of jigs and soft plastics other than the Superflukes, a greenish color, a brownish color, and black.

[Ham]

I primarily fish for a kayak so I carry a 1/2 ton of lures. I use most of what I carry from time to time. There's a lot of the same baits in different colors.

A walk the dog bait, buzz baits, some top waters, some cranks, some jerkbairs, some jigs, and a lot of soft plastics which are generally fished on jig heads.

I am very satisfied with what I carry. I'm not looking for any more stuff to carry AND I'm not trying to convince anyone else to carry what I carry.

[kkparks_3]

I have a Tals chest pack stuffed with various plastics and sometimes an over the shoulder pack filled with various baits just in case nothing is working, but when it gets down to it all I end up throwing are natural colored grubs, finesse worms, tubes, or flukes 99.9% of the time.

I would be better off carrying just a few packs of those baits, but I usually can't help myself and overpack.

[riverrat]

I carry the kitchen sink because I'm afraid they'll be biting on something I don't have. I have five rods rigged with various lures, usually a Sammy,super fluke, small worm or grub, maybe a torpedo, and always a buzzbait. Usually start out with the sammy, and if they're on it, I don't put it down. Don't use many bottom lures, because the floats I take are from 10-14 miles. If they're not on the sammy I'll throw the fluke, always throwing the buzzbait every half hour or so. It's been my experience that in the summertime, smallmouth are going to turn on to the buzzbait sometime. It's like a switch is suddenly turned on, sometimes early,sometimes in the middle of a bright sunny day, sometimes late. What the heck do they think a buzzbait is?

[Greasy B]

What the heck do they think a buzzbait is?

A fleeing duckling, if you have ever seen a bass pursuing one it’s pretty obvious. On another occasion I saw a Kingfisher chick floundering in the water. The Jitterbug association was equally obvious. Of course like all bass lures it’s the general action that is the trigger not an exact imitation.

[Mitch f]

On the streams I fish most of the time in the summer, I carry five rods, each with a different lure, and basically the same lures:

My homemade twin spin

My homemade crankbait

A walk the dog topwater

A soft jerkbait

A tube

If none of them are working, I might switch out a couple of rods to:

A buzzbait

A jig and plastic trailer

My homemade Subwalk

Tandem willow leaf spinnerbaits

Pop-R type poppers

In addition, "just in case", I carry:

When I go up north to Erie, St. Clair, or the Menominee river, tubes are king. For some reason in Missouri I've never been a big fan of tubes. I've always caught more on jigs and was a little surprised you use them over a jig. Don't quite know why, maybe the head clicks against the rocks a little more with an exposed jig head, sounding more like the clicking of a retreating crayfish.

I stole an idea from Paul Jensen called a Boutube that works pretty well up north. You tear off the tenticles from the tube and tie marabou at the end of the straight shank before the bend starts. The marabou replaces the tenticles and has a spread out action when at rest. The one good thing about a tube is there are so many ways to rig it, more than any lure I know.

[gotmuddy]

I usually carry a bag full of everything, mainly because I am trying to learn new techniques, not just use what has worked in the past. Getting stuck using one type of lure will limit your versatility. Used to, I would fish cranks exclusively, and did good. Year before last I started using jerkbaits alot and did good. Last year was the year of the plastic, and did great. This year will be the year of the finesse worm.

[Chief Grey Bear]

When I go up north to Erie, St. Clair, or the Menominee river, tubes are king. For some reason in Missouri I've never been a big fan of tubes. I've always caught more on jigs and was a little surprised you use them over a jig. Don't quite know why, maybe the head clicks against the rocks a little more with an exposed jig head, sounding more like the clicking of a retreating crayfish.

I'm with you. I have read a lot of the great success of tubes. I just don't seem to have much luck with them. And it may be that I don't fish them enough or long enough. But like you I love fishing a soft craw with a jig head. I like the stand up jigs the most with soft craws and 6 inch worms. I'll use just a regular head with wacky worms and such.