First Confidence Bait?

[Mitch f]

Probably a finesse worm on a split shot rig or small 1/16 or 1/8 ounce texas rig. I remember throwing them around docks and stumps and catching tons of Bass that way. Funny that I was using the same thing this past weekend at Beaver Lake and it still works when the bite is tough.

Agreed, a 4" worm is hard to beat when it's tough.

[Flysmallie]

I can't just have one. I have always had several at a time and now I have lots of them depending on the situation. Some baits come and go and some have remained on that list forever. I can't remember the first one, but I do remember the newest one, it came last to me last Thursday.

[timr0123]

Here's a timeline list of mine

70's - blue back and white floating Rapala minnows and white Sparkle Tails.

80's - Mann's white spinnerbaits and plum crazy Gene Larew salt craws:-) .

90's - same as the 80's

2000's - Senko's and spinnerbaits.

20 teens - StrikeKing crankbaits, football jigs and spinnerbaits.

(Thanks Dad for teaching me to fish! Miss you.)

[David Unnerstall]

Tandem spinner bait.

[Andy & JoAnne]

For lakes, its gotta be the Rebel Pop-R. For streams it's Trophy-Fishr's home made jigs.

[Greasy B]

I liked the timeline, here's mine:

Early 70's- Limburger Cheese/Hamburger stink bait.

Late 70's- Beetle Spin.

80's- Rooster Tail.

90's- Funky Chicken.

2000's- Zara Puppy.

20teens- Senko.

[Al Agnew]

Yeah, I like the timeline thing, too...

1960s--I cut my teeth fishing Wappapello Lake with my dad, almost literally, since I bass fished there with him from the time I was 7 or 8 years old. And my first reservoir go-to bait was a 400 series Christmas tree color Bomber crankbait, along with a Devils Horse topwater. By the time I was in my early teens I was fishing Big River seriously for smallmouth, and although my first go-to artificial was the 2 3/4 inch Rapala, I suppose my real first go-to bait there was a live crawdad.

1970s--by this time I was fishing a lot of local tournaments, and the Bomber was still my best lure. I can't say that I ever fished stuff like plastic worms enough to call them a go-to bait. On the rivers, by this time it was a Shannon Twin Spinner, a Midge-oreno, and a Tiny Torpedo for topwater.

1980s--I'd mostly stopped fishing lakes except occasionally, but when I did I still used the old Bomber a lot, and I fell in love with the Baby Zara Spook. On the rivers I was using my homemade twin spin and homemade crankbait, and buzzbaits.

1990s--Probably about the same as the 1980s.

2000s--I added other walk the dog topwaters to my go-to list. Otherwise it stayed the same.

2010s--It's still the same.