At the end of every season, I reveal the secret baits that caught the most fish for me. Now that my 2015 bass fishing season has concluded, we glance back at the dominating baits and presentations that screamed success for big fish. Revisiting the old standbys, and revealing some new.

At any given time, I keep up to 10 rods rigged and ready near my boat’s front deck….. along with another 10 or so below in my Ranger’s rod locker. A diversified lure selection like this will help not only make you a more versatile angler, but allow you to catch more fish and be prepared for the called upon presentation.

Prime patterns and favorite lures can be revisited each year, especially as the environment and behaviors of smallmouth bass dictate their locations and influence their feeding habits. Each year a few annual constants remain, but new discoveries and techniques succeed in the underwater world below me.

As any observant and scientific-minded angler can conclude, the success you have with your favorite lures and technique-specific methods depends on weather and water conditions, fish locations, and habitats. On the lakes and rivers you fished throughout 2015, what were some of your favorite and most productive methods to catch big fish throughout the year?

Here’s mine….. in no particular order.

Dynamic Lures JSpec

The Dynamic Lures J-Spec is the Ultimate 3 inch jerkbait. Retailing at $7.95, these unique suspending jerkbaits produce an erratic action that triggers aggressive bites. With great suspending action the J-Spec is a great choice to use when targeting smallmouth bass in the shallows, less than 10 feet. The J Spec suspending jerkbait rivals the best suspending hard baits on the market today. Nothing is worse than having trophy fish come unpinned from weak and dull treble hooks. For best results, replace factory hooks with Trokar Tk300 round bend treble hooks.

I fish suspending jerkbaits about 50% of the time and always have at least a few different types tied onto my rods year-round. My favorites are Ghost Fish, Holo Gold, and Chartreuse Shad. I typically work the J Spec on 7 foot medium heavy action spinning rods and reels with 8 lb monofilament and copolymer lines with sharp tugs. The internal weight system and style of polycarbonate lip allows the JSpec the suspend and crank deeper than other comparable lures. The aggressiveness of each jerk and the length of the pause between them varies largely by water temperature and by the stage of any weather front pushing through. Cool water temperatures and post-frontal conditions call for a very slow approach while actively feeding smallmouths and warm water situations demand aggressive jerk and pop techniques. In 2015, the J Spec accounted for several smallmouths up to 20 inches for my guests and I.

Rapala Shadow Rap 11

The Rapala Shadow Rap combines both the vertical and horizontal struggles that a minnow exhibits when frightened before predator. Sculpted with flat-sides, the Rapala Shadow Rap delivers a compact wobble, and erratic darting action with minimal forward movement, so it can maintain a consistent depth within the fish’s strike zone. Internally, the Rapala Shadow Rap is equipped with a fixed weighting system, which works like a minnow’s swim bladder, allowing it to sink with a slow-falling quiver – just like a dying baitfish. This also allows for long casting distances when fished with 8 and 10lb lines on both spinning and casting gear.

Throughout 2015, I exclusively fished the Shadow Rap 11 with medium heavy baitcasting gear and 10lb line. Long casts, coupled with erratic jerks and long pauses resulted in some of the best strikes experienced all season from spring thru fall. Although similar but entirely different, the Shadow Rap 13, a deep diver was experimented by friends and I and used successfully for jerk trolling and open water strolling applications. Keep the 11 for fishing depths shallower than 8 feet (rock bars, shallow flats, etc), and have the size 13 handy for depths greater (open water, deep weedlines).

The Shadow Rap comes with a trio of razor-sharp VMC trebles, but I recommend swapping them in favor of Trokar Tk300 round bend treble hooks.

Rapala Cranking Rap 05

I am a power fishing fanatic. Just like it did in 2013 and 2014, Rapala’s Cranking Rap accounted for the most, and my largest bass of the season, again measuring up to 21 inches. It excelled in early spring during the prespawn stage, early summer during the post spawn stage, mid-summer along major feeding shelves, and in early fall as crayfish presence was still prevalent. Under most circumstances I use a crankbait to search out cover and structure, looking for a reaction bite yet at the same time covering water in search for actively feeding fish. I don’t fish them slowly as one normally would with a fiberglass rod and a lower gear ratio reel. Rather, I power my way to ferocious strikes with speed and power.

Bass Assassin Shad Assassin

Throughout my bass fishing youth, I accumulated a number of Bass Assassin products. One particular bait I neglected these last several years, but turned to often this season is the Shad Assassin. Used exclusively for drop shotting and power shotting, the 3 inch shad offers a natural baitfish profile, whose straight tail design darts and glides through the water with the slightest twitch of the rod. Slender and subtle, the shad assassin features a belly hook slot for easy rigging. Rigged with Trokar TK 180 Finesse Worm Hook (size 1/0), multiple bass can be caught on each bait.

In 2015, I began to fish the drop shot more and more, and found exceptional success with it during the post spawn period and dog days of summer. It’s a numbers presentation, but not one I can fully trust when in pursuit of giants as some big fish were lost with the light line and light rod set up.

Strike King Coffee Tube

The ability to swap out original factory hooks in favor of using a favorite brand and style is where the Freedom Lures Zodiac Jig wins me over. This is a concept many smallmouth bass anglers look for. While the chemically sharpened hooks available in original packaging with the jig are rightfully sharp, I modify the jig to my specifications, making it sharper and stronger to better withstand rocks and snags, by swapping out factory hooks in favor of preferred brands such as OWNER, Eagle Claw, and LazerTrokar. I then take further steps, matching hook type and size according to the soft plastics smallmouths want. The Strike King Coffee Tube gets the nod.

Utilizing an interchangeable hook system, the hybrid football jig weighing at 1/8 oz. allows the bait to swing freely, thus create action. The unique design and profile of this particular rig allows for a weedless and snag-proof presentation. When hooked, smallmouths are not able to use this tube jig as leverage when trying to shake free, thus more fish are landed. No other specific bait or rigging combination accounted for more smallmouth bass in 2015 than this one. My favorite colors: Magic Goby / Crazy Craw. Perhaps it’s in the presentation, bait choice, or merely the angler knowing how to fish the entire package.

Stankx Bait Company 4.25 Jerx

Equally effective for smallmouths, and sometimes even better depending on fish activity levels, soft jerkbaits in the fluke style like the 4.25 inch Jerx by Stankx Bait Company can be fished with the same cadence as a hard jerkbait to draw strikes. It draws strikes from aggressive fish, but also triggers reluctant strikes from wary and conditioned fish. Soft jerkbaits like this and many other brands including the Zoom Fluke, Bass Assassin, and Strike King Caffeine Shad, will produce when the hardbait won’t. It’s important to work a soft jerkbait just as you would a hard jerkbait. Rigged weightless with a 3/0 Eagle Claw Trokar MagWorm with plastic barb keeper, which keeps it honest and gives it a slow sink, I make sure to pop the bait with a few upwards jerks and let it hang and glide slowly down a few feet in the water column. When it’s their time to be used, soft jerkbaits offer a greater hang time in strike zones and will always sink at a slow minimal rate. Additionally, they will offer livelier finesse action which I believe is what tempts conditioned fish and big and old experienced bronzebacks to strike. The soft jerkbait will often catch smallmouths from the same spots where the hardbait blew past them moments earlier.

Finding and catching smallmouths with hard and soft jerkbaits isn’t only a visual presentation for fish, but it’s also a visual experience for anglers. Because the majority of my bites occur on slack line while the hardbait is suspending or softbait is on the glide downward, I always keep my eyes fixated on the top six inches of my rod throughout the entire retrieve. Regardless of light penetration and weather, it’s important to keep a watch on your line and the rod tip.

Jonn Graham’s Warrior Swim Jig

with Stankx Bait Company Damzel

Warrior Jigs manufactures hand painted and hand tied swim jigs and float-n-fly jigs. Each is made individually by my friend, Jonn Graham and his father-in-law, Richard Enright. In spring 2015, Graham had asked me what type of swim jigs I would like to have for this season’s smallmouth fishing. Appreciative of the kind gesture, I requested a walleye jig (top), and yellow perch jig (bottom).

Not being much of a swim jig smallmouth fisherman until this season, and unable to find myself a rhythm with them, the walleye pattern excelled in lakes and rivers where young of year walleyes roam, and smallmouths coexist. This pattern was originally made to combat the overabundant northwoods largemouth bass, but I had different ideas for smallmouths instead. Meanwhile the yellow perch pattern, made to match the hatch during the early fall perch shallow water migrations, produced my largest smallmouth bass of the 2015 season, a 6lb. 2oz. whopper!

Modeled off of today’s modern paddle tail swimbaits, the 3.5 inch ribbed Damzel by Stankx Bait Company has changed the way serious smallmouth anglers will be fishing for years to come. Rig together with Graham’s swim jig, and let the swimming retrieve and lively paddle tail do all the heavy lifting for you. Add continuous rips and jerks into each retrieve to trigger strikes from both active, and well conditioned smallmouths.

Freedom Tackle Spinnerbait

Spinnerbaits work everywhere but fish best for smallmouths when covering water, powering through wind, and searching for big bites. Throughout the year, I was able to locate feeding wolfpacks of smallmouths with the Freedom Lures Spinnerbait. Using a hybrid head design along with a free swinging hook release system, the Freedom spinnerbait allows me to quickly burn through the water column, and gives smallmouths the speed and flash they’re often looking for.

Rapala X-Rap Pop 

Topwaters and surface baits, longtime bass fishing staples at night, are popular for smallmouths. They are hard to beat when surface activity is prevalent, the lakes are heating up from the sunlight above, and insect hatches take place. When either of these conditions are in play, topwaters often get eaten quickly, and generate vicious strikes. One particular surface lure I have enjoyed fishing with these last few seasons is the Rapala X-Rap Pop. In 2014, one single X-Rap Pop accounted for over 300 smallmouths, with several large ones from June through September, and lasted the entire season! Then again in 2015, the same was replicated once again, with several fish surpassing 20 inches.

Now tell me, what were yours?