Editor's Note: I wrote this article several years ago, but it is ageless because these baits, some of which have been around for a long time, will always catch fish.)
A Dozen Deadly Baits By Tony Dean
Why is it so many of us pack tackle boxes full of lures and then use just a few of them? I suspect it’s an angler’s way of saying, “Hey, those tackle manufacturer’s have to eat too,” and besides, each of us wants to believe that every bait that occupies a slot in our box, will catch at least some fish. Still, there are certain baits I find myself going to more often, and that is because they have withstood the toughest test of all. They nearly always catch fish.
The Fuzz-E-Grub
I don’t know who actually created this bait but it’s been marketed under the Lindy Little Joe banner for as long as I can remember. Let’s admit a truth here. All leadhead jigs will catch fish…and this is a leadhead jig…but day in and day out, I’m convinced it will catch more.
It has two things going for it other than the fact that as a jig, it is already one of the deadliest fish catchers of all. It has a soft plastic body that has a natural feel, and one I suspect that causes fish to hold onto it a bit longer. And it has a marabou tail. There is no material, no fiber, no metal, no nothing that wiggles quite so seductively in water than marabou. It is a soft feather that comes from the belly of a domestic turkey that can be dyed any color you desire. Dry, it doesn’t look like much, but drop it in water and it comes alive.
There was a time when the Fuzz-E-Grub body came in the basic colors, but today, you can even get it with the sparkleflake that makes it rival the side view of any bass or walleye boat. Does the sparkle catch more fish? Damned if I know, but it sure looks pretty.
Let me name some of the fish I’ve caught on Fuzz-E-Grubs. Walleyes, large and smallmouth bass, pike, trout, crappies, skipjack, carp, channel catfish, musky, bullhead, and in less than an hour in saltwater, key mangrove snappers, snook and a strange looking fish whose name I cannot recall.
There is one thing to remember about this bait. Fish it for anything else but walleyes, it is a lure. Fish it for walleyes, and in the words of John Cooper, it is a “livebait transport system.” The point is, if you add a minnow, leech or piece of crawler, a deadly bait becomes deadlier.
I do remember a day on the Missouri River south of Bismarck when the walleyes were really snapping. I ran out of bait but the fish continued to inhale a blue & white Fuzz-E-Grub. I honestly don’t think that will happen often, but it says something about the fish-catching ability of the Fuzz-E-Grub.
Rapala
My tackle box contains hard baits of many styles and colors but I find myself tying on a Rapala more often than not. And in spite of the fish-attracting abilities of the Shad Rap, Shad Racket, and others, I don’t think there’s a more versatile crank in the world than the Countdown Rapala. I’ll fish it in any color, but especially the basic black and silver.
I fish the Rapala mostly on spinning tackle though I tie it on the end of my baitcasting outfit from time to time, usually when I need to fish the larger 9 or 11 sizes. Always use a snap (not a snap-swivel) to give it freedom of action on the retrieve.
I like that Countdown in size 7 and 9. I’ve used it to catch pike, walleyes, and both species of bass, white bass, and numerous others. It’s a sinking lure, said to sink a foot. Read the instructions and you’ll count it down a foot per second until it hits the depth you want to fish. It is a bait so deadly, so versatile; it belongs in every tackle box.
Lindy Rig
There is no better way to present live bait when fish are becoming active following a front, than with a Lindy Rig. This is simplicity. A shoehorn-shaped sinker, a 3-foot snell and small hook. The sinker has a hole through which the line can pass freely. It is fished with the bail open, and at the first tug of a fish, the line is released. Count to three, take up the slack, and if you feel weight, set the hook.
As simple is this approach is, technology has now made it even better via the new No Snagg sinker, a banana-shaped affair, that is nearly snag-free. The trick, as it is with all live bait rigs, is to fish it as vertical as possible. Yet, the unique design of this sinker renders it as snag-free as anything I’ve ever used. In four seasons, I’ve lost just a few sinkers. The rig can be fished with minnows, leeches, or nightcrawlers.
Spinnerbait
The spinnerbait, a safety pin style bait that features a whirling blade and plastic skirt, looks like nothing that lives in our waters, yet for northern pike, large and smallmouth bass, it is a deadly lure. Add a twister tail to the single hook and it becomes even more attractive for pike and can be used for musky too.
The spinnerbait is effective when fished with a straight retrieve, with occasional pauses or “slow-rolled,” that is; allowed to fall a bit then retrieved followed by more drops.
It’s my favorite bait when I’m in big northern pike country. Pike hit this lure with reckless abandon. By flattening the barb, you can more easily release fish, and I think you get better penetration too.
If you’re fishing bass, it really works great where there’s a lot of timber in the water. There’s something about a spinnerbait crashing into wood, sliding off to one side and continuing on its way, that drives bass wild.
And here’s a secret. If you’re fishing walleyes around flooded timber such as you find in Waubay or Devils Lake, try fishing a small spinnerbait…the Beetlespin is my favorite…and you’ll be amazed at how attractive walleyes find this bait to be.
Blade Baits
Blade baits such as the Heddon Sonar and others, can be terrific for walleyes and smallmouths. The late Billy Westmoreland of Tennesee was a smallmouth addict, and in some of the clear water lakes in that state, he vertical jigged blade baits with great success.
The first time I realized how deadly this bait was on walleyes occurred in the areas below dams on the Mississippi River where vertical jigging a blade bait in those dark waters, is a great way to catch walleyes and sauger.
John Cooper of Pierre likes to move slowly with an electric trolling motor, letting the blade bait fall to the bottom and then lifting it up rapidly. He’s actually trolling, but says the fish hit it hard.
Jack Merwin and I used to anchor on the river at Pierre, cast it downstream, and fish it back just as you would a leadhead jig.
Plastic Worm
I don’t know of another bait that triggers strikes from largemouth bass better than a 6-inch plastic worm. In fact, I’ll wager that the plastic worm has taken more bass over the last 20 years than any other lure.
Few fishermen really understand how to fish it properly. It should be rigged with a very light, cone-shaped slip sinker, which enables you to fish it through weeds, especially if you Texas-rig the worm. To do that, run the worm hook through the tip of the plastic worm, then out, slide the worm up to the eye of the hook, and then bury the point into the worm. Finally, take a round wood toothpick, jam it into the tip of the sinker, and shove it as far as it will go, and break it off. “Pegged” in that manner, the worm and sinker stay together. Fish it with a series of lifts and drops. Bass will usually take it as it falls and all you’ll feel is a little “tick.” Just as in jig fishing, that’s as good as it gets. Set the hook quickly and hard.
The hottest approach to smallmouth fishing these days utilizes a 4-inch worm rigged the same way, but fished straight back to the boat with no lifts, no falls, nothing but a straight, steady retrieve. Smallies eat it up.
The Woolly Bugger
If I were limited to one fly for all species, it would be the Woolly Bugger, perhaps the fishiest looking fly ever conceived by man. It can be tied in any color, though black and olive seem to be the ones used by most, especially trout fishermen.
No one knows who was the first to tie the Bugger. It features a bushy tail of marabou, a body of chenille, and a soft, webby hackle. This fly is a sub-surface pattern, and with each tiny movement, it shimmers; the tail pulsates and the hackle breathes.
I remember watching a fly fishing video done by Gary Borger, who suggested that when trout aren’t rising, the angler should pinch on a small split shot just ahead of the fly and cast it cross current, fishing it back with short, erratic 4 to 6-inch strips. In such cases, you will find it so effective that you’ll fish it even when the trout are rising. Trout always hit a Woolly Bugger.
But so do large and smallmouth bass, crappies, northern pike, carp, channel catfish and walleyes. In fact, any fish that swims in freshwater and eats other fish will take a Woolly Bugger.
The first Chinook salmon I ever took on a fly rod took a heavily weighted Woolly Bugger fished along the bottom in 40 feet of water via a fast sinking flyline. That salmon, an Oahe ten pounder, towed me around for a while. Yes, I was in a float tube.
I’ve fished chartreuse Buggers in for big salmon in Alaska, black and olive Buggers most everywhere for almost every kind of fish, and in recent years, I have slightly weighted them with lead or copper wire, gone to crystal flash chenille bodies and all with great results.
When it comes to tying Woolly Buggers, you are limited only by your own imagination. And almost every one, even poorly tied ones, will catch fish.
Daredevle Spoon
There are Daredevle spoons and…all the other imitations. The real thing catches fish in bunches, especially Northern Pike. In fact, no other lure is so synonymous with one species of fish than this all time great lure in red and white.
Yet, it will catch almost any species of fish. In fact, back in my very early days of walleye fishing, perhaps in the early 1970s when I didn’t know any better, I caught lots of walleyes on a red and white Daredevle. Later, as I grew to become a self-proclaimed expert on walleyes, my fishing pals laughed me into submission if I so much as even considered tying on a Daredevle.
But I will let you in on a secret.
Daredevles still catch walleyes. And why should we be surprised? After all, there’s nothing in the underwater world that is chartreuse in color, yet a majority of all walleyes fall for that color in jigs, rigs, and cranks.
There’s no red and white either, and that’s why you should never laugh at a guy who, when the going gets tough, decides to go with a Daredevle.
Johnson Silver Minnow
I was fishing Brakke Dam near Presho, SD when I spotted some movement in the vegetation off a point in the upper end of the lake. A big largemouth probably had some small bluegills cornered in that weedbed, and I had just the tool to take him out. I flicked my Johnson Silver Minnow tipped with a plastic grub into the thick stuff. That’s what the old Silver minnow does best. It goes through heavy cover without snagging.
I’d turned the reel handle no more than a half-dozen times when all hell broke loose, and I was sure I was connected to the granddaddy of all big bass, maybe even a state record.
Well, it was big but no record breaker. However, that 20 pound catfish was the biggest fish I’ve ever taken on a Silver Minnow and it sure made for some good television footage.
The Silver Minnow is always a good choice when you have to take bass out of heavy cover, and it works well on pike too. It becomes even more effective when tipped with a plastic trailer.
The Beetle Spin
This is actually a spinnerbait but because it differs somewhat from the traditional one, it gets a slot of its own. It comes in a variety of sizes with the largest, a quarter ounce bait. It has a spinner, which always rides high, and a grub body on a round jighead. And it’s a terrific bait for smallmouths, largemouths, panfish, and well, almost any fish that inhabits shallow water.
I always forget to try one when I fish the tree-studded shallows of Devils Lake, but I believe it would be a great bait for pike and walleyes in that situation.
I can still remember watching Virgil Ward’s “Championship Fishing” television show, and at the end of each, he’d run that Beetle Spin through the water to demonstrate what he used to catch all those fish. Now the truth is, Virg would demonstrate that bait whether he caught fish on it or not, but we didn’t mind. Virg was a gentleman who pioneered outdoor television and helped me greatly when I started in that business. He never received the credit he deserved and few people knew he was the owner of Ward Tackle Company and one of his creations was a great bait called the “Beetlespin.”
Jig & Pig
This is a big bass bait that also works great on big pike in cold water. The Jig & pig as it is known, is nothing more than a leadhead jig, generally a ballhead style, with a plastic skirt such as those that adorn the spinnerbait. However, it differs from a typical walleye jig in that the line tie is on the front of the jig instead of at the top. That design enables it to fish well in heavy cover. The “pig” part of it is a pork chunk, usually a #11 Uncle Josh pork frog. However, most knowledgeable bass fishermen use pork only in cold water and opt for a plastic trailer at most other times.
The jig & pig is “flipped,” by virtue of a very stiff “Flippin’ Stick,” usually a 7-foot rod, baitcasting reel and no less than 20-pound monofilament. The idea is to flip the bait into heavy cover and fish it very slowly and vertically. I like to let it fall to the bottom, let it set for anywhere between a few seconds to a half-minute or so. Then if you haven’t been bit by that time, jig it slowly and slow the fall with your rod tip. The strike will nearly always be a “thunk,” and because the fish is usually in the tough stuff, rear back and drag it out. This is one time when the old saying, “Play with the fish after you get it into the boat,” really applies.
I mentioned northern pike. Next time you’re lucky enough to find open water in the spring prior to the spawn, try fishing the jig & pig. It’s deadly on big northerns.
Mepps Spinner
I can’t think of a fish species you can’t catch on a Mepps spinner. For rainbows and browns in Black Hills streams, a small Mepps is a killer. It’s a terrific fall salmon lure. And it works during the summer months on everything else. In its larger sizes such as the Mepps Musky Killer, it is exactly what its name implies. I’d never be without a few of them in my tackle box.
