Thought I'd share the lures which I had the most success with this year when it came to pike, panfish, walleye, and both large and smallmouth bass.
Starting from the top left, my best jerkbait for bass this year was the Lucky Craft Pointer 78 in the Ghost Baby BG pattern. While others caught me numbers of fish, I found that the larger smallmouth really liked the bluegill pattern this year more than others that I fished with. I rigged this on a 7' MF spinning rod loaded with 20lbs braid and some 10lbs fluorocarbon leader to help against rock and zebra mussel abrasion.
Below that is the Rapala Skitter Pop in Frog pattern in size 5. This topwater popper has been a staple of mine for many years and this year it landed more and bigger small and largemouth bass than any other topwater lure I threw this year. I think it caught more and bigger fish because I always had one rigged compared to my other topwaters... I have promised myself that next year I will try other topwater popper and walking type baits in hopes that I can find some that will work in other bodies of water that I fish. I rigged this on a 7' MF spinning rod loaded with 20lbs braid and some 10lbs fluorocarbon leader.
Starting at the top in the middle column of lures is a 4" Berkley Powerbait Chigger Craw in black/blue fleck. I rigged this soft plastic Texas rigged style with a pegged 1/2oz Ultra Tungsten weight on a 3/0 VMC Heavy Duty Flipping Hook. I fished this setup on a 7'2"MH baitcasting rod w/ a baitcasting reel with only 1/2 a spool of 20lbs test fluorocarbon specialized flipping line. This was the first time in many years I tried flipping and pitching and this setup gave me a lot of confidence and the powerful scent really helped me with hookups.
Beneath that is a 2" Berkley Powerbait Ripple Shad in the glow/chartreuse pattern rigged on a 1/64th oz Bass Pro Shops jighead. This lure helped me land a lot of large crappie and perch this fall and was a lure I had never tried before now. It has rightfully found a place in my UL box and is something that I look forward to using again next year, perhaps in larger sizes as well for other species such as bass, pike, and walleye. I rigged the bait on an UL setup spooled with 4lbs fuorocarbon under either a slip float or a smaller sized fixed float.
Third in that column is a simple 2" marabou jig weighing 1/16th oz in the pink head/white body pattern. This simple lure can be fished in many different ways, ranging from under a slip float in shallow water just after ice out for panfish to just a regular jigging retrieve in fast water for walleye and panfish. This small bait accounted for more walleye this spring than any other lure I used and I believe it had a lot to do with matching the size of the baitfish that were present. I rigged this small bait on an UL setup spooled with 4lbs test either under a slip float or with no float at all. If you're using this lure in fast, rocky water, be prepared to lose a few as you find out where the fish are located and what type of retrieve they want. On the upside, you won't find a cheaper bait out there so you won't have to replace them if you need to.
Under that is the Lucky Craft Pointer 100 in the Aurora Green pattern. In my opinion, I don't think you'll find a better jerkbait that will catch the pike which we find in many locales through Ontario. I fished this lure from ice out to season end and pike of all sizes just couldn't leave it alone. Retrieves varied from a fast burning retrieve to trigger fish to a slow retrieve filled with pauses on days when cold fronts would be passing through. I rigged this lure on a 7' MF spinning rod and sized 2000 reel loaded with 20lbs braid. I used a Stringease Fastach Titanium Tippet to prevent bite offs from these toothy critters.
The final lure that I want to highlight this year is the 3/8 Strike King 2 blade Scorcher/Burner spinnerbait in the Chartreuse Sexy Shad pattern. I hadn't spent much time throwing spinnerbaits before but this year I found that on more than 50% of the days I was able to get out and wet a line the wind was blowing quite hard on the main lake spots I fish. I caught both large and smallmouth bass as well as pike on this lure over the course of the year and it produced some decent sized fish as well in the 3-4lbs class in water ranging anywhere from 2-12' in depth. My retrieves ranged from waking in shallow water to yoyoing in deeper water depths. I like to fish spinnerbaits on a 6'6" MM fibreglass baitcaster setup loaded up with 12lbs fluorocarbon line. Due to its design, I never had a pike break off a spinnerbait and this particular brand held up well to aggressive pike and especially the hard pulling and feisty nature of the smallmouth bass I was hooking into. An important feature for me was a stinger hook which comes packaged with the spinnerbait. On some days the fish were just swiping at the bait and if it weren't for the stinger hook I wouldn't have had as many hookups as I did.
Cheers everyone, and I hope that you have a great ice season.
Best Lures of 2018, What brought them in...
