Recommend me some lures

[tm1119]

Kinda just getting back into fishing and have only been throwing minnows/shiners with a bobber. Have been having some success, but just sitting and staring at a bobber gets pretty boring to be honest. Plus I feel catching fish on lures would be more satisfying than letting my live bait do all the work.

So from just reading the forums I can tell senko's are a good way to go. Any specific size, color, shape?

Anything else that is a must have in the tackle box? Fairly easy to use is nice as well as I've pointed out I'm pretty much a rookie with lures.

I'm in South Jersey (kinda feels like I'm in the extreme minority on that?) and will be fishing for large mouth and pickerel mostly. Crappie and Perch are both possible as well.

Will be shopping at Dick's as well if that helps out.

Thanks for any help

[maddhatterr]

Senkos in black with blue flake, and watermelon with black flake are on my never leave home with out them list for large mouth. Other lures that you should pick up are spinner baits and buzz baits.....fish the buzz baits at dusk and dawn! Jitter bugs are a must for slamming bucket mouths at night, I like black. Rapalas are another one you should have in your arsenal.....how much money do you want to spend? The list could get quit long, but those are a few that I like. Im sure some other sharpies will chime in on there favorites as well. Talk to the guys in your local tackle shop, they should be able to point you in the right direction also.

Good luck and post pictures!

[tm1119]

Senkos in black with blue flake, and watermelon with black flake are on my never leave home with out them list for large mouth. Other lures that you should pick up are spinner baits and buzz baits.....fish the buzz baits at dusk and dawn! Jitter bugs are a must for slamming bucket mouths at night, I like black. Rapalas are another one you should have in your arsenal.....how much money do you want to spend? The list could get quit long, but those are a few that I like. Im sure some other sharpies will chime in on there favorites as well. Talk to the guys in your local tackle shop, they should be able to point you in the right direction also.

Good luck and post pictures!

Not looking to go too crazy, but I would have no problem going to Dick's and spending $30-40 for now. Any particular buzz bait? I honestly wouldn't even know what one is lol.

I tried to use a spinner towards the end of last summer and I struggled with coming up with nothing but a ton of vegetation every cast. Anyway to avoid this? Or just a bad lake/time of year?

And I do own 2 rapalas that I inherited. A green crankin rap and a silver husky jerk. Are they what I should using for bass and pickerel?

Thanks for the response and sorry with all the questions lol

[FASTEDDIE29]

Spinner baits will work well this time of year. Pick up 3 colors, maybe black, chartreuse and white. Then pick up 2 crank baits, say something that dives down 4-8 feet. Pick up a few original floating rapalas, black and silver, and maybe a trout pattern. A couple rooster tails or panther martin spinners never hurt, 1/8 ounce size. I hope this is informative. Senkos and plastics are great to use as well. You just gotta know how to use them. Good luck man, and when you catch a monster post it on this AWESOME SITE!!!

[lunkertaker]

Suggest you read this post...everyone has their favorite and they are all good.

http://www.njfishing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56523

[Lard Almighty]

If I could only fish one lure for the rest of my life, it would be a white Mr. Twister grub. The 2" will catch panfish until your arms fall off. Step up to the 3 or 4 inch for bass and pickerel. Rig them on a plain jighead and you're good to go.

[tautog]

Floating rapala is good for shallow water or water with a lot of muck on the bottom, can twitch it on the surface or slow reel it 1 foot down.

[acabtp]

for senkos, the 5" black ones are my favorite

bear in mind that there is a difference between spinners
http://www.mepps.com/resources/fishing-articles/images/id-281-2.jpg
and spinnerbaits
http://www.barlowstackle.com/indeximages/bait03.jpg

spinners seem to catch every weed they go by but will catch all sorts of fish. spinnerbaits are decent at not catching the weeds but pretty much will just catch bass/pickerel/pike (at least in my experience).

floating rapalas are ok, but they're real light for their size, so they don't cast that great. couthdown rapalas are much heavier and nuetrally bouyant; they can be cast much further than the floating ones and i prefer the sinking action anyway.

[acabtp]

buzzbait is like a spinnerbait, but has a paddle instead of blades. also fairly weedless, but mostly a bass bait.
http://blogs.courierpostonline.com/fishhead/files/2009/06/buzz_bait.jpg

[Bergen Angler]

Instead of buying all kind of lures, I would start with something simple and master that lure. Then move on to the next one. If I were you, I would start with a bag of Yum Dinger 5" (Green pumpkin or any natural color) around $4-$5/bag. Then a bag of Zoom finesse worms (5" or 6" Green pumpkin or Watermelon). Then buy some wide gap hooks 2/0, 3/0 or 4/0 and wacky hooks (both weighted and unweighted as well as weedless hooks). You will probably spend $15-$20 for all these.

As for perches and crappies, I would go with 1/16 or 1/8 oz jig and buy some 1"-2" plastic grubs.

[tm1119]

Thanks for all the help guys. Think I'm going to start off with a bag of senkos and a rooster tail for now and see what I can come up with. I'll start to work my way up from there once I start to get the feel for things.

Really do appreciate the help though, Ill report back if I catch anything nice.

[FTD]

Thanks for all the help guys. Think I'm going to start off with a bag of senkos and a rooster tail for now and see what I can come up with. I'll start to work my way up from there once I start to get the feel for things.

Really do appreciate the help though, Ill report back if I catch anything nice.


Pick up a bag of 5 inch green(watermelon) senkos, and wacky rig them with a 1/0 or 2/0 circle hook(or octopus circle). Fish them in shallow water! The water is still cold in most lakes, and the bass are sluggish. When they're sluggish they come up to the shallow waters and hang around. The slow fluttering action of the wacky rigged senko is perfect for these conditions.

[Fish n Jeep]

If I could only fish one lure for the rest of my life, it would be a white Mr. Twister grub. The 2" will catch panfish until your arms fall off. Step up to the 3 or 4 inch for bass and pickerel. Rig them on a plain jighead and you're good to go.


X2, but I prefer a smoke/silver flake color in the 3-4" range.

[bigfishy]

I've NEVER met a body of water that did not have crayfish....
Jig n pigs are my goto at almost any time of yr....Mostly black and blue....
Clear water gets olive and brown....

x3 on the twisters....I like the fat alberts by zoom...Brown w black flake and green pumpkin, 1/8 and 1/4 oz. heads....I'm a jiggin maniac no matter what the target species is...:cool:

[goodfishin]

BTW, I was at Dick's in East Hanover a few days ago. They were running a sale on select fishing tackle. All Rapala's were 20% off and so were some of the plastics. Not Senko's naturally but there were some others that were marked down a bit at least.