Best bait of 2013?

[t-billy]

 For me it was the Do-it Grass/Swim jig with a Chub Grub trailer hands down. I didn't start fishing this rig until mid summer,but it still put more fish in the boat than anything else. With weights ranging from 1/8th-1/2 oz you can do everything from crawling it over lilly pads in a foot of water to slow rolling it over rock piles in deep water. It also comes through wood cover very well with a slow steady retrieve. I throw this thing into places I wouldn't dream of throwing a square bill. The hookup percentage is very good, and once hooked they seldom come off. It produced well in water temps from 80+ down into the low 40's. My last trip out this year, I caught 6 fat river smallmouth slow rolling a 3/8 oz shad pattern swim jig in 43 degree water. I have a hard time putting this bait down.
 What say Y'all?

[TommySkarlis]

For me it had to be a toss up with the two following:

Berkley Flicker Shad #6
Do-It Fishing spoon/Hutch Hawg Spoon (One Eye)

I really learned how to effectively fish the spoons - had one day when I and my partner caught over 200 walleyes (I have witnesses) and most of them "throttled" it!

[Muskygary]

I fished mainly panfish this past summer. For me I like to drop shot with two hooks above the weight. The bottom hook is a 1.75 Small Fry, the top hook is a nano fry. Used a bunch of different colors and caught all the panfish I wanted by drifting over 20 foot flats dragging the dropshot rig. This year I will be mainly fishing walleye on a nearby lake and will try a variety of plastic baits.

[Blackhawk19]

Vertical jigging a 1.75  fry I poured on a 1/16th gamukatzu jig head on a 9' jig pole that I built!

[siscojj]

I've used frog baits in the past and never even had a strike untill i got the ccm/do-it frog and i caught alot and i've been using a 5" senko type bait from BT and have caught alot and yes i have purchased the do-it licensed senko mold and i shoots way better than BT as far as defects while cooling those two have been my best producers,other than my spinner baits i haven't used anything but the plastics i make.         Jay

[Justin9j]

Drews cranks. And 5 in skinny. On my shaky head.  Toss up.

[pjmcla]

We did not bass fish much this past year.  We chased white bass some when we were not cat / buffalo, or bream / crappie fishing.  For our white bass fishing, jigging the 3/4 oz. Do-it shad spoon is king, with another rod rigged with a white / chartreuse rooster tail for shallow / schooling fish. For bream / crappie, the small fries on a 1/16 beetle spin frame.    We caught cats & buffalo on the jigging spoons as well; but they were pursued with live / natural bait most of the time.
 

[BareKnuckleJigs]

I can't say that I had a Best Bait in 2013.  I really didn't fish much this year, but when I did, I made what I feel were Educated Choices (for lack of a better term) and they usually produced quite well.  If I'd fished more I may have a Best, or Bests, but unfortunately that wasn't the case.

I stuck some FINE Speckled Trout on a Skinny Bait that I like alot, a non-CCM/Do-It bait that I shoot and am a fan of.  My venerable 4" Skinny sat on the bench while I utilized other Players.

The 3" Croaker saw some teeth this year, and I've followed-up by Truly Enriching my stock of them.

All in all, I didn't do enough fishing to present all (or most) of my applicable baits this year.  Hopefully more Reel Rinsing is necessary during 2014...although I can NOT complain...not for one second.

[Billmo]

3" glider has been the trick for me.. did a lot more inshore salt fishing this year and it was the ticket.. I ended up giving out a bunch of them this year to people who weren't catching and then turning around and seeing them catch.. Great mold.. Its also the bait I made for the Wounded Warriors event I went to during the summer..

[Lamar]

   Poison Tail Jig worked the best for me this year from about mid to late June on. Early spring it has been the 5 1/2 sinko. Wacky rig around beds and open water and Texas rig in weeds and pads. Later in the fall was frogs in the pads and muck and small square bill cranks on the ends of trees over deep water. With fishing you need to change with the seasons. Just like the fish do.

[basshunter5]

Definitly my 4" Hand dipped flipping tubes. I didn't get to fish much this year which makes me sad lol but when I did get to go they were my go to bait. I won my clubs first tourny of the year on them by 6lbs and my partner took big bass 5.8lbs.  Lol I had to miss 4 of the tournys this year and let my partner use my boat and even though he didn't win any of the tournys he took big bass in 3 of them all on the same tubes. Green pumpkin

[MO QWACK]

Hand grenades in dark green or the old crank phone worked best  but my less noticeable go to was...
Crappie was the 2.5 fry in char. And white
For bass well... I'm a cranker so any crank bait but we had a great top water bite this year and the Sammy won top honors

[CrabbyBass]

My best lure this year was our Crabby Helgie. It accounted for over 100 smallies being caught in a week up in Door County. I also did pretty well with it at home too. It is just amazing what this little actionless lure catches. My runner up was the tiny toad sticker rigged on a Jika rig. I caught quite a few fish on that this year too.

[Botanophilia]

7" ribbon tail worm in summer, 4" toad in fall.  2 1/4" triple tail grub and Daiwa SC Shiner cranks all year for panfish.

[WALLEYE WACKER]

5"skinny , frog,4" chub grub on a poison tail jig 4" ribbed worm ,3" glider and 3" st on tear drop with wire keeper all killer baits. Mike