3 Lures To Help You Become A Versatile Angler

If there’s one consistent thing about fishing, it’s that it’s inconsistent. One day it’s sunny, 90 degrees, with gin clear water; the next it’s pouring down rain, windy, and the water looks like chocolate milk.Because the conditions, lake types, and weather are so variable, it’s exceedingly important for anglers to be versatile. By being able to quickly adjust their presentation to the current conditions, versatile anglers will consistently out fish anglers unwilling or unable to adapt. To be versatile, it helps to fish with versatile baits – baits that can effectively generate strikes under a wide variety of conditions with minimal adjustment. The following three have that trait in spades, and we break down how you can use them to adapt on the water.

1. Soft Jerkbaits

Plastic minnow imitators, like the Zoom Super Fluke or Yamamoto D-Shad add a huge level of versatility to any angler’s arsenal. Fished weightless with quick jerks they become an excellent topwater presentation. Drag one slowly along the bottom on a Carolina rig and it looks a lot like a sculpin. As long as they’re moving, soft jerkbaits flat out get bit.

2. ½ Ounce skirted jig

A ½ ounce jig can be just as effective in 6 inches of water as it can be in 30 feet of water, and everywhere in between. Swim a white jig up high in the water column to imitate shad; hop a brown one down some rocks to imitate a crayfish; or skip a green pumpkin jig around docks to emulate a feeding bluegill. By changing colors and trailers, you can make a ½ ounce jig imitate just about anything that swims.

3. Soft plastic stick bait

Similar to a soft jerkbait, soft stick baits like the BioSpawn ExoStick and Yamamoto Senko have the ability to generate strikes at any depth, in any presentation and in any water condition. They don’t even need to be moved to generate strikes. From being skipped weightless around docks, to threading one on a shakey head in deep water, the soft plastic stick bait reigns as the versatility king. As long as it’s in the water, you can probably catch a bass on it.What’s the most versatile bait in your tackle box?