Summer hard baits

[OldTownYakBoi]

I love throwing hard baits this time of year, whether it be a topwater, twitchbait,or the occasional crank bait. What are some of your favorite hard baits and colors you like to throw?

[SWFinatic]

I like throwing a top but it has a lot of limitations. This time of year they stay in the box. A gold spoon would be near the top of the list for me. Sounds silly but if I want to target trout if fish in deeper water (for me that’s 3-4’) I’ll throw a Ratltrap. I find working it similar to a suspending bait but a little faster usually works well if there’s fish there.

[mwatson71]

I am normally a soft plastics guy, but I had the luxury of night fishing from a boat the other night so instead of throwing my old standby Vudu shad, Down South, and others, I opted to get a little creative and fish lures I don't normally throw, including a handful of hard baits.

The first hard plastic was the Mansfield Knocker GOAT with straightline hooks instead of trebles. It is a bone colored topwater that on its first cast landed an 18" speck. It also brought in a handful of undersized specks. With its peanut-shaped body, it was incredibly easy to walk the dog across the surface and it makes a great knocking sound that was effective in the light wind and surface chop. It also brought in a few blow ups in the early morning light, but no hook ups. This will become my go-to topwater and I plan on getting several different colors.

Also thrown was a Shimano World Minnow WM 115 SP in black/silver than landed the fish of the night, a beautiful 25.5" speck. This is the most expensive lure in my arsenal weighing in at a whopping $20. It is 5" and equipped with three treble hooks. I only fish it when I am confident that fish are present and I am trying to find the larger fish. So far it has managed several over 18" and few under that. If ever there was a lure designed to catch fishermen, this is it. It has an internal silver foil piece that appears to flicker even after the lure stops moving, a ball bearing that moves around for longer casting distances, balance, and knocking sound, and the paint job is stunning. I bought it at the Houston Fishing Show in 2022.

The last hard bait I threw was my old hard bait standby, the 4" Yo-Zuri crystal minnow in silver/black. I caught a 16" and a few undersized on it. Usually if I am fishing a hard plastic, this is it unless I am wading Port Mansfield throwing topwaters all day.

[mwatson71]

I like throwing a top but it has a lot of limitations. This time of year they stay in the box. A gold spoon would be near the top of the list for me. Sounds silly but if I want to target trout if fish in deeper water (for me that’s 3-4’) I’ll throw a Ratltrap. I find working it similar to a suspending bait but a little faster usually works well if there’s fish there.

You may want to consider pulling those topwaters out of the box. My friend in Galveston is slaying them right now with topwaters in the early morning and I watched someone almost land a monster trout the other morning on a topwater, but the rookie on the net took two swipes at the trout and missed both times so there was no official measurement, but it was a gator for sure.

[Dandydon]

I endorse the made-in-Argentina Barboleta Léle hard bait in 4" size & color Fire Tiger. It catches trout daytime & night.

It has quality rattles and retrieves in a tight wobble pattern. Only downside is its high price at $15.

Sent from my SM-G973U1 using Tapatalk

[Ron Mc]

those are excellent Don - they remind me very much of Ima (Imakatsu) hard baits, which I have a DHL package with a few that didn't get delivered today (and was scheduled for yesterday).



Ima K-Ta sinking suspending lip plug in mullet on left, and and Koume twitch bait in golden mullet on right.
The topwater in the middle is Tackle House K-Ten - I have a larger black one for wintertime dark mornings.

Lou and I were fishing each of the Ima lures this day and catching fish, and have never tied on one of these without catching something.





In channels, Tackle House Rolling Bait RB 77 is like a divining rod to tell you if fish are down there- if it doesn't get a strike (or four), they're not down there. The lip is on top.

[Kayak Kid]

I suppose that I became a minimalist during the past fifteen years. Minimal kayak gear, camping equipment, and spin tackle. The only lures I fished with were Spook Jr's in white or black, and one quarter oz gold spoons. Hard lures were of little interest to me. I generally caught and released my share of reds and trout.

Fly fishing, my preferred way to fish, is, of course, anything but minimal. I do occasionally catch and release a red or speck, now and then on one of my many, many flies.

[troutslinger]

Topwater!!!! I'll throw all day lol. But mirrodines if not hooking up on tops

[txanalogkd]

I always start with a top water or suspending bait first, and the soft plastics when the sun is up. I do this all year round.