Jeff’s Lure Finder
When a customer asks Jeff that question, he asks two of his own: lake or pond, clear or muddy. From those answers — and what the fish are doing — he can point you in the right direction. Answer below and get his pick.
“You can’t catch a fish unless your lure is in the water.” — Jeff
Step right up
1 — Where are you fishing?
2 — Clear or muddy water?
3 — What’s the situation?
Answer all three
Lake or pond, clear or muddy — from those two answers I can point you in the right direction.
Rules of the water
Whatever you tie on, these apply. Decades on the water, boiled down.
01
Counterintuitive if you think light means contrast — it doesn’t work that way down there.
02
Size matters as much as color. Shad hatch means a small shad-colored bait; early spring means crawdad patterns; winter means no frogs — there are no frogs in nature in winter, and it looks suspicious.
03
They rarely look down. Present your bait above them — like a great white shark.
04
Docks, stick-ups, logs, grass clumps, rock piles — anything unusual in the water. A flat open stretch typically won’t hold fish.
05
Summer heat sends them deep or to shade. Fish early morning and evening.
06
Water temp mid-50s to low-60s — January in North Texas — is when the biggest bass feed up. They spawn at mid-60s to low-70s.
07
They look unnatural and kill the action. The only exception is trolling a spinning lure, where a swivel prevents line twist.
08
Invisible and it sinks. Braid for heavy cover and sensitivity — the premium setup is braid mainline with a 10 ft fluorocarbon leader.
09
Smaller diameter means more action and a deeper dive. Heavy line restricts the wobble like pulling it on a heavy rope.
10
A little wind helps disguise the lure.
11
In clear, calm water they’ll follow, inspect, and reject a lure that doesn’t look right.
12
Wait until you feel the weight — especially on frogs and buzz baits.
13
Jeff’s #1 tip across every category. You can’t catch a fish unless your lure is in the water.
Jeff’s Lure Reference
Pick a tray, pick a lure. What it is, when it works, and how Jeff fishes it — plus every finish we paint for that body on the shop.
A hook with lead melted around it for weight — simple at its core. Dress it with a soft plastic trailer (creature bait, worm, grub, minnow, or buck tail) to mimic forage. Sinks to any depth; hop it, drag it, or swim it at any speed.
Shop Bladed Jigs →No blade, no flash — the lead is poured up front so it glides smoothly and bounces off cover instead of hooking into it. Jeff’s pick for the easiest jig to fish, and his favorite jig overall: cast it out and reel it back.
Shop Bladed Jigs →Runs at
Mid-column
A regular jig with a wire holding a small spinner blade underneath the hook. Add your favorite soft bait on top; the blade flashes as it moves.
“Very shiny, flashy — when you go through the water, bass will see that flash and go after it.” — Jeff
Shop Bladed Jigs →Runs at
Mid-column
A rounded or flat base on the lead so the hook stands straight up off the bottom. Thread on a worm and the tail points up into the water column.
“A bass should see a 6, 8, 12 inch worm, stick it straight up, and it’s easy for it to go up there and grab it.” — Jeff
Shop Bladed Jigs →Runs at
On the bottom
A swim jig with a flashy hex blade on the front that puts off a rapid chattering vibration. One of Jeff’s favorites for covering water — and fished shallow it works as a near-topwater. Jeff pours his own chatterbait jigs and trailers.
Big boil but no hookup? Throw it a couple more times, then switch to a slower topwater — a walking bait or frog stays in the strike zone longer.
Shop 7 lures →Runs at
Shallow
On the bench
7 painted finishes for this body
A smaller version of any jig type — a little lead head dressed with a grub or minnow-style bait, sometimes with an underspin. Crappie like bright colors. (Jeff notes they taste good too.)
Shop Bladed Jigs →Runs at
Mid-column
Soft plastic baits built to look and move like a fish — the main thing bass eat. The tail catches water and swims on the retrieve. Jeff’s #1 recommendation for beginners: it catches bigger bass, more bass, and keeps you casting instead of waiting.
Shop Swimbaits →The workhorse of the category. A flat tail catches water and thumps out a swimming action — vibration fish can feel, which makes it especially useful in murky water.
“If you just have one lure, you’re starting out — use a swimbait.” — Jeff
Shop 1 lure →Runs at
Mid-column
On the bench
1 painted finish for this body
A tail variation on the same idea — like a paddle tail, but split for a subtler, more darting action.
Shop 1 lure →Runs at
Mid-column
On the bench
1 painted finish for this body
Jeff pours his own swimbaits from 1.5 inches up to 8. Match the size to the forage: a shad hatch calls for a small bait, big wintering fish can want the full 8 inches.
Shop 2 lures →Runs at
Any depth
On the bench
2 painted finishes for this body
Flash and vibration. Blade choice is the whole game: Colorado (big, round, heavy thump), willow leaf (narrow, fast, flashy), Indiana (in between), and the hex chatter blade. Sometimes they want big and flashy, sometimes finesse — it depends on the season, the water, and the fish.
Browse the Tackle Box →An overhead wire arm with a large Colorado or willow blade on top. A proven early-season bait — the blade catches sunlight and throws vibration bass feel through the water. Put any trailer on the hook: creature bait, worm, swimbait, skirt. Jeff caught his biggest bass — 10 pounds — on one.
Browse the Tackle Box →Runs at
Shallow
What most people picture when they hear "spinner": one big blade on a straight wire shaft, real flashy. Its advantage is speed — it fishes slower than other spinners, so it’s a wintertime pick when you want big flash with a slow presentation.
Browse the Tackle Box →Runs at
Mid-column
A small inline spinner paired with a soft plastic grub. Easy to throw, comes through weeds and grass, and a go-to starter lure alongside a small swimbait.
“Probably caught more bass and panfish than any lure.” — Jeff
Browse the Tackle Box →Runs at
Shallow
Spinnerbait-style frame with a big blade that churns half in, half out of the water — turbulence and noise on top. Run your favorite trailer behind it.
Don’t set the hook on the splash — wait until you feel the weight.
Browse the Tackle Box →Runs at
Surface
It all started when the Creme Lure Company poured the first soft plastic worm in the 1960s and took the bass fishing world by storm. Everything in this category evolved from that bait.
Browse the Tackle Box →The original soft plastic. Long, flexible body that rigs a dozen ways — Texas rig on the bottom for cold pond water, stand-up jig head with the tail waving in the column, and more.
Browse the Tackle Box →Runs at
On the bottom
A rigging style, not a product: hook the worm in the middle and let both ends flutter. Cast it out, move it very little, watch your line, and set the hook when it starts moving. The go-to when fish are sluggish and not biting anything else.
Browse the Tackle Box →Runs at
Mid-column
Doesn’t mimic any one thing — it’s got a little perch, crappie, crawdad, and frog all at once. Very versatile, and the go-to during pre-spawn when bass are feeding heavily.
“Whatever the fish is dreaming about, it’ll see it.” — Jeff
Browse the Tackle Box →Runs at
On the bottom
Shaped like a crawfish and particularly effective in early spring, when crawdads are a primary bass food source. Pair with a jig head or Texas rig.
Browse the Tackle Box →Runs at
On the bottom
Small, compact soft plastics, usually on a jig head — the business end of a Beetle Spin.
Browse the Tackle Box →Runs at
Mid-column
An inch or so of soft plastic on a small jig head. Jeff calls it "a turd on a hook" — it doesn’t look like much, but it could be a crawdad, a baitfish, whatever the fish imagines. The slow fall is everything: bass strike on the fall, so don’t blow through the strike zone. And it’s not just small fish — big bass eat Ned rigs regularly.
“If you’re not hungry but someone puts a big steak right in front of you, you’re going to grab a bite.” — Jeff
Browse the Tackle Box →Runs at
On the bottom
Hard-bodied baitfish imitations. The bill on the front decides how deep it dives and how it moves — the longer the bill, the deeper it goes. These are search baits: cover water quickly to locate fish.
Shop Crankbaits →A flat, square bill that deflects off brush and structure instead of hooking in — a rounded bill slides right into the snag. Runs shallower than round-bill designs.
Shop 6 lures →Runs at
Shallow
On the bench
6 painted finishes for this body
Usually a square bill tuned to run a couple inches under the surface, dragging a visible wake like a baitfish near the top.
Shop 12 lures →Runs at
Surface
On the bench
12 painted finishes for this body
Bill length sets the depth: mid-divers sit between a square bill and a deep diver; deep divers carry a long rounded bill that drives the bait down. Best on lakes with hard bottoms — in a muddy farm pond they’ll dig into the silt and drag through crud. Jeff’s winter lake pick: a reddish deep diver, big bill, medium-slow retrieve.
Shop 18 lures →Runs at
Deep
No bill — an internal rattle and body vibration instead. A reaction bait: fish it fast to trigger strikes, and use it to locate bass because you can cover territory quickly.
“Probably one of the better lures to catch fish.” — Jeff
Shop 16 lures →Runs at
Mid-column
Long, slender body with two or three treble hooks, jerked through the water column like a wounded baitfish. Three buoyancies: floating (the most common — excellent when bass are schooling on shad at the surface), neutral (suspends on the pause), and deep diving (tends to catch the most fish, but harder to find in stores).
Shop Crankbaits →Runs at
Mid-column
Fished on the surface, where the appeal is visual — you see the fish come up and eat. You’ll catch more fish below the surface, but nothing matches watching a wake push through the moss before the blow-up. Great for kids and beginners because the strike is the show.
Shop Topwater →A small cup-faced plug you pop along the surface for sound and splash. Jeff used to throw small poppers on a fly rod in the summertime — very effective.
Shop 6 lures →Runs at
Surface
On the bench
6 painted finishes for this body
A hollow-body bait fished over heavy cover — lily pads, moss, matted grass — without snagging. Very good for ponds. You’ll miss more strikes since the fish has to fully engulf the hollow body, but it’s a lot of fun.
Cadence: twitch-twitch-twitch, pause — a frog kicking, not a steady swim. And don’t set the hook on the splash; wait for the weight.
Shop Topwater →Runs at
Surface
Cigar-shaped; a rhythmic rod-tip cadence walks it side to side like a wounded baitfish. The switch-up bait: when a fish follows a fast chatterbait but won’t commit, a walking bait in the same spot stays in the strike zone long enough to trigger the strike.
Shop 13 lures →Runs at
Surface
The classic — wobbles side to side on a plain steady retrieve. Simple and effective.
Shop Topwater →Runs at
Surface
One or more propellers spin and splash on the retrieve — surface disturbance and sound.
Shop 9 lures →Runs at
Surface
On the bench
9 painted finishes for this body
Every lure here was built and tested by Jeff and Ray on the same Texas water you’re fishing. Grab a swimbait, tie direct, and go.
