Take a look at some of the best bass catching baits of 2019 and baits you need to have in your tackle arsenal for 2020!!!

Benjamin's Channel: http://bit.ly/BenjaminNowak

If you want to give MONSTERBASS a try you can use code "BEN15"and get your first box for as little as $10 over at www.monsterbass.com

Unlike our competitors we do not send a box of random baits. We handpick baits based upon the area of the country where you live and fish.

Video Transcript:

What is going on everyone. My name is Benjamin Nowak with MONSTERBASS.  Today's video we're going to be focused on my Top 5 Baits of 2019 as well as baits that you guys need to have in your arsenal for 2020. So one of the things that it makes all of these baits fit into this best baits category is a versatility. You can fish them a bunch of different ways around a bunch of different types of cover and be successful. Smallmouth, largemouth, spotted bass, they're all going to catch all three species. So these are baits that you guys have to have, no matter where you're fishing.

The first one I want to talk about is a lipless crankbait. Now this is probably the most iconic lip lipless crankbait ever produced. The Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap. This is what gave other lipless crank baits the name, “the trap.”   This is a great bait to be fished a bunch of different ways and one that caught me a bunch of big fish on it this spring. Dragging along the bottom was the deal, with slight lifts and drops. I caught a bunch of fish fishing it around it really heavy grass, but it's really good lipless crank bait, for all season long. One thing that makes us bait so unique is that flat squared off face that's going to allow this bait to come through grass really well. It's gonna rip free from that grass, which is going to trigger a lot of bites, but it's also going to be able to fish really slowly along the bottom well cause it's flat face deflects that cover away from the hooks.

But if you're looking for a bait that has a little bit more shimmy, shimmy on the fall and movement when you're pulling it up, you're going to want to go with the Strike King Red Eye Shad.  This bait has a little bit more rounded body profile. So if you're fishing around open water situations where you need fish that to lift and then shimmy on the fall lift shimmy on the fall, the Red Eye Shad, it's going to be the bait that I would go with. That rounded body profile's going to give this bait more movement action on the fall versus the Rat-L-Trap lipless crank bait, which is gonna fall slightly more nose down with a little bit less movement. Great bait for open water when you're dragging it on the bottom or fishing around heavy grass. I like this bait when I'm fishing it with a little bit more of that yo-yo style retrieve. Another really good lipless crankbait that's out there on the market is a BooYah one knocker.

The key here is you have to figure out how the fish want that bait. Actually even I'll leave a link up here on the corner for you guys to go check out. We have a video talking about different retreats with lipless crank baits that I filmed this spring and caught some really big smallmouth, but go check that video if you want some more information on lipless crank baits.

The next bait, another ultra versatile bait is a bladed jig, a vibrating jig. What makes this bait so effective is its ability to be fished like a bunch of different types of lures - it's kind of like a combination between a spinner bait, a crank bait, a jig, and you can fish it just like that. But it's also really effective around grass where all of those other baits fail to be as effective. Now this is the Strike King Thunder Cricket - a brand new bait for 2019 release at ICAST, and really started becoming extremely popular on the market.

One thing that's different about this bait is actually the blade on this vibrating jig - it's more rounded off. So it's going to have a really, really fast action and it's going to act more erratically around open water situations. That’s going to cause this bait to dart side to side a little bit more than your standard squared off Z-man style blade like that. However, I would choose the Z-Man blade around grass. It's going to break through that grass a little bit easier and I'm going to throw the thunder cricket when I'm around a little bit more open water situations which is something Alex Rudd helped me figure out, so shout out to Alex. That dude loves to fish a chatterbait/vibrating jig cause it catches big fish. So pick up a vibrating jig and go catch some big fish. By the way, the Thunder Crickes is coming in our January MONSTERBASS - Strike King take over box.  Iif you guys want to buy that box, go down, link in the description, go check it out. Use a called “BEN15” to get $15 off the first box and get yourself a Strike King Thunder Cricket.

Now the last hard bait in the category is going to be a jig. Now a jig really isn't any sort of secret, but this is the Strike King Hack Attack Fluoro jig.  What I like about this is that it’s a super compact profile, but again, versatility. You can flip this bait. And one way that I had a ton of success fishing this bait this year was actually swimming this bait through the water column. Now this is a three eighths of an ounce and I like that three eighths of an ounce pretty much all around because you can skip it up under docks, you can fish it in grass, you can fish it from zero feet to 20 feet really effectively.

I like to swim a jig and it’s a great way to get a lot of big bites - something I did a ton in the spring, but it works all year long!  All you're going to do cast the bait out, typically around grass or some sort of shallow cover and just slowly retrieve it back in like a swimbait, like a spinner bait, or actually like a bladed jig.  What’s nice is that it catches a lot of big fish swimming, but you can also take and drag that bait so when those fish are following it, you can slow down. If they don't want to eat it on the swim, you can fish it just like your standard jig and catch a lot of big fish. I actually trim this skirt a ton. This is something I like to do early season and really late season when those fish are really getting finicky. So this is basically finessed trimmed, but it comes with a lot bulkier skirt from that that you guys can fish no matter how you guys want to fish it.

A bait that has been drawing a lot of popularity over the last couple of years is some sort of Ned rig plastic. The Ned rig catches a lot of giant fish for me, mainly small mouth,but I don't fish it very much for largemouth because I pick up that jig a lot, but these are two of my favorites that were released this season. The first one is the Z-Man TicklerZ and this actually came in the very first MONSTERBASS box ever. Something I like in my ned baits is for them to have a little bit of action even when that bait is sitting dead still or being dragged on the bottom. So the Z-man TRD TicklerZ is a great bait. Again, I'm choosing really versatile colors - the green pumpkin, your green pumpkin whites, “The Deal”, are really good colors in the Z-man TRD TicklerZ.

I also had a really cool opportunity this year with MONSTERBASS to design a color for the MONSTERBASS box. Now this is an XZone Lures Ned zone and the color is called Monster. When I was designing this color, what I wanted was something I can fish all year long, whether I'm fishing around crawfish, whether I'm fishing around bluegill, smallmouth or largemouth. And what it is is it's a light green pumpkin back with some black flake, some orange on the back. Then you have a more pearlescent white belly with some black and a little bit of green ish style of flake in the belly. Super versatile color catches a lot of big fish.  This is a bait that I'm going to actually swim like a little swim bait and that bulb on the tail is going to give this a little shimmy when it's reeling through the water.

For me it's a lot like you would fish a hair jig or a spy bait. I take this bait and I like to reel it up in the water column to try and trigger those bass to bite. Again, super versatile color, really cool opportunity with MONSTERBASS to create a Monster branded color for XZone Lures.

The final bait is one that just flat out catches fish is a creature bait. This is the VandM Baits J-bug.  The J-bug caught my attention when I was following the guys around the FLW Tour. Nick LeBrun fishes this bait a ton. He flips it, he swims it, he puts it on the back of a chatterbait. It's a great bait that has a bunch of appendages that moves a lot of water, kicks a lot, catches a lot of big fish. Another really popular one is the Strike King Rage Bug. Again, just the versatility of a creature mate is kind of unmatched anymore on the market because you can do so many things with it.  It's a great swim jig trailer. It's a great jig trailer. It's great with little Texas rig bullet weighed in front of it. Actually my man Alex Epperson, what he likes to do is take a little one eight ounce weight Texas rig on an EWG style hook. Just swim at right below the water, catches a bunch of big fish that way. So take yourself a creature bait, learn how to fish it, learn how to become effective with a creature bait and are going to catch a lot more fish.

All of these baits are things that you guys can go out and be successful with. No matter where you're fishing, when you're fishing, time of year, location, these are all baits that are going to catch fish if you can only carry five baits.  These are baits that. I've developed a ton of confidence in in 2019 as well!

If you guys enjoy this video, please do me a huge favor - hit that subscribe button down below and go check out the MONSTERBASS box. All the baits in this video are things that have come in a MONSTERBASS box or coming into MONSTERBASS box, and they're things that you guys can use to go out and catch big fish with. As always, thank you guys for watching and I'll catch you next time.