In this MONSTERBASS fishing tip video, Jeremy Francis from YouTube's "Fishing The Lonestar" channel shares the knowledge you need to help you catch more fish.  Watch this video to learn what the 5 baits are that you need to have in your tackle box, the next time you're fishing ponds.  

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Video Transcript:

Jeremy Francis:
This is a lot of tackle, too much tackle to be out pond fishing, which is why today we're going to help you minimize your tackle, break it down to top five bait that you need to make sure you're carrying to maximize your catches on the water when out pond fishing, but to minimize your tackle. Let's go.

Jeremy Francis:
My name is Jeremy with Fishing the Lonestar. Today, I'm taking over the MONSTERBASS channel to break down the top five pond baits. Let's start with number five, the top water frog. Now top water frog comes in many shapes, sizes and variations. For example, you have kind of your standard walking frog, you got a buzz frog or a popping frog. Now again, in the effort of minimizing, instead of going from three different versions in three different colors of each, we're going to minimize this down to one version and three colors, and then you can pick the color based upon the type of water you're fishing.

Jeremy Francis:
So first let's talk about what type of frog that I personally would throw if I was wanting to minimize, and that would be a popping frog. The reason why is because a popping frog, you can barely twitch, you can walk, you can pop loudly to bring a lot of attention and noise. This is the Blitz Lure Popper Frog that I got in my MONSTERBASS blocks about two months ago. It's got a nice keel bottom to it that walks really well. It's got a cup, the lip that pops really loud or softly, and quite honestly, I can work this fast. I can work it slow and I've gotten a ton of great fish so far, just in the last two months on this frog or the white version or the brown and black version. So why three different colors? Brown and black I would throw more on cloudy days or dirty or stained water. Your white or shed color, I would throw in clear water or on clear days. And then your kind of yellow, green frog, I would throw in slightly stained water, partially cloudy days, somewhere in the middle.

Jeremy Francis:
Overall, I've probably caught more fish on these two, the white and green versions, but the black and brown, I know several guys on the MonsterBass team who have already been crushing it on this frog right here. All around, a great frog. So number five is the top water frog. Really quickly, though, I want to talk about how you should throw it. You should throw it on a heavy rod with braided line. You might be able to get away with a medium heavy rod. You might be able to get away with fluorocarbon. Absolutely do not throw a top water frog on a monofilament. There's too much stretch in the line. Fluorocarbon line actually sinks, although it is sturdier lines, so if you're walking a frog fast, you can use fluorocarbon. Otherwise, use braid, use a heavy rod, okay? That's what you need to throw a top water frog and the action with these, you're going to throw these anywhere there's grass, submerge, or timber summers, or sticking out of the water.

Jeremy Francis:
And you basically just want to slowly twitch and reel in your slack. Twitch, reel in your slack, or you can do a steady cadence of hopping the frog, but again, you want to reel in your slack each time. So hop, reel, hop, reel, hop, reel. You'll get better at the muscle memory between twitching your rod and reeling at the same time, twitch, reel, twitch, reel, twitch, twitch, reel, reel, but ultimately you want to remove the slack in your line at all times. Be ready for big explosions on a top water frog because big bass eat these frogs and these lures. So number five, top water frog, the popper frog in particular.

Jeremy Francis:
All right. Moving on to number four and a bait that probably most of you will say should be ranked higher, but it's number four in my book is the bladed jig. Now there's many forms of this, but my bladed jigs I like to throw with a paddle tail swim bait. Some people will throw a craw trailer on the back. Here's three different versions of bladed jigs. This is the Kraken by Lunkerhunt. This is the Thunder Cricket by Strike King. And this is the Chatterbait by Z-Man. I have paired up these, I think this is the Rage Swimmer on the back of this one. And this is the X-Zone on the back of these two. Really all around a bladed jig is a great, great moving bait and bass anywhere love them, but especially in ponds. What makes these great is they're pretty [weedless 00:04:36] for the most part, although not entirely. Usually this blade will help protect the hook, but really pretty simple. You're just going to cast this out, let it sink to the desired depth and start reeling slowly. Every now and then you can give it a couple of pops, but it's just going to be a pretty steady retrieve.

Jeremy Francis:
Now, anytime you feel that blade stop moving, so as you're retrieving, you're going to feel that vibrating blade doing just that, vibrating in the water, whenever you feel it stop, set the hook. That's how you know that a fish has grabbed it because it's not allowing that blade to move anymore in the water. So you're going to set the hook. Another great way to throw a Chatterbait or a bladed jig is also going to be around any type of grass. Any grass under the water, you're going to let it kind of get in there, rip it out and let it sink and rip it out. Swimming a Chatterbait over the top of grass is highly, highly effective. Many, many people have caught tons of bass using a bladed jig. And again, this is the Kraken and a little bit of a different version because this has a swing head on it.

Jeremy Francis:
So you're going to get a little bit more action out of this. This one will rise a little more in the water column, whereas both of these, both the Chatterbait and the Thunder Cricket will stay down a little bit, but ultimately a slow retrieve is what you're going to want. I would throw them on a medium-heavy rod, fast action tip and with fluorocarbon, somewhere in the 14 to 17, maybe even 20 pound range, depending upon how heavy this structure is, where you're fishing and how big the fish are. I fish a lot at Lake Fork, and I'm usually throwing these on 17 to 20 pound fluorocarbon. A lot of ponds though, you may want to scale down to 14 to 15, 17 pound fluorocarbon. You're not going to want to throw a monofilament because again, monofilament stretches. You can throw braid, although it's not really needed, fluorocarbon is what you want for these. And again, you can put a paddle tail swim jig, I'm sorry, paddle tail swim bait as a trailer, or you can throw on any type of craw to give a little more water displacement and water movement. But number four on our list of top five pond baits is the bladed jig.

Jeremy Francis:
All right. Moving on to number three in our top five list. One of my favorites that I've caught so many fish on, especially in ponds is a craw, specifically, a Texas rigged crawl. Now this is the Rage Craw by Strike King and Rage Tail. And I love the appendages on this craw. They're big, they're prominent. They flap a ton. They move at a time. So this is a good one if you want to swim a craw or work a craw pretty fast. Another great craw by X-Zone Lures that I believe will be featured in the June box is the Muscle Back Craw. What makes this craw unique is that if you want to work at a little bit slower, this craw actually stands up in the water. These float, which if you didn't know, is the defensive position that a crawfish makes when it's about to get eaten.

Jeremy Francis:
So very tantalizing, if you will, in a bass's eyes, but the Muscle Back Craw by X-Zone Lures and then also by Strike King is the Rage Menace. This one has not been torn yet. So I'll pop those apart. What I really like about the Rage Menace, it's a little bit smaller profile. Again, it goes great on the back of one of your bladed jigs, but what's great about this as well as it can mimic a craw. It can mimic a small bait fish, if you imagine this in that shape almost looks like a tail swimming in the water. Because it's compact, you can work it around grass really easily. I normally throw a Rage Menace with probably a two aught or three aught round bend worm hook. And then I usually throw both of these on an EWG, usually about a three aught hook as well, maybe four aught, sometimes.

Jeremy Francis:
I will Texas rig them and peg them. It's up to you if you want to peg or unpeg your weights, but I will usually Texas rig with about a 3/16 to 1/4 ounce weight at a pond. Now, if you're throwing these with a spinning rod, you can use a 1/8 ounce weight, or you can use a 3/16, But if you're using a bait caster, I would use 3/16, 1/4, somewhere in there should be great in terms of a weight to throw with these craws. How you're going to want to work them, these are meant to be bottom baits. So you're just going to throw them out, let it sink to the bottom and slowly dragged back in. Now, a couple different techniques. You can hop, reel in your slack, wait a little bit, hop, reel in your slack, wait a little bit.

Jeremy Francis:
You can drag and stop, reel in your slack, drag, stop, reel in your slack. Or you can just do a slow steady kind of crawl on the bottom. You just want to vary your retrieves and find out what the bass are eating that particular day, how they're liking it. Do they want it faster? Do they want it slow? Do they want it just sitting there? Which in that particular case, your X-Zone lures is probably going to be a better one, if they're just wanting it sitting and steady. I've usually found on colder days or sunnier days, you'll want to go low and slow. On warmer days or, I'm sorry, or cloudier days, you can use something with a little bit more action and swim them a little bit faster, or hop them faster.

Jeremy Francis:
Again, I'll repeat that. Cloudier days or warmer days go with more prominent moving baits. And then on sunnier days or colder days, you'll want to use something that's a little bit slower, that stands up more and is going to be a little bit more appealing because fish are going to be looking down versus up. So just a quick rule of thumb. You can get away with a medium heavy rod. I don't know that I would go with a medium rod. A medium-heavy, you can use a heavier rod if you want to. I normally throw these on 14 to 17 pound fluorocarbon. You can use monofilament, you just need to set the hook really hard. I would not advise it. You can also use braid, probably not needed. So medium-heavy rod, fluorocarbon is what's best here, along with number four, your bladed jigs. So you can use the same rod and the same line with both of these. The number three, our top five list is Texas Rigged craws.

Jeremy Francis:
All right. Moving on to number two on our list. And a lot of people are going to argue that this should be number one, but number two on our top five list of pond baits is a stick bait or a swimming stick bait. So again, this is usually referred to as a Cinco. This is actually the YUM Dinger by YUM. This is the Thumping Dinger by YUM as well. You'll notice that they're very similar with just the addition of this tail here on the bottom. Couple different applications, I throw my YUM dingers weightless, so no weight whatsoever with about a three aught round bend worm hook. And I'll probably throw the same for this as well. Although this swimming dinger or thumping dinger, I will throw with a Texas rig pegged weight on the top. So I would throw likely a 1/4 or a 3/16 pounds weight just to hold this one steady in the water column.

Jeremy Francis:
Both of these are very versatile baits, also both very different. Your stick bait, you can rig wacky. So just where you simply put your hook straight through the middle, or you can rig it Texas rigged, just as you normally would any other Texas rigged bait. I normally throw mine Texas rigged. That's just my preference. Some people like wacky. I think the Texas rig provides a little bit more of a weedless option, so that's why I go with it. But you're just going to cast out there and just let it sink. Now, it's a slow falling bait. I should do it this way. It's a slow falling bait, but as it's falling, it is wiggling and moving and I don't get it. I don't understand it, but fish love this bait right here. This is just a standard green pumpkin color, nothing fancy. I have caught a ton of fish just throwing this out and letting it sink.

Jeremy Francis:
And almost nine times out of 10 bass are going to hit this bait on the fall. So as it's falling, watch your line. And if you see your lines starting to move, even if you haven't felt the tick, go ahead and reel down your slack and set the hook because I can promise you if your line's moving, unless there's a lot of wind that day. But if your line's moving a fish is there. A little bit different though with the swimming dinger or the thumping dinger, you're basically just going to throw this almost like you would a swim bait. However, you can let this sink to the bottom. You can hop it, you can steady retrieve it. You can burn it across the top of grass. A lot of application with this. So I really like throwing this, again, usually Texas rigged with a pegged 3/16 to 1/4 ounce weight or 1/4 ounce weight, just because there's so many different ways that you can present this to fish. Again, a great bait. Both of these are awesome. Again, many will say they should be number one, but I've got a personal favorite, this number one, but number two on our list is a stick bait or a swimming stick bait, as you see here.

Jeremy Francis:
All right, number one on the top five pond bait lists, which is my all time favorite, no matter where I go, if I'm having a tough time catching fish, I tied this on and nail them almost every time, and that is the paddle tail swim bait. Absolutely love this bait, love this presentation. This particular one is a Slammer by X-Zone Lures. But another popular one that I did throw is the Cane Thumper by Big Bite Baits. But let me talk about the reeling techniques just for a minute, because there's multiple different ways that you can throw a paddle tail swim bait. Now, the traditional way is just with an exposed hook jig head. So jig head with a hook that comes out the top, similar to imagine this without the under spin. So that would just be a jig head with exposed hook. However, most ponds I fish have a lot of grass or vegetation, et cetera.

Jeremy Francis:
So while an exposed hook is good, I usually prefer a weedless style. So you'll see here this is a screw lock EWG hook that, again, this hook is exposed, but you can [Texpose 00:14:59] that hook by just pulling the bait forward and bring the hook tip in like so. And that prevents any type of snagging, so it's weedless. You can throw that same presentation, but with an under spin and when bass are chasing small bait fish, this is a great presentation to throw. Or if you have a little bit of vegetation, but not a ton of grass, then you can throw an exposed hook with that under spin. And guys, I truly can't tell you how many fish I've caught on these three little presentations right here. A paddle tail swim bait is such a great lure to throw. I almost always throw it on a medium-heavy rod, also a fluorocarbon, somewhere in that 14 to 17 pound range.

Jeremy Francis:
In terms of the worms I just showed you, you can throw those also on kind of 14. I like to throw a weightless worm on about a 14 pound fluorocarbon, also on a medium-heavy rod. You can't get away with a medium rod on a swim bait, if you have, for example, a spinning rod that's medium. In fact, that's how I got started was a spinning rod with... It was a medium power on monofilament, with a little paddle tail swim bait. Monofilament isn't probably the best because, again, it stretches. When you think monofilament, think probably top water and think treble hooks. So with these, think more of letting them sink in the water column to your desired depth and then just a steady retrieve. Now, sometimes I will twitch them to give them a quick little dart up action, like a small bait fish would do, and then let it sink back down, but a steady retrieve, a retrieve and a pause or a retrieve and a pop.

Jeremy Francis:
Any of those will give you a great presentation on a paddle tail swim bait, and I can almost guarantee you that this will catch you at a ton of fish. So paddle tail swim bait, you can throw an exposed hook under spin. You can throw it on a normal jig head. You can throw it on a screw lock EWG hook, or you can throw it on an EWG weedless under spin. All of them are great presentations and bass everywhere, almost anywhere in the country, chase baitfish. It's probably their number one way of feeding. That's why this is my number one bait when it comes to pond fishing. It's almost hard to go wrong with the paddle tail swim bait.

Jeremy Francis:
All right, so a quick recap, top five breakdown. You've got your top water popping frog as number five. Number four, a bladed jig. Number three, Texas rigged craw. Number two, Texas rig weightless stick bait. And number one is a paddle tail swim bait. I prefer under spin, up to you though on how bass are chasing. For each of these, you can throw, excuse me, for these four, you can throw on a medium-heavy rod with fluorocarbon. For your frog, though, you're going to want a heavy or extra heavy rod with braid, probably 50 pound braid, if not even 65, but there's your top five baits. The beautiful thing about all of these is that all of them have recently come in a MonsterBass box or almost all of them. Some of them, for example, this particular frog I had not even been exposed to until it came on MonsterBass box and went out the very next day and caught several three and four pound bass out of a small lake. I'm telling you, the MonsterBass box, the Regional Pro Box, of course I'm in the South, so I get the Regional Pro South Box. It's phenomenal. You'll want to make sure you get it. It's a great box.

Jeremy Francis:
Thanks for checking out this video. My name is Jeremy again with Fishing the Lonestar. Be sure to check out my channel. Make sure you subscribe here, though, to the MonsterBass channel for more great videos coming you're your way.