April Tackle Warehouse Staff Picks

There’s just something about the profile and kicking action of this bait that consistently gets bites. While it works year round, the Basstrix produces best for me in the early spring through summer. It’s a pretty versatile bait as long as there’s some visibility in the water.

Many of our banks are pretty steep here in California, so I really like to get the boat in tight and throw parallel to the bank to keep the bait in the prime strike zone. It’s a fun way to fish!

Our fish here eat a lot of shad, so the standard Shad color is my overall favorite to accurately match the hatch. As long as there’s at least a couple feet of visibility, bass seem to have no problem finding and eating that color.

I once saw a bass eat a trout on the surface, casted my Basstrix at the commotion, and instantly got bit right at the surface. I forget what it actually weighed, but it was easily a 6+lb fish. Otherwise, I’ve also had a few 25+lb limits on the bait!

My favorite rod for the Basstrix is the Megabass Orochi Extreme Mission Type-F (EMTF), which is a 7’5” medium-fast taper. I pair it with a 7.1:1 Shimano Metanium MGL150 spooled with 17 lb Seaguar Carbon Ultra, which I’ve been fishing since sample spools arrived last year. I used to exclusively fish Tatsu, but I think Carbon Ultra has a similar feel with a little less stretch. I like fishing these baits on jigheads like the Dirty Jigs Purdy Lil’ Swimbait Head in quarter and three-eighths sizes.

In my opinion, it's the most exciting way to catch pre and post-spawn hawgs. Here in Georgia, the water temperature in April is usually getting into the right range for bass to start hitting topwater again. This bait calls bass to the surface and generates aggressive bites due to its “walk the dog” action and knocking sound. And oh yeah…topwater is awesome.

I like to fish it around laydowns, docks, and in shaded pockets as I go down the bank. It’s also a great lure to always have rigged and ready to throw at schools of bass chasing bait in open water, which is common here on Lake Lanier.

Bone is my favorite color for the Feathered Super Spook Jr. for most conditions. A chrome or clear variation is also highly effective when it’s sunny, but I tend to throw Bone most often just because of my high confidence in it.

I’m typically throwing the Feathered Spook Jr. in a lake where spotted bass are dominant. My biggest bass to date is a 5+lb spot that I caught out of a school of fish that were busting bait at the surface.

I like rods under 7’0” since I’m usually fishing from a kayak, with a favorite being the 6’8” Dobyns Sierra medium-heavy model. My favorite reel is the Lew's Custom Pro Gen 3 Casting Reel in a 7.5:1 gear ratio. This is a very lightweight reel that's easy to palm, plus I can launch my bait a mile and not worry about backlashing. I spool it up with a braided mainline tied to a 12–20lb monofilament leader.

This lightweight jig/trailer combo produces a great action and doesn’t sink too fast, making it easy to keep elevated while casting adjacent to shallow weeds and cover. This swim jig also has a more subtle skirt than others on the market, giving it a more natural appearance in clearer water. It’s an awesome bait for quickly covering shallow areas and gets absolutely hammered by bass of all sizes. The lighter wire hook and lighter weight of the bait also matches lighter rods and lines very well.

Just a steady slow-moderate retrieve works great. Let the bait do its thing! It has a nice action on its own. I may throw in a small twitch or speed change here and there to mix things up, but I catch plenty of bass just fishing it like a spinnerbait.

I’m typically fishing this setup when I feel something like a vibrating jig, spinnerbait, or "standard" swim jig might be too intrusive, such as in clear to lightly stained water. Two of my favorite go-to combos include a Tactical Shad jig with a Keitech Swing Impact FAT 3.8 trailer in the Shad color, or a Bluegill 2 jig with a Little Dipper trailer in Sungill. With all that said, I've even had great success in heavily stained conditions and at night by simply switching to the plain White color paired to a similarly colored trailer, like the Keitech in Sight Flash or the Skinny Dipper in White Trash.

I have caught many bass up into the 5 lb class on the swim jig in Florida, Georgia, and California. My biggest to date was a largemouth pushing 8 lbs caught in late April of 2021 on the California Delta in about three feet of water.

My current favorite rod is a Phenix Feather 7’1” MH 2-piece. I originally bought it mainly for travel, but it has quickly become a go-to rod for me at home too. Keep in mind this rod fishes a bit lighter than its ratings and has a great action that's more along the lines of medium-fast as opposed to its “extra-fast” designation. I’m not a fan of super-fast reels for moving-bait applications, so right now I'm fishing this jig/trailer combo on a Bates OG 100 (7.1:1) or Shimano SLX 70 (7.2:1). I mostly fish 20 lb PowerPro Super8Slick V2 in Moss Green paired to a 12–15lb fluorocarbon or copolymer leader. The lighter-wire hook is great for lighter setups but still plenty strong to land big bass.