Whats the best big trout type bait for bass, and are there any worth buying under $6. I'm thinking of hitting Coyote to try and beat my personal best. Unfortunately I'm on a budget. I do have an Arbogast A.C. plug I was given, but I understand they're almost a joke.

Tight lines,
Wade

The arbogast A.C isnt that great but its better than any 6 dollar bait. If you want to make a good investment try to find the old 3 piece ossprey hard body trout. There are really hard to find cause there not made any more but there killer. For under 6 bucks go with a excaliber crankbait. Choose the largest size you can. Good luck. Post reports on how you do.

Hey Wade,
Besides a pack of giant slug-go's you aren't going to find much under 6 bucks. But don't give up on the arbogast AC. I have one that has caught around 30 fish for me. Just make sure to replace the hooks with some good gamakatsku hooks.

I like the Fat Free Shad suggestion, also a Super Spook is a killer big bait for da big ones. It should be around $6 and is a definite must to have in your quiver. As things warm up, that topwater bite is a sleeper for da giants.

good luck

If you're really on a budget, I'm sure you could get some big 7" fishtraps in rainbow trout and stick em on a leadhead and catch some fish. But, you aren't going to find much for under 6 bucks. Most of the good baits are at least 20.
-Brian

I hear a lot of hype about the optima swim baits, but personally, they haven't done me any good whatsoever! My most recent discovery is another bait by AA's. Last year, I found the little 3" frogs. Those worked great for most any bass. This year, I discovered the AA's water-dog. When I found them at the local tackle shop, they were available in 2 colors. Brown with a white underside, and motor-oil green with pepper fleck with chartreuse limbs and a white underside. I bought a pack of each (5 count @ $4.50 a bag). They measure about 6 or 7 inches long and look like a lizard on steroids with a big head and a curly tail. The first night I used this bait at the local quarry, I got 5 fish on them, and every one was over 2 #'s. The largest was 4 1/2 #'s. I know that is not huge, but it was a great night for me. I prefer the green ones myself. At the Fred Hall show this year, I saw the water-dog baits in the AA's booth. They had the 6 inchers and a larger version that was well over 8 inches. I would have bought some but I was discouraged over the lack of detail in the body and no curly tail when compared to the smaller ones. I'll stick with the 6 or 7 inchers and keep catching big bass. Plus, you get the added bonus of catching a lot of them as well. So I cast my vote for the AA's 6" Green & Chartreuse Water-dog baits. Go get em!!!

the ac plug has caught a lot of big bass. Just because the newer lures are coming out dosn'et mean that the older ones won't work. What size a.c. do you have? i used to have a 7 incher, but my friend lost it. That lure got me a lot of follows, if i still had it i would still be throwing it.
tight lines,
jono

Dear Wade,

Everyone has brought up a lot of great ideas but what about modifying the plug you have??? You know...back in the days before the AC, people used to use paint and permanent markers like "Marks-A-Lot" to change the look of the big size 18 floating Rapalas. I have one of the Arbogast AC plugs as well and what I had in mind for mine was to first off change the hooks to the bronze color. If I'm not mistaken they have 2x or 3x strong trebels in Bronze. In a lot of cases you can buy them individually...a couple of cents each. Second thing you can do is take a green, red, and black marker and try to paint your plug to match the other plugs that are on the market. In the end, it will have cost very little and you will have then invented the "Wade-RT" big trout bait!!!! What a concept. Now...I can't say if you will actually catch something but for a guy on a budget, it sure wouldn't hurt. Keep in mind that the AC plug has caught a lot of fish and I would bet that if you tuned the lure to run correctly and you were persistent with it, you would probably catch a fish on it...regardless of the actual color. That's just my opinion but I will tell you I've seen friends of mine that have caught fish on lures a lot uglier and more stupid looking than the Arbogast AC!!!!

Regardless of everything we have all suggested here, you have to keep one thing in mind when fishing these big plugs...You need to throw them...and Throw Them...and THROW THEM!!!!!! I think everyone will agree with that. Good Luck out there and keep on casting!!!!

Good Luck and Good Fishing

Darin

I've had good luck on the AC, mostly the 9", don't count it out just because it isn't grabbing all the headlines these days. As others stated, a large swimbait like a Fish Trap or Big Hammer is inexpensive and deadly on large bass. Don't forget about the 21 pounder caught on the old Renowsky Shad (simple swimbait) out of Castaic in the early 90's, I think that fish has the current state record!

I found an 11" Fin-s-fish in Rainbow Trout pattern, and my AC is the big 12" version. Should I try the Fin on a jig or weightless? and if on a jig, how heavy? I'm a fair to good hand with a soft jerkbait, but these BIG baits for BIG bass are a new ball game for me and I'm not sure what I should place my confidence in. I have taken a 12# Striper at O'neil Forebay on the A.C., but again Stripers and bass are totally different and I'm pretty sure the fast crank that took the Striper won't be touched by a BIG lazy bass. Anyway, any more advice and any confidence builders are welcome.

Tight Lines,
Wade

You'd be surprised at how fast those big fat girls can move when an easy meal (aka trout) sloshes past- a trout is an easy protien filled meal for the big girls, they will bust some ass when you least expect it to grab a trout, or a nice replica! A female largemouth saving her strength for spawning might surpise you. They need all the calories they can get before spawning, that's why that big ugly AC might do it. The same giant plugs that nail the big stripers will also trick the double digit largemouth. Keep chucking, it will pay off! I have one of those Fin-s-fish, haven't really tried it, how do you work one of those things??

You work them with hard and soft jerks with varying pauses thrown in. Some pauses are almost as long as Deadsticking. They do a fine imitation of a sick of wounded fish that knows it's in the wrong neighborhood and is trying to save it's skin before being eaten. Of course this usually gets them eaten.

Tight Lines,
Wade