Hey everybody, long time no see. Seems like I hardly come around these parts anymore, NAHC's got me kept busy! Anyway, here's my question: I'll be going on vacation soon and the lake I will be fishing is chock full of bass, crappie, perch, bluegill, bullhead, and trout, plus others that I may not know about. My question is, what are some great lures that can be used for the multiple species of fish I listed? I can guess that bullhead is the outlier, as they are the only kind that live on the bottom.
I've had sucess with Daredevils, Mister Twisters, Swiss Swings, and Panther Martins, plus worms and corn. Oh, and I like simple baits, I'm a laid back kind of fisherman. Cast, retreive, cast, retreive. Thank you!
HOOK, LINE, AND SINKER!

Some great, no-nonsense lures for perch, bluegill and crappie are rooster tails, (Panther Martin is a good call) small crankbaits and maybe a little swimbait. For lake bass, a good choice would be a spinnerbait or two, some curly tail grubs (such as a Mister twister) and a jig. Another little extra that has saved the day for me in many occasions is a little jar of Powerbait trout dough. I like tipping my inline spinners with a little ball of the stuff and the panfish go nuts for it.

Use senko style worms for the bass.  They generally catch less bass than constant retrieve baits but the bass tent to be bigger.  If its a hot, sunny day pitch them unde r overhanging trees in the shade.  Try soaking stinkbait or chicken livers for the cats.

Try the Rapala "glass rapp" in the white color (grey goast?), size #4.  It's good for gills, LMB, SMB, walleye...That is my go to lure for any where in the country!

Almost any crankbait similar in size to the #4 Rapalas would be a good choice. Small baits will catch supprisingly large fish at times and you are not excluding the smaller fish. Tom

If you like to cast and reteive try spinnerbaits, lipless crank baits and lipped cranks for bass. For crappie and perch a simple crappie jig tipped with Berkley Crappie Niddles and a float works well. Harry


Trophy Life Mamber NW bass Pro Washington

Skewl- Incidently I haves tons of roostertails, so that works out great.
Very cool, thanks a ton, fellas. Keep it coming!

I use tubes and popper in the grassy area's.I even pop a worm on my tubes once in a while if nothing is working. Where in Pennsylvania are you? I live in Lancaster county myself.

Posted By jeepguyracing on 11 Jul 2010 11:43 AM
I use tubes and popper in the grassy area's.I even pop a worm on my tubes once in a while if nothing is working. Where in Pennsylvania are you? I live in Lancaster county myself.

Where in Lancaster county?  I live in Ironville, between Mountville and Columbia...

I never go fishing without the new Max Rap Rapala, blue and white during the prespawn and post spawn.  Lately one of my new go to lures has been Strike King's Lipless crank bait in Sexy Gold Shad, the Silver or Ghost  For years my go to topwater plug was Bagley's Bang O Lure in either silver or gold but recently have been hard to find so I switched to Bomber Long A in flash silver or gold but they are getting hard to find.  Can still find Rapala's silver or gold topwater.  Caught some really big bass.   Maybe, it would have been easier to list hard to find lures or what about a tournament with only vintage or antique lures--that would be a rush especially if we added only jon boats or shore fishing!  Tell me that pain medicine isn't creative.  Uncle Tom 

Thanks guys, sorry that it took me so long to reply back. BTW, I'm up here in Susquehanna county.

HI fishnman, where are you from i,m from back there (susquehanna county) and almost all of my familey is still there from hartford ,new milford, halstead. great fishing area hope you had a great time.... JOHN

Well I just noticed that this topic is a few months old but my first pick would be an inline spinner. At times I have caught different species on one lure and they are a great searching bait.  I would not go too big either, maybe 1/3 ounce or smaller as fish like bluegill probably wouldn't chase anything bigger but the bigger fish will chase the smaller lures. I once caught a largemouth bass while fishing for trout that weighed about four pounds on a 1/8 ounce lure and remember to fish the spinners slow, just fast enough to keep the blade spinning.
Good luck.