Your first time! ******* Come on fishing a certain bait!

[george]

Do any of you have a fond memory of using a certain bait for the first time?

I was cleaning out one of my bait storage bins and found a pack of the original 4" Green Pumpkin Senkos that Cooch gave me in like 2000 during one of "The Bass Class" seminars.

It took me back to the first cast I ever made with one of those baits on the center island of tullies at Turner cut!
I Texas rigged it weightless on twelve pound test, flipped it up stream into a slow current and fed some line, my line jumped and I set only to come back with a quarter size green scale in the tip of my hook. I removed the scale, flipped it back to the same spot and set the hook on a 5lb plus green eyed beauty!

I proceeded to use an entire pack that day and ordered a hundred count the next week direct from Yamomoto! I showed those to my brothers who called them cat turds and were very hesitant to try em, but after a day on the water they each wanted a couple of bags from my stock.

Don't think I can recount the first cast or the first fish of another bait in my tackle box matter!

George

[Cooch]

I'll always remember that brisk, foggy morning in February of 1984 when for the first time I ventured down to Whiskey Slough in my first bass boat, a Glasstron, flat bottom tri hull with the 35 hp Piagio motor with a Berkely jet propelled unit. As I pulled up to the big tulle island in the back, I chucked my 4" black/chart Ring worm to the tulle point. As it hit the water, I noticed a shiny, bright red crankbait dangling at the base of the tulle clump. I quickly reeled my worm in and trolled up to the tulles and that crankbait. I snatched that red craw bait off the tulle clump and tied it on right away. My very first cast with that bait I caught a 5+ pounder, back then, that was a giant for the Delta. From that moment on, that 7A Red Craw Bomer crankbait became a staple in my arsenal here and many other fisheries fer black bass. Because of that bait, to this day, I have a dedicated "Red Craw" bait box loaded with Bombers, Speed Traps, Timber Tigers, Poes, Bill Lewis Rattle Traps and Lucky Craft BDS series "Red Craw" cranks.

Great post George! Kinda reminds me of the good old days here with NCBF! As we used to say in posts like these back then............... NEXT!

[mark poulson]

I remember my first fish on a jointed swimbait I made. It was back in the early 2000's at Castaic, in February, and the wind was blowing hard, 10-15mph, from the west, over the dam.
I had made a 10" four piece floater, and painted it in a silver trout pattern.
As I was fighting the wind in my 17' Tracker, I was throwing my bait as tight as I could to the rocky structure on the Fish Arm.
I made a cast that just missed a big rock on a long point, and, as soon as my bait hit the water, I got slammed!
I hollered so loud that one of the guys fishing the AC tournament that day, John Dahl, who happened to be motoring past heard me, and stopped to watch me lip a 6.5 lb largemouth.
I've caught lots of swimbait fish since then, but that one will always stand out in my memory.
That bait is hanging in my garage to this day.

[mteman]

Buzzbait! I found a buzzbait on the bank as I was walking the shore at Calero res in San Jose. Tied it on and made a few casts. The bait was in the water when I saw a fish roll to my left. I started winding as fast as I could to fire a cast at that fish when a 7lber smashed it. First ever buzzbait fish and a PB. Never leave home without it!

[fish_food]

I was cleaning out one of my bait storage bins and found a pack of the original 4" Green Pumpkin Senkos that Cooch gave me in like 2000 during one of "The Bass Class" seminars.

I remember attending a two-day Bass Class in Antioch around the 2001 timeframe. Cooch, Don Payne, Steve Sapp, and Bobby Barrack were among the speakers. I still have my notes and freebie Yamamoto patch tucked away somewhere!

[Robb R]

OK , so I love this thread .
Been bass fishing over 35 years . First bass on a plastic worm came on a texas rigged
Mann's Jelly Worm . Black Grape color , 6" , 1/8oz weight at Vasona Lake in Los Gatos .Vasona was the only place I could ride my bike to and learn to bass fish . I also fell in love with the brown color that was called "scuppernong" . Jelly worms smell awesome , so I recently bought some just for memory purposes.
How about this , my first ever jig fish was caught on a "brawley bug" . Named for Troy Brawley and his "deep" fishing technique's @ Lake Camanche on hand made rubber jigs . I couldn't afford to buy already built "brawley bugs , so a friend and I bought some bulk rubber and jig heads and made our own .
How about the famous Big -O . OMG --- I thought I found a "magic bait " . Lake Amador , crawdad color .
And , I still have that original bait---- and I never use it . I show it to my 23 year old son to remind him how long I have been fishing for bass .
great topic ,
tight lines ,
Robb

[george]

Wow, I remember buying Jelly worms and Crème Worms two to a pack and would get black and purple!
I was about ten and we would go to Don Pedro and fish what was then called Mexican Gulch(Now Blue Oaks). There was a time when there was actually water up into the trees and we would cast out the worms on a split shot rig on my ugly stick and do a drag/pause/drag retrieve. We would knock the snot out of them with those things. Those were the days!!!!

George

[Turkeyman]

I can remember the first bass I ever caught when I was about 8 or 9 on Bear Creek in Merced just east of G street.It was on a VooDoo lure, which to my memory was a 1/4 oz darter head with purple maribou and a small purple worm on it. I had cast acroos to a berry bush and hooked a bass about 14" and have loved catching them ever since.
George what brother calls Senko's cat turds, Johnny or Les?

[george]

It was Johnny, He was blown away that someone would ever tie something like that on, they came ten in a pack in green pumpkin black flake.
It was funny because I told him that I had killed em on the delta a few days before with them and he could not and would not believe me.
He and I went out the next day or two and I caught three or four fish before he put one on and he has had one rigged on every body of water since.

Albert was a different story! He had been throwing a Yamamoto craw for some time prior and had an occasion where the fish had bitten both pinchers off, he was out of baits so he kept throwing it but in reality he was split shotting the body which was now a senko.

He caught them pretty good with just the body and got to where he was tearing the pinchers off and rigging the bait with just the body, this was probably a year before Senkos were introduced.

George

[jg]

I was using a s-waver for the first time at Havasu last year on a real windy day. I had been throwing it near structures and was not having any luck. On a errant cast because of the wind I was reeling it in over open water and had 4lb largemouth just crushed it. I have found I catch more on it in open water than I do around stuff.

[surfk9]

Great thread...have been watching it for the last few days....my most memorable "first time" was about 25 years ago, my fishing buddy turned me onto my first buzz bait a "Lunker Lure" brand...have never looked back ...not certain i've had more memorable moments on the water with any other lure...have tried 'em all (well maybe not all of 'em) even make my own...winter, spring, summer & fall raining, foggy, steaming hot, night, calm and serious delta wind...always have one ready to throw...my biggest on buzzer 9lbs. plus....uncountable numbers over 5lbs...ask anyone who knows me..."when in doubt, throw a buzz bait" My son says " Dad, you're not supposed to being throwing that lure in January....do you need the net? "

[jwelsh]

I will never forget my first time fishing a TNT Wadda jig, it was January 6th 2012. I wanted to improve my jig fishing and the best way I knew how to do this was to learn from the jig master himself. So a few days prior I called Cooch to see if he was available for the day. Will he kicked my but that day with several fish with numerous in the 5-6 lb range. I had one bite that day and one fish, that one fish was the only fish I needed that day she went 12.4 and to this day is still my PB.

[Big Buddy]

My first bass came on a Rapala J-9 in Blue and silver in 1987 in a private lake. I was only 7 and my dad took me out. I can remember it like it was yesterday but it happened 26 yrs ago!! I would have never thought I would be on my second bass boat, fishing tournaments today! Thanks Dad

[g-man]

When I first started Bassin the only thing I would ever throw was 3in single tail grubs. It was small and caught tons of fish. Then one day I decided to buy some 7in Blk Power worms. At the time I thought these were way to big but gave it a try. (I had zero confidence) First cast a 5lber, and I smoked them that day!! I've caught more fish on that bait then any other, and I barely toss it anymore.

[bassdaddy]

Back in the summer of 2000, I decided to get into swimbaits. The first legitimate big bait I was able to get my hands on was an AC Plug. I was paddling around a small lake on an inflatable pontoon boat around 10:00 at night when without warning that bait absolutely got crushed right at the boat. After trying not to anally inhale the seat of my boat I was able to regroup and get my net on a bass that weighed in just one ounce shy of 8 pounds. It wasn't a PB at the time and I have managed to catch dozens of fish larger since then on other swimbaits, but none of them have been any more exciting than that first one.

[ash]

Buzzbait - I was walking a state ran bird estuary with Rip Rap banks. It was a pre-front cloudy day, I never through a buzzbait before and I knew this pond had some nice chunks. I was casting parrelel to the rip rap and thought the buzzbait was rolling on its side. I was more interested in the action of the bait, so I kept reeling it all the way to my feet and intently watching the bait right at my toes KABOOM - SPLASH SPLASH i jerked strait up on the rod and pulled out a 4 lber. I think I was as shocked as the fish

@Cooch i found my first red craw BDS3 on a tulle blade off the main San Joaquin. I thought it was a custom crank bait at first with the dark red and orange and big ole beefy hooks. Was a fish catchin crank bait too, i snapped the bill on it during a cast